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How to Protect Yourself Against Online Scams

2013-03-09T01:59:00.001-08:00

The constant barrage of spam emails and barely-legitimate advertising on the Internet can make it seem like everyone's out to trick you, and a pretty substantial proportion of those people actually are. Computers have brought many conveniences into our lives, but they've also made it easier for scammers, confidence tricksters and criminals to get their hooks in as well, often protected by the veil of online anonymity we're all afforded online.

The best way to prevent yourself from becoming a victim is to be prepared. That's why we've compiled this list of scams, tricks and traps that you might encounter because of your computer, whether online or offline. To give you a fighting chance, we'll also explain the strategies you can use and preventative measures you can take to ensure that your computer - and the personal information kept on it - remains as far away from the eyes of the scammers as is possible.

Scam #1: Tech Support Calls

The tech support phone scam has been going around for over four years now, and shows little sign of letting up. Part of the problem is that the calls originate abroad, so there's little that phone companies - or law enforcement agencies Inside the UK can do.

The scam itself is simple yet blisteringly effective: you receive a phone call from someone purporting to represent Microsoft or possibly some other trustworthy name in the computing industry - who claims that there is a problem with your PC; one which they will help you to fix. These problems tend to be described in generic techno-babble, and you'll hear claims such as "We've received reports which indicate a high number of errors" or "evidence of virus activity". Sometimes they tell you that their data indicates that your PC will soon fail entirely.

If you accept their 'help' repairing your computer, you'll be asked to follow a set of instructions so that they can remotely correct the problem for you. In actual fact, if you follow their instructions you'll end up installing malware that could steal your passwords and card details or be used to disable your computer entirely. What's more, if you go through this process, you'll then be asked to pay a couple of hundred pounds for the help - but you will at least get a 'lifetime subscription' to their support services. Isn't that thoughtful?

There are no errors being broadcast, and no need to pay any money for phone support. The claims, of course, are little more than lies perpetrated by those who target the computer illiterate. Follow their instructions and you could end up in all sorts of trouble - ironically, your PC will be in worse shape than ever before. At the absolute minimum, you'll be down a few hundred pounds for no good reason.

It's not hard to see why this is happening. The rising popularity of call centres hosted abroad (particularly on the Indian subcontinent) means that the labour is cheap, the infrastructure is in place, and means the necessary information is available to them. Not to mention the ease with which the computer-illiterate are quick to trust those who know say they know what they're talking about! Much like scareware, this scam is designed to exploit people's trust. The big difference is that where scareware asks you to trust a dialogue box that mysteriously appears on your computer, this scam asks you to trust a person. It's a form of social engineering, which relies on people's goodwill towards others. You can't simply click it away like you can a dialog box, and that makes it harder to just ignore.

Naturally, Microsoft has distanced itself from the actions of these scammers, and has issued a statement on their website which specifically addresses the scam. The relevant notice is headed 'Avoid scams that use the Microsoft name fraudulently' and can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/security/online-privacy/msname.aspx .

How to Protect Yourself Protecting yourself from this scam is easy. You just have to be aware of it. And now you are. However, not everyone is tech-savvy. If you know any computer users who might be vulnerable, make sure you warn them about these calls. If nothing else, tell them to note down the number and check with you before they do anything the caller asks them, just so they don't get caught in any doubt.

If you pick up the phone only to find yourself the receiving end of this scam, there are also things you can do that might help the bigger picture. Don't simply hang up - let them talk a little, take a note of any web addresses they tell you to visit, then get in touch with the relevant hosting providers to convey your concerns. Ask for the name of their company, and publicise it online.

Or indeed, just string them along for no reason. After all, while they're talking to you, at least you know they're not out pulling the same grift on some easily-intimidated pensioner or gullible teenager.

If you (or someone you know) are taken in by the scam, there's no need to panic. First, inform your bank so that your credit card or the bank account you paid with can be watched for unusual or suspicious activity. Next, scan your computer for malware using an appropriate piece of software, and then change all of your passwords to make sure the scammers can't get access to your private and confidential information. It’s as simple as that, hopefully.

As a general rule, you should already be using your credit card for any remote purchase (i.e. one where you are not physically in a shop) because credit cards have built-in insurance - but if you pay the scammers on your debit card,it's possible the money cannot be retrieved.
Scammers exploit this trust by imitating emails from social media sites and sending fake notifications claiming that you've been friended, tagged or mentioned. Often, this will be accompanied by a message designed to set off a panic response, such as "Have you seen what this person has been saying about you?" or "I can't believe they posted this photo of you..." - the idea being that when panicked, you'll click first and ask questions later.

Quite audaciously, it can also suggest that you're being charged with being infected by malware, and are being charged with “Neglectful Use of Personal Computer" (an offence that doesn't exist). Pretty ballsy, that. Despite the smaller charges, this malware can ask for a fine of up to €100,000, which is clearly a completely ludicrous amount.

Now, while you might not be taken in by this kind of trick, it's important to realise that 41 9 scams are a subset of something called “Advance Fee Fraud", where you pay a small amount of money to get a larger amount back. Few people reading this are likely to get taken in by an unsolicited email, but in some places - like social networks and dating sites - scammers will attempt to snare victims by playing a longer game, befriending them online under an assumed identity before asking for money to help release more, either through investment or fees incurred. Obviously, this money is never released, and the person you lent to will disappear soon after.Be wary of anyone requesting payment to an online payment system when other methods should be available, though. Think about it - would Microsoft really want you to pay with PayPal?

Scam #2: Social Media Phishing

Phishing started off on telephone networks and quickly spread to emails and IM with the advent of the Internet. The current popularity of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter gives scammers yet another form of communication to try and falsify. Many of us think nothing of receiving the occasional email from a social media site, so when one arrives purporting to be a notification of some kind, it's easy to trust it.

When you click the link, you normally get taken to a login screen which will hijack your details and use them to post spam messages or retrieve your contacts, and may even lock you out of your account. Some variants encourage you to download an attachment containing your message, which will actually be a zip file containing a Trojan, allowing external parties to control your PC.

How To Protect Yourself One way to easily remove any doubt is to turn off all email notifications from the social media sites you regularly frequent. That way, even if you get an email that looks like one, you'll know it's false and can just ignore it completely

However, if you don't visit the sites frequently enough to make that a viable option, then the alternative is just to be vigilant. Make yourself aware of the standard protocols for dealing with Phishing: check the target of any links you plan to click on, and if in doubt, enter the website via your usual route and look for the message yourself, rather than simply believing that the email link is legitimate.

If you get stung, but still have control of your account, changing your password should be enough. If you find yourself locked out, you can try account recovery by answering your security questions, but there's a chance whoever controls your account will have changed them as soon as they got into your account - you may be lucky though. If that happens, get in touch with the support team and explain the situation, and they should be able to return control of your account to you.

Scam #3: Met Police Malware

One of the most common pieces of malware affecting Windows PCs over the last 6-12 months, the Ukash virus is sometimes known as the 'Met Police Virus' for its prominent and fraudulent attempt to impersonate the London Metropolitan Police, but it's also possible to encounter it in other variations which mimic everything from regional UK polices forces to the FBI.

The virus is characterised as 'ransomware', because it prevents access to your PC until a fee is paid for its removal. Windows loads as normal, but the login process is hijacked to display nothing but a fraudulent warning purporting to be from some law enforcement agency It usually claims that the computer has been blocked due to the presence of illegal material (everything from copyright infringing videos to terrorist activity) and demands a fine, in Euros, to be paid through either Ukash or Paysafecard. There are two specific variants of this virus going around, one named Win32/Weelsof and another called Win32/Reveton.

The former is specifically designed to target UK computers, with the Metropolitan Police logo stating that “this computer was locked to stop your illegal activity" and making some fairly scary accusations, including the presence of child pornography, zoophilia and “emails with terrorist motives". It then demands a penalty payment of €100 (as if that's the fine you pay for accessing child pornography or being a terrorist).

