Monday, September 8, 2008

Internet Tips and Guide

Know who you’re dealing with. If the seller or charity is unfamiliar, check with your state or local consumer protection agency and the Better Business Bureau. Some Web sites have feedback forums, which can provide useful information about other people’s experiences with particular sellers. Get the physical address and phone number in case there is a problem later.
Look for information about how complaints are handled. It can be difficult to resolve complaints, especially if the seller or charity is located in another country. Look on the Web site for information about programs the company or organization participates in that require it to meet standards for reliability and help to handle disputes.
Be aware that no complaints is no guarantee. Fraudulent operators open and close quickly, so the fact that no one has made a complaint yet doesn’t meant that the seller or charity is legitimate. You still need to look for other danger signs of fraud.
Don’t believe promises of easy money. If someone claims that you can earn money with little or no work, get a loan or credit card even if you have bad credit, or make money on an investment with little or no risk, it’s probably a scam.
Understand the offer. A legitimate seller will give you all the details about the products or services, the total price, the delivery time, the refund and cancellation policies, and the terms of any warranty.
Resist pressure. Legitimate companies and charities will be happy to give you time to make a decision. It’s probably a scam if they demand that you act immediately or won’t take “No” for an answer.
Think twice before entering contests operated by unfamiliar companies. Fraudulent marketers sometimes use contest entry forms to identify potential victims.
Be cautious about unsolicited emails. They are often fraudulent. If you are familiar with the company or charity that sent you the email and you don’t want to receive further messages, send a reply asking to be removed from the email list. However, responding to unknown senders may simply verify that yours is a working email address and result in even more unwanted messages from strangers. The best approach may simply be to delete the email.
Beware of imposters. Someone might send you an email pretending to be connected with a business or charity, or create a Web site that looks just like that of a well-known company or charitable organization. If you’re not sure that you’re dealing with the real thing, find another way to contact the legitimate business or charity and ask.
Guard your personal information. Don’t provide your credit card or bank account number unless you are actually paying for something. Your social security number should not be necessary unless you are applying for credit. Be especially suspicious if someone claiming to be from a company with whom you have an account asks for information that the business already has.
Beware of “dangerous downloads.” In downloading programs to see pictures, hear music, play games, etc., you could download a virus that wipes out your computer files or connects your modem to a foreign telephone number, resulting in expensive phone charges. Only download programs from Web sites you know and trust. Read all user agreements carefully.
Pay the safest way. Credit cards are the safest way to pay for online purchases because you can dispute the charges if you never get the goods or services or the offer was misrepresented. Federal law limits your liability to $50 if someone makes unauthorized charges to your account, and most credit card issuers will remove them completely if you report the problem promptly. There are new technologies, such as “substitute” credit card numbers and password programs, that can offer extra measures of protection from someone else using your credit card.

Windows XP chkdsk

Windows XP chkdsk is a tool available for you in Windows. Everyone should run it from time to time because it can prevent your computer from becoming unstable.

There are different reasons why the data on your hard disk can become corrupt. Windows keeps "meta-data" about each file and every directory on your hard drive in a Master File Table (MFT).

Meta-data is data about the data. Windows needs it to physically locate your files on the hard drive, to know about user access rights for each file and so on.

In some cases, the information in the MFT can become corrupt. This can be the case when your computer experiences a sudden power cut or a system hang. To make things even worse, your hard disk may show signs of wear over time and some sectors may become unreadable.

Windows XP chkdsk is the tool to handle these situations. It can fix logical errors on your hard disk and it can detect bad sectors and flag them so that Windows no longer uses them.

It's a valuable tool, but it has a disadvantage …

… checking and fixing an entire hard disk is a tough job, so chkdsk can take a considerable amount of TIME under certain conditions.

The time needed for chkdsk to run is very hard to predict because it depends on many factors :

Overall speed of your pc
Number of files and directories on the disk
Size of the disk
Amount of RAM
...

A gigantic disk with 2 extremely large files will take considerably less time to check than a small disk with 2 million tiny files, but so many other factors are to be considered … never easy to tell.

Windows XP chkdsk wants exclusive access to the computer

Schedule to run chkdsk at a time when you don't need your computer. In most cases chkdsk wants to restart your computer and during the time that it runs, you won't have access to your computer. You can always interrupt chkdsk during its work, but this is certainly not recommended.

