Internet Worms

Not everything is rosy on the Internet, you have to understand that the Internet is a community of people who do not have your own thoughts , there are many who use this to run their evil.
And your computer is the perfect choice to satisfy their evil, getting fun with antivirus or any system that pretends to protect your computer.

You are all aware that spyware, Trojans, worms or viruses or malicious code are files that extend to hundreds of computers to know our personal data and thus have control over passwords or bank account codes, telephone, address and any information that can calm their thirst for evil, but they don’t stop there, these files or malicious code can destroy all data on your hard drive, they want fun, some of them are not interested in your information, or even know you, they only want to destroy your computer.

Every day there are more super virus threats, spyware and worms spreading fast, and you do not know what to do, you feel afraid to go to the internet, or receive an email and open it, you're afraid.

It is up to you do not let him win then.

1) Keep your antivirus updated

2) Use anti-spyware programs

3) Do not open suspicious emails or unsolicited

4) Download software from trusted sites or applications

5) Keep your firewall turned on your computer

6) Look for information on Internet about safety and security for your computer.

Well a bit dramatic, but I hope you follow these recommendations and do not be victim of internet worms.

The right way to clean a printer like a pro

The idea is to run head cleaning more than 3 consecutive times and stop if there is no improvement. Read this guide before taking any action on your printer.

1. Do the "Revision of nozzle" in the maintenance menu, the printer software. See if you get perfect nozzle pattern.
Perfect Nozzle means you can see all the colors without losing the lines in the result of verification of the nozzle.

2. Do the "head cleaning" if you are missing lines in step 1. When done, the printer will display a window if you want to check the pattern print nozzle back or stop. (Do not stop at this step)

3. Print "Revision of nozzle" again and see if you get the impression of perfect nozzle pattern. If you get a perfect nozzle pattern then you stop this process. Leave it for 5-10 minutes to calm down the printer. If not, continue with step 4.

4. Do the "Cleaning Print head" again (second time). When it is done, go to Step 5. Remember, do not stop at this step.

5. Print "Revision of nozzle" again and see if you get the perfect nozzle pattern. If you get a perfect nozzle pattern then you can stop this process. Please continue with step 6.

6. Do the "Head Cleaning" again (third time). When finished, go to Step 7. Do not stop at this step.

7. Print "Revision of nozzle" again and see if you get the perfect nozzle pattern. Read carefully, you should stop at this step regardless of the outcome of the pattern of the nozzle.

If you get perfect nozzle pattern then let the printer stands for 5-10 minutes. You can print the document / image later. If you are not receiving the perfect nozzle pattern then stop here, let the printer rest overnight. Turn off the printer. Try to make "The revision of nozzle" again tomorrow and repeat the 7 steps above.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

Why limit the cleaning process of the head to a maximum of 3 times?

If head cleaning is performed sequentially as described above, the printer will use more and more ink to remove dried ink inside its jammed head. Subsequently, the printer uses some ink to remove dried ink and it is unlikely to solve the problem. Let a printer stands at night is the best method to resolve this.

Why the printer needs overnight to solve the problem?

When performing a head cleaning, the ink inside the catridge moves very quickly and cause air bubbles inside the cartridge. These air bubbles need time to settle. That is why it is better to wait overnight to solve the problem. Perform head cleaning again and again after 3 times will never solve the problem, what you are going to get is great amount of wasted ink.

What if I have the same problem again tomorrow?

Sorry, the print head is jammed. You can repeat the 7 steps above. I suggest you buy a new cartridge. If you are using compatible cartridges, try another brand.

How to Run Disk Cleanup

Over time, your hard disk gets cluttered up with unnecessary files, which then take up disk space. Removing these files should be part of your regular computer maintenance. The process is simple and is the same for WinXP and Vista.

1. Click the START button
2. Open MY COMPUTER
3. RIGHT Click on the Local Disk"C" drive and select PROPERTIES (a new window comes up)
4. Click the DISK CLEANUP button.
5. If asked if you want to remove the files for all users or just your own, click the option to remove all files.

After clicking the DISK CLEANUP button, the computer will search for files that can be cleaned up (this process takes a couple of minutes). When the computer is done searching, a window will pop up that shows you which files can be safely removed.

