Dirty Little Computer Viruses and How To Protect Yourself
Whether you have learned your lesson from a past experience with a nasty computer virus or have been pressing your luck by surfing the web and downloading various files or opening those email messages sent to you by people you don’t know without any real understanding of just how vulnerable you really are each time you log onto your computer.
You now have the opportunity to discover what steps you can take to avoid such an annoying and many times destructive infestation.
Listed below are some of the guidelines you can follow in order to keep those nasty viruses from making a mess out of your computer and your life.
*Purchase and install a well respected antivirus software program and be sure to set it up so that it automatically runs when the computer starts up each time.
*Make sure to keep your antivirus software up to date by either using the automatic update feature that many come with or make it a habit to manually check at least once or twice a week for updates on your own.
*Set your antivirus program to scan for potential viruses each time you open a word-processing document like the ones that get sent through email. Viruses found in word-processing documents are called Macro Viruses.
*When purchasing software make sure to only buy from vendors that are well known and from ones you trust.
*Resist swapping data with the use of floppy disks or other mobile storage devices between various computers. If exchanging programs between computers is unavoidable just make sure to scan the storage device(s) for viruses before transferring data from one computer to the next.
*If using floppy disks to transfer data make sure to format them before using them for the first time.
*Never use pirated software. This is both illegal and a very good way to invite an unwanted computer virus.
*When downloading software from the internet do so as little as possible. There are many neat programs available on the internet, but unfortunately there are many viruses that go along with them also.
*If you must download programs from the internet ALWAYS scan them for viruses BEFORE opening them up to install on your computer.
*Probably the most important and neglected method of disaster recovery are periodic backups of all important files found on your computer. Should a virus happen to get through your lines of defense you may need to replace the virus corrupted files with fresh ones that have been kept for such an occasion.
Finally, it is not guaranteed that if you follow the above steps that you will not be the victim of a computer virus, but you can sure bet that if followed you will greatly reduce the chance of being an unsuspecting recipient of such an unwanted program.
Written by Dan Preston our expert of the day.
What Are Computer Viruses And How Do You Protect Against Them
A computer virus is something that is made by someone to infect another computer’s operating system. A virus is a software program that is spread from one computer to another by way of networking and emails as well as IM services. Attachments are the number one way to spread a virus without the user knowing it. Every virus is different because some are made to delete data from your computer while others are made to corrupt the operating system making it do strange things. If you do not use the proper protection, you are subject to any type of virus.
Viruses come in many shapes and forms. You could receive a funny cartoon from a friend without them even knowing they are sending you a virus. Greeting cards are another way for people to send out the virus. You do have to be careful whom you send and receive emails from as well as attachments. The only way to really protect yourself from viruses and intruders on your computer is with a virus protection program. There are many different types of virus protection available today. Some are free and some require you to pay a fee each year to keep the software updated.
The best way to protect your computer is with an updated version of a virus protection program. You should also keep up with all the latest threats as they surface. Once you have a virus, it takes some time to remove it and save your data and files from being lost. The best solution for protecting your computer is to stop the virus before it infects your computer. The best anti virus program will alert you to a potential virus before it infects your computer.
Updating your virus protection is as important as having the program. If you do not check for updates weekly, your virus protection is useless if a new virus surfaces. The virus protection programs watch for virus treats and add that virus to the list of virus to watch for. If you do not have the updated version, which is available online, you can get the new virus. You have to continually update your anti virus program. Setting up your anti virus program is important as well.
You need to set up the program to scan emails before opening them as well as scan attachments before downloading and opening them. You virus protection should also scan web pages that you visit for Trojans and malware. With all the hackers and software developers out there, any website is subject to attack. If you go to a website that has been safe in the past, does not mean it is safe all the time. A virus protection program will alert you to potential harm.
If you have a virus on your computer, you need to do a complete virus scan to delete or repair the infected files. In some cases, you need to do the scan in safe mode. The reason for doing a scan in safe mode is that no programs are running, therefore the scan is able to scan the file or program and take the necessary steps to repair it. In regular run, your virus protection might not be able to fix the infected file because it is running.