The software itself is also a Trojan that allows external users to manipulate your computer, so there's a good chance that if you pay once, you'll be bombarded with messages again and again.

The latter variant normally claims to be from the “Specialist Crime Directorate" and makes much milder claims (downloading and distributing copyrighted work) and quoting “Article 1 28" of the Criminal Code of Great Britain, which doesn't exist. It also claims that this entitles them to fine you “two to five hundred minimal wages" or institute a “deprivation of liberty for two to eight years". Which, of course, are common punishments you'll be familiar with if you live in Brit... Oh no, wait... I mean they're complete nonsense.

If you try to pay the fine, you'll be taken to the “Police Central" website, which employs various tricks to make you think you're being monitored, including showing an image from your webcam (if you have one). It claims to be recording, but obviously the input isn't actually leaving your system, just being piped straight back to the screen in an attempt to scare you.

Like many scams, this one plays directly on your fear to try and extract money from you. The idea is that the prospect of fighting false accusations of criminal activity in court (a potentially life-wrecking experience) is so worth avoiding that the prospect of paying a small fine to make them go away instantly seems like a bargain - although if you pay once, chances are you'll be targeted over and over again, since the software will still be on your system and the crooks now know that you're gullible enough to pay!

How To Protect Yourself

Protecting yourself from Ukash-based malware and its variants is simply a case of having a good enough virus scanner installed. The infections tend to come via 'drive-by' downloads, which install the software onto your computer as soon as you visit an infected webpage. A good virus scanner will be able to prevent the drive-by installation, and indeed, may even warn you in advance of your visit to an infected page, if the browser blacklist is up to date enough.

If you're infected, though, you have three main options, two of which are very simple. The first is to roll back your PC using Windows' built-in system recovery features, which will restore an old version of the registry and prevent the software from running, allowing you (or a virus scanner) to easily locate and delete it. The second is to install an anti-malware program which will remove the infection for you.

However, you may also be able to remove it manually, which may be necessary if you don't have a virus scanner available and can't get one onto your PC due to the presence of the malware. The varying styles of infection mean it's difficult to offer a one-size-fits-all removal solution, but the steps here should, if nothing else, allow you to determine where you should look. To access system restore manually, follow these steps:

1. Reboot your computer and enter the boot menu by tapping F8 before the Windows splash screen appears.

2. Choose 'safe mode with command prompt'.

3. When the prompt appears, type “explorer" and hit enter. You need to be fast to do it before the ransomware screen appears!

4. If Explorer loads, type the one of following commands, depending on your OS version.

In Windows XP, type: cd C:\windows\system32\restore\

In Windows Vista/7, type: cd C:\windows\system32\

5. In this location, type “rstrui" and press Enter. This allows you to roll back your system.

Or you can remove the virus without rolling back by following these instructions:

1. Follow the previous steps 1 -3.

2. Type “regedit" in the command prompt, then press enter.

3. In the registry editor, browse to the following key:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\ CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

4. In the right-hand pane, look for the entry 'Shell'. Right click on it and choose 'modify' from the context menu. Make sure it reads 'explorer.exe', and delete or rename any other file the registry key was pointing to (that's the virus). Next time you reboot, the virus will not run and you can install a virus scanner.

Scam #4: Various 419s

At this point, we're probably all familiar with the 419 scam. Even if you've never had a 419 email yourself, you've doubtlessly read the warnings or seen people joke about it on TV The premise is simple: you are due a large amount of money, either as inheritance or as an incentive to help someone else receive a large sum through a bureaucratic loophole. All you have to do is agree to help. And that, of course, means you have to send a little money in advance to unlock the fortune that awaits. No prizes for guessing how it ends. The average victim loses $3000 - but some have literally lost their lives chasing the promised rewards.

The name originates from the Nigerian law under which the practise is banneddue to the prominent Nigerian provenance of many of these emails (although the US and UK actually originate more than Nigeria does).

There are other, less common variants too. Some scammers hijack email accounts and ask for money from people's friends directly with the promise that you'll be paid back. This is normally under the pretence that they need help in an emergency (e.g. they're stuck in a foreign city and have lost their wallet/ID, they've been wrongly arrested and need bail...) so don't believe a word of things until you've spoken to them! Other variants include a “lottery win" which requires you to pay an initial release fee to access your millions of dollars. Again, in both cases, any money you send is gone.

How to protect yourself

Follow one simple rule: never send money to anyone you don't know well using the Internet. Without exception. There are always more sob stories out there, and while they may look incredulous in a poorly- translated email from Nigeria, they could look very credible coming from your “online friend", so if you find someone asking you for money, take a step back and think how well you know this person. And even if it's someone you think you do know, double check: is it definitely them asking?

Avoiding this scam is just a case of deleting the e-mails or communication once you get them. The most obvious are in poor English, often in thundering all-caps, and full of unlikely claims.

If you do get taken in, there's little chance of recovering your money unless the criminal is caught - and in most cases, that's going to take some serious international detective work. It's far better to spot straight away when things look fishy than to try to undo your actions, so keep an eye out!

Scam #5: Work From Home

If you've ever wondered about those “make money from home" adverts, we can tell you this: the idea of working from home is a tempting one, especially when it seems to be easy money, but it's fairly telling that none of these adverts go so far as to say what it is you will be doing.

Respond to one of these adverts and you'll be asked to install some software which helps with email marketing. You'll then be paid based on the number of emails your computer sends. Effectively, you turn your computer into a spamming node to help spammers avoid being easily blocked by their targets. You will make some money, but only at the expense of exploiting other people. If you send too many emails, you might find your Internet connection gets disabled by your ISP, or that your IP address is blocked by major servers.

Another variant of this scam uses software that serves huge numbers of adverts to the victim (i.e. you), which need to be clicked on in order to earn a micropayment of a few cents. Do this enough, and the idea is that you make a lot of money - but a daily payment limit ensures that you can't make any serious amounts, even though you have to have the program running constantly Any cash you make will probably be offset by electricity costs!

How to protect yourself: Again, protecting yourself is a case of not signing up in the first place. If you do, you can expect to see your computer's performance plummet, as well as Internet speeds drop as the connection gets flooded with dodgy requests. The most unscrupulous versions might even install backdoors on your system!

Once the software's on there, you'll probably find it almost impossible to uninstall. If you're lucky, a virus scanner or anti-malware program will be able to get rid of it for you - but because the software is opt-in, it may still be considered legitimate. Don't expect the uninstall program to do the job.

If you do get tricked, a system roll-back might be able to remove the program, and keep an eye on any credit card, Paypal or bank accounts that you may have provided details for - it's unlikely they'll be abused, but not impossible.

Give Your PC A Spring Clean For Instant Results

2013-03-06T05:06:00.000-08:00

Does your PC freeze or shutdown after it's been on for a while, or whilst you are performing lots of tasks? If so, there's a good chance the machine is getting a bit hot under the collar . More specifically, your CPU (Central Processing Unit) is getting too hot and finding it hard to function properly.

The reason for this problem is surprisingly good old fashioned, low tech: dust. The dust is drawn into your PC's case because the machine sucks in air to cool down important components. The hottest of these components is normally the CPU, which - like we do after exercise - produces heat as a by-product of its work. The same simple law that says work makes heat is also true of all your machine's major parts. As they work away they get a little toasty – and sometimes this can be dangerous.

If everything in your computer is working as it should, the fans in the case draw in cold air from the front of the PC and blow out warm air from the back. Over time, though, a build-up of dust can put a stop to this crucial cooling process.

To cure the problem, all you need is a trusty Philips screwdriver to take off the machine's side panel, a soft brush, toothbrush and - if you're feeling keen - a hoover. Remove the PCs case - if you undo the screws at the back the PCs side panel should slide off. Don't be tempted at this point to just suck the PC clean with the hoover. It's a lot easier and safer for that matter to use a soft brush and just tease the dust off the main components, let it settle at the bottom of the case and then suck it up from there.

