If you’re anything like me then your slightly (exxageration) impatient. When i switch my computer on I expect to be able to start doing whatever it was I wanted to do as quickly as possible.

Now it seems from a recent survey of Computing.cc subscribers that I did, you are also very impatient, nice to know its not just me

24.51% of you said the biggest PC issue you have is ’slow Windows Startup’!

Well you’ll be glad to know that I’ve created a little video showing how to get rid of this annoyance.

Just click on the big play button and get some of the time in your life back to do the things you enjoy

Click here to speed up windows with PC Vindaloo

1. Stop and think before opening any attachment you receive.

If you don’t know the sender, don’t open the attachment – just delete it. It doesn’t matter if the subject promises you’ll see Britney Spears dancing nude on the kitchen table, just delete it.

Most of the devastating worms and viruses of recent times were distributed via email. These viruses feed on the curiosity and also the ignorance of a huge number of email users. People will get an email from fakename@weirdsuspiciousdomain and they’ll just open whatever file is attached to it.

If the email is from someone you know, always scan any attachments first before downloading or opening them.

If every email user in the world followed these simple guidelines the distribution of viruses via email will grind to a halt.

2. Protect yourself

Good protection on the Internet these days consists of 3 components: anti-virus software, anti-spyware software and a firewall.

Anti-Virus Software:

Good virus protection doesn’t need to cost you a fortune. You can get excellent free anti-virus software on the Internet. Even the professional version of their software is very affordable.

Anti-Spyware Software:

For spyware protection, you can get it for free on the Internet as well.

A Firewall:

As for a firewall, Windows XP ships with a decent enough firewall. Just make sure it is always enabled. Alternatively you can visit a site like http://www.download.com and search for Zone Alarm, which has an excellent free version.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to keep your anti-virus software up to date. It is recommended that you update your anti-virus and anti-spyware software at least once a week. An anti-virus program that uses definitions that are months old is just about useless.

3. Watch out what you download

Spyware is embedded in a lot of software on the Internet – especially those related to ripping, converting and playing music and videos. That free MP3 player or DVD Ripper you just downloaded may have installed a bunch of harmful spyware without you even knowing about it.

4. Keep yourself informed

Major anti-virus software developers like Symantec and Grisoft updates their sites regularly with the latest virus alerts. Visit these sites frequently to keep yourself aware of what threats are doing the rounds and how to avoid them.

Using these simple and software I have kept my computer virus-free for the past 3 years. It’s not rocket science. Just stay alert, use some common sense and you too can stay bug free while still enjoying your Internet experience.

5. Stay clear of pornographic and illegal software sites

If you want to pick up viruses and spyware quickly, visit some pornographic web sites. One wrong click on a subtle little pop-up or security warning window (which you’ll run into often on these type of sites) and you’ll have infested yourself with trojan horses, spyware, dialers and other unfavorable software that could leave your computer wide open to further attacks.

Follow all these useful tips and your computer will be kept secure and virus free.

The Internet is a wonderful tool connecting everyone within its network from all parts of the globe. With many salient features, the Internet has become so popular that virtually everyone around the world has access to an Internet connection. This popularity has spawned more and more products, services, and information that anyone with Internet access can enjoy.

Unfortunately, it is precisely because of its popularity that some less than scrupulous groups have come up with free spyware and adware programs to take advantage of the connectivity that the Internet provides. Spyware is also known as adware and in some cases, it is labeled as malware. Simply put, spyware is a computer software that comes bundled with some programs that are downloadable from the Internet and it works as a virtual spy within your system.

To the uninitiated, it may seem that the idea of espionage happening within one’s own personal computer sounds either like a joke or a great exaggeration but the truth of the matter is that spyware is something that should give Internet users pause.

The purpose of spyware is to secretly track a variety of personal information from the user of the computer using some techniques like tracking internet browsing patterns, logging keystrokes and some spyware are even sophisticated enough to scan documents from the computer’s hard drive. There are many reasons as to why spyware is proliferated in the Internet. One such reason is to enable unsolicited pop ups us a targeted marketing tactic but sometimes, spyware or malware is used to be able to commit criminal acts such as identity fraud by stealing passwords and vital credit information.