Written by Gabriel Adams our expert of the day.
What Everybody Ought To Know About Registry Cleaners
What Do Registry Cleaners Do?
A Registry cleaner can be one of the most important PC utilities you have in your arsenal of maintenance programs for your windows operating system…
Your computer registry is the central location within Windows where all the critical data about each program installed on your computer is stored…data critical for the smooth operation of your PC.
That new computer you brought home a while ago probably isn’t running as fast as it once was, and there are probably errors you get from time to time that range from annoying windows freezes to disastrous computer crashes!
The reason for the slowdown in computer speed is based on a variety of factors, but the installation and deletion of many programs along with frequent downloading of files over the internet are the primary reasons.
Don’t throw your computer away and buy another one (I’ve tried that). Your new system will soon be running as slow as your old one is now (not including any hardware factors of course).
Return Your Computer To “Like-New” Status With A Top Rated Registry Cleaner
Your secret weapon against computer sluggishness and errors is a top rated registry cleaner. A good registry cleaner will actually find and repair most windows problems, compress and defragment your registry, and optimize your computer for faster speeds and efficiency!
The registry cleaner we reviewed that was top rated is RegCure. It optimized our test system and increased speeds by a measurable 15%!
While there are hundreds of registry cleaners currently available, only a handful are worth considering…
Making sure you keep your system in top operating condition is easy to do with the right tools. You certainly don’t need a degree in computer engineering to diagnose and repair computer errors…
Make sure you are running a registry scan on your computer at least once a week, and you will enjoy a PC free of errors. You will discover that your speedy PC you purchased months or years ago was there all along, but that it just needed a “pitstop” to get it back into optimum shape!
Want A Faster way to fix Computer Errors & Increase System Speed?
Written by Gary Bracken our expert of the day.
Using your Spam Filter
Spam emails are one of the main annoyances to Internet users. Anyone who has an email address and is an internet user has more than likely experienced spam at some point. The more you use the Internet and the more chat based web sites that you have interacted with as well as the more you have filled in online forms using your email address, the more spam that you are likely to receive.
The most common use of a spam filter is for the removal of spam and computer viruses. Another less common use of a spam filter is to inspect outgoing emails to ensure that companies comply with appropriate laws.
Most of the email programmes that are available today have some form of a spam filter already available within them. This automated spam filtering function can be set to a certain level depending on how much spam you receive. Spam filters were created in an attempt to limit and control the ever growing problem of spam.
These spam filters make filtering decisions based on matching regular expression within spam emails or the keywords within an email message will be checked as well as scanning the email address of the sender to see if they are regular senders of spam messages.
One of the main problems that people tend to experience when it comes to spam filtering software is that messages that they actually want to receive end up getting filtered. You have to be careful when it comes to spam filtering so that this doesn’t happen.
As spam filter setting are having to become more strict due to the increase in spam emails you need to make sure that you no what not to include in your email message to ensure that it doesn’t get filtered out as spam. Below are a list of the common features of email messages that are blocked by most spam filters:
• If the email has three or more CAPITALIZED words in the Subject line or has no text within the subject line
• Subject starts with Hello, Free or GUARANTEED etc
• Subject line starts with Buy or Buying
• The email contains blank lines that make up a percentage of more than 70
• Repeated, unnecessary double-quotation marks
• The body of the email message mentions Viagra, no prescription, online Pharmacy etc
• There are attempts to disguise words within the email
• From field and reply to are empty
• Subject (or other fields) contains G.a.p.p.y-T.e.x.t with lots of spaces or underscores etc
• Subject starts with dollar sign or amount
• Address contains “free”
• Email contains an executable EXE BAT PIF etc (or DAT file Email sent from Apple Mac to PC issue)
• Message is a saved web page
• Font colour is the same as the background (invisible text)
If you are attempting to send an email you need to ensure that your email message doesn’t contain any of the above.
Spam filter software is the best way of conquering the problem of spam, no other method will compare to the results that you will see and the positive affects of spam filtering completely outweigh the negative.
