How to improve system performance

Back in February of this year, I wrote a short post on improving system performance, and I thought I would revisit this subject adding to what was discussed then. My motivator for doing this is that I have been plagued with performance issues for quite some time and I find myself still battling this today. My PC is 5 years old and is a Dell XP Home edition PC. I know that I need more RAM, but for the purpose of this article, I will skip that fact. I think, however, that I may have found a significant breakthrough. I recently discovered a software called Regcure. I downloaded and installed it and after registering the software, I was able to clear up a lot of problems that I didn’t even know I had. The first scan found over a 1000 problems. I have noticed a difference in how my system performs after using Regcure. My only dissatisfaction for using Regcure, is that in order to use and remove all the problems, you have to pay an annual fee for the license, otherwise, Regcure only removes some and not all of the problems found. I’m not a big fan of having to pay annual fees for software updates unless it really grabs my attention. I will have to see what the year brings as to whether or not I renew next May or not.

—
More suggestions……

Turning off the Windows Indexing Service can free up memory to improve performance. You have to decide how often you use the Windows Search utility in order to gage if turning this feature off is good for you or not.

Another way to improve system performance is to have your email filter set to block out spam. If you open spammed emails, you could unzip a trojan which can cause your system to slow up. You should set your email filters as well as having spyware, adware & malware programs installed and running to catch anything that may get through.

See also:
5 Tips on Improving System Performance

What is a Trojan Horse?

What you should know about Phishing

After a very recent phishing attempt (unsuccessful) on me, I decided to write about this nasty subject again. I recently received an email asking me to update my account information. The email provided a link for me to click on to log in and update my account information. I went to click on it and I immediately realized what this could be, so even thought I did click on the link, I did not do anything that provided any kind of useful information. So, I completely stopped what I was doing and closed it out and logged into the REAL website to verify my account status. It was ok. I immediately notified the website about the incident and they responded back that they never sent me an email and thanked me for notifying them.

You need to be really careful with the emails you get each day. Phisher’s are getting really resourceful in there ability to create emails that look authentic enough to fool you. We’ve become so automatic at times that we do things without even a thought. This is exactly what Phishers are counting on. Then, before you know it, the damage is done. This is a real serious issue, and anyone who uses the Internet, should be careful.

For more information, please see these links on Phishing:

1. Recognize Phishing scams and fraudulent emails

2. Let’s not go Phishing (a post in this blog)

PC Vulnerability and Security

PC Vulnerability and Security is an imperative issue for all PC users regardless of what the PC is being used for. With what seems to be an ever changing world with operating systems especially with Windows Vista on the market now, viruses, Spyware, & Malware are ever changing as well. The everyday PC user has no choice but to have different types of anti virus and spyware protection on their computer. Not doing so would be like having your bodies immune system weakened so that anything could attack it. I’ve heard of some people temporarily shutting down these types of software to improve speed. One must consider, speed vs one’s sanity. I have 4 different systems running on my computer, one of which is anti virus. I will confess, that of the 4, I do have one that doesn’t run all the time. But, the other 3 systems provide sufficient coverage.

The following software are ones that I use and recommend:

1. AVG Free Anti Virus
2. Spy Catcher
3. Spy Blaster
4. Adware SE Personal

In addition to the above, I also recommend Spy Bot Search and Destroy. You can find all of these programs on Download.com.

You need to make sure that you have your firewall active to make sure that you are not open to a hacker’s attack. Home user’s are just as vulnerable as business’s are. If you have personal information stored on your PC, that information could be accessed if a firewall wasn’t turned on.
You should also do frequent windows updates as an added precaution. This, I admit, am guilty of not doing as often as I should. But, I do this when I think of it or if I am prompted to do so.

Now, with regards to emails, if you get an email and you do not recognize who the sender is, then delete the email. It’s best not to open an email if you don’t know who it’s from for the purpose of not downloading an a virus in the process.

See also the following posts:

1. Firewalls and Anti viruses a must

2. Who wants a reoccurring virus?

Who else wants a reoccurring virus?