This spyware business is an extremely difficult and potentially dangerous program. It runs undetected within your system so that you are unaware that your computer activities are being tracked. It is obviously an infringement to one’s right to privacy and its processes utilize your computer’s system causing a slow down in your computer’s performance. Like all types of espionage, the installation of spyware into your system is tricky.

Free spyware and adware programs often come bundled along with some freeware downloads that you may be enticed into installing. There are also some unsolicited pop-ups that you may encounter while browsing that look like regular Windows system generated pop-ups and clicking on these will cause you to unknowingly install unwanted spyware.

While the mere fact that you are on the Internet and browsing immediately makes you vulnerable to spyware, there are some measures that you can take to ensure safer web usage. For instance, you should install legitimate anti-spyware programs to detect, eradicate and prevent future installations of spyware on your system. Don’t be so trusting of anti-spyware downloads on the Net because some of those are there to trick you into installing free spyware and adware programs into your computer.

Likewise, be very careful also of free programs that you download on the Internet. Some free versions of programs contain spyware so be sure to read the agreements before agreeing to install certain products.  Also, it should be noted that older versions of Internet Explorer make one’s system very vulnerable to spyware attacks because of its close link and integration to the Windows platform.

The two main programs I use are SpyBot – Search & Destory and Adware Free version. There are others, but between these two I can generally protect my pc against most of the annoying spyware programs out there.

I must stress though please also use a good anti-virus and firewall. An excellent Firewall and anti-virus that I also use is called Comodo Internet Security and it is also free

Do you ever face the problem where you computer starts to become sluggish or slow in its processing? Computers are supposed to be machines and should be able to do what man cannot possible do, maintaining a peak performance everyday. If not, what is the point of having one then? What we need is a machine, a computer that can help us store our data, our plans and work and can churn out whatever we need at the snap of a finger. But as the years go by, it seems as though the snap of the finger now has changed to become two snaps, and with time, more snaps are needed.

What do we do then, when we can no longer have our information that we need instantly? There are a couple of methods or ways that one can implement to improve the speed of their computers.

Upgrading your RAM

Our computer’s RAM determines the amount of memory that it has and ultimately the speed it can process at. Upgrading your RAM is as good as saying you want to improve the speed of your computer. However, it is not free of charge and comes with a cost. Given that upgrading your RAM is becoming more and more affordable these days, you may feel that it is a good idea to upgrade yours right now; however remember that it would be useless if you upgraded your RAM only to find that your computer is still slow due to other reasons. Thus think twice and be sure before you purchase a new RAM.

Clear the Registry

Each computer comes with something called the registry that not many people know of. The registry is an important part of your computer as it stores crucial information that has to do with the login users and also which applications are allowed to access the computer. With time, the registry gets clogged with unnecessary garbage and loaded with numerous false entries that only serve to slow the speed of the computer. As such, it is a good practice to regularly clean out your registry. How to get one is simple! Go to the Web and search for one, each will cost about 30 dollars, cheap and effective. A good buy indeed!

De-Fragmentation

Search for de-fragmentation in your computer system through the search function and carry out de-fragmentizing. This may sound too technical for some of us, but it simply means to arrange the data in your computer in a much more organized and efficient fashion as to speed up it’s processing. Think of it as messy room compared to a tidy room. It would definitely be easier to walk through the room that is neater than the other. With the same analogy, a neater computer would process better than one that has yet to be sorted out.

There are many other ways to help solve the problem of slow computers, but those mentioned above are cheap and hassle-free. Also, they only take a short amount of time to be completed. But do take note that if all else fails; it is wiser to seek council from a technician who will certainly be able to help you out even more.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Logan_Albright

Registry Fix is on of the leading registry repair programs on the web with a user base of more then 10 million people worldwide.It is both a full system registry cleaner as well as a complete optimization application. It can optimize and repair both the computers registry as well as containing all the normal PC optimization capabilities. Registry Fix works on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Windows Vista.

