Top Tips to Speed Up Your Computer

When your PC starts to slow down, it can be a real bind. We have come to depend on our computers so much that having a badly performing PC can seriously impact on our daily lives.

But it doesn't need to be like that. You will be surprised at the variety of things you can do to improve your computer's performance, that involve either no or very little money. You don't need to simply accept that your PC is slow and that there is nothing you can do about it.

Yes, it's true that some solutions may involve purchasing new components, but there's an awful lot of things you can carry out that will either cost you nothing or next to nothing to improve your PC's performance.

Also they're pretty easy fixes, so you don't have to be an expert to give them a try.

Before you spend loads on money on a new PC, read on. So what can you try?

Defragmenting your disk

Windows 7 has improved greatly since Windows XP, but it can still suffer from disk fragmentation over time. New programs get installed and old ones get removed, with the result that a single program can reside on disparate sections of the disk, causing inefficient read and write times. Carrying out a defrag organizes all the applications together again on the disk, so the disk head has less distance to travel.

You can run it quite simply:

Just type 'defrag' into the command line after clicking on the Start menu, or access via Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools. Click on the 'disk defragmenter' icon. In the utility window, check the % fragmentation of the C: drive is (it's only the c: drive that's important, you can ignore the other drives). If it's greater than 10% then you need to defragment. Don't forget to close all your applications first, and preferably start it last thing at night as it can take some time to complete.

You should only need to do this once or twice a year.

More Memory

Boosting your memory can have a really dramatic effect of your computer's speed, particularly if it is short on memory to begin with. If you're running with 2Gb or less, then you are likely to see a big improvement by upping it to 3 or 4 Gb. The main benefits are faster start-up times, and programs will start quicker!

Memory or RAM is very cheap today. Around $20 should buy you 1Gb of RAM.

You can check your memory in Control Panel, under the System icon.

De-clutter your hard drive

This is especially important if you're running low on hard disk space. Clearing out unused files and programs is a fast and effective way to speed up your PC.

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Cleaning Up Your Computer Registry

When you use a registry cleaner it helps to easily and safely clean up or repair problems within your computer registry with just a click of your mouse. Memory in your PC that stays unlearned over some time will make your PC run extremely slow because it's a very impotent component of your operating system, so it's crucial that you learn how to properly clean up the computer registry. The best way is to use a high quality registry cleaning software that will speed your computer up quickly.

Problems that affect your Windows registry can cause your system to crash very easily. Errors can be created for all your personal information found in the different files on your hard disk. There can be a lot of reasons for these problems like characters being left behind after removing a software program or the improper removal of software. Other reasons are missing drive detectors or corrupt hardware. These types of things can increase the size of your registry in a negative way and slow down computer performance. It causes Windows to have to search longer for the data it needs to run efficiently.

A good registry cleaner will scan your Windows files and locate any invalid entries or outdated information. After fixing these errors your PC will run a lot faster. To protect yourself you need to have a program that offers a backup so you can restore your PC if anything goes wrong with the cleaning. It will automatically detect and delete unnecessary entries. It will clean up the Start-up manager that control the programs that automatically load when your reboot or turn you system on.

These steps are the way you clean your memory. You need to buy or download a good registry cleaner and install it. It's always a necessity to run this program as the administrator to let it clear all of your system. Once the installation is complete it will include a sub menu for beginning the cleaning process.

From the sub menu of your application software, you can begin the quick scan of your system files. The scan will then give you a report on the errors it has found. Then you will be given options. You can either repair the errors or ignore them. To repair them you simply select the 'fix' option and the software will automatically fix them.

You also have an uninstall feature. This will uninstall redundant programs and remove them. This ensures that their effect on your operating system is totally eliminated. You do this by using the tool menu and then selecting the uninstall manager.

Your start-up manager controls your application programs that load and start whenever Windows boots up, so users need to take advantage of this application for keeping the OS running smoothly. These tips will help you to keep your computer running faster and a lot more efficiently. A good registry cleaner is highly recommended for a slow computer.

Is your windows computer running slow? Does it constantly freeze up? If you are answering yes, there is a huge chance that your computer registry might be corrupted. You can simply use a pc cleanup software and have your PC running like new again in no time.

