Welcome to Technology News, Gadgets, Software Tips and Broadband Tweaks

These are a few basic steps to take to prevent malware installing on your computer.

Keep Windows Updated

A large proportion of Windows updates are to close holes exploited by malicious programs. Simply staying updated will keep a lot of infections off your system.
Windows Updates

Change your browser

Firefox is far more secure than Internet Explorer, with the added bonus of a built-in popup blocker.
Firefox Browser

Use a firewall

Surfing the internet without a firewall is like inviting malware onto your system. Only use one.
Free Firewalls ZoneAlarm Kerio Sygate

Use an Anti-Virus

These programs are free for home use, and perfectly adequate for the average user. Again, use only one.
Free Anti-Virus AVG Avast Antivir

Install Anti-Spyware protection

These four programs will help to keep malware off your system, and will happily co-exist side by side.
Free Anti-Spyware MS Antispyware AdAwareSE SpybotSD SpywareBlaster

Source - TechArena

1.) To decrease a system’s boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software — the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine — and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you’re not sure, here’s how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it’s important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a “searchable keyword index.” As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP’s built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you’re a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here’s how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck “Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching.” Next, apply changes to “C: subfolders and files,” and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as “Access is denied”), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC’s video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can “prefetch” portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That’s fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here’s how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button — it’s just to the right of the Capacity pie graph — and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to “DMA if available” for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support “cable select,” the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here’s how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don’t want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here’s how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer — only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft’s Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer’s anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts — that is, anything over 500 — will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP’s NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called “D drive.” You’ll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won’t be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won’t need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system’s RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC’s memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer’s Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you’ll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it’s free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you’re sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to “Launch folder windows in a separate process,” and enable this option. You’ll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer’s cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you’re in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks.

Source : Techbuilder

This page provides links to vendors of over fifty personal firewall products:

• Top Picks — Norton & ZoneAlarm

• More Choices — BlackIce, Comodo, eTrust, Fireball, F-Secure, Kaspersky, Look’n'Stop, McAfee, Net, NetOpt, Outpost, Panda, PC-cillin, PrivateFirewall, Sunbelt/Kerio, Terminet, Tiny, & Windows XP

• Not Reviewed — Armor2net, Bullguard, 8Signs, Firewall X-treme, Freedom/Hacker Stopper, Hackersmacker/The Shield, InJoy, Jetico, Lavasoft, Norman, Omniguad, pcInternet Patrol, Primedius, Preventon, R-Firewall, Safety.Net, SecurePoint, SecureUP, SoftPerfect, SphinxWall, Surf Secret, TheGreenBow, VisNetic & Webroot

• Gone or Fading Away — Checkit, ConSeal, eSafe, Firekeys, HackTracer, PC Viper, NeoWatch, Sphinx, & Sygate

• Not Recommended — Internet Firewall 2000, Mindsoft & VirusMD
  Read more…
  

  See Also

  • Common Control Panel Applets
    The follow are some common Control Panel Applets that are located in the windowssystem32  Directory...
  • Opening Ports or Adding Allowed Programs with SP2’s Firewall
    1.Click on Start / Run 2.Enter in firewall.cpl 3.Click on the Exceptions tab   Adding a Port fo...
  • Prevention From Malware
    These are a few basic steps to take to prevent malware installing on your computer. Keep Windows ...
  • Random Pictures from Daily Life
  • Quick and easiest way to Impove system performance
  • Disable Unneeded Services in Vista
  • Bhaski

So I tripped over a rather huge bug in Vista Beta 1 today. It involves that god forsaken language bar. If you try to change it to hidden in the control panel your computer will BSOD with an error in the video card driver file, which completely throws you off as to the cause of the crash. It also occurs at random when in MS Word doing something (My brother discovered that part of this evil bug). So the easy workaround is to disable the Language Bar, here is how to do just that (Method works on Office XP and Office 2003 Installations):Step 1: Uninstall Alternative User Input
To uninstall the alternative user input feature, set the installation state to Not Available in Office XP Setup.

Microsoft Windows 2000 and Microsoft Windows XP: 1. Quit all Office programs.
2. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel. NOTE: In Windows XP, click Start and then click Control Panel.

3. In Control Panel, double-click Add/Remove Programs.NOTE: In Windows XP, click Add or Remove Programs.

4. In the Currently installed programs list, click to select Microsoft Office XP/2003 product, where Office XP/2003 product is the name of the specific Office product being used. If you are using a standalone version of one of the Office programs, click to select the appropriate product in the list. Click Change.
5. In the Maintenance Mode Options dialog box, select Add or Remove Features, and then click Next. This displays the Choose installation options for all Office applications and tools dialog box.
6. Click the plus sign (+) next to Office Shared Features to expand it.
7. Click the icon next to Alternative User Input, and then select Not Available.
8. Click Update.
NOTE: If you have multiple Office XP/2003 products installed, for example, Office XP/2003 Professional and Frontpage 2002/2003, you must repeat the preceding steps for each installed product.
Step 2: Remove Alternative User Input Services from Text Services
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. In the Control Panel, double-click Text Services.NOTE: In Windows XP, click Date, Time, Language, and Regional Options, and then click Regional and Language Options. On the Languages tab, click Details.

3. Under Installed Services, select each input item that is listed, and then click Remove to remove the item. All items must be removed, one by one, except the following input service:

English (United States)- default Keyboard United States 101
Step 3: Run Regsvr32 /U on the Msimtf.dll and Msctf.dll Files
1. Click Start and then click Run.
2. In the Run dialog box, type the following command:
Regsvr32.exe /u msimtf.dll
3. Click OK.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 for the Msctf.dll file.

There is an issue with the Sound Blaster Audigy series of cards (Audigy, Audigy 2, Audigy 2 ZS etc…) that consists of distorted and studdering sound when using the CREATIVE drivers.To solve the problem download the KX project drivers HERE.

Other Possibilities Include using a modded set of Audigy 2 ZS Drivers that work with Audigy 1’s and Live’s. I have installed these drivers and the seem to work perfectly.

You can download those drivers from ngohq.com, but at the time of this writing the site is down. If someone is willing to host the driver file (22.8 MB) please contact me.