It has a user friendly interface that is extremely easy to use. The scans are fairly quick. They average at least on our Vista machine about 2 minutes, this includes fixing any problems. It has been reported that Registry Fix picked up fewer errors than some of the other top registry repair tools. We have never had trouble with Registry Fix and our machine seemed to run well after a scan. So, it is up to you to decide if this could be a deciding factor for you. We believe that the software runs cautiously and unlike some of the other registry cleaners we have tried, Registry Fix has never removed needed items.

:Like most other top end registry cleaners, Registry Fix makes a backup of every repaired scan which you can either retain or remove via its backup controls feature. The registry backup utility is a manual operated control. It does not perform automatic backups of the registry.

Some of the more advanced options in Registry Fix are a Browser Helper Object Manager for IE, a Startup Program Manager, an Add/Remove Program Manager and as we stated above af Full Registry Backup Utility.

The only thing we really didn’t like and felt needed a lot of improvement are the documentation that comes with the software. It would be helpful if we could have had more detailed instructions on Registry Fixes operation rather then having to figure out how things work by trial and error.Though, the interface is intuitive and easy and we were able to figure it out fairly fast. It took time for us to figure out how the restore registry feature worked. After some trial and error we figured out that the system needs to be shut down once the scan is completed.

On the other hand Registry Fix is one of the few programs that has a inexpensive $4.95 additional 36 months extended program option. Most of the other companies charge from $9.95 to $19.95 for this same time. Free Scan

Till next time, thanks for stopping by.

‘How do I speed up the shutdown of XP’.

If you’re having this somewhat annoying problem were Windows just takes ages to shutdown, always when you’re in a hurry  to go out somewhere, then carry on reading and I’ll show you how to solve it.

To achieve the goal of speeding up your shutdown time on XP, what I’m about to show you involves editing the registry.  Before you make any changes to the registry it’s always advisable to backup your registry using your favourite registry backup utility. If you don’t do use one, then don’t panic as you can just set a system restore point instead. I’ll be covering backing up your registry as part of a series of articles I have planned for the next few weeks.

Ok, so once you’ve backed up your registry, proceed with the following:

Step 1

Click ‘Start’ and then click on ‘Run’. In the Run window type Regedt32 and click ‘OK‘:

You should now see the Registry Editor window.

Step 2

Expand HKEY_CURRENT_USER by clicking on the little plus sign next to it.

Now do the same for ‘Control Panel’ and then ‘Desktop’

Now look under the ‘Name’ column and scroll down until you see the field that says ‘WaitToKillAppTimeout’ (like in the image below).

Double click on this field with your left mouse button.

Step 3

You will then be presented with another window like below. Set the value data to 1000 then click OK

Step 4

Now double click on the ‘HungAppTimeout’ value

And set the value data to 1000 also….

Ok, now we’re nearly there we just need to alter one more registry value.

Step 5

Click on the little minus sign next to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER to collapse the tree below it.

Now expand the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE by clicking on the little plus sign again. Now do the same for System, CurrentControlSet and then finally Control, see below for example….

Now double click on the entry that says ‘WaitToKillServiceTimeout‘ and set the Value data to 1000 then click OK.

That’s it! Now just click on File and then Exit in the Registry Editor and you’ve successfully solved your slow shutdown problem J

Stay tuned for more great tips coming to you in the next few weeks.

I’m currently testing out an excellent video creating software package called Camtasia, so I’ll be trying it out on my next series of articles.

Do you back-up your documents every day? Most people know they should, but rarely do it because they either don’t know how, they think that it is too time consuming, or they think that you need expensive backup software and external hard disks. This isnt the case.