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Fixing A Slow Computer Startup With A Registry Cleaner

After buying a computer, installing the operating system, and then connecting to the Internet it's time to browse around. Then you start to notice that you aren't getting access to a lot of content because you don't have the right software installed.

That's when trouble starts with your computer and you experience slowdown. You begin downloading software programs and accessing a lot of sites. Sometimes you might unknowingly add a few programs to the startup sequence. This enlarges it and causes a slower response time.

Whenever you turn your PC power on it loads up your default setting and the downloaded programs you have in your startup that have been permitted by the operating system. The more programs you include in your startup sequence the longer it takes them to load.

If you've been experiencing this kind of slowdown then limiting how many programs you have in your startup sequence can help you maintain some speed on your computer. But for a non-techie to try to do this may be a daunting task.

An alternative method of speeding up your computer is to uninstall all programs that are causing the slowing down of your PC. One of the best ways of editing your startup sequence is to run a good registry cleaner on your computer. The best cleaners will have a program manager that performs this task safely and quickly.

Inside the program manager you will find the startup manager. By opening up this section there will be an editable list of all the installed programs that will automatically begin to work once you push the power button and your startup sequence kicks in. Each individual registry cleaner might have a little different way of working but basically they all work the same.

The list will then be displayed along with check boxes beside every entry. This gives you the option of keeping or removing programs you don't want to load on your startups. By unchecking the box beside the programs you don't want to load, they will not kick into loading mode when you turn on your computer.

You can access your startup programs by clicking on 'Start', then 'Run'. When the popup box appears type in 'msconfig', click 'OK' and another box will show up. Click on the 'startup' tab and then you can uncheck any programs you don't want.

Just follow the prompts from there and you will have cleaned up your startup sequence and will have a much faster loading time when you start your computer. A good registry cleaner can do this for you and more. You can find plenty of them online but you need to thoroughly research them before you part with your money.

Is your windows computer running slow? Does it constantly freeze up? If you are answering yes, there is a huge chance that your computer registry might be corrupted. You can simply use a pc cleanup software and have your PC running like new again in no time.

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What a Complete Registry Repair Will Do for Your Computer

There are many aspects to a home computer that owners might not be completely aware of. This is understandable as the average computer owner is not a programmer. However, it is important to learn as much as possible about proper care and repair of a computer in order to avoid the many potential hazards that might occur as a result of problems within the registry. The is why it would be helpful to run a complete registry repair.

What are some of the benefits of engaging in a complete registry repair?
There are scores upon scores of benefits and the most important one would be that the integrity of the operation of the system will be maintained. In other words, when you run a Windows XP repair, you will be correcting various flaws and problems within the registry. It is these flaws that will undermine the way the computer operates as well as place it at risk for even more serious problems.

For example, when there are errors in the registry, a computer will generally run much slower than it normally would if the registry problems did not exist. When you have important business or personal needs for your computer, slow operations certainly can prove annoying. Then, there is the even more difficult issue of computer freezes. This is when a computer not only slows down, it stops. This leads to rebooting the computer and anything you have not saved ends up being lost.

But, is that really a big deal?
Well, if you spent an hour writing a major business proposal or you college term paper and a computer freeze led to the loss of the info, you would probably consider the situation a disaster scenario. Additionally, a frozen computer may necessitate a hard reboot. In some instances, such a rebooting method can actually cause even more problems for a PC since it can lead to further registry errors and operating system damage. This may then create the next nightmare scenario: a complete system crash.

When the system crashes, you might discover ALL of your files lost and destroyed. At this point, it would be too late to run a complete registry repair. The damage will have already occurred and it will have been extensive. And, unless you have made proper backup files, your files will not be recoverable. Once again, this is why running a complete registry repair is so important. It prevents such disasters from occurring or, at the very least, minimizes their impact. And, best of all, the operation of a complete registry repair is very simple.

All the computer owner needs to do is install the program via disk and then run it. Many programs can be set with a timer to run on their own. The timing of the program can be performed immediately after installation and all repair issues can be handled in advance. And, of course, the programs can be manually run on an as needed basis as well. This will ensure the integrity of the computer is maintained and the registry is always clean.

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The Most Notorious Computer Viruses

Thinking of throwing away your laptop because of a malfunction of some sort? Has a laptop part suddenly stopped functioning properly? Is a program which used to run great suddenly going haywire?

