Simple Tweaks for Peac PC Graphics part 1

Simple Tweaks for Peak PC Graphics Performance

Adjust the settings for your graphics board and display to improve image quality.

When it comes to your PC, looks definitely matter. Tiny text, blurry images, and flickering screens aren't just annoying, they can lead to eyestrain, lost productivity, and a bill from the glazier for replacing the window you toss your monitor through out of frustration. But you don't have to give your display the heave-ho: A few simple adjustments to your graphics card and other Windows settings can ensure peak visual performance.

Your PC's graphics card is controlled by its Windows driver, so get the latest driver release for your board. To see what version you have, right-click the desktop and choose Properties to open the Display Properties dialog box, then click Settings, Advanced, Adapter (in Windows XP, also select Properties, Driver).

Visit your graphics-card vendor's Web site to download the most recent version of the driver, but don't install beta drivers. These are works in progress that may cause more trouble than they're worth.

Spring Cleaning for you Computer

It's time for spring cleaning and your computer is no exception. Taking the side cover off your computer and getting the dust bunnies out is not a difficult task. You don't need a high power vacuum cleaner to do this job. A vacuum with a small hose and attachment is perfect. You want to be careful to not loosen any of the wires when you do this. Concentrate on getting the dust around the fan near the power supply and the fan on the CPU. If you don't understand what these parts are you are better off calling a professional and having it done. Don't put this off. A clean, dust free computer runs cooler and last longer.

Conflicker Worm NOT FINISHED YET

April 1 has come and gone, and the Internet has not disintegrated and no major cyber-attacks were reported. But Conficker still remains a threat. Now don't panic, this doesn't mean cyber-Armageddon could strike at any minute, it just means you need to make sure your computer is fully updated if it isn't already. Feel better? Good, then let's take a look at what's going on.

Why It Ain't Over Yet

The Conficker Working Group-which is made up of 27 tech companies and agencies including AOL, F-Secure, Facebook, ICANN, Kaspersky, McAffee, Microsoft, Symantec-says that Conficker, also known as Downup, Downadup, and Kido, is the largest worldwide computer infection since the SQL Slammer in 2003. The CWG estimates anywhere from 3 to 15 million computers are infected worldwide, and says 30 percent of Windows computers across the globe are not updated with the latest patches to protect against Conficker. The virus authors are also still at large and able to communicate with Conficker-although that capability has been significantly reduced.

As you can see from this map provided by the CWG, Conficker infections in the United States are happening pretty much everywhere you can find an Internet connection. However, despite all that ominous looking red only 6 percent of Conficker infections are in North America. The biggest problem areas are actually concentrated in Asia and South America including Vietnam, Brazil, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as well as Algeria.

The hardest hit areas may also have a correlation to the number of unpatched Windows computers since Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America are areas known to have widespread use of pirated Windows software. Since Microsoft automatically blocks illegitimate copies of Windows from receiving critical updates those computers remain vulnerable to Conficker, thus perpetuating the risk.

What Conficker is Doing

Yesterday, Conficker began its daily exercise of contacting 500 Web sites from a randomly generated list of 50,000 sites. Conficker will continue to do this every day until it receives instructions to do something else. Further instructions could be a simple software update or the infected computers could work as a botnet to commit theft or attack other computer networks. The problem is that while security and IT professionals are working to block Conficker from getting further instructions, they haven't been able to block all Conficker traffic. So some infected machines have gotten through, but luckily further instructions haven't been issued, yet. Conficker's authors may be laying low until publicity surrounding Conficker dies down before contacting their creation.

If Conficker is updated or receives further instructions, that capability could pass between infected machines without further need of a server or Web site, because Conficker uses a peer-to-peer (p2p) protocol to communicate with other infected machines. That's right, Conficker is file sharing. With p2p the worm can distribute software updates much faster than if every infected machine had to communicate with a main server.

Does this mean the world could still end? Probably not, and that was never the concern with Conficker despite the doomsday scenarios you may have read. The fact is that most security experts believe that Conficker is just a typical botnet worm that can be used for identity theft or to commit other forms of cybercrime. Conficker is most likely controlled by an organized crime syndicate in Asia, Eastern Europe or South America and the group may even rent out Conficker's capabilities if the botnet every becomes active.

Conficker is only a threat if your computer does not have the latest security patches from Microsoft and an up-to-date antivirus program.

This information is provide by PCWorld Magazine.

Aprils Fool Virus is NO JOKE

Please read this link and scan your computer. I am a member of may Geek forums and information sites. This virus is NO JOKE. Microsoft is offering a $250,000 reward to find the person or group who started this virus.

Go to this link

Have you had your Cookies today?