Place a check mark next to the files you wish to remove. For the most part, you want to make sure the following boxes are checked:

• Temporary Internet Files
• Recycle Bin
• Temporary Files
• Web/Client Publisher Files

I tend to leave the SETUP files unchecked to minimize uninstallation problems down the road. And although I like to remove downloaded programs, others don't. So this is a personal preference. But make sure the items above are checked at least.

When all the boxes are checked, click the OK button to remove the files.

How to Defrag Your Computer

Defrag is another computer maintenance task that should be performed regularly. At the very least, it should be ran quarterly. The process is simple and normally takes about an hour to run.

But before sharing the steps on how to run Defrag, I wanted to answer some of the common questions surrounding it. First ...

Why Defrag?

Think of your hard drive as a checkerboard. Every time you create a file (F), it takes a place on the checker board. When you delete a file, it leaves and empty space on the checker board where the file was. The next time you create a file, it doesn't go back and fill the empty space ... instead, it continues filling the spaces after the last one was created. So in time, you have "holes" or empty spaces left on the checker board in between files.

These empty spaces mean that your hard drive has to work harder to access your files and it slows down the computer. When you run Defrag, it picks up all the files and puts them in contiguous order again so all the empty spaces are filled ... which in turn allows the computer to access your data more quickly.

How to Run Defrag

The steps are simple. But first, note that it can take an hour or so to run it, and it's best to run it when you're not working on your computer. I like to run Defrag when I leave the house or am watching TV so as to ensure I leave the computer alone while it's running.

To run Defrag, follow these steps:

1. Click the START button and then MY COMPUTER
2. RIGHT click on the Local Disk "C" Drive and select PROPERTIES
3. Click the TOOLS tab
4. Click the DEFRAGMENT button
5. Click the DEFRAGMENT again on the next window and then wait til the process completes (about an hour)

Internet Backup solution

Backing up your files on the internet is not much new concept in which you store your files to some online server. It may be a web server or file server But we should know that Internet backup solution is being provided by many companies and few of them are very trusted. so before choosing any Internet Backup solution provider we should know their credibility.

Tips for Internet Backup

• Fist of all analyze the size of your files.
• If they are of small size like less then 5MB then any email server or Google DOC would be the best option.
• If the size is large then you need some file sharing server.
• Most of the File sharing server are free and other charge a nominal amount.
• First check the server then upload files.
• Use some compression tool like WinRAR or WinZip to reduce the size of files.
• Use some software to upload files.
• Do not use copy pate or cut paste option.
• If data is most impotent then store it on two different servers

Remember when you have choose the best internet backup solution, There is less possibilities of loss and good companies always charge you a fee to store your files on their server. You can learn more online backup software benefits on this blog and can also learn what is Online backup software and how it is used.

How to Change Icon Size

If you think that the icons on the desktop of your computer are too small, you can change the size of those icons. Follow these steps:

• Right-click on the desktop.
• Choose Properties.
• Click Appearance.
• Click Effects.
• Check Use Large Icons.
• Click OK.

Hiding Icons on the Desktop

Some computer users like to see icons on the desktop of their computer, meanwhile some others don't. If you are a user who doesn't like to see the icons on the desktop of your computer, you can hide those icons.

To hide the icons, you can do the following things:

1. Click Start - Run.
2. Type "regedit".
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
4. Right-click on the right side of Registry Editor window and choose DWORD value.
5. Type a new value name "NoDesktop".
6. Right-click this new value name and click Modify.
7. Type "1" on the value data to hide the icons.
8. Click OK.
9. Restart your computer

Disabling AutoRun

Below are several steps to turn off autorun in your computer:

• Click Start - Run.
• Type "regedit".
• Go to HKEY_CURRENT _USER\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
• On the right window of registry editor, right-clickNoDriveTypeAutoRun.
• Click Modify.
• Change value data into "ff" to disable autorun function on the drive.
• Click OK.
• Then go to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
• Do the same things as previous steps.
• Exit fromRegistry Editor.
• Restart the computer.

Hiding Icons on the System Tray

There are usually several icons on the system trays. If you don't like to see them, you can hide the icons from your system tray.

Follow these steps to hide them:

1. Click Start - Run.
2. Type "regedit".
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
4. On the right window of registry editor, right-click the empty space.
5. Choose New - DWORD Value.
6. Type the value name "NoTrayItemsDisplay" and press Enter.
7. Right-click the new key you've made and choose Modify.
8. On the Value Data type the number "1" to hide the icons.
9. Press OK.
10. Restart your computer.