Helen is the web master of MySpamBin, home of all your Spam Filtering needs.
Written by carolyn our expert of the day.
Why Use Registry Cleaners?
Over time your system will become slow and sluggish. This may be because of all your activity on the Internet. You will have through the years or months depending on your Internet activity, downloaded tons of stuff from the Internet. Most of the stuff you download you will forget about. These downloads, be it music, programs, pictures, or links will all be stored in the system registry and this registry keeps on growing. You will need to clean the registry of your system in order to make your system run more efficiently. A registry cleaner can repair and clean your registry on the computer. A free registry cleaner, such as the windows XP registry cleaner or the Eusing Registry cleaner can organize and streamline your computer registry by unclogging all the junk that has been downloaded onto the hard drives and are no longer of any use but are there and slowing down the system.
Regular registry cleaning and tuning is very necessary. Without this the system is definitely going to crash attracting a very high bill from the technician not to mention the data that could be lost in the bargain. You can take the cheaper way out by downloading one of the free registry cleaner software from the Internet. There are loads of windows XP registry cleaner software or just registry cleaner software that are compatible with whatever operating system you are using.
Analyze The Registry Cleaner Before Using It
A good registry repair software will have the following features:
Registry cleaners scan all types of problems such as invalid paths, file types, CLSID’s DLL’s Sound files, Fonts, extensions and class keys. The registry cleaner will have these features in a place where they are easy to access and well organized. The registry Cleaner will be easy to use. It should be user-friendly software and not require complicated steps to setup and use.
In addition the registry cleaner software that you download free or purchase, should have very good customer support. Many downloadable registry cleaner software can create backups of the registry. So if something goes wrong during the cleaning process it is important that you can restore the registry to its original state. Restoring the registry may not be as simple as cleaning up the registry with the help of the software and so it is important for the company that supplied you with the registry cleaner software to have a customer support to help you restore your registry to a working state.
Safety Is Paramount
Safety is also a prime concern while deciding which registry cleaner to download or purchase. Some good registry cleaner or repair software can help you get the computer back to running condition with the documentation and online tools. So, even though there are risks involved in cleaning up the registry, the rewards of having a fine tuned and cleaned registry are many.
Written by Arvind our expert of the day.
Refurbished Laptops 101
Many people want to buy a refurbished laptop in order to save money. There are several companies that conveniently sell used laptops over the Internet. However, regardless of the company one gets his or her laptop from, one should so a bit of research before buying.
There are four major laptop manufacturers. They are IBM, Dell, Hewlett-Packard/Compaq, and Toshiba. Different companies have different components in their laptops. All of these companies sometimes get their components from other distributors. Laptops are usually assembled by different companies other than the company that is selling it. Some of the components made by third party companies are LCD displays, CPU, hard drives, keyboards, and memory.
Having components from other companies can ensure that those components are high quality. However, when refurbishing a laptop, it can make it difficult because the components are not all from a single source. When looking for a refurbished laptop, it is always a good idea to try to find out what is inside the refurbished laptop. Some companies may have a bad product year, and one certainly does not want a bad product inside of his or her laptop.
Another tip for looking for good refurbished laptops is to check the warranty offered by the refurbishing company. Companies that offer great warranties do so because they have faith in their products. Skimpy warranties often mean that the company may not use the best products in order to refurbish laptops. You can also call customer support in order to observe how responsive they are. Companies that take pride in their service and are committed to their customers will have good products.
It is important to decide what the purpose of the laptop will be. If the laptop will be used mainly for word processing and browsing the web, then minimal CPU is needed. Additionally, copious amounts of memory won’t be needed for simple computer processes. For Internet access, it again depends on what the purpose of the laptop is. 56k modems come standard in many laptops. Wireless Internet access is constantly increasing across the country. Many laptops come with wireless access standard. For business purposes, wireless access is a great feature. Older laptops may lack Ethernet connections, but with refurbishing, they can be easily added.