Before you chalk it up to hardware fault like damaged laptop components, you have to first make sure that it isn't just a virus attack of some sort. While just as harrowing as a laptop part malfunction, viruses can be easily taken care of with a competent antivirus program.

Of course, not all viruses are created equal; and while the viruses depicted below have long since had countermeasures developed for them, at the time of their infestations, they were notorious little buggers.

Here are the five worst of the lot.

1. Melissa

In 1999, a computer virus began spreading like wildfire via email messages. Called "Melissa," creator David L. Smith said he named it after a Florida exotic dancer. And in the same way that a dancer can allure you with a striptease, the Melissa virus tempted people to open these emails with the message "Here is that document that you asked for, don't show it to anybody else." Once opened, the virus then replicates itself by going after the top fifty people in the recipient's address book.

2. I Love You

A year later, another heavy-hitter emerged, this time from the Philippines. Among other things, it could copy itself several times and hide the replicants in various separate folders; add new files to registry keys; replace several important system files with copies of itself; and download a file called WIN-BUGSFIX.EXE (a password-stealing program) and run it.

3. Klez

In 2001, a year after I Love You hit, a far more sinister one came out of the woodwork. Klez, when activated, multiplied itself through a victim's email list much like Melissa, and rendered desktop and laptop parts themselves to be inoperable. Before it was totally eradicated, its creators even fine-tuned it so that it would be intelligent enough to copy the email address it was coming from.

4. Code Red and Code Red II

Also in the same year as Klez, the Code Red and Code Red II viruses appeared. These viruses exploited a weakness in the programming of the Windows 2000 and Windows NT operating systems. The weakness in question was the OSes' buffer overflow problem. This problem occurs when a computer receives more information than the system's buffers can process and starts to overwrite adjacent memory.

The first Code Red infamously attacked web servers at the White House by implementing a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. This attack caused every infected computer to contact the White House's servers, thereby overloading them.

Meanwhile, Code Red II-infected computers were no longer operable by their owners because the virus created a backdoor program in their computers' systems, allowing a remote user to gain control of their machines.

5. Nimda

Still in 2001, a virus named Nimda (that's "admin" spelled backwards) spread throughout the internet. Nimda was notorious for being the fastest-spreading virus then, taking only 22 minutes to get from initial release to the top list of reported attacks.

Despite being able to infect home PCs just as well, its main target was internet servers, with the intention of slowing these down significantly. It travelled through the internet employing various methods, not the least of which was email propagation. This adeptness was what allowed it to multiply itself across thousands of servers in record time.

Abie Anarna is a blogger who specializes in writing about computers and various other electronic gadgets. Her educational background is in Information and Technology. She is very interested in all things tech-related; and has a particular inclination towards e-recycling, which is a prominent topic in her articles. She writes for LaptopAid, a company that also contributes to the e-recycling effort. In her spare time, she loves to read books and watch sappy rom-coms.

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The Evolution and Expansion of Computer Virus Threats

Virus software is unauthorized software which is designed to replicate itself on a computer without the owner's knowledge or approval. From the original virus threats which would erase a hard drive or slow the computer to a crawl, new virus threats have developed over the past decade and more. The major additional new threats have been characterized as spyware and malware.

What are the distinctions made by software security professionals between spyware and malware?

Spyware is designed to quietly run on a computer and gather data. The spyware software silently monitors and records user input and network traffic. Eventually the spyware sends this personal information from the infected computer to another computer where the data may be used for monetary advantage. This advantage does not usually mean the fraudulent use of credit card information. The monetary advantage could mean providing records of sites visited to companies wishing to make targeted sales. Or it could mean providing email address book data to scammers looking to distribute scam email in hopes of obtaining bank account or credit card information.

Malware is a more generic term than spyware. Malware refers to any malicious software which has installed itself in an underhanded or deceptive way. There are five main categories which are often included under the heading of malware: adware programs, spyware programs, hijacking programs, toolbars and dialer programs.

An adware program causes pop-ups which display an ad on your computer screen. These pop-ups may occur when you click on a link in your internet browser or they may occur when you open and run a program. There are legitimate adware pop-ups provided as helpful short cuts on some business web pages. The malicious adware pop-ups mimic the legitimate ones in order to deceive the user.

We have already described spyware programs above.

A hijacking program generally uses Internet Explorer and redirects your web connection to sites which you had not intended to visit.