How to use Windows XP chkdsk

Click the start button
Right-click "My Computer" and select "Explore"
Right-click the disk you want to check and select "Properties"
In the properties dialog click the tab "Tools"
Click "check now"
The "checking disk" dialog appears, check both options and click start
You will probably see a message that chkdsk wants exclusive access to the disk and therefore wants to begin first thing after you restart your computer. Accept by clicking ok.
Restart your computer

When your computer restarts you will see chkdsk advancing through several different stages of verification, examining your hard disk. If it detects no errors, Windows will continue to start to your normal desktop. If there are errors, chkdsk presents a report with what it has done and waits for your confirmation.

Windows XP chkdsk

Windows XP chkdsk at work ...

Why not schedule chkdsk to run while you sleep ?

Note : To schedule a Windows XP chkdsk task with task scheduler you need a Windows administrator account with a non-blank password.

In Explorer, navigate to c:\program files
If you see a message that this is a folder with hidden files, just click the link to show the files
Right-click an empty area in the right part of the Explorer window and select new -> text document
Windows creates a file named New Text Document.txt
Rename the file to "Restart and perform chkdsk.bat" (without the quotes)
Windows warns about changing the filename extension : click yes
Right-click your newly created file and select "edit"
Windows opens the new blank file in your default text editor : type the following lines and make sure not to press the enter key after the last line

Windows XP chkdsk

Save the file and close your text editor
Close all other programs except the Eplorer window where the newly created file is listed
Double-click the new file and see what happens (don't touch anything from this point on until your computer is ready with chkdsk

Now that you know that your batch file is working it's time to automatically schedule it.

Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Scheduled Tasks
In the Scheduled Tasks window, double-click "Add Scheduled Task"
Click next
Click browse
Navigate to the Restart and perform chkdsk.bat file that you created in the previous step and click "open"
Choose the frequency for this task (monthly would be a good minimum)
Enter the day and time to perform the task
Enter the (administrator) username and non-blank password (must be non-blank or the task won't run). Be careful to enter the password correctly because Windows doesn't verify it here.
Click next and then click finish

Your full-automatic Windows XP chkdsk task is now ready !

Windows XP System Restore

Windows XP System Restore is a very powerful feature that can save you lots of time and frustration.

Create a restore point before you install new software
Flashback your computer directly to a restore point
Use your computer's last known good configuration
Remark : Windows XP System Restore is pretty powerful, but it is not a replacement for a backup program. It doesn't make backup copies of your files, you still need to do this yourself.

It does save important information about Windows system files, registry settings, and settings for different users on your pc. That makes Windows XP System Restore a pretty clever tool, providing capabilities to get your digital life back on track when something goes terribly wrong.

When Windows XP System Restore is activated on your pc (we'll see how to do that in a minute), it creates system restore points automatically :
When you install new software (provided that the software behaves properly and warns Windows about its presence)
When you install a Windows patch, security update or service pack
When you install a non-signed driver
Before you restore to a previous restore point
Once a day

You can also initiate a manual restore point creation.

Windows XP System Restore for you ?

Suppose you want to install a piece of free software that came with a box of breakfast cereals. Generally not the best idea to keep your computer in good shape, so you manually create a system restore point before the install.

You need to have System Restore turned on on your computer to be able to do this.

To Turn on System Restore

Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore.

If System Restore was turned of on your computer, you will see the following dialog :

Turn on System Restore

If Windows shows you the System Restore wizard screen instead of the above image ...

... STOP ! You already have it enabled on your computer. Else ...

... click yes to enable it. Windows shows this screen :

Turn on System Restore

Make sure to UN-check the check box that says "Turn of System Restore on all drives" and click ok.

That's all ! The next time you launch System Restore, you will see the "Welcome to System Restore" wizard.

Now that you have System Restore enabled, you want to manually create a System Restore Point :

Click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore

The Windows XP System Restore wizard appears. Click the option "Create a Restore Point" and click next. The wizard wants a name for your restore point. Don't enter the date here, because Windows keeps track of Restore Point dates automatically. Rather enter something descriptive like "Pre-breakfast cereal software point".

When you have entered the Restore Point Description, click "create".

The wizard may take some time to complete the operation but soon you will see the "Restore Point Created" screen.

That's all there is to it, you just created a System Restore Point. Now you have a safety net available to install new software.

Windows keeps your restore point 90 days or until System Restore runs out of disk space, whichever comes first. The restore data needs to be stored on your hard disk and you can reserve up to 12% of the total capacity on your hard disk for System Restore information.