The final and most important rule when shopping for a refurbished laptop is to keep price in mind. The more features that a laptop has, the more expensive it will be. If the laptop will be used for graphics programs or video games, then it will probably be much more expensive. Search Google for the best laptop prices, and make sure to inquire about each seller’s reputation. Buying a good refurbished laptop at a reasonable price won’t be difficult if you do your research.
Written by Alison Quinn our expert of the day.
How to Fix Corrupt Registry Errors on your Windows Pc
This sounds a lot more difficult than it really is. There are easy ways to perform this basic maintenance routine, and doing so will give your PC an added boost of speed as well as fix most error messages and crashes.
Back Up Your Registry
The first step in any Windows registry repair process is to make a copy of your registry. This is extremely easy!
All you need to do is this:
1. Go to Start / Run
2. Type in “regedit” and hit enter
3. This opens the registry editor. Don’t touch anything!
4. Got to File / Export
5. Pick a safe place and name your registry after the date.
6. Click save
And that’s it! That was simple, right? Making a manual hard copy of your registry is an important first step for all PC maintenance routines.
Run A Registry Cleaner
Using a registry cleaner is the absolute best way to fix corrupt registry files in your computer. The registry is a complicated system of files that store very important settings and preference data that your computer needs in order to function properly. Tinkering with the registry by hand is not recommended.
A decent registry repair program will allow you to scan the computer registry in seconds, then remove the obsolete and corrupt entries with the click of a button.
The other advantage of using a registry cleaner is that they also offer additional features that will help improve the performance and speed of your computer. For example, the program RegCure offers a Startup Manager function that allows users to limit the amount of programs that load during the Windows boot sequence. This dramatically impacts how fast your PC boots up.
Written by Cynthia Blake our expert of the day.
What is Adware and What Can you Do to Prevent it From Affecting your System?
Privacy: how important is it to you? Would you feel comfortable knowing that someone could keep track of the web sites that you visit? While Spyware is talked about, you may be less familiar with a similar type of programming: Adware.
Adware is used as a supplemental program in some cases. Adware can be used as a part of an internet program and used as a way of letting you use a service without paying for it: rather than using a program with limited features and rather than paying the full cost of the program, you can choose an ad-supported version. The adware used will track the sites you visit and ads that are related to your interests will be shown to you during your session.
Of course, that is an example of your consent to having adware installed on your system. Another possibility is that you install software and don’t fully read the part of the user agreement that suggested that third-party software was included to see how the software was used on your computer.
This third-party software is typically adware. With it, the person who wrote the software can collect money from advertisers who will be able to know which users might be interested in their products.
For many people. However, adware quickly becomes an annoyance. In addition to feeling uncomfortable that they are being watched – associating the feeling with being spied on and the adware with spyware – they just want to be able to go about using a program or surfing the internet without a steady stream of advertising or even advertising pop-up windows slowing them down.
As a result, they start looking for ways of removing adware from their computer.
Removing adware from your computer can be done by installing ad-blocking software. Removing adware, in many cases, can also be done with the installation of anti-spyware programs.
But why settle for removing adware when you can make efforts to keep it from getting on your computer to begin with? Rather than dealing with adware and having to find ways of removing adware from your system, consider doing the following:
· Read the licensing agreements that come with software programs that you are thinking about installing. If a mention is made of third-party software that will track the way you use the program or the software is listed as ad-supported, do not agree to the terms of service and choose an alternate program. In many cases, the user agreement or licensing agreement are available to you before you download and install the software;
· Choose the free but feature limited software or pay for the program rather than using the advertising supported version to avoid installing adware on your system;
· If you think that you are getting adware or spyware on your system and you have been using Internet Explorer as your web browser, consider making the switch to another browser that contains ad-blocks;
· Make sure that the security patches for your computer’s operating system as well as your anti-spyware and firewalls are up to date.
In other words, the best means of removing adware from your computer is to not install it in the first place. You will be able to surf the internet with more privacy and therefore with more security. And that will keep you and your computer more safe.
Written by Joel pearce our expert of the day.