As you clean, pay specific attention to your CPUs cooling fan. Some are very complex-looking contraptions with fins and blades, and the key is to remove as much of the deadly dust from them as possible without breaking them; many can be quite delicate. This is especially important since the dust on fins can make its way into bearings, making fans incredibly noisy. A good idea would be to remove the cooler from the CPU and clean seperatly and away from the PC using a old dry toothbrush, some wipes and a can of compressed air if u have one to hand. This technique is a little more advanced in order to remove the cooler from the CPU and is something I will be covering in this blog shortly.

There are likely to be several fans inside your PC and you should clean them allcarefully. Doing so not only
increases their effectiveness, but also ensures they'll keep working for longer, as a build-up of dust will cause the fan to spin unevenly Finally, and this is extremely important,whatever you do don't probe your PCs power supply. It's filled with capacitors that - even after the machine has been turned off for a long time - will still hold a charge. The results can be and are fatal. Yes, it's got a fan in it, but that’s one I don’t advise on cleaning.

Happy cleaning, and if you have any tips, tricks or just want to comment please do, below. Thank you.

The Beginners Guide to Home Servers

2013-02-04T07:17:00.000-08:00

In this feature I’ll be reaching out to those people who want to

take the next natural step in their home systems, and establish

a home server. It’s often a sign that, having discovered what

individual devices can do, that you’re ready to join up the dots

and deliver something more than the sum of the parts.

This isn’t something that everyone will do or want to do, but

the advantages of having a centralised server are convincing.

Why Have A Server?

At one time it was only businesses that had servers, and I

even remember a time that proceeded that when all PC’s were

standalone. So why did companies think they needed them, and

are the same reasons now applicable in the home?

Any business relies on a flow of information, and that could

be spoken in person or on the phone, in printed form or

electronic. What a server does is allows a business to centralise

it’s information, allowing all employees easy access to it, so they

can do their jobs more efficiently. Servers provide a single point

of contact, and can help organise the information for more

general consumption. That might not seem appropriate for a

typical British home, but if you replace invoices and stock control

databases with music, pictures and movies, then a server at home

makes considerably more sense.

With all your personal data stored centrally, you can access

it from multiple computers, and other devices, like tablets

and phones. You can secure it against the failure of any one

computer (including the server itself) and you can easily distribute

it. You can also provide a single access point for peripherals, like

printers, so that all computers have access to them, not just one.

What Do I Need To Have One?

Having a car without roads is pretty limiting, and in the same

way a server needs some infrastructure so that whatever you

store on it can be seen by other computers. In most cases this is a

network, either wired or wireless. However, the best solutions are

usually a combination of the two.

To implement a wired network you’ll need a switch - the

central hub into which all systems are physically cabled -

although most broadband routers now come with at least four

Ethernet ports included, which you can use in exactly the same

way. If you need more ports, you can chain a switch to the

router and branch from that to provide 5, 8, 16 or more ports. In

practical terms the number of computers that this would support

without specialist management is greater than you’re ever likely

to have, so from that perspective this simple model is practically

limitless.

The downside of a wired connection is running the physical

cables through your home, which can prove challenging to

even those with good DIY skills. Homes in UK weren’t built with

cabling in mind, but there are alternatives for those that aren’t

prepared to drill holes and mount wall sockets.

One of those is to subvert the electrical cabling of the house to

send data along with the power. These solutions aren’t cheap, and

the speeds they offer aren’t as high as gigabit Ethernet, but they’re very

easy to deploy and will work to connect remote locations on the same ring-main.

The final solution, and the one that most people use is standard IEEE 802.11,

or wi-fi as it’s now generally referred. Depending how thick your walls are, this can

either be a simple and effective means to create a network without wires,

or a complete nightmare.

What’s critical to remember about wireless networking is that

it extends beyond the physical limits of the property, that there

is no guarantee of any specific speeds you’ll get, and the more

devices using it the lower performance you should expect.

The key advantage of Wi-fi, other than the lack of wires, is

that if you’ve got broadband you’ve probably got wi-fi too, so

connecting your system up doesn’t have any more overheads

than your time in configuring it.

In the context of using a server, I’d strongly recommend that

at least that machine was connected to the router by wires, but

it’s technically possible to make it wi-fi connected too, if wiring is

not possible.

Once you’ve got yourself a network, then you can think about

having a server, and all that entails.

The Cost Of Ownership

Before I get into the mechanics of actually deploying a server, I

need to talk a little about the cost of ownership, because very

little these days comes without ongoing expense.

Assuming you’ve got your infrastructure and you’ve

budgeted for a machine to act as the server, what other costs

should you expect?

One point that many people don’t consider is the extra

demand on their electricity service, which if the serving computer

is running 24 hours a day could quickly mount up. Ideally, the

machine should have power saving features active, so that if it’s

not been accessed that it can sleep, and wake when required. If

you use a dedicated NAS box or similar device these can also be

set to automatically sleep between certain hours, reducing the

power consumption of the system.

If you have a computer that will be on 24/7, then it’s probably

worth using a power meter to determine how much it draws,

and from that you can work out the implications of running it on

your yearly power bill.

The other cost isn’t necessarily financial, it’s your time. Once

you’ve got your server running it isn’t really a fire-and-forget

exercise, it’s needs to be attended to on a regular basis. What

you don’t want to have happen is that the system fails and

takes what data you’ve placed on it away. To avoid this you

need to monitor it’s condition, check that any necessary updates

are installed and that whatever backup strategy that you’ve

employed is really working.

These all might seem dreary errands, but once you have a

server you’ll be awarded the honorary roll of home ‘IT Manager’

and you need to do the sorts of things that would be familiar to

someone paid to do that job.

That includes security sweeps, to make sure that it’s only you

and your family that has access to the server, and not anyone out

on the internet.

Some servers has software that will email you should anything

unexpected happen, and it’s well worth configuring these to

avoid unwelcome surprises.

A Choice Of System

If you are serious about having a server then you need to decide

exactly how you intend to deliver this technology. Here are a

number of ways you can do it, some of which are more expensive

than others.

Asus CS Series

An Existing PC

This is how most people start off, by taking one of the existing

computers and subverting it to become a server.

At the simplest level all you need to do this is to add all your

users to that computer, preferably with the same password they

use on their own systems. Then you can share folders on the

server, which can then be connected to using their logins from

their respective PCs.

With XP, Vista or Windows 7 this is very easy, and the only

limitation is that generally you’ll be limited to 10 connections

because of a cap by the operating system. If you use Linux you

won’t limited, and it’s entirely possible to have a large number

of Windows, Apple Mac or other Linux machines supported by a

single Linux serving PC.

Any services that you want to distribute, like iTunes, will need

to be installed and configured on the serving PC by you - which,

depending what you are trying to do, might get rather technical.

Advantages

It’s cheap! What’s more, you’re dealing with hardware that you’re

familiar with. If the computer dies you can pull out the drives

(unless they died too) and access the contents from another

Windows computer.

Disadvantages

What I would avoid doing is trying to do this with a PC that’s

also in use as a client, because it’s very easy to forget that other

people are connected to you and turn off the PC. The action

of serving also has an overhead in performance, so that PC

will seem slow, or if it’s busy playing a game those connected

to it will notice that it isn’t responsive. This shouldn’t really be

a problem, because many people have an old PC tucked away

that’s no longer used, and it’s probably powerful enough to be

a server.

Also, some desktop PCs aren’t especially quiet, and having it

running for long periods might be problematic because of the

noise and the heat they will generate. Basically, It will work, but

it’s not ideal.

A Dedicated Serving PC

Dell Home server

While it’s possible to turn a desktop PC into a dedicated

machine, you can also buy such home/small office servers.

They usually come with a minimal configuration, no mouse or

keyboard, and drive slots that can take multiple mechanisms.

They’re often built around a low power architecture that allows

them to remain on for long periods without getting hot, and

they can be provided with a licence for Windows Home Server. If

you’re converting an existing PC, Windows Home Server will have

to be bought separately, or you could use a Linux distro for free.