Use Windows XP System Restore to flash back your pc to a point in time when it was working fine

Suppose that you installed your piece of software and that it isn't what you expected after all. Maybe it even crashed or caused your computer to be instable. Wouldn't it be great if you could just restore your computer to a point back in time when it was still running fine ?

With Windows XP System Restore you can.

If you are restoring your computer because of trouble with a piece of software that you installed, always un-install the program before you run system restore. To do this, click Start -> Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs and use the program uninstall button.

With that out of the way you are now ready to restore your computer. Note that mail messages, word documents, your internet explorer favorites and personal documents are preserved by system restore. You will still have them after you restored your computer to an earlier point in time.

Just click start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore

The System Restore wizard appears. Click the "Restore my computer to an earlier time" option and click next.

The System Restore wizard shows a calendar with earlier restore points. Choose a restore point where your computer didn't have problems and click next. The wizard shows the system restore confirmation screen, click next. When the operation is complete, Windows restarts and you will see a message that the system was restored. You can even undo the restoration if you want : if you start system restore a next time, you will see a new option "undo my last restoration".

Windows Backup Utility

I realize that this may come as an interesting sounding headline to you. The fact is, if you are looking for a windows backup utility, there is a wide variety of windows file backup software available to choose from.

While it may be true that you don't need to buy windows backup software under one or more of the following conditions ...

you possess the necessary technical skills to be able to perform a complete crash recovery with the built-in windows backup tools
you can rely on a systems administrator who is responsible for data recovery in the event of a system crash
you are working on a corporate computer that is backed by a full-fledged disaster recovery plan
you don't care the least bit about the data that lives on your computer and it wouldn't affect you if all that data would be gone in the next minute

... in most real-life situations you should at least give your data backup in windows some thought.

Give it some thought, because there are not many certainties in life, but here is one that I know of:

Personal computers tend to go down every now and then and when they do it usually happens in such a fashion that they take your favorite digital images and your music collection with them. Not to mention your personal documents, e-mails and maybe even private banking data.

Introducing an easy windows backup utility

A lot of people are confused about how to backup Windows XP. Windows XP professional comes with a standard backup solution on board, but you are not so lucky if you need to make a Windows XP home backup. The absence of backup functionality is one of the differences between Windows XP professional and Windows XP Home Edition.

Furthermore, you need to understand what you're doing if you have to recover a crashed computer from a windows backup. In most cases you will need to perform a fresh operating system installation and recover your system from there on with your backup data.

That's why you will find a number of Windows backup utility products on the market from third party providers. These tools are designed to make disaster recovery a lot easier.

One of those products is Norton Ghost. Norton Ghost creates what is called a "disk image" from your hard drive, it's like recording a bit-for-bit copy of your entire hard drive. In the event of a system crash you can use this image file to quickly reanimate your computer in a matter of minutes. Even if your computer cannot start into your Windows operating system, having an image file available along with the right windows backup utility will mean the difference between having your computer back up and running or dealing with frustration and data-loss.

In the event of physical damage, like for instance a defective hard disk, you can simply replace the hard disk, load your image file onto the new hard disk and have your computer back up and running again in no time.

Windows backup utility tips

Tip: if your system is running low on disk space, you can even use this tactic to transplant the entire content of your hard drive to a new, larger capacity hard disk.

Windows Backup Utility

Norton Ghost helps you to create a complete disk image in two steps: select the drive you want to backup and in the next step select the destination where you want the disk image to be recorded (like on an external hard drive for instance):

Windows Backup Utility

This Windows backup utility offers an easy to use scheduling overview, where you can schedule automatic (unattended) disk image creation tasks:

Windows Backup Utility

The reason why you can restore your computer even if you can't get into your Windows environment is because a disk image based windows backup utility usually comes with a bootable cdrom that allows you to start your computer from the cdrom. A wizard-like graphical user interface will then guide you towards a recovered, fully operational pc, without the need to ever touch a printer driver or system file. The image below illustrates the graphical environment that guides you through the recovery process after booting from the cdrom.

Windows backup utility

The graphical recovery environment is usually smart enough to recognize external usb or even firewire hard disks, which is a good thing, because disk image files tend to be rather large. Even when they are compressed. Just browse to the disk image file location, select the file and start the recovery process:

Windows backup utility

Final words: the small amount of money that it will cost you to buy a windows backup utility will offer you such an elevated level of security that it's well worth the investment. Also the ease of use to recover individual, accidently deleted files will prove to be invaluable usually sooner rather than later. Schedule automatic backup image file creation at a time when you don't use the computer and you'll never have to worry about data loss again.