Creating a System Restore Point

Creating a restore point can be useful any time you anticipate making changes to your computer that are risky or might make your computer unstable.

To create a restore point, follow these steps:

1. Click Start - Run.
2. Type "msconfig".
3. Click Launch System Restore.
4. On the Welcome to System Restore screen, choose Create a restore point.
5. Click Next.
6. On the Restore point description, type any name or words you like.
7. Click Create.
8. Click Close.
9. Click OK.
10. Restart your computer.

Low Disk Space Warning

When the space of your hard disk is low, Windows will usually give "low disk space" warning on the system tray. This warning sometimes disturbs us. To stop this warning from appearing, do the following steps:

1. Click Start - Run.
2. Type "regedit".
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
4. On the right window of registry editor, right-click the empty space.
5. Choose New - DWORD Value.
6. Type the value name "NoLowDiskSpace" and press Enter.
7. Right-click the new key you've made and choose Modify.
8. On the Value Data type the number "1".
9. Press OK.
10. Restart your computer.

Hiding Taskbar

The taskbar can be hidden by doing the following steps:

1. Right-click the taskbar.
2. Click Properties.
3. Check Auto-hide the taskbar.
4. Click OK.

If you want to display the taskbar again, just put the mouse pointer on the hidden taskbar or press the Windows button on the keyboard.

Hiding Log Off Button

On the Start menu there is Log Off button. The position is beside Turn Off Computer button. If you don't want to have Log Off button, you can hide it by doing the following steps:

1. Click Start - Run.
2. Type "regedit".
3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer.
4. On the right window of registry editor, right-click the empty space.
5. Choose New - DWORD Value.
6. Type the value name "StartMenuLogOff" and press Enter.
7. Right-click the new key you've made and choose Modify.
8. On the Value Data type the number "1" to hide the button.
9. Press OK.
10. Restart your computer.

Shortcut Icon without Texts

If you see the desktop of your computer, there are several shortcut icons with texts below them. The texts are usually the names of the programs.

Now we are going to omit the texts. Follow these steps:

1. Click the shortcut icon.
2. Press F2 button.
3. Erase the texts.
4. Press Alt button and type 0160 on the numlock.

Ok... now you can check your icons. The text disappears, doesn't it?

Customize google search pages with groovle

Are You bored of the regular Google Search page with the white background, then Groovle offers something that would pep up your day. Groovle enables you to select your own backgrounds for a Google Search page. You can use any of the hundreds of images in their database or upload any image of your own to use as a background for the search page.


Groovle basically uses Google Custom Search for their site and the results you get are, of course, no different but it would simply make the search page a bit visually appealing. There are different categories like Nature, Animals, Space, Celebrities etc so that you have a variety to choose from.
Visit: http://www.groovle.com/

Speed up your internet by 20%

Microsoft reserves 20% of your available bandwidth for their own purposes like Windows Updates and interrogating your PC etc

You can get it back:

Click Start then Run and type "gpedit.msc" without quotes.This opens the group policy editor. Then go to:
Local Computer Policy
then Computer Configuration
then Administrative Templates then Network then QOS Packet Scheduler and then to Limit Reservable Bandwidth.
Double click on Limit Reservable bandwidth. It will say it is not configured, but the truth is under the 'Explain' tab i.e."By default, the Packet Scheduler limits the system to 20 percent of the bandwidth of a connection, but you can use this setting to override the default."
So the trick is to ENABLE reservable bandwidth, then set it to ZERO. This will allow the system to reserve nothing, rather than the default 20%.It works on Win 2000 as well.

Disable CD Autorun, simple computer tweak

1) Click Start, Run and enter GPEDIT.MSC

2) Go to Computer Configuration, Administrative Templates, System.

3) Locate the entry for Turn autoplay off and modify it as you desire.

How to Shutdown XP Faster??

Like previous versions of windows, it takes long time to restart or shutdown windows
XP when the "Exit Windows" sound is enabled.
To solve this problem you must disable this useless sound.

•Click Start button.

•Go to settings > Control Panel > Sound, Speech and Audio devices > Sounds and Audio
Devices > Sounds.

•Then under program events and windows menu click on "Exit Windows" sub-menu and
highlight it. Now from sounds you can select, choose "none" and then click Apply and
OK.

Now you should see some improvements when shutting down your system.