Advantages

In a short phrase, dedicated servers are ‘designed for the job’.

Using hardware made to be a server and an OS that’s also

specific to the task is always going to be better than something

that wasn’t. Low power consumption, and generally quiet

operation are major advantages too.

Disadvantages

The cheapest of these computers is still around £250, and you’ll

need to buy additional hard drives to provide centralised storage.

Typically, I’d budget at least £400 for a dedicated small server.

The other caveat is administering the computer, which you’ll

need to understand and monitor. Many of these chores are the

same ones you’ll have experienced on a desktop PC, but some of

them will be unique to the server environment.

LaCie 5big

A NAS Box

The NAS (Network Attached Storage) box is an excellent

alternative to the dedicated server, and in some respects it’s a

superior solution. Depending what your budget will stretch to,

these can range from a single drive solution to a massive rackmounted

array.

They can be bought with drives installed or you can add

those yourself, if you already have them handy. Most accept

3.5” desktop SATA mechanisms, though a few take 2.5” SATA

laptop drives.

My advice is to avoid the single drive models and go for two

or four drive systems, even if you only partially fill them, and

then buy extra drives later.

What’s great about these units is that they’ve been built to

be installed and almost forgotten, and their (usually) Linux OS is

made to be robust and easy to administer via a web interface. If

you want a server that’s very little trouble, then a NAS box is the

way to go.

Advantages

Like the dedicated server, these devices are built to be installed and

then left running, all day, every day. Therefore, they’re made to use as little power as possible, while offering the very best levels of performance. They’re quiet, and it’s possible to tuck them away in aquite part of the house where they won’t disturb anyone.

Disadvantages

Cost, mostly. The better ones can be £400 or more, without

drives. But on the other side of that coin you need to balance

the limited administration you’ll need to perform. They can’t

run Windows applications, so you are limited to what software

modules come installed, and those that are released by the

hardware maker to extend the functionality.

If you don’t do a backup, and the NAS Box fails it could

be almost impossible to recover your data without an exact

hardware replacement.

Security

From the outset having a home server does make you more

widely consider security, because the best solutions usually involve

you providing everyone with a named login and password to

access the server.

This might seem excessive for a home environment, but I

wouldn’t skip that stage as it’s critical to you having a system

that can’t easily be damaged or rifled by a stranger from

the internet.

As part of securing your system whatever server hardware you

use should be protected by both anti-virus and a good firewall,

and it should also be configured to automatically update both of

these facilities along with general operating system patches.

It is possible to configure the server to be only accessible

to specific computers (MAC address filtering) or from internal

IP addresses, though that would inherently stop updates also,

unfortunately. While cutting off the server entirely from the

Internet could be a prudent exercise, it would probably make

it much less useful, so I wouldn’t advise it. If you have ad-hoc

requirements for access, a guest account with limited privileges

is probably worth considering.

It’s your server and, as such, you need to protect it

properly, or you may just find that it’s been taken over for

nefarious purposes.

Hardware Suggestions

So you want to buy a home server, but have no idea what

to consider? Here are a couple of dedicated Windows

Home Server solutions and a bevy of NAS boxes that I can

recommend from direct experience.

HP ProLiant Turion II N40L MicroServer (£250)

This is a very cheap and cheerful server solution that’s made

for an office or home scenario. Based on AMD’s laptop CPU

the Turion II, it comes with 2GB of RAM and a single 250GB

hard drive with Microsoft Windows Home Server 2011 preinstalled.

You’ll need another hard drive at least to store your

data on, but other than that it’s essentially good-to-go.

Acer Aspire easyStore H340-L Home Server (£240)

If you prefer Intel over AMD, the Acer easyStore H340-L

used the 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU, the Intel 945GC Express

chipset, and comes with a 640GB hard drive. It has room for

another three drives inside, and eSATA could connect more

storage externally. It comes with Windows Home Server

2011, and 2GB of RAM, but annoyingly you can’t expand the

RAM further because of the chipset. That said, with 2GB it’s

reasonably fast and certainly powerful enough for home use.

Synology DS212j NAS Enclosure (£159 with no drives)

This is one of the lower rungs on the NAS box ladder, but the

Synology pedigree means that it has all the functionality you’d

expect. The DS212J is a dual drive option, meaning you could

put 2x 1TB in here for a total price of £270, and you’d have a

DLNA certified media server and centralised storage in one.

It’s low power consumption, can be expanded or backed

up via external USB drives and can operate as a print server if

needed. For the money, this is a wonderful piece of gear.

Seagate FreeAgent GOFLEX HOME 3TB NAS Drive

(£137)

This is something of a bargain, because for the money you not

only get a 3TB hard drive but also a simple, effective NAS box.

Actually the term ‘box’ is somewhat misleading, because this

is just a plinth with the hardware to do file sharing duties. It

also has built-in wi-fi meaning that it can be connected without

needing an Ethernet network, although speed is impacted if you

do this. Seagate has recently released both iPhone and Android

apps, allowing mobile phones to get access to music and images

stored on the device.

Not as flexible a solution as more expensive options, but a

good starting point for those working to a tight budget.

Synology DS413j 4 Bay Desktop NAS (£275 with no drives)

For those wanting plenty of capacity then the DS413j is

certainly the way to go, as it can take four drives up to a

maximum of 16TB. However, that would cost more than

£1,000 when you’ve factored in the four 4TB drives. With 2TB

drives costing about £75, you can put 8TB in here for about

£575 inclusive, and you can map the system so that you

get 6TB of working space, but any drive death will not result in

data loss.

The Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM) is amazingly

featured and can be configured to perform many roles, such

as mail server, web server, security camera management, SQL

server, Torrent Client, iTunes server, and many more.

Final Thoughts

Having a home server opens up all sorts of exciting possibilities,

especially if you’ve got a growing family, and want to pool

resources. By having a centralised place, that’s not the internet,

files and services can be rapidly accessed and new contents

easily added.

There are many other things that a home server can do

as well, and some of them are truly impressive. One of my

favourite home server features is my internal version of Cloud

Computing, where my working documents follow me around

from computer to computer. This is achieved by a feature of my

Synology NAS box called ‘Cloud Station’.

To use this you need an account on the NAS box and to install

the Cloud Station software on any PC that you’re likely to use.

Then you can identify a folder as being a ‘Cloud Station’ one,

though for whatever reason it must be empty to begin with.

Once you’ve done that any files that you place in that folder

are immediately duplicated to the NAS box, and then replicated

to any other computer that’s also been configured.

This document that I’m working on will be on the NAS box

just seconds after I’ve closed it, and on my laptop in the lounge

before I’ve actually got to that room. In this way I can start

something in one place and then complete it elsewhere. The

really amazing thing about this facility, though, is that it works

beyond the bounds of this house and my network - because

Cloud Station is Internet aware, I can sync remotely.

That’s a very powerful feature, but it’s just the tip of a

very large technological iceberg that owning your own server

could expose.

If you’re unsure if this is for you, we’d recommend you dig

out that old Athlon rig in the attic, download a server version of

Ubuntu and experiment. If it isn’t useful then it doesn’t take a

few seconds to turn off, but I’d be surprised if you don’t find it a

little bit useful, if not entirely invaluable.

Tips & Tricks: How To Access Hidden Browser In Windows 8

2013-01-08T08:52:00.004-08:00

If for any reason you cannot access your web browser in windows 8 or any version of windows. You can use this handy trick.

In windows operating systems there are hidden internet browsers placed in the help files. This is possible because the code used for the program is HTML HyperText Markup Language.

Upgrade to Windows 8

2013-01-05T05:42:00.001-08:00

You can still get Windows 8 even if you don't want to splash out on a new computer. Here's how...

When it comes to moving to Microsoft's latest operating system, most people will do so when they buy a new desktop PC, laptop or even tablet. Following the horror stories of upgrading underspecced Windows XP PCs to the much-maligned Vista, even hardened tech upgraders have been fighting shy of'upgrading'their computer's operating system. After all, a PC can be the third biggest investment you ever make, after your house and car, and the operating system is its blood supply.

But Windows 8 is different. You could make a good case for upgrading a Windows 7 PC at least, for two simple reasons. First, it’s the most radical change in Microsoft PC computing since Windows 3.0 made way for Windows 95. And, perhaps more pertinently in this case, the system requirements are just the same as they are for Windows 7. Indeed, if your system can run Vista, it will handle Windows 8 with aplomb. And, some would argue the upgrade may make your computing experience smoother.

Things can go wrong, however, and upgrading a PC is nothing like trying out Windows 8 as a separate partition, or via a USB stick. So before you do anything at all, be sure to back up to a separate storage device any files, photos, music and video that you want to keep. It's important also to note the distinction between upgrading to Windows 8 from Vista or Windows 7; and upgrading to Windows 8 from XP. In the case of Vista and Windows 7, you can perform an in-place upgrade that will in principle at least allow you to retain all your files and settings. Upgrading from XP requires an entirely new install, and anything you don't back up will be lost.

Here is a general guide on how to prepare for an in-place upgrade installation, using a download from the Microsoft website. If you have purchased Windows 8 on a disc, the process will be much more simple: just install the first disc and follow the instructions, keeping the box with the product key by your side.

Getting started

First, you'll need to create an image of your existing Windows installation. Insert a blank recordable DVD and, when the auto play options appear, choose Create Disc Image. You'll probably need several DVDs for this process. Our Toshiba Satellite needed four, and the image creation process took nearly two hours.

Next, browse to Microsoft.com and scroll down to the option for Windows 8. At the time of writing, to install Windows 8 you'll have to install the Consumer Preview. You'll need to enter your email address, location and other details.

Read through and agree to the terms of the download. When Windows 8 is fully launched, you will have to purchase an install code.

Assuming you're downloading the OS to the computer on which you want to install it, Windows will now check through your existing hardware setup and identify any compatibility issues that it thinks you should be aware of. Click more details in the compatibility report to learn more. You will probably be advised that your existing security software won't work in Windows 8.

Once Windows has all the information it needs, you'll be asked to enter a product key. (If you are installing the Consumer Preview and this field isn’t automatically completed, type in DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J.) Enter the code you received when you purchased Windows 8, either from Microsoft or a third party. Windows will prompt you to save the new operating system software to your desktop.

Once downloaded, Windows 8 needs to know where it should be installed. To overwrite your existing operating system, choose the Install Now option. Otherwise, select either install later or install to a partition. To install on a different drive or partition, Windows 8 needs to be saved to either a USB hard drive of at least 3GB or burned as an ISO file to a DVD. Make your selection and insert a blank disc or plug in your USB drive. Press to confirm you want to burn the disc. Restart the PC and insert the disc or drive containing the ISO file. Follow the prompt to install Windows 8, ensuring you browse to the right partition or drive. We found the OS wanted to install to the usual C drive by default, which would have overwritten our Windows 7 PC.

Once Windows 8 has installed on your machine, you'll be prompted to set up a Windows Live account that you'll log in to every time to use Windows. If you don't have a Hotmail account or Windows Live ID already, either create one or use another email address and verify the account through it. You're now ready to use Windows 8.

If you took the precaution of backing up files before the install, now is the time to check that everything is shipshape, and replace any missing files.

PC Upgrade Q&A

2013-01-04T10:44:00.005-08:00

When the time comes to upgrade your PC, you might have trouble deciding the best place to spend your time and money. Do you get more RAM or a new hard drive? Do you get an up-to-date graphics card or replace the motherboard? As you may have noticed, it's quite hard to compare the advantages of different component upgrades, and ultimately your decision rests on what you want your PC to do after you've spent the money on it.

For that reason, we've compiled this FAQ-style list of wants, needs, intentions and constraints to give you the best advice about upgrading. To use it, just go down the list, find the entry that corresponds to your feelings, and you'll be able to discover which upgrade is right for you.

I Want Games to Run Faster or Look Better

Desires to improve the way games run is probably the most common reason people decide to upgrade their PC.After all, PC gaming at its best makes even the latest games consoles look like decades-old technology. However, since games use almost every aspect of your PC, the destination of improved game performance can be reached on many roads. What choice you eventually make will depend on the hardware you currently have, the money you have to spend, and how comfortable you are with upgrades.

Nvidia GeForce 690 GTX

If, for example, you don't currently have a dedicated graphics card, you should make that your first priority. A good gaming graphics card will cost in excess of £100, and probably closer to £200. Really good ones can easily set you back twice as much. So is the money worth it? Well, to put it bluntly, yes.

A good graphics card will transform jerky, jagged images into lush and incredible vistas. You are, after all, putting a separate CPU in your PC, which is intended to take care of nothing but the visuals, at prices that eclipse the cost of an entire games console.

This will also free up your actual CPU to run the rest of the show. If better games are your goal, then adding a dedicated graphics card is the quickest way to see huge results.

Of course, if you already have a dedicated graphics card, it might not make a huge difference, in which case, your CPU might be a better place to spend the money. Run some benchmarks, find out which of the two is the bottleneck in your system, and upgrade that (if not both!). You can also get improvements by adding RAM or switching to a solid- state drive, but neither will offer such dramatic changes as a graphics card or CPU upgrade.

I Want Windows To Be Faster

Windows' speed has improved in recent years, but there are few people who would turn down the chance to have a quicker desktop environment. If you spend a lot of time working or browsing but aren't into games, the best upgrade you can give your computer is probably a chunk of additional RAM.

If you're using less than 4GB (or 8GB for a 64-bit CPU) invest immediately so that you have at least that amount - it's cheap, easy to install and the results will be instantaneously visible. That's because more RAM means more space for Windows to juggle its data.

Less disk caching means quicker loading times, smoother application switching, and the ability to run more applications simultaneously before your system begins to stammer. A new CPU also has the potential to speed certain tasks up, and a dedicated/upgraded graphics card could take over some of the visual processing, but there's no question that in terms of a speed-to-cost ratio, more RAM is the best way to improve how Windows performs.

I Don’t Want To Open Up My PC

If there's a good reason you can't open your case (for example, a warranty you don't want to void, or because it's technically owned by someone else), the best upgrades you can perform will, of course, be in software. If you're trying to increase performance, it's a good idea to start by installing the latest device drivers and firmware updates, all of which will make minor tweaks to the performance and feature sets of your existing hardware.

However, if you're not already using the latest operating system, you should definitely look into that. If your PC meets the hardware requirements, a new operating system will add extra capabilities and allow you access to others (for example, 64-bit processing), while the clean slate of a fresh installation will flush out all those little services and applets that are slowing down your computer. It's not an ideal upgrade, but it's your best option when cracking open the case isn't.

I Need New Storage

A full computer is an unhappy computer, not least because it means that your disk will go into churning mode more and more frequently as the virtual memory and temporary files struggle to fit in decreasing amounts of space.

It might be tempting to buy a flash drive, get some cloud storage or start flushing out files you don't want to hang on to, but rather than go through your MP3 collection deciding which Coldplay album can be cut for space, the most direct route to better storage is just to buy a new hard disk. They're incredibly cheap, easy to fit and typically quite long- lived, so you should see decent return on your investment. Ideally, you want to fit a SATA 6Gbps (sometimes called SATA III) drive, but it depends on your motherboard supporting the technology. If you can't fit a SATA drive, a standard IDE drive will do just fine.

It's worth avoiding solid-state drives, though - while they're fast, it comes at the expense of capacity, and the biggest SSDs can't touch the biggest traditional HDDs, which are currently available in sizes up to 3TB.