Recover a Lost XP Password

These techniques to recover a lost xp password are among the more advanced Windows XP Tips and Tricks. In some cases, recovering from a lost password can be very easy though.

For completeness' sake we start with the simplest tips that can help you regain access to a locked account. But even if you find yourself in a more complex situation, please read on. You'll find out what to do.

Warning : Be extra careful if you are using Encrypting File System (EFS) in Windows XP Professional. If you don't know what EFS is, you probably shouldn't worry about it. It's a feature in Windows XP Professional that deals with file security on a local level. If you do use it, please always make sure to export your private and public keys before attempting to reset your password.

If you can login with another user account

If you share your computer with other users it's fairly simple to regain access to your account. You could ask one of the other users to log on to Windows with their password and perform the following steps :

Click the Start button
Click "Run"
In the "Open" field, type "control userpasswords2" (without the quotes)
Click ok

Windows opens a user accounts dialog. Select the user with the lost password and click the "Reset Password" button. Enter a new password (and a second time in the confirmation box) and click ok. Click ok once again and you are ready.

Now you can log on to your account using the new password.

More advanced password recovery

If there are no other users on your machine to unlock your account, you need to reset your password "offline". Offline means that you boot your pc from outside your usual Windows XP environment using a boot disk or a bootable cdrom.

This offline technique to recover a lost xp password isn't for the faint of heart; the procedure isn't presented in a nice graphical interface and there even is a small risk involved ...

Sometimes the password reset fails and as a consequence you cannot log on with the locked user account afterwards. This doesn't happen often though, and if you are reading this because you need to recover a lost xp password ...

you weren't able to log on after all ...

Of course you will need access to another pc to create a boot disk or bootable cd.

Is your boot sequence right ?

Your computer's boot sequence is set in the BIOS and determines if the pc can boot from a floppy or cdrom. To get into the BIOS, you typically need to press a certain key or key combination during startup. Depending on the brand of your computer this can be :

The F1 key
The F2 key
The F10 key
The del key
Ctrl+Alt+Enter
Ctrl+Alt+Esc
...

If you have made your way into the BIOS, now would the time to choose either your floppy drive or your cdrom as primary startup device.

Below is a BIOS boot sequence screenshot where the floppy drive has top priority.

Lost XP Password

Creating the boot disk

You can download an offline password and registry editor to create the bootable disk at http://home.eunet.no/~pnordahl/ntpasswd/ or if this url has become invalid over time, you can request your copy with the small form below. You will receive a mail with a valid download link shortly afterwards.

Don't worry, we will use your email address only to send you the download link, not for anything else. We hate spammers as much as you do.

After you have downloaded the Offline Password and Registry editor you have a .zip file on your hard drive that could use some unzipping. Depending on the choice that you have made in your BIOS, you either need to carry out the steps to create a bootable floppy, or the steps to create a bootable cdrom.

Instructions for the boot disk (floppy)

Once unzipped, you'll have 3 files : rawrite2.exe, install.bat and a .bin file. Put a blank, formatted floppy in your floppy drive and launch install.bat. That will create a bootable floppy from which you need to boot your pc (the one with the lost xp password).

The bootable cdrom

The unzipped file delivers a .iso file that you need to burn to a cd with your cd burner software. That creates a bootable cd to boot your pc (again, the one with the lost xp password).

Time to fix that lost xp password

Shortly after you boot your computer from the floppy or cd you'll have an intimidating screen filled with text staring you in the face.

Like this :

Lost XP Password

There's no need to feel overwhelmed. In order to reset your lost xp password you need to go through some questions in a number of steps. In each step the program offers a default answer. Usually these defaults are ok and you just need to press ENTER.

Step 1 : Select the disk where the Windows XP installation is.

Step 2 : Select PATH and registry files. For most Windows installations you can safely accept the defaults.

Step 3 : Password or registry edit. Select "Edit user data and passwords" - the default. After that you need to choose the user account. The program defaults to "Administrator", so you need to type the name of the user with the lost xp password if it's not the administrator account that you're trying to unlock. Once you've made clear which user account's lost xp password you want to reset, you need to supply the new password. To finish it off confirm the password change and type "!" to quit the user selection menu. Now type "q" (for quit) to continue with ...

Step 4 : Writing back changes. This step requires one more confirmation and then wants to know if you want another run. Answer with the defaults, remove the bootable floppy or cdrom and reboot your pc.

You should now be able to log on with your account and the new password.

Windows XP Desktop icons missing ?

All of a sudden you find your Windows XP Desktop icons missing just when you were in the middle of something on your computer. Ever been in that situation ?

This Windows XP tips and tricks article explains what you can do when you find your Windows XP Desktop icons missing.

It's pretty annoying, because usually when this happens, your taskbar and start button are gone too. That leaves you with nothing much to click on. The only thing that's left to look at is your desktop wallpaper.

The best way to get back on your feet is by pressing ctrl-alt-del. That will bring up the Task Manager. (In some cases it brings up the Windows Security dialog, but you can click on the Task Manager button from there to go where we need to be.)

Once in the Task Manager, make sure you are on the "Processes" tab and then click on "File" in the Task Manager menu. Then select "New Task (Run...)" and type "explorer.exe" (without the quotes) in the "open" field. Then click ok and watch a new incarnation of your desktop come to life in front of your eyes.

Save time with fewer reboots

In a lot of cases you can elaborate this technique a bit and use it to avoid a reboot when you have made modifications in the registry. Generally you have to reboot your computer for registry changes to take effect. Now you can avoid reboots by killing and respawning the explorer.exe process.

After you have made modifications in your registry, make sure to save and close all documents that you are working on. Then bring up the Task Manager with ctrl-alt-del. Click on the "Processes" tab and look for the explorer.exe process. Single-click this process and click on Task Manager's "End Process" button.

That will make your desktop icons, task bar and start button go away, the only thing that remains is the Task Manager. That allows you to select "File"->"New Task (Run...) from the Task Manager menu. Again, type "eplorer.exe" in the "open" field and click ok.

That will cause the new registry settings to be loaded without the necessity of a reboot.

Synchronize files in Windows XP

Many people still use the "low tech" way to synchronize files in Windows XP. They copy them onto a floppy for transfer. Others hook their laptop into the network and manually copy files over the network.

There's nothing wrong with that, except that there's a much simpler way to synchronize files in Windows XP.

f you want to keep files synchronized between your laptop and your office environment, you're much better off using something called "Offline Files" in Windows XP.

Offline Files automatically deals with situations where files are changed both on your laptop and on the network location. How would you manage synchronization when it's possible that neither copy is in it's original state ?

100% availability

The Offline Files functionality is extremely useful if you want to work with your files when they are not always available 24/7. Think of files on a network that periodically goes down for maintenance or files on a desktop pc that you want to access while traveling with your notebook.

Offline Files is designed to be an improvement over the Briefcase function from previous Windows versions.

The feature is only available in Windows XP Professional, not in Windows XP Home Edition. However, only the computer that needs to maintain and synchronize the Offline Files needs Windows XP Professional. The computer that stores the original files can be running any operating system.

You must first turn off "Fast user switching" to start using Offline Files to synchronize files in Windows XP. Don't know if "Fast user switching" is enabled ? If your computer is part of a network with a domain, you don't have to worry about it. Fast User Switching is not an option in domains.

Not part of a domain ? Do the following :

Click the Start button and select "Control Panel"
Open up "User Accounts"
Click "Change the Way Users Log On or Off"
Deselect the "Use Fast User Switching" checkbox and click ok

Now you're all set to synchronize files in Windows XP.

Right-click the Start button and select "Explore"
From the Explorer menu, select "Tools"->"Folder Options"
Click the Offline Files tab and check the "Enable Offline Files" check box
Change the additional synchronization settings if needed

You can return to this dialog any time to delete offline files with the "Delete Files" button. Use the advanced button to setup how your computer needs to react when the connection to another computer on the network is lost.

Make the selection

Next, you need to select which networked files and folders you want available on your local hard drive :

Right-click the network file or folder that you want to cache
Select "Make Available Offline"

If this is the first time that you do this, the Offline Files wizard will allow you to set some extra configuration options. If you selected a folder that contains subfolders, you will need to specify whether you want to include these as well.

When you work offline

If you synchronize files in Windows XP like this, the files will appear as if they were online even when they are not actually available. You can access them the same way you usually do. If they are available via the network, you get the "live" copy; if they are not available, you get the offline copy. An icon in the notification area will inform you if you are working offline.

Connected to the network

As soon as you connect your laptop to the network again, you need to synchronize your files. Windows does it automatically for you if you have set the configuration options to automatically synchronize at logon and / or logoff.