Speeding Up Your Pentium 2 by 50%

We all know that you really shouldn't try to run Windows XP on anything less that
about a Pentium 3 of some sort if you are out for speedy operations and amazing reaction times, but for those of us with the good old Pentium 2's who want to see just how well we can run XP, we have to tweak as much as we can where-ever we can.

A real killer to the system's performance is Windows Media Player. Although it may look desirable and fancy with it's rounded off edges and 3rd-Dimensional appearance, the truth is, it takes up a large amount of that precious processing power.
All of these troubles however, lead to one thing in particular with this 'new-look' over-rated music and video player...the Visualizations.
The look-great I'll admit but like a lot of software these days, it has no purpose. If you run the task manager, and click the Performance tab along the top, you'll see that when Windows Media Player is running and nothing else is active, it takes up around 50% of the processors power.
Once these visualizations are turned off, it barely takes up 2-3% of the processors power, which leaves much more room for other applications to work efficiently.


Here's how to disable the feature:
•Open Media Player.
•Make sure the Now Playing tab on the left is selected.
•Click the View menu along the top.
•Go down to Now Playing Tools.
•In the sub-menu that has just 'popped-out', uncheck Show Visualization

Turn Off System Restore to Save Space

Turn Off System Restore to Save Space when you are out of space on your operating system drive.

By default, Windows XP keeps a backup of system files in the System Volume Information
folder. This can eat up valuable space on your hard drive. If you don't want Windows to
back up your system files:
•Open the Control Panel.
•Double-click on System.
•Click the System Restore tab.
•Check "Turn off System Restore on all drives".
•Hit Apply.
•You may now delete the System Volume Information folder.
Warning! If you turn this off you will not be able to use Windows System Restore to
restore your system in case of failure

Deal with System Hang at Startup

If your system hangs about 2 or 3 minutes at startup, where you can't access the Start
button or the Taskbar, it may be due to one specific service (Background Intelligent
Transfer) running in the background. Microsoft put out a patch for this but it didn't
work for me.
Here's what you do:
•Click on Start/Run, type 'msconfig', then click 'OK'.
•Go to the 'Services' tab, find the 'Background Intelligent Transfer' service.
•Disable it, apply the changes & reboot.

Performance Increase Through My Computer

Easy enough tweak to usually find out about it on your own, but still, some of us
still don't find it right away. So here it is:
•Start > right-click on My Computer and select Properties.
•Click on the "Advanced" tab.
•See the "Performance" section? Click "Settings".
•Disable the following:

Fade or slide menus into view
Fade or slide ToolTips into view
Fade out menu items after clicking
Show Shadows under menus
Slide open combo boxes
Slide taskbar buttons
Use a background image for each folder type
Use common tasks in folders
There, now Windows will still look nice and perform faster.

Win XP Won't Completely Shutdown

Go to Control Panel, then go to Power Options.
•Click on the APM tab, then check the "Enable Advanced Power Management support."
•Shut down your PC.
It should now successfully complete the Shut Down process.

Increase BROADBAND

This is for broad band connections, though it might work for dial up.
•Make sure your logged on as actually "Administrator".
•Start->Run->type gpedit.msc
•Expand the "Local Computer Policy" branch.

•Expand the "Administrative Templates" branch.
•Expand the "Network Branch".
•Highlight the "QoS Packet Scheduler" in left window.
•In right window double-click the "Limit Reservable Bandwidth" setting.
•On setting tab check the "Enabled" item.
•Where it says "Bandwidth limit %" change it to read 0.
Effect is immediate on some systems, some need to re-boot. This is more of a "counter
what XP does" thing. In other words, programs can request up to 20% of the bandwidth be
reserved for them, even with QoS disabled.

INCREASE YOUR CABLE,DNS,MODEM SPEED

This tweak is for broad band cable connections on stand alone machines with WinXP
professional version - might work on Home version also. It may also work with networked machines as well.


This tweak assumes that you have let WinXP create a connection on install for your
cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for Microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that WinXP will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this.


•In the "My Network Places" properties (right-click on the desktop icon and choose
properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the
bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.


•From the Windows XP CD in the support directory from the support cab, extract the
file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.


•Next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put
netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?".
It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be
installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.


•Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.


•Open up Control Panel->System->Dev Man and look at your network adapters. You
should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right-click on the one
without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! You are uninstalling your network
adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.


•Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get
a wizard just cancel out of it.
Now re-start the machine.