I’m Not Very Experienced At Fitting Hardware

Not everyone is a born tinkerer, so if you don't feel comfortable pulling at the guts of your PC until they resemble an explosion in a bowl of spaghetti, don't worry: there are still upgrades you can perform that won't take a lot of technical knowledge to fit.
The simplest upgrade is RAM. As long as you've bought the right type of memory (probably DDR2 or DDR3), all you have to do is open your case, find the slot and push until it clicks. You may need to swap out or move an existing module, but the physical act is literally no more difficult than that. Hard drives are similarly easy to add.

In this case, you have to screw the drive into place and connect up two cables, but they're robust, well-shielded and usually straightforward to configure. Not much can go wrong, making them a good choice to help you get familiar with a PC's internals.

Finally, you could consider stretching to a graphics card upgrade. Expansion cards are generally easy to deal with, but graphics cards do have a host of considerations, involving cooling and power supplies that might throw the novice user, so take care before you spend the money - they aren't cheap, after all.
If you can manage any of those upgrades, then hopefully you'll have the confidence to try something a bit more complicated next time. Just don't start by trying to fit a new motherboard and you'll be fine!

My PC Is Too Old To Support A New Processor Or RAM

Speaking of motherboard upgrades, if your RAM banks are full or your processor can't be sped up because faster/newer CPU lines have moved to a different socket, then there's only one thing for it: you're going to have to upgrade your motherboard. As you'll find if you read our motherboard upgrade guide, this is a delicate and complicated procedure that effectively involves dismantling your entire PC and then rebuilding it.

On the plus side, you should be able to retain pretty much all your existing components; a new motherboard should accommodate all your old parts with the probable exception of the processor and RAM, and the majority of component retailers sell bundles of those three, which reduces the difficulty of choosing compatible hardware to a minimum.
Be aware that this isn't a trivial upgrade, and some people may find it easier to just buy a new PC rather than spend the money on this amount of work. If you're dedicated to hand crafting the best machine you can, though, this is the way to do it.

I Want To Watch Blu-ray Movies

Turning your PC from a bog-standard desktop machine into a media centre isn't very difficult to do, but there are a few pitfalls you might stumble into. Allow us to give you a quick guide to the upgrade path you need to take.
First - and while it might seem obvious, it's worth making explicit - you'll need to buy a Blu-ray drive. Regular DVD drives can't read Blu-ray discs, but Blu-ray drives can read DVDs, so it can be installed alongside or as a replacement for your current optical drive (though take care over writing/rewriting capabilities; the cheapest drives may not be able to burn DVDs).

Secondly, you'll need an available SATA connection. There are some IDE Blu-ray drives, but problems with playback due to the low bandwidth of IDE connections means most drives are SATA - certainly, the ones that are any good. Don't worry if your motherboard doesn't support SATA; you can buy a cheap SATA controller that will plug into a PCI slot.
Finally (and this is the really tricky one), you'll need to make sure you have an HDCP-compliant connection to a 1080p TV/monitor if you want to get the best picture, which normally means an HDMI cable. VGA cables don't support the digital copy protection of HDCP, so your hardware will restrict the quality of the signal (to prevent piracy) negating the appeal of Blu-ray in the first place!

I Want Windows To Boot Faster

Few people would turn down the chance to improve Windows' boot time, and while it's possible to spend hours testing various hard drives optimisations and tweaking the number of background services and drivers that load, you could just go the simple route and improve it using hardware instead.

If a quicker boot time is your goal, then the best thing you can do is get yourself a solid-state drive and make that your primary storage device. With your operating system stored entirely on flash memory, your computer's boot time will dramatically shrink. Traditional hard drives have always been a bottleneck, but never more visibly than during boot time, when Windows has a lot of data to read and not a lot of time to do it in, which leads to frenetic hard drive activity causing irritating delays.
Installing an SSD will require a SATA controller, so if your motherboard doesn't support it, you can get a SATA controller expansion card to fit in a free PCI slot.
Also, because the drives have a 2.5" form factor, you'll have to install the drive in a 3.5" bay conversion (converters are normally included, but do check).Then you'll have to face the horror of transferring your windows installation to the new drive, but once it's done, you can expect a PC that goes from POST to desktop in 30 seconds or less.

Note that a faster processor, more RAM or even a faster hard drive can aid boot times, but in this area, no other upgrades can compare to the improvements you'll see from installing an SSD.

I Have A Limited Budget

If you only have a bit of money to spend, it can be tricky to decide where to invest your cash in order to see the best value improvements. RAM is cheap - about as cheap as it can economically get, at the moment - and it offers a great set of all round enhancements that will be visible across the entire spectrum of uses for your PC. DDR3 is set to remain in use for couple of years yet too, so there's every chance it'll even fit in the next PC you buy!

Processor upgrades, while more expensive, are similarly good all-rounders. Assuming your motherboard isn't already running the best CPU that'll fit in it, a new, faster one will kick your PC into overdrive in ways that are visible in almost every way you use it. Obviously, new CPUs are quite expensive even if you're buying from an older line, and unless you're already in the Ivy Bridge/Sandy Bridge leagues, there's not much hope you can transfer the processor to a future PC, but in terms of value-for-money performance improvements, it's one expense that yields a lot of improvements.

Things to avoid if you can't spend a lot of money include hard drives (clean up your existing one instead), SSDs (they're still quite new and, as such, still expensive in practical sizes) and graphics cards (you'll have to spend a lot to get a good one, and even then, you won't see much difference outside games).

I Want My PC To Be Quieter

There's something almost comforting about the gentle hum of a PC at rest. And equally, few sounds are more frustrating than a PC that sounds like the love-child of a vacuum cleaner and a pneumatic drill. If your computer's making too much noise, there are upgrades that can help.

To start with, identify the source of the noise. Normally, a loud PC is the result of a fan going into overdrive, and that means determining which fan is being noisy and why.
If the fans are always loud, they're probably loose and rattling, which means your best option is to outright replace them with new ones. If they start quiet but soon get louder and stay that way, it's possibly the result of your PC's internal ventilation being poor. Clean the dust out your PC and consider installing dust filters on any vents to maximise airflow.

However, if your PC only gets noisy when you're performing heavy processing tasks (such as gaming), then your components are simply running too hot. You have three choices: install extra fans (more fans means they can individually run slower and thus quieter), buy a case with better ventilation (more airflow means the fans won't shoulder the entire burden of cooling) or add a noiseless system, like water-cooling or heatsinks. It's a bit trial- and-error, but if you want things to get quieter, it's better to address the root of the problem and deal with the heat that's probably causing it.

So there you have it. A quick guide to what upgrades you should be investing your hard-earned cash in. Remember that you can mix-and- match, and that these are just the upgrades where you'll see the most improvement in the specific area - they'll have effects elsewhere too! And if you now know what upgrade you want but don't know how to choose and install it, well, fear not; you can now look elsewhere in this feature for some more specific advice about what to buy and how to install it!

Speed up your PC...For free

2013-01-04T03:04:00.000-08:00

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO RESTORING YOUR PCs POWER

However fast your computer is, there comes a time when you can't help wanting it to perform a little better. Maybe you need to squeeze a few extra frames out of a game. Maybe you just want it to run like it did on the day you bought it.

Whatever your reasoning, I've compiled a list of all the ways you can speed up your computer (some easy, some not so easy, some drastic, some simple) without having to spend any money. If you've ever sat at your PC and thought 'What's taking so long!?' or 'Can't this thing go any faster!?' this is where you'll find your answers...

Improve Hard Drive Performance

Hard drives are frequently the system bottleneck that waste the most time. For optimum performance, you want a system with plenty of free space and a logically ordered drive. Here, we tell you how to achieve such things.

Defragment your hard drive

It may take a long time, but a properly defragmented hard drive allows quicker access times, which means better speeds in all aspects of Windows operation. Programs launch faster, because common files are placed on the fastest areas of the disk, while large files can be read and copied more quickly because the sectors are ordered sequentially. However, if your hard drive is simply too large to defrag, don't just give up - you can still improve performance by using a program such as Defraggler www.piriform.com/defraggler to optimise individual files and folders, such as game directories or your inbox.