How To Avoid A Potentially Dangerous Computer Virus
The fact is, virus coders are becoming more sophisticated every day. As computer users become more educated and anti virus software gets more effective, virus coders are always looking for ways to get past both internet users and anti virus software.
This means that users need to remain ever vigilant to avoid becoming the victim of a potentially very harmful computer virus. It is important for every computer owner to know that not all viruses are the same. Some computer viruses are just annoying, generating popup ads as you browse the web, or increasing the amount of SPAM you receive.
Other types of computer virus, however, can be more dangerous. Some computer viruses can wipe out a hard drive, or steal your personal information and files. To make matters worse, some computer viruses are able to hide in a computer for some time, activating at a future date and doing their damage when triggered by certain events or dates.
Fortunately, computer owners do not have to be at the mercy of computer virus coders. There are a number of measures computer users can take to protect themselves from viruses, Trojan horses, adware, spyware and other malicious code on the internet.
For starters, it is essential that all computer users install a good quality anti virus software program BEFORE their computer is connected to the internet. This is because there are programs that constantly search the internet, looking for computers that are unprotected by virus scanning software. A recent survey by a security organisation found that it takes only minutes for a computer to become infected with viruses and spyware. Installing an anti virus software program is vital to protecting yourself from these malicious programs.
It is also important to update that anti virus software program on a regular basis. In the past, many computer security experts recommended doing updates on a weekly basis, but most agree that weekly updates are no longer sufficient. It is generally best to update the anti virus software you install daily, and to schedule those updates to run automatically. Running the updates automatically will ensure you do not forget to update the software, and running the updates daily will ensure that you are protected against the latest threats.
Most users will want to schedule the updates to their virus scanning software to occur during the night, when they are asleep. Running these updates when the computer is not in use is a good idea for a number of reasons. For one thing, updating the anti virus software when the computer is not in use will ensure that there are no conflicts, and that the program is able to update itself to detect the latest computer virus. Running the updates after hours will also prevent the updates from interfering with web surfing or any other activity. Running a computer virus protection update can sometimes interfere with other software, so it is best to run it automatically, when you do not need the computer for other things.
Written by Jeff Usher our expert of the day.
Acer Laptops are Fast and Reasonably Priced
It seems just a few years ago that everyone was hungry for the latest desktop technology. Remember when the flat screen appeared? What a desktop saver that was, making our work area seemingly grow and expand overnight. Did most of us even consider having a laptop? Nah – that just seemed like super luxury to most of us. Fast forward a few years and laptops are flying off the shelves. Seems you’re not cool if you’re not carrying a laptop into the coffee café. And did you know most colleges now have their classes on the Internet – even using email to communicate with students. Now the number one college item is a laptop computer. Students can carry it with them everywhere and instantly access their courses and homework projects. Today, laptops have all the modern technology, they’re fast, mobile and are even being built with sturdy exteriors for employees to use on construction sites, interior decorating, insurance claims and anywhere else to save us time and costs. Laptops are even faster with plenty of memory for gamers. The Acer laptop is a current favorite with the college and gamer crowd due to its superior memory management and low cost. The Acer Aspire 3050-1733 gets a five start rating and is priced around $538 for a new machine. It comes with 512MB of memory and 80BG on the hard drive. At 9lbs, it’s sturdy and portable and an excellent investment as a first-time purchase. The Acer laptops can last for several years and at this price, you won’t be crying when it’s time to upgrade. Not keen on purchasing new? There is an endless supply of refurbished and used Acer laptops available for purchase. A refurbished laptop is a computer that has been used between one day and three months that was returned to the manufacturer after being purchased new. A used laptop is a machine that is traded in to upgrade to a newer model or is being sold as used on an auction or classified site. A used machine usually means you buy it as is. A refurbished laptop usually comes with a warranty from the manufacturer. Be sure to ask if it is not mentioned in the sale. Buying a refurbished Acer laptop can mean a machine with faster speed and more features. Acer backs up their refurbished laptops with a 90 day warranty. With the wide range of prices and options, there’s an Acer laptop out there to satisfy even the most seasoned purchaser.
Written by Melvin Sullivan our expert of the day.