In order to set up this backup you will need the following:

1. A USB Memory Stick (or Flash Drive, or USB Memory Drive – depending on who you talk to …)

   You can buy USB Flash Drives very cheaply these days. I recommend that you buy one around 8gb. This will allow plenty of room for the average persons documents, emails and photos etc. I bought a
   8GB PQI Flash Drive from Newegg
   

2. Microsoft SyncToy v1.4

   You can download Microsoft SyncToy for FREE from here.

Ok, so you now have your Flash Drive and SyncToy. Install SyncToy using the setup file you just downloaded from Microsoft – its very easy to do, just follow the prompts. After Sync Toy has installed, then plug your USB Flash Drive into an available port on your computer. I have plugged mine in the back of the computer because we will be leaving the Flash Drive permanently plugged in. Windows will probably pop up a few yellow messages in the bottom right corner while the USB Memory Drive installs, and may ask you to restart the computer after it finishes – if it does, restart the computer.

Now, here comes the slightly more difficult part – setting up SyncToy. Don’t worry, its not too difficult

1. First you need to open SyncToy.
2. You then need to click on “Create New Folder Pair” button.
3. In SyncToy the Left Folder is the source, and the Right Folder is the Destination.
   Click on Browse, select My Documents and then press OK (shown in image below)
   
4. Click the “Next” button
5. On the Right Folder click Browse button again, and then select your Flash Drive from under My Computer
6. Click the “Next” button again
7. You will be given 5 options for different back-up types. Most of the time I use the Echo function, but feel free to have a read of the descriptions on the other alternatives and pick the one whcih you think best suits you.
8. Click the “Next” button again! It will ask you to name the pair. This can be anything, I named mine My Documents
9. Click Finish and close SyncToy

SyncToy will only run as a scheduled task if you have a password on your Windows user account. If you do not have a password on your account you should go to Control Panel>User Accounts and add a password to your account.

Ok, great. Just a few more steps. All we have to do now is create a Scheduled Task so that SyncToy runs automatically every day.

1. Click the Start button, the click on the Run… button
2. Type control schedtask
3. This will open the Scheduled Tasks window. Click on Add Sheduled Task.
4. Click Next and choose SyncToy from the list. Click Next, again!
5. You will then be asked whether you would like the task to run daily, weekly, monthly etc.
   Choose Daily and press Next. Then select an appropriate time and press Next again.
6. Enter the password you use to log on to your Windows account, and then again to confirm it has been typed correctly.
7. Click Next. Tick the box next to Open advanced properties for this task when I click Finish. Click Finish.

8. In the form field beside Run: you should see something like this:
   “C:\Documents and Settings\{Your UserName}\Start Menu\Programs\SyncToy.lnk”
   Change it to -
   “C:\Documents and Settings\{Your UserName}\Start Menu\Programs\SyncToy.lnk” -R
   The -R switch tells SyncToy to run all Folder Pairs in the background without prompting or asking you questions

9. Press OK. And confirm your password again.

SyncToy is now set up to automatically copy your My Documents folder to your Flash Drive every day at the time you specified. It is a good idea to check the contents of your Flash Drive from time to time to make sure that all files are being copied successfully.

This technique can be applied to any folder on your computer. If you decide you want to backup multiple folders you may have to create individual folders on your Flash drive for each folder pair so that they do not get lumped together.

Heres another tip: When you go away on holidays take out your flash drive and give it to a Neighbour or family member so that if you get robbed your data is still safe.

At first glance this all probably looked quite overwhelming but your efforts a well worth it and will save you hours manually backing up to CDs, DVDs or Flash Drives.

Hope this has helped you out!

Karen has noticed that both Softonic and Spanish Speaking Guy are no longer hosting this app. I have therefore uploaded to this site, so you will now have to download it from here – Thanks Karen!

I have been using this application for a few days now and it has noticeably reduced Firefox’s memory usage – even when I have 20 tabs open with various media running!

Once you have downloaded this program, all you have to do is run the EXE file and it will add an icon to your task tray. I have added a shortcut of the EXE file to my Startup folder but I think there is an option to have it load when Windows starts.

Anyway, hope this helps you guys out!