A malware toolbar emulates Google or Yahoo toolbars and like them it offers additional functionality. But the malware toolbars function in order to gather data or redirect web searches or display pop-ups ads.

The final category is the dialer program which generates an automatic dial out over modem connection to a 1-900 toll charge number.

To meet the evolving threats from spyware and malware, security software has been developed by operating system developers and by anti-virus software companies. The new threats constantly call for new counter-measures in this ongoing battle for user security in the networked computer environment.

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7 Computer Safety Tips You May Not Know About

We live in a world where there are many threats as soon as you log on to surf the net, check your email or do some simple research. That's why it's more important now than ever to protect yourself with knowledge. So here are 7 tips that will greatly aid you in protecting your identity and your computer.

1. Use A Proxy Hider. These are perfectly legal and it's your every right to use one, because anonymity is becoming a thing of the past now days. Simple Google "proxy hider" and you will find a series that are very good. Voila! You can now surf the internet and remain anonymous.

2. Keep everything up to date. Your browser is usually overlooked, but keeping the plugins up to date will keep your surfing experience a little bit safer.

3. Use an anti-spyware/malware scanner. I like Malewarebytes and SpyBot, which are a good start, but there are many others. The thing is, you need to keep them updated and run them at least once a week.

4. Firefox and javascript don't mix well. If you are going to be visiting a website that has lots of flash, pop ups or ad space, go to options >> content >> uncheck Enable JavaScript (for the time being). This is one of the most devastating ways that people get nasty computer viruses.

5. Use a smart firewall. By smart, I mean one that learns from behavior. I like Kaspersky, because it will ask you whether or not you trust a process, and tell you the percentage of other users who either trust, or distrust it. When you see a big 99% of users trust this, it makes it an easy choice, and Kaspserky' and some other programs are good at learning this way.

6. Read before clicking. If you get an email that contains a virus, you won't know it until it's too late. However, you will have some clues. Do you know the person? is the subject line gibberish? is the context of the subject line hypey sounding?

The same is true for when you are clicking on website links. Roll over the website link and look at the source destination in the bottom left corner of your browser. Does it look legitimate or does it contain lots of strange characters? And just because an ad tells you that your computer is infected, does not mean that it is.

7. Don't use Internet Explorer. It was a great browser as one point and still serves some purposes, but it has way too many loop holes that can be exploited, at least until they do something about it. Go with either Chrome or Firefox.

Computer running slow? bad internet speed? you may need to remove spyware!

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Use Free Antivirus To Keep Your Computer Safe

It is very important to keep your valuable computer safe from dangerous viruses by installing good anti virus software. Many types of antivirus software are available in the market today. They are available in different rates and with different features. Most of them offer complete safety from viruses, spy wares, malware etc.

More and more types of viruses are coming up every day so it is very important to protect your computer with good quality software. The customer will have to buy them from the software companies by giving a good amount of money, but nowadays there are many antivirus software which is completely free. Anyone can download it from the website of the software company and install them they offer complete protection and safety but people are very doubtful about their results. You can see many websites from where you can download anti virus free.

Most of the software companies provide two versions of the same anti virus software in the website; one will be a free download version and other is the commercial version. It is true that the commercial version will be much more advanced, but the fact is the protection offered by the free version is more than enough for regular computer users. A commercial antivirus will need yearly renewals, for that you have to pay a good amount of money to the companies. This will be totally unnecessary and waste of money when you are getting good service for free for a long period of time. Some free software even regularly updates the database like the commercial ones.

If you just search the internet you will get details of plenty of free anti virus software. Most of them are readily available for easy downloading and installation. Choosing the right one can be a bit confusing. If you search in the internet systematically you can find the perfect anti virus software that suits all your needs. Choosing the right one can be a bit confusing. First you have to list the details of your needs. Only person who knows about your requirements well will be you. After listing down all your requirements you have to search in the internet for different types of antivirus software.

It will be better if you surf through different websites and note down their services and offers. Then you can make a list of software which fits your needs. Next step is a very important one you can read different comments are reviews about different software from the same website. There are also many articles available you can also make use of them for the selection. You have to put in some effort for getting a perfect anti virus because it is about the safety of your precious electronic equipment. If you are not satisfied with your anti virus system you can use more advanced methods like Descarga anti virus gratis.

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Most Dangerous Computer Viruses on the Internet

Beast Trojan Horse - also known as remote administration tool (RAT)

Trojan horse is basically a standalone malevolent software program which cannot infect a computer automatically unless the virus is executed or the software program containing this virus. Once it gets executed, it will make numerous copies of itself and place them in multiple directories. In this way it can steal secret information from your computer by keystroke logging and damage the system completely. The beast Trojan horse has the capability to reverse connections which is also very harmful.

SQL Slammer - also known as Sapphire.

Its main feature is that it is a file-less worm. It spreads by taking benefit of vulnerabilities found mostly in SQL servers.

MyDoom - also known as Novarg

It is a mass mailer worm and holds the record of the fastest spreading worm. E-mail attachments are the prime areas which help to spread this worm. When an email attachment includes a subject line like "test", "error", "mail transaction failed", or "mail delivery system" in languages like English and French, then it means a virus. If this mail is executed then the worm is sent to the local files of the user's address book.

Black worm- also known as Mywife, Nyxem, etc.

This worm is spread through the emails that use External SMTP engine. The worm travels with different body texts, subjects, and the attachment names. Moreover, it creates multiple copies of itself and infects the hard drive with same name as in the windows file to remain hidden. The black-worm corrupts the data on every third day of the month. The worst part of this worm is that it can delete antivirus programs if both of them are placed in the same directory.

Bad Benjamin

This worm affects kazaa which is a common file sharing program. This worm is also found in movie and music files. This worm creates multiple copies of itself and anyone users who download movies or music files make their computers infected with this virus.

Numbing Nimda - also known as Concept virus

This worm has the capability to modify executable files and web documents. This virus creates multiple copies of it and spreads as embedded attachments in HTML mail messages. These corrupt e-mail messages when opened by the recipient allow the virus to reach the recipient's computer also. This dangerous virus can also move through server web traffic, a shared hard drive which are infected, downloads, and so on.

Expletive deleted explorer

This worm is so harmful that it can delete power point, excel, and word files along with other files. This virus travels via e-mails that come from a known recipient. The file containing this virus will show fake error message. It keeps a watch on the inbox of the infected system and then automatically sends replies to different senders.

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What If The Hackers Put a Virus or Worm in the US Food Stamp Program Computer System?

Well, there is a famous quote from a famous socioeconomic philosopher explaining how stable societies can unravel. He noted that a society is only as stable as can ensure the next three meals of the population. In other words, if the citizens of a given nation or region miss three meals, they will be rioting in the streets and ripping the civilization apart before long. If you doubt this ancient wisdom, merely fast-forward to the present period and look at the Arab Spring.

If that's not enough for you, consider the riots in Spain, Italy, and Greece just at the thought there might be economic collapse, or food shortages. Folks can get riled up pretty quick and the mass mob mentality will take over. It doesn't take much. Some say it could never happen in the United States, but to that I say; oh poppycock. It could easily happen here. We've had riots before, and we've had civil unrest, and we've had looting of grocery stores and retailers. How about the LA riots, Chicago riots, or the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina looting? Have you forgotten your recent history?

Recently, on Coast-to-Coast AM a guest speaker came up with a frightening scenario; an EMP device takes down Washington DC and all of the computer systems. One of the first to go happened to be the "food stamp program" which 47 million people are currently on - he noted that there could be riots in every major city within hours. Sure, that could happen, but what if it were something else such as a computer virus or worm and it took down only that government computer system?

Now then, I'm not one to participate in doom and gloom conspiracy theories, but occasionally I do like to listen to that late night talk show to see just what sorts of interesting commentary and intellectual conversations might pop up. We have far too many people on food stamps that are now relying on the government. Instead of teaching them how to fish, we've given them free fish, and they expect that entitlement to continue forever. Do you know what happens when the government takes something away that it is promised the people?

Do I need to remind you of the ancient wisdom above, or the recent rioting we've had in the US, or that which we've seen around the world which was far worse? I think not, I believe you to be an intelligent reader if you are reading my intellectually driven philosophical articles. I ask that you please consider all this and think on it. How safe is the US food stamp program? It may turn out to be a very unwise choice, and this attempt to domesticate American citizens with free food could come back to bite us.

What happens tomorrow if it isn't there?

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