•After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new
connection called "Local area connection 2". Highlight the connection, then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.


•Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box.


•Re-start the machine.
After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness of IE, faster page loading, and a
connection speed boost.


Why it works, it seems that windows XP, in its zeal to make sure every base is covered installs two separate versions of the NIC card. One you do not normally see in any properties. Remember the "netcap/?" command above showing two different adapters? The LAN one is the one you see. The invisible one loads everything down and its like your running two separate cards together, sharing a connection among two cards, this method breaks this "bond" and allows the NIC to run un-hindered.

PC MAINTENANCE

PC maintenance is an important to your computer.
Regular PC maintenance also keeps the machine's performance optimal.

Back up files on your hard drive

Backing up files is a very important part of maintaining a PC and can save a lot of hassle if ever the PC has a problem.

In this section:

* What is backing up?
* Back up devices
* Back up software


What is backing up?

To back-up is to make spare copies of files and store them separately to the originals.

One of the more common problems nowadays is the threat from viruses, with some of the more serious infecting the master boot record of a hard drive's file system. If the master boot record is infected with a virus then the Fdisk utility would most likely have to be run and the chances are the data on the drive would be lost (or at least difficult to recover).

Operating system failure and bad software installation are other things that can cause problems when it comes to recovering files.

How frequently you back up will depend on how often you use your PC and what you use it for.

The average home user will probably just have to back up any important files as and when they are changed and do a full back-up once a week/month (depending on PC use).


When PCs are used in a home office scenario then backing up should be done more frequently.

One rule of thumb would be if your important files change daily, back-up daily,
if they change weekly, back-up weekly, and so on.


Back-up Devices :

Floppy Disks

Floppy disks are great for backing up small files, the average 3.5" floppy disk can hold up to 1.44 Mb of data, which is sufficient for any letters or important text documents.
Backing up with floppy disks is as simple as copying the file, or saving the file to the floppy drive, a ZIP program such as Winzip can be useful to compress any files that are too big to fit on a standard floppy disk.

CD Writers

With CD Writers becoming ever more affordable, these are ideal for making back-ups of large amounts of data, with typical CDR disks holding up to 800Mb of data and costing pennies.
CD Writers are also very easy to use, the software that comes with them is normally very straight forward and can create back-ups in minutes.

ZIP Drives

Zip drives are still a popular media for backing up data, both internal and external ZIP drives are available and some models can store up to around 750MB of data. These drives normally come with their own special software which is usually very simple to use.


Back-up Software 

There are many back-up software packages available, they are reasonably priced (compared to a lot of software) and can be invaluable if you have very important files.

One of the advantages is that most back-up software makes it simple to back up whole drives including operating system files with a few clicks. This means if the worst happened you could have your PC system up and running again within minutes.

HARD DRIVE NOT FOUND/RECOGNIZED/DETECTED/ACCESSIBLE

If you install a new hard drive and install an Operating System on it and it suddenly acts like it is not there, it may be a loose connection.

If a bootable CD, such a s Knoppix, is not able to read your hard drive, it can have several causes. The list of possibilities below can also be used for troubleshooting hard drives, floppy drives, and CD/DVD drives.

CAUTION: Make sure the power is off and that the PC is disconnected from power. Also be sure to avoid static electricity, or you will need a new PC. Do not force any thing. All parts should easily fit together if they are properly aligned. Sometimes you may have to push or pull harder than you think. Just be careful to make sure any levers or buttons that hold it in place are not overlooked.

* Least likely is that a new hard drive has failed. Try the other options before assuming it is the new hard drive. If all of the below do not work, and it is a new hard drive, contact the manufacturer. New hard drives should include very good instructions for installation and troubleshooting. When in doubt read the instructions.

* Open the case and make sure that all the connections are correct.

* Unplug the power supply connection, make sure there are no bent pins, and plug it in securely.

* Repeat the procedure with the connection to the motherboard, make sure no pins are bent.

* If you have multiple drives, try hooking up just one drive to make sure you can read it.

* Make sure that the power supply, and other components are working correctly. It is possible that another component of the PC has failed.

* If you have another PC available, try connecting it to the other PC. This could point to failure of the power and/or motherboard cables in the original PC.

* If none of the above works, call in professional help. You can also beg a friend or family member to help. If you cannot pay a friend or family member, a good meal, is a nice way to get them to rescue you again.

SYSTