Tips
Tips
Often when you start to think that your computer is performing slower then it used to, the main suspect is most likely Spyware.
What is Spyware?
Spyware (also known as adware), are programs that are typically installed on your system without your knowledge. They do so by secretly copying the files during installation of a different program. The main purpose of Spyware is to advertise, and submit non personal data such as your surfing habits, search engine querys, and even some submit your Email contact lists to the advertising company.
Common Spyware
The most common spyware applications are ones such as CMEsys, Comet Cursor, Gator, Sygate, Dialers, new.net, n-case, most Internet Explorer toolbar addons, and most Outlook Express plugins like smileys. Some popular programs such as Kazaa contain Spyware.
How to get rid of it
No need to worry, removing spyware is relatively easy, there are various programs already created that are designed to remove spyware. BulletProofSofts Spyware and Adware Remover does a very good job at keeping your system clean of spyware. If the number of spyware results is quite large, it's recommended you do a defragment of your system drive to also improve performance after removal of all spyware. After this, you should notice a good speed boost in startup, shutdown, and over all performance of your computer.
What are viruses?
Viruses are small programs or scripts which are installed on your system, either willingly or by tricking you into installing them and typically don't do much in the way of anything. However, some viruses are designed with a destructive payload: sometimes deleting files, sometimes formatting hard drives, others can spam all of your E-mail contacts slowing down transfer speed over the internet or even your Local Area Network. Some are complex pieces of software, while others just capitalize on well-known flaws in the system.
What kind of Viruses are there?
- File Viruses: These viruses typically attach themselves to the ends of files, therefore corrupting the data so that the contents
will no longer be usable. Typically short-lived viruses, these are particularly wide spread on file sharing programs and don't
usually do a lot of damage if the proper precautions are carried out.
- Boot Sector: These viruses usually reside on a floppy disk, and when a crucial part of the disk (called the boot sector) is
accessed at boot up, it copies itself to the boot sector on your main hard drive and then executes itself. These viruses are
relatively easy to avoid, but are none the less still a pervasive problem in todays computer world.
- Macro: These viruses are the most frequent striking viruses today. Most commonly written in some sort of scripting language,
which makes it very simple to write them, and so they are very widespread. They are also very easy to thwart and so with the
proper software it's easy to keep these at bay.
- Trojans: While technically file viruses, these applications are MUCH larger in size and typically carry a payload with a higher
possibility of damage. These programs are usually masked by file extensions such as .jpg or .doc. Since they give remote access
to the infected computer's files, it is possible that these pose a much greater security risk. However, since they are both
large and highly detectable these are not a particularly high threat to the average computer user.
How to prevent viruses:
- Install and maintain effective anti-virus software. This is the single most crucial point, and since almost all anti-virus programs
have some sort of active monitoring system it is quite an effective countermeasure against infection.
- Just as important as having the software, is keeping it up-to-date. Since almost everyone has internet access, all of the major
anti-virus companies have special programs to keep their software as current as possible. It is important that you either
regularly run the software, or schedule regular updates if possible. Keeping your software up to date is the single most
effective infection prevention measure.
- Many viruses are hidden in attachments by using a double file extension. Making one of the most crucial preventive measures
to never open a file attatchment if it's from someone you don't know, and/or if you cannot see the entire filename.
- Even if you do get a file from someone you do know, it is a good rule of thumb to validate that they knowingly sent it, since
many viruses infect the software (primarily Microsoft Outlook) and send out massive amounts of mail to the contacts in your
address book.
- Internet dialers (programs you download to dial into other host machines) can contain viruses which have the potential to run
up enormous long distance charges, it is suggested that you do not use these programs.
- Another good way to keep things up to date on your Windows computer is to keep your software up to date. A lot of viruses
and malicious code is executed when people browse websites with outdated software. Since there are patches being released
on a frequent basis, it's good to follow the steps below in order to keep your Windows system secure.
What is 'Defraging'?
In Windows (other operating systems arn't as affected by it), whenever you write to the hard drive, it stores in in secors on the disk called "sectors." Since it's stored sequentially, when you delete something, i creates a large hole in the data sequence, which can lead to (sometimes) a severe performace hit. Defragging solves this problem by re-orginizing all the data so that there aren't any gaps in the data.
So, how do I defrag my hard drive?
In Windows 95/98/ME:
* On the desktop, open My Computer and right click the disk you wish to defragment.
* A window with a drop-down box will appear, select the drive you want to defrag (usually C:).
* Click Defragment
In Windows XP/2000:
* Click: Sart -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmentor
* Select which drive you would like to partition
* Go to the 'Action' menu and slect 'Defragment'
In Linux:
* Since linux uses a different way of reading and writing the files on your computer's hard drive, it isn't as susceptible to fragmentation. However, there are utilities which will defrag linux hard drives. Here is a link to one of them:
* ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/filesystems/defrag-0.70.tar.gz
It is not uncommon for hard drives to take several hours to defrag. On average, you should probably defrag once or twice a month.
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Many times, you won't have any problems if you just delete your applications. However, some programs install portions of their software which certain programs can become dependant on. So when you delete these files, the other programs can no longer run, which can cause a cascading effect, often leading to severe performance degradation. So when you uninstall using the designated uninstall programs, these links can be preserved so that all of your software runs just as good as it ever has. When combined with defragging, properly uninstalling software is a very important way of keeping your computer performing at its best.
Windows update is a critical aspect in keeping your computer at its best performance. Windows update is an online application which keeps your windows applications as up-to-date as possible. Updates can include security fixes, hardware incompatibilities, new features and useful new tools to expand your Windows experience.
How to update Windows:
Windows 95/98/ME:
* Click on Start and at the very top of the menu, click "Windows Update"
Windows XP/2000:
* Click Start -> All Programs -> Windows Update
Note:
If this is your first time running the application it will ask you to download and install an applet program. Select yes and let it download.
Go through the list until there are no longer any options (except for the language packs you do not want to install, as these are for international character support) which you can select. Congratulations, your windows software is now as up to date as possible.
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