Delete temporary files

Old, unwanted files can collect in the temp directory, wasting space and getting in the way of virus scans and disk indexing. To find these files, type ' %TEMP%' into the start menu search box and press Enter. Everything in this location (On Windows 7, it'll be something like 'C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Temp') can be deleted. Some files may currently be in use, but don't worry, they can be deleted in the future instead.

Delete the hibernation file

When you set your PC to hibernate, it stores a copy of the RAM contents on your hard drive to reload when it wakes up. This file should be deleted automatically, but sometimes it hangs around by accident. If hiberfil.sys exists on your system, you can delete it and recover several gigabytes of space in the process.

Uninstall old and unused software

It might seem like a good idea to keep hold of programs you don't use, but the reality is that the more you have installed, the slower your PC is and the more hard drive space is wasted. Although many programs have an 'uninstall' option in the start menu, you can also get rid of them by clicking 'Start' > 'Control Panel' >'Uninstall a Program'. This will tell you how big a program is and when it was last used - useful for distinguishing between what's worth deleting and what you should probably keep.

Defragment your pagefile

Instead of defragmenting your entire hard drive, you could just defragment your Windows pagefile. This is the multigigabyte file on your hard drive that is used as virtual memory - essentially extra RAM.

As with all files, defragmenting speeds up read and write access, but where defragmenting an entire hard drive takes ages for a comparatively small performance boost, defragging the pagefile will represent a much larger performance increase compared to the time spent on it. We recommend using UltraDefrag (ultradefrag.sourceforge.net) for the task!

Move your pagefile to another storage device

The speed of pagefile access needs to be as fast as possible, so you can actually speed up your PC by storing your pagefile on the fastest possible storage medium, whether that's a solid-state drive or a fast hard drive. If you have two physical hard drives that are the same speed, you can improve access times by storing it on the one you use least, because resources will be shared more evenly between the two drives. To move your pagefile, click on the Start menu, type 'Advanced System Settings' in the search box and click 'View advanced system settings'. Under the 'Advanced' tab, find the section called 'Performance' and click 'Settings.' Again, under the 'Advanced' tab, find the 'Virtual Memory' section and click 'Change...'

Here, you can uncheck 'Automatically manage paging file size for all drives' then choose another drive for the pagefile to go on. You'll need at least as much space as you have RAM, so 4GB of space for 4GB of RAM. Once you've done this, Click 'set', then completely remove the pagefile from the original location (usually C: drive). Click 'OK' to exit on each dialogue until prompted to reboot, then do so.

Increase system memory with ReadyBoost

The built-in ReadyBoost feature available in some versions of Windows 7 allows it to use a nice, fast, solid-state USB drive for its virtual memory needs. It's not as good as adding more RAM, but it's better than nothing. To activate ReadyBoost, you should insert the thumbdrive, allow it to auto-run, and from the autoplay dialogue, click 'Speed up my system' (if you don't see it, then unfortunately your version of Windows doesn't have Readyboost!) Now, on the ReadyBoost properties page, check the option for 'Dedicate this drive to ReadyBoost'. Move the slider to allocate the desired amount. You need at least 235MB, but use the entire drive if possible.

Reduce Windows’ Resource Footprint

Just because Windows looks like it isn't doing anything, it doesn't mean that it isn't. There's almost always something going on under the surface. Here we'll help you remove all the busywork and embellishments that get in the way so that Windows is ready to go as soon as you need it.

Load fewer programs on boot

We've all faced the irritation of a PC that goes all sluggish after it's just been switched on. The problem is usually that Windows tries to load a huge amount of background services as soon as you log in. To disable some of these, click 'Start' > 'Search', type 'msconfig' then press Enter to open the System Configuration tool. Have a poke around the 'Startup' tab to see what you can remove to keep your start-up streamlined.

Disable unused program components

There are parts of Windows that, for whatever reason, you might never use. These can be easily discarded in favour of recovering the space and CPU time they take up. To find and disable them, click 'Start', then 'Control Panel', followed by 'Programs and Features'. In the pane on the left, click 'Turn Windows features on or off.' You can now go down the list and uncheck features you don't use, freeing up resources and generally decluttering your installation.

Disable search indexing

The Windows Search Indexer can spend ages reading file contents and storing them so that your searches run that little bit faster. However, if you don't run searches very often, or even use another program (such as Google Desktop Search) the Indexer is just wasting time churning up your hard drive for no good reason.

Disable it by clicking 'Start' and typing 'services, msc' into the search box. Press Enter to bring up the 'Services' dialogue, then in the list of services, find 'Windows Search'. Right-click on it and open the 'Properties' dialogue. Choose 'Disabled' in the 'Startup type' drop-down, then click 'OK'.

Next time you reboot, the indexing service will be disabled, giving you back the resources it would otherwise be taking up. Note that you may get a warning that it is disabled whenever you perform a search in the future. To remove this warning, open Windows Explorer, click 'Tools' > 'Folder Options'> 'Search', then check 'Always Search File name and contents' and 'Don't use the index when searching.'

Remove unwanted fonts When certain applications (such as Word or Photoshop) launch, they can spend a significant amount of time reading in all of the different fonts on your system. Removing fonts can speed up the launch times, and free up resources while those programs are in use. To uninstall them, click 'Control Panel' > 'Appearance and Personalization' > 'Fonts', then select the fonts you want to get rid of and simply hit 'Delete'.

Disable Aero

As much as we all love the transparency effects of the Windows Aero interface, it's hard to deny that the resources spent on these frivolities might be better spent on running your software. To disable the effects and recover valuable CPU cycles, right- click on your desktop and select 'Personalize'. Scroll down the 'themes' box and choose 'Windows 7 Basic' or 'Windows Classic'. The new theme, without the effects, will now be enabled. Your system resources are then free to concentrate on more pressing matters.

Change the power plan

In Windows 7, the default performance plan is 'Balanced', meaning that the hardware will ensure that your PC runs well without sucking up your electricity bill or battery charge. If, however, you don't care about shaving pennies off your bill (or your laptop is plugged into the mains) you can visit 'Power Options' in Control Panel and select 'Maximum Performance' to keep your hardware running at its best regardless of how much power is available.

Disable visual effects

Disabling the visual effects in Windows will free up processor and graphics resources so that they can be used for more pressing concerns. On low-resource systems, it's an absolute must!

To do so, click Start, right-click 'Computer' and select 'Properties'. From this dialogue, select 'Advanced System Settings', then under the 'Advanced' tab, find the Performance box and click 'Settings'Here, select the 'Custom' radio button, then uncheck whatever you like in the box below. You may want to keep some of the effects enabled (particularly 'Smooth edges of screen fonts'), but each one you deselect should make Windows a little bit more responsive.

Remove the wallpaper

As much as we love personalising our Windows installation with a signature desktop background, it takes memory to store it and resources to redraw it every time you click 'show desktop'.No background might look bland, but it's undeniably faster. To clear the wallpaper, right-click on the desktop and select 'Personalize', click on 'Desktop Background', and in the 'Picture Location' drop-down, select 'Solid Colour'. Choose a colour, then click 'OK'.

Disable thumbnails

If you have a directory full of pictures or videos, trying to browse the folder can become a little bit like swimming in a pool of tar. Disabling the thumbnail preview feature will stop Windows from creating previews of these files when you enter the directory, leaving you to browse at your own pace. To do so, open Windows Explorer, click 'Organize' > 'Folder and Search Options' > 'View' and tick the box that reads 'Always show icons, never thumbnails.'

Disable Windows Defender Assuming you already have a good virus scanner installed, there's absolutely no reason to leave Windows Defender enabled too. It'll routinely download updates, slowing down your internet connection, and using up processor and memory resources better spent on an actually useful anti-virus program. Disable Windows Defender by opening it from the start menu (it's under 'All Programs'), clicking 'Tools' > 'Options' > 'Administrator Options', then unchecking the 'Use Windows Defender' option.

Speed Up Your Internet Connection

No matter how many times Usain Bolt dresses up as Richard Branson to tell you otherwise, broadband internet connections can often seem intolerably slow. There are, however, a few things you can do to speed it up.

Use the master test socket (ADSL users only)The master test socket is a special phone plug located beneath the faceplate of the primary telephone socket in your house - typically one near the front door. It offers the most direct connection to the phone line and therefore gives you the best ADSL speeds.

If you find the master socket, simply plug your ADSL microfilter into it as you would a normal phoneline. You should see some positive change in speeds, though how dramatic it is will vary depending on the quality of your current wiring, because this is what causes degradation between it and any other sockets in your house.

This is not intended to be a permanent solution, however, partly because the master test socket is technically the property of your phone company and they might charge you if you damage it, but also because you cannot put the faceplate back -fc’ * on while using the test socket, and that means, leaving fragile, exposed wires around - never a good thing!

If the speed improves significantly, you can consider having your phone sockets rewired so that you can take full advantage of your phone speeds. BT, however, does offer the 'iPlate', which is a self-install faceplate that allows you to connect ADSL directly to the master test socket in a safe and legitimate way. Worth investigating!

Go online during off-peak hours

It's more a behavioural solution than a technical one, but we it would be remiss of us if we didn't point out that connection speeds can be dramatically affected by the time of day that you use your connection. The reasons aren't all that interesting, but they involve a number of users being assigned the same amount of bandwidth to share. Normally, they don't want it at the same time, but you may have noticed that around 6pm every day, connections slow down markedly for a few hours. This is because 6pm to 9pm on weekdays is the peak time for home internet usage, and thus the time when the most people are sharing the same connection.

With this in mind, you can effectively increase your broadband speed by using the internet after 9pm or before 6pm. If you find yourself affected by poor speeds during peak hours, it's worth getting in touch with your ISP and asking whether they can improve contention ratios for you. Some will be able to sell you an upgrade to a connection, which offers a better contention ratio, and some might give you an upgrade for free if you can prove your experience is dramatically affected.

Improve your wi-fi connection

A full-speed wi-fi connection should be considerably faster than all but the most ambitious internet connections, but if communication between your computer and router is weak, it can create a bottleneck that means you never get the best speeds online. To prevent this, keep the wireless router as close to your PC as possible, with a clear signal between the two. Ideally, you want a line of sight!

If this isn't possible, though, you can replace the antennas on your router and/or wireless cards with stronger or boosted versions. Replacing an antenna is literally as simple as unscrewing it, and replacements should be available from most

How Not To Speed Up Your PC

When it comes to speeding up computers, it seems like everyone wants to find that one tip that gives them the edge. This leads to a lot of disinformation and bad advice floating around. Here, we'll try to debunk some of the most common misconceptions held about speeding up Windows, so you don't follow the wrong advice.

MYTH: Clearing out the Windows prefetch folder improves performance
TRUTH: It doesn't. Indeed, tests have shown that, if anything, it makes things run slower. The Prefetch feature caches program components so that Windows can load them quicker and, indeed, disk defragging software uses the same information to reorganise files more efficiently. You can end up with a lot of prefetch files (up to 128), but they're only accessed when the relevant application launches, so it doesn't matter how many there are; they can only improve the way your system runs.

MYTH: Cleaning up your registry makes Windows faster
TRUTH: Despite the number of registry-cleaning programs available, it's never been conclusively shown that tidying up your registry makes your system run faster. Although a smaller registry is probably a good thing, registry cleaning software barely scratches the surface in terms of reducing registry size. It's more likely that they'll botch the job and leave you with a broken Windows installation than improve speed in any noticeable way.

MYTH: Disable UAC to speed up Windows

TRUTH: This is a phenomenally terrible idea. UAC might seem like an unwelcome obstacle at times, but disable it and you're only opening yourself up to virus infections and malicious software attacks. And how fast will your computer be if it's crippled by spyware? Disabling UAC to speed up Windows is a bit like leaving your front door open in order to speed up entry into your house. It's technically true, but in practical terms it's going to lead to much bigger problems then the second or two it costs you normally.

Speed Up Your Behavior

Sometimes, the problem isn't Windows is being slow; it's that you're not allowing it to be fast. Here we look at some things you can do to improve the speed your PC runs at.

Multitask less

Computers are built to do a lot of things at once, but that doesn't mean it's the best way to run them. Trying to run a virus scan while you're playing a game will mean that neither can run as fast as they would alone, because they compete for resources. Similarly, copying two files onto a USB stick at the same time takes longer than copying them one after the other would. It's a bit like trying to do the ironing and cook dinner at the same time. You're capable of doing both together by sharing your time between them, but once you've added the time it takes to run between the kitchen and living room, you realise that it takes considerably longer than if you did them one after the other.

Learn to use keyboard shortcuts

You may not realise this, but the mouse is holding you back. Keyboard shortcuts are how the experts interact with their PCs, because they know that most of the time you waste at your PC involves dragging your hand from keyboard to mouse and back. There are thousands of shortcuts, many unique to specific programs, but the most basic apply to almost every program, and learning them can help you use your PC faster than you ever thought possible.

The first ones to learn are Alt+Tab to switch between applications, Alt+F4 to close a program, Ctrl+Shift (with the left or right arrow) to select a word, Ctrl+Z to undo, and Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to cut, copy and paste respectively. Remember, the more time you spend with your hands on the keyboard, the quicker you can get things done.

Miscellaneous Tips

Some tips don't fit into any particular category. If you've tried everything else to speed up your PC, here are some other actions you might want to take...

Clear out the cobwebs - literally

You might even realise it's happening, but as your PC's vents and fans get clogged up with dust and debris, it becomes harder and harder for it to remain cool. Colder components perform better due to sheer physics, but if your PC heats up, it could also take actions to cool itself down, which means running in lower-power settings or artificially capping capabilities to keep it from heating up. To prevent this from happening, clear the dust out of out your PC regularly by removing the case and spraying dirty electrical components clean using a can of compressed air. You can also use a lightly damp cloth to remove dust from vents and fan blades. Remember to unplug your PC before you do this, and make sure you don't zap the components with static electricity while you touch them!

Overclock your processor/memory/graphics card

If you're feeling dangerous, you can squeeze extra performance out of your PC by investigating overclocking. This runs components at speeds faster than they're rated for, on the understanding that most have a little extra capacity built in to ensure they can meet the stated performance. The success of overclocking depends heavily on the individual components and the capabilities of your hardware, but if you're willing to take the risk, the rewards could be big. Of course, those risks aren't small. By running components faster, you also run them hotter. It's possible to permanently damage hardware, shorten component lifespan and make your system incredibly unstable. Again, you'll have to look online for the best method to overclock your particular components, but if you've done everything else and the only alternative is buying a new PC, maybe it's worth the risk.

Disconnect components you're not using

If you have an old floppy drive that hasn't been used in nine years or an analogue TV card that's seen better days, don't waste time imagining they might be useful one day - disconnect them and remove these zombie components from your PC entirely. Not only do they retain heat and decrease airflow, which impacts performance, they also take up memory and CPU resources just because of the drivers loaded for them. Do yourself a favour and keep your PC at the bare minimum.

Re-install Windows from scratch

If all of these tips sound like too much work, there's one that never fails: reinstalling Windows, from scratch. Over time, operating systems have a habit of becoming slow and fatigued. Every program you install and uninstall leaves its mark, and eventually it's almost impossible to get the system running as fast as when it was originally set up. A better (though more drastic) option is to just throw in the towel and start afresh with a clean installation of Windows. Remember to make extensive backups before you do this, otherwise you face losing your documents, downloads, emails and programs, but if you're sure you have everything saved, deleting and reinstalling Windows will leave you with a PC that runs almost as well as the day you bought it. It's a bit too extensive a process to guide you through here, but look online for 'clean install' instructions if you're interested in trying it out. Remember, you'll need a retail Windows DVD/CD!

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