HTTP cookies, more commonly referred to as Web cookies, tracking cookies or just cookies, are parcels of text sent by a server to a Web client (usually a browser) and then sent back unchanged by client each time it accesses that server. So what does that all mean in non computer geek terms? When you access a website that requires a sign-in, password or both such as Facebook, Twitter, and most others. They send a small piece of computer code to your browser. When you sign in a second time the page looks for the cookie it sent and it recognizes you and makes it quicker for you to access the site. There is a misconception that cookies are bad. There are bad cookies, but for the most part cookies help to speed up your web browsing experience. You can block cookies in most web browsers by accessing the security menu and turning cookies off.

Turn if OFF or Leave it RUNNING

I often get asked if it is better to turn your computer off when it isn't being used or to leave it runner. If your computer is a laptop ALWAYS turn it off when you aren't using it. Laptops don't have the best cooling systems in the world and often just a little dust in the fan can cause a laptop to overheat and it will fry the processor or mother board or both. Most laptop failure is do to overheating.

If your asking about your desktop I recommend that if your computer won't be used for a few hours or more shut it down. Most computers also have a sleep mode and you can save a considerable amount of power and heat in the computer by putting it to sleep. I used to run my computers 24/7 but that is OLD SCHOOL today. With the size of hard disk and the heat from super fast processors and video cards it doesn't make sense to leave the computer running when it won't be used for a long period of time. I know it a pain to shut down and wait for it to reboot, but it really is better for the long run in keeping your computer from overheating and crashing.

LifeHacker dot com

I know this is a computer repair blog, but today I'm going to do something different. I'm going to tell you about a URL that I visit daily. www.lifehacker.com is to me a must visit daily site. This site offers so much information that I find useful. Not all of it is computer related. Go ahead and leave my blog for now and take a look at LifeHacker. I bet you will put it in your bookmarks also. I have provided a link to Lifehacker on the right.

COME BACK HERE SOON!

WiFi where you live?

I found this URL today that gives you the locations of WiFi in the area you live in.
Just put in the address and it gives you a list of public WiFi spots. I will be keeping this in the favorites on my laptop. Now if my Blackberry goes off I just type in my location and it will find me the nearest WiFi Hot spot to get connected.

Click HERE to go to the URL

Do you need a clean install?????

There are times when it is just about impossible to FIX what is wrong with your operating system. After many hours of frustrating attempts to get your computer working properly you may decide it's time to just start from scratch and do a clean install.

The most important thing to realize before performing a clean installation of Windows is that all of the information on the drive that Windows is currently on (probably your C: drive) will be destroyed during this process. That means that if there's anything you want to keep you should back it up to a CD or another drive prior to beginning this process. If you don't feel comfortable doing this yourself DON'T DO IT.

A clean install can take a couple of hours even if everything goes perfectly. Call me if you have any questions.

Speed up XP shutdown

One of the biggest annoyances in Windows XP is waiting for what seems an eternity while it shuts down, so we have a couple of registry tweaks to help force Windows to shut down more quickly.

Usually what is happening is one or more applications is hanging up to 20 seconds (in the Registry all values are set to milliseconds) while the OS tries to shutdown. Before making any changes to the Registry it is highly advisable to create a backup.

Before I just throw this information out on the blog I want to give this WARNING. If you don't know what you are doing you could crash you whole computer. If you feel comfortable working with your registry I want you to call or email me and I will sent the instructions on how to adjust the registry to speed up XP shutdowns.

Critical Image Flaw - Fixed

A fix has been released by Microsoft about a critical image flaw that lets an attacker control a computer if a user viewed a poisoned image in a website or an email in an HTML format.

It is “probably of interest to all customers using Windows,” but that it “probably won’t be reliably exploited,” according to Mike Reavey of Microsoft who is the Security Response Center director of the company.

It involves how the operating system processes WMF and EMF files. The affected versions are Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and 2008, and Vista.

Source: PCWorld

Tony's NOTE: I have already seen this virus in action. My wife clicked on a picture on a popular game site just to try to close it and BAM she had the virus. AVG virus protection didn't stop it and it took me almost 4 hours to clean the virus from her computer.

The Windows Registry

What is your Windows Registry? The Registry is a database used to store settings and options for the 32 bit versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 95, 98, ME and NT/2000 and XP. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. Whenever a user makes changes to a Control Panel settings, or File Associations, System Policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the Registry.

Over time the Windows Registry gets congested. Think of it like a closet where you keep putting stuff in it but you never remove what you don't need. After awhile it keeps taking longer and longer to find what you are looking for it the closet. That is what happens to the Windows Registry. Your computer slows down or even gives up if the Registry gets too over loaded.

You can clean your Windows Registry but you must be very careful. If you remove a file that is needed for the operating system or a program to function you can crash your computer or the program. Registry cleaning is best left to a professional or someone with a good bit of computer experience.

NEVER make changes to your registry without making a back up first. If you have questions about cleaning your Registry give me a call or email me.

Live update what you should know

Live updates. Do you keep your software up to date? You should. Microsoft sends out any software updates for it's operating systems on Tuesdays. It is important to download and install these updates to keep your computer running smoothly and to help block known viruses and other Internet security issues. You can go to control panel and turn on automatic updates so the computer will take care of this for you. If you don't know how to turn on the automatic update in your software give me a call or email me and I will talk you through it for FREE.