You just updated your Anti Virus software and then scanned your computer and found that you have a virus. Your software then removes the virus for you and your virus is gone, or so you thought. Two days later, you are working on a project and realize that you need to get some files from one of your backups for one reason or another. Then, while you are working, your anti-virus software reacts indicating to you that you have a virus. Your first reaction is “What?”.

You can have the best anti-virus software on the planet, but, if you don’t make a new fresh backup of your files right after the removal of a virus, you may just be setting yourself up for a nasty surprise. Viruses are like other programs, in that, they can be backed up too. I experienced this quite some time ago, and had to remove a portion of my backup files. Luckily for me, I didn’t loose much.

Chances of this sort of thing happening are slim if you have your anti-virus active and it runs and updates on a daily basis. One suggestion would be to leave your computer up during the night and have your anti-virus set for an early morning update and scan so that it is finished by the time you need your PC.

Your first line of defense is YOU! Backing up your PC should be of high priority especially after you removed a virus. Not only that, while your parents may have brought you up to share things, viruses and spyware are things that other people would not appreciate very much via email.

See other posts:

1. Additional Information on backups

2. 5 Tips to Improve System Performance

3. Firewalls and Anti viruses a must

4. Spyware

Now part of the MyBlogLog community

Internet Help for PC User’s is now listed in the MyBlogLog.com community. Feel free to check out MyBlogLog anytime. http://MyBlogLog.com/buzz/members/TimBA

Web address: http://MyBlogLog.com

What is an operating system?

I’m not really asking you the question as noted in the title of this post. I am actually asking it as a statement. A good many people take this for granted. We all hear about them as Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP, and now Vista. But, again, what is an operating system? An operating system is an interface between you and the hardware of your computer. You can call it a “go between” or “middle man” so to speak. You can’t use your computer without it. Operating systems have really changed over the last 20 years. It all started out as different versions of DOS up through version 7 which was primarily for laptop users. Then Windows 95 came out thus changing everything. I sometimes miss those DOS years being a DOS specialist myself. The versions of DOS that are on the computers today are nothing more than an environment instead of what was real DOS back then. There are some differences between DOS of today and back then. Back then, you could do everything from DOS, today you can’t. With the command line features changing throughout the years, writing batch files isn’t the same either.

Using Windows Vista as an example here, a new system comes out and after people get used to one system, they are forced to learn a new one if they upgrade or purchase a new PC. In addition to learning a new system, one has to deal with any problems, short comings, errors that the new system has before being “patched” out so to speak.

One of the problem with new systems is that if a New PC User purchases a PC with the latest system on it, the hassle dealing with all the issues that come with a system that has problems can become a nightmare for the user. This is especially true if the New PC User started to learn off an earlier version of Windows. Ouch! Can you imagine what this kind of person would go through? It’s enough to begin as a new user let alone to encounter what I just mentioned.

The interface is only as good as the programmer’s who wrote it. Did I just say that? Well, the interface or operating system is nothing more than a program that is constantly running while the PC is turned on. It’s waiting there for the user to make use of it. Having never personally used Windows Vista, I think that Windows XP is a really good system.

Now, with that said, all systems have there down falls. I have used just about every kind of popular operating system available to date except for Vista. They all have there differences. You can run applications, communicate with people, print documents, use the Internet, play games and more. The night before publishing this post, I asked one of our foster kids the question “Do you know what an operating system is ?” I told him that it was referring to PC’s. His response was I don;t know. Granted he is 15 years old and is pretty good at using computers.

While I haven’t been in the market for a PC, I’ve been hearing that the only PC’s you can purchase now come loaded with Vista on them. It’s really hard to find one with Windows XP on them now. Personally I think that the consumer should have the choice on what they want and not Microsoft. Windows XP does a good job, so why not have both on the market and give the choice back to the consumer? Again, all an operating system is, is just an interface and the consumer should be able to choose what they want.

See also the following posts:

http://ihelp4pcu.wordpress.com/2007/04/04/windows-vista-the-latest/

http://ihelp4pcu.wordpress.com/2007/02/10/windows-vista-or-hasta-la-vista/