You can also manually synchronize files in Windows XP :

Click the Start button
Select "All Programs"->"Accessories"->"Synchronize"
The "Items to Synchronize" dialog allows you to select which items you want to synchronize
Click the Synchronize button

When both your local copy and the network copy of a file have changed, Windows will ask what you want to do. When only one of the copies has changed, it will overwrite the un-changed copy.

Alternatively, you might want to ...

Another way of accessing your files in your office environment is by using remote control software. Windows XP has its own built-in remote access feature, called remote desktop (RDP), but that is often limited when your office network uses a firewall.

This limitation can be overcome by using a third party remote access software like Citrix GoToMyPC. It works like a charm and passess through most firewalls, because it uses the standard http internet port to remotely access your pc.

Download AVG for Windows XP free

You can download AVG for Windows XP free at http://free.grisoft.com

AVG free is a complete antivirus software package that you can use free of charge as long as you use it for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only.

If you are looking for antivirus software for use in an organization, for commercial purposes or a home business, you can take a look at AVG's commercial version, AVG professional. The professional version of AVG for Windows XP is not free, but for those who want 24/7 technical support included, it's a cheap alternative.

McAfee Internet Security Suite (http://us.mcafee.com) is another option for (home) office virus protection. It offers the additional benefit of anti-spam, anti-spyware and firewall functionality to support your productivity.

How can a free anti virus program be any good ?

There are several reasons why software like AVG for Windows XP shouldn't necessarily perform less than commercial packages :

Free antivirus software like AVG for Windows XP is for non-commercial computer use only. Someone that uses the free version of a virus scanner at home might recommend it to someone for commercial use if he or she is satisfied with it.
The free versions of anti virus programs usually don't come with support. When you run into problems, you are on your own. You need to go and search on internet forums and computer user groups to fix your problem.
Multi-language support is usually not present in free anti virus packages. You need to upgrade to a paying subscription if you want to install your anti virus software in a non-default language.
Your antivirus software wants to update itself regularly because new viruses are born every day. Your virus scanner wants to be able to recognize them. Paying subscriptions generally allow for slightly smoother updates and have priority over free accounts.

Other free anti virus products

AVG for Windows XP is not the only anti virus software out there :

Avast Home Edition (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html)
You have to download and install an evaluation version. You can use it for three months, after which you need to register the software. If you don't register, the virus scanner stops working. If you do register, your evaluation version changes into a permanent one and from then on you have full access to updates.

Antivir Personal Edition (http://www.free-av.com)
Free virus protection from Germany. You also have to download and install the software, but you don't need to register. During the updates you will see promotional messages advertising the advantages of paying subscriptions.

No excuse is good enough

Anyone that uses the internet should get decent virus protection.

Anyone.

And even then, you should be careful with doubtful e-mail attachments and websites with pop-ups that ask you to click "YES" or "OK" to continue. Never underestimate the cleverness of virus makers.

Should your computer become infected despite an anti virus software like AVG for Windows XP or even a commercial virus scanner like McAfee, then there's a good chance that the virus attacks your virus scanner. Virus scanners that have been attacked by malicious viruses often don't update anymore or they might even get disabled.

If you are left with a compromised virus scanner, try to do a complete system scan with an online virus scanner. An online virus scanner simply works in your internet browser. When using an online virus scanner, you usually DO have to click "OK" or "YES" somewhere in the process, because the online anti virus program might need to install its code in your browser.

Online virus scanners :

HouseCall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com)
TrendMicro's HouseCall can scan your pc online when your own anti virus software is out of order.

Pc PitStop (http://www.pcpitstop.com/antivirus/default.asp)
Pc PitStop uses the Panda Software virus scanner to scan and clean your computer.

BitDefender (http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html)
The BitDefender online virus scanner.

Symantec Antivirus (http://security.symantec.com/ssc)

Your money or your files !

Some viruses silently do their work in the background and copy your files to their own archive. Then the virus deletes the original files from your computer. Next you get to see a message that your files have been encrypted and that you have to send an email to a specific e-mail address. If you send the e-mail, you receive an answer telling you that you need to buy something in a certain online shop to get your files back. These kind of computer blackmail viruses are called ransomware.

Another example is the creation of zombie pc's. Large networks with thousands of home computers get infected with a special type of virus. The virus silently sits on these computers and does nothing. Malicious organizations sell these networks with infected computers to spammers together with an activation code for the viruses. The spammers then use the activation code as a wake-up call for the viruses and abuse the zombie computers to send their spam messages to thousands of internet users.

Computer viruses are big business. We strongly encourage you to install protective software. Free virus solutions such as AVG for Windows XP make it affordable for everyone.

Remote computer access tips

Stuck with a problem on your computer? With remote computer access you can actually let someone help you from a distance. Not just like in a telephone conversation, but with full visualization of what's happening on your screen.

That's right: let someone remotely connect to your computer and share your screen like he or she was sitting next to you.

In this series of articles you will learn about:

Windows Remote Assistance
Remote Desktop Connections and Terminal Services
Remote Computer Access that cuts through firewalls
Remote Computer Administration with fixed and dynamic ip addresses
Remote Computer Software that allows you to connect to someone's computer and offer remote support

In this first article we'll start off with Windows Remote Assistance.

Remote Assistance allows you to invite someone to connect to your computer over the internet and help you with something as if they were sitting next to you. You decide whether you allow the helper to simply view your screen or even take control of it.

Windows XP offers Remote Assistance functionality out of the box, so if you are running Windows XP, you're practically all set to send an invitation to a friend, colleague or support professional.

Here's how to send a remote assistance request:

Click the Start button
Select "Help and Support"
Click "Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance". This is located under the Ask for assistance heading
Click "Invite someone to help you", and then enter the e-mail address of the person that will help you
Click continue
The E-mail an invitation page shows up
Enter your name, along with an optional message summarizing your problem
Click continue
You can set an expiration time for the session or accept the default
Specify a password (optional) and click "send invitation"
Relay the password to the person that will help you via phone or a separate email message

The remote computer access invitation will be sent in an email message, so make sure that your email program is running. Your e-mail program might find it suspicious that something in your computer is trying to send out an email and might show you a warning similar to this:

Remote Computer Access Mail Warning

Allow the access and click "yes". Depending on your e-mail program you might get additional prompts that you have to confirm.

That's it! Your request for remote computer access support is now sent. You can double check the sent items in your e-mail program to make sure that your cry for help is actually sent.

What will now happen is that the helper will receive an incoming mail message with a Remote Assistance invitation file attached to the mail. The helper accepts the invitation by opening the file (double-clicking it).

This all happens on the helper's computer screen so you, as the requester will see nothing of it. What you will see on your screen (after the helper has accepted your invitation) is a dialog like this:

Remote Computer Access confirmation

Clicking "Yes" will allow your helper to view your screen and will also bring up this window on your screen:

Remote Computer Access controls

This remote computer access control screen allows you to chat with your helper, send a file, end the remote support session, or even talk to each other if you both have microphones and audio on your computers.

At this point, your helper can see your screen, but he or she is not able to actually do anything on your computer. What your helper can do is request to take control of your screen, which will result in another message popping up on your end:

Remote Computer Access request

After you've hit the "Yes" button, your helper will be able to actually move the mouse around and type in commands on your computer, using his or her keyboard.

If this is the first time that you use some kind of remote computer assistance program, you might find it a bit spooky to see the mouse moving over your screen without you controlling it, but it's really a great way to quickly have someone help you if you are stuck with something.

If your helper is having trouble accessing your computer over your internet connection, it might be that your firewall is blocking the incoming connection. Check this remote computer support article that discusses a solution called "LogMeIn", which generally deals pretty well with firewall issues.

Or you might of course also want to customize your Windows firewall settings.

Next: read about Remote Desktop Connection

Menu bar missing in IE7?

Is your menu bar missing in IE7?
Microsoft's latest version of their internet browser, Internet Explorer 7 has quite some advantages over Internet Explorer 6, the previous version.

But it takes some getting used to.

The first thing you've probably noticed when you've opened up Internet Explorer 7 is that there's no menu bar along the top. Now, while it's perfectly possible to put the menu bar permanently at the top, that's most probably not going to be a reality for most Internet Explorer 7 users.

The designers wanted to give you more area for viewing the web pages you are visiting. Should you require the menu bar temporarily, just hit the ALT key once and it will pop up. Hit the ALT key again and it will go away.

Should you still prefer to have the menu bar permanently at the top, then you can always click on "tools" and select "menu bar" in the drop down menu.

De-selecting the "menu bar" option from the "tools" drop down menu returns to the default setting where you have your menu bar missing in ie7.