Welcome to USB

What is USB? Universal Serial Bus This is a standard connecting device that allows you to easily add devices to your computer. This uses a standard play and play technology that offers connection of external computer peripherals such as Hard Disk Drives, CD and DVD players, Flash Drives, Printers, Mice and Keyboard, Cameras, and many more items.

What makes USB really nice is the ability to move a peripheral from one computer to another without much concern with installing special software. Todays modern operating systems OS has the needed software drivers built in to access the USB peripheral you choose to use. A USB flash drive has become a standard piece of equipment to be carried in your pocket, purse, or on your keychain. Once you use the convience of a USB device you will appreciate this technology.

Lesson 4 JUST DO IT!

Lesson 4 Just do it. If you have been following the Blog up to now you know what you want to backup (Lesson 1).

You have chosen the media that you want to back up to (Lesson 2).

You have picked out your software to make the backup (Lesson 3).

Today in Lesson 4 we are going to tell you do put it all together and JUST DO IT. Make your
first backup. Don't you feel better knowing that if your computer crashes You will still have all your important files? Also in this lesson I want to cover how often you should back up your computer. You need to decide this by keeping track of how often your files change. How often do you add photos, songs, documents to your computer?

When you have added something to your computer that you can't afford to lose, do a backup. You can also schedule your backup software to do it for you automatically. I'm a pretty heavy computer user so I back up automatically every night. While I'm sleeping my computer is hard at work backing up my files. You can do this too. I promise you will
sleep better knowing your files are safe.

Lesson 3 What Software do you use

What software do you use to back up your computer? In lesson 1 we selected what files we wanted to back up. In lesson 2 we learned where we can back up our data. Today in lesson 3 I will explain what software is available to do the job for you. There is one software that stands head and shoulders over all the rest and it is Acronis True-image. They offer a free trail and after you use it you will understand why it is worth the $49.00 for the total package. I want to say that I am in no way getting anything from Acronis for pitching their software. I have tried at least 20 other back up programs and none of them gives you the ease of use and the comprehensive backups that Acronis gives you. If you don’t want to use Acronis you can Google on backup software and find many more software applications that backup your computer. Visit the Acronis site and see what I am talking about.

Back up Lesson 2 WHERE TO BACK UP

If you followed Lesson 1 you now have a list of what you want to back up. Now we need to discuss where to back it up. I have learned that to get people to make back ups at all it has to be easy for them to do it. That said I am going to suggest that you invest in an external USB drive. You can find a very nice size USB drive for under $100. For most home owners and small businesses an External HD is all the room you need to hold all your pictures, videos, music and documents. There are some external HD's that even come with the back up software built in. I will explain back up software in a future blog post. I will now give you other options if you don't want to spend money on a external HD. My second option for much less cost of the HD is the USB thumb drive. They won't hold as much but many home users will be able to fit all their files on a 4 gig USB thumb drive. You can even buy 2 or 3 if needed and stll not spend the cost of an external HD. A slower and much less expensive way to back up is to use DVD's or CD. Most every computer made today has a CD or DVD drive that can burn images. This will take longer to do but it still works and cost the least. A CD or DVD back up is better than NO BACK UP. Tomorrow I will talk about using software to make your back up job easy. Please leave comments or questions.

Back Up Lesson 1 MAKE A LIST

Before we get into how to Back Up your computer we need to discuss what to back up. Unless you have a large second hard drive you won't be backing up everything on your computer. There is no reason to do it anyway. You should have a lot of your software on CD and DVD disks. Software that you downloaded should have the serial or registration numbers written down so you can download them again and activate them without paying again. What you need to focus on is the files that you can't replace. Documents that you have created and photos that you have taken are usually the first things people want saved. Music and of course passwords are next. Do you have your computer set to remember your passwords on sites that require them? If your computer crashed would you be able to sign into those sites? Write down the password for every site that you visit that requires one. Check your hard drive and write down the names of the folders where you have important information stored. An example would be C:username/documents/customer letters. C:username/photos/family vacation. Your computer doesn't have this arrangement??? Give me a call. We need to get you organized before you can be Backed Up.

It will CRASH do you have a backup?

Make no mistake, someday your hard drive will CRASH. It's just part of the fact that it will wear out over time. WHEN it happens will you have a BACKUP? There are many fast and easy ways to protect your important photos, videos, files, documents, and address book. Starting Monday I will post instructions on how to backup your hard drive. By next Friday you will have all the information you need to get your computer ready for the inevitable crash.

Use PC WORLD for Answers

PC World is considered by many to be the resource for answers to computer problems. They offer an FREE solutions, Tips and Answers section on line. Click here to check out PC World for yourself.

On line Books for FREE

I want to tell you about a site you can visit where you can read books for free. This is like having a world wide library card. Click here to find a book to read.

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