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Dan

Get Out And Stay Out! - Part 2

Just Checking...


Here's another quick tip to make sure your PC is as safe as you hope it is. Although keeping firewalls up etc is always good, sometimes the odd bit slips through.

That's where the antivirus and spyware scanners kick in.


Spyware - this hides in your PC and tracks what you do, from surfing the net, or in extreme circumstances it spies on your passwords and forwards them to their creators.

Regular spyware scans need to be done to ensure your PC is clean, (ideally once or twice a week). A good free spyware scanner is Lavasofts Ad-Aware. Make sure you update it frequently to keep it up to date with the latest spyware detectors. - Download FREE Here


Anti-virus - Virus's are nasty things. They can do serious damage, erasing all your files, forcing your computer to shut down or behave differently etc. Enough said really, you don't want your files destroyed do you? well then, ideally you should use Kaspersky or Norton Anti-virus programs, which are around £30 to buy (Kaspersky is my personal favourite and doesn't slow my laptop down, which i found Norton did) however we aren't all able to splash out on software, so here's links to a 100% free Anti-virus program and an online anti-virus scanner:-

Trend Micro - Online Virus Scan

AVG Anti Virus - Free Anti-Virus


Hope this has helped a bit.

Dan

-RWR-

Freeze!

Just a quick tip for now...

If a program seems to have frozen or running very slowly and you want to close it.

- In WINDOWS systems...

ALT + F4 :- will close it

or if for some reason that doesn't work...

CTRL + ALT + DEL :- pressed ONCE!! (twice in a row will restart the computer) will bring up the Windows Task Manager. If you go onto the tab 'Processes', here you can look down the list and stop programs by highlighting them and clicking 'End Process'. Don't go crazy here and start ending everything, some are needed to run the computer but most can be worked out by their names e.g. msnmsgr.exe is MSN Messegner and aim.exe is AOL Instant Messenger.

If a program has frozen totally you can go to the 'Applications' tab and see the status. They should say 'Running' but if one says 'Not Responding' this is normally the one that has frozen, you can then click it and go to 'End Task' and stop it.


Hope this helps some people.

Dan

-RWR-

Get Out And Stay Out!

Attacks on computers are growing slowly and with the Big Brother feeling creeping in more and more as governments and specialised companies are accessing computers to check what you're doing we at RWR felt that we should give you a few tips to keep them out of your PC.





1. Regular updates - Although Microsoft etc don't technically offer to stop companies accessing your PC it does update flaws and so makes it slightly safer (updates for Windows PC's here)

2. Firewall - Make sure you have a good one of these running, as well as blocking the viruses and intruders they also protect against many advertising companies that try to use spyware (recomended - Kasperky (free 30 day trial) )

3. PeerGuardian - Setup initially for people downloading music (to block companies trying to catch you) it works well as a way to stop advertising and is updated daily with new blocks. This needs frequently updating to keep you safe but is a nice program. Available here PhoenixLabs

4. Tor - This program is amazing, it makes you anonymous on the internet. Basically companies conect to you using you IP address which is unique to you. This program makes it so that when a connection is tried it is bounced around other IPs making it near impossible to trace. Nice and small program that sorts itself out and helps keep you safe Tor


These few tips should keep you protected out on the net.

Hope they helped


Dan

-RWR-

Speed Up Your PC

MSConfig - Making Startup Quicker.

Tested on Windows XP Home

We all get slightly annoyed at how slow the computer loads up sometimes. This little tip canmake it alot quicker. First off go to Start > Run > (in the Run box) type: msconfig.


This box should then appear:- click to view


From the tabs accross the top, select 'Startup'

Alot of strange items are listed here and ticked. These are what are loading when the computer starts up. Some you should be able to recognise, such as MsnMgr is MSN Messenger. Any which you KNOW are not needed to be loaded up when the computer starts, you can untick this item.

Final changes can be made in the 'Services' tab. To make sure you don't disable any necessary items from starting up, whilst under Services, tick the box that says 'Hide All Microsoft Services'. The services that remain are ones that are not needed by the computer to start up normally. Therefore we can disable these and this will speed up the startup process.

To finalise these changes, click 'Apply' and restart the computer.

This should speed it up a bit :)


Dan

Welcome to Red With Rage

Here at RWR we aim to give you tips and tricks to make your computer easier to use.

From the latest anti-virus software to keep it protected...to the best sites for cheap albums. We will post it all in due time.

If you think you have some tips to offer you can join us, simply send an email to:

danjames@hotmail.com

Enjoy, bookmark and welcome


Dan

-RWR-