The "menu bar missing in ie7" syndrome is one of the most common problems people have when upgrading to Internet Explorer 7. But did you know that Internet Explorer 7 is jam-packed with new features that can make your web life way better?

Are you worried about the online safety of your children?
Want to impress your relatives with new internet skills?
Trying to catch up with your kids?

Modify the Windows XP System Properties logo

The Windows XP System Properties logo is often changed by computer manufacturers. Hardware vendors use this general system information dialog to brand your computer with their own logo and support contact information.

In this tip you can learn how you can insert your own logo in the system properties dialog and complete it with your own contact information.

To invoke the system properties dialog, click the Start button, right-click "My Computer" and select "Properties".

This will open up your general system information dialog. On our Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro laptop, the Windows XP System Properties logo looks like this :

If you want to put your own graphic in there, you should create your image in a .bmp graphic file. It's also a good idea to create this bitmap image with the same background shade of gray (RGB: 192, 192, 192) used in the Properties dialog. Otherwise, you risk letting Windows make its own judgments regarding color contrast and background shading.

The next thing to consider is the image size. The system properties dialog only offers enough real estate for an image of about 180 (wide) x120 (high) pixels. Make sure that you can fit your logo in this area.

Once you have created your logo and saved it as a .bmp file, copy it over to the system32 subfolder of your Windows system folder. If you don't know where your system folder is :

Click the Start button and select "Run"
In the "open" field, enter "cmd" (without the quotes) and click ok
Windows will open up a dos command window
In the command window, type "set system" (without the quotes)
Look for the line that contains "SystemRoot", this is where your system directory is (generally, the Windows XP system folder is c:\windows)

Now that you know where your system folder is, copy your logo image file over to the system32 subfolder of your system folder. Then rename your logo image file to oemlogo.bmp

Additionally you can create a new file in this same folder and name the new file oeminfo.ini

In this file you can enter your contact information like in the example below :

[General]
Manufacturer=Windows Help Central
Model=ShowCase

[Support Information]
Line1=" "
Line2=" For support, sales, upgrades or questions:"
Line3=""
Line4=" Some text to demonstrate the XP System Properties logo"
Line5=" Windows XP Tips and Tricks "
Line6=" yadayada"
Line7=""
Line8=" +1 (888) 888-888 (voice)"
Line9=" +1 (888) 888-889 (fax)"
Line10=""
Line11=""
Line12=" http://www.windows-help-central.com/"

Save and close the file and you are ready. From now on, if someone opens up the system properties dialog, your own Windows XP System Properties logo is in there.

And if someone clicks the "Support Information" button :

XP System Properties logo

Upgrade Windows XP To Vista

Want to learn how to upgrade Windows XP to Vista? This complete guide with over 70 screenshots takes away the pain in migrating your computer to Microsoft's newest operating system. In fact, this guide makes it so easy that anyone can do it.

Who says that you need to take your computer to the tech-shop or hire a computer-geek to perform the upgrade?

Not with this guide, you don't.

Although it can be a very time-consuming (and sometimes confusing) procedure, it's really not that hard.

Heck, even if you do want to hire a professional to upgrade Windows XP to Vista, you might still wonder what it is that they are doing to bring your computer to a new incarnation.

This guide explains all the steps in detail, so you will learn how to upgrade Windows XP to Vista. Who knows, maybe next time your friends or relatives will ask YOU to upgrade their computers.

Anyway, let's get started.

What you need

If you want to upgrade Windows XP to Vista, you will of course need a Windows Vista installation DVD.

There are of course a lot of places where you can get a Windows Vista edition DVD, but one that is often overlooked (and is often times priced much cheaper than the local store) is Amazon.

That's right, the online-shop that is well-known for its virtually endless list of book titles also carries software. You are upgrading from Windows XP, so look for an upgrade version. (We will cover a Windows Vista "clean install" in a separate article). These are the upgrade versions of the different Windows Vista editions.

Before you get started

Before you upgrade Windows XP to Vista, you should always make a complete backup of your entire system. You simply cannot believe how much better it feels to actually have a backup available when you don't need it than to have no backup when you need one.

Getting Started

Ok, so you have your Windows Vista DVD ready, you have your backup, you are all set to go. Now load your Windows Vista DVD in your computer's DVD rom drive. The software should load automatically, so after a few brief moments you should see the following window on your screen. (If the DVD doesn't load automatically, you can always try navigating to your DVD rom drive in your Windows Explorer, then right-click on the drive and select "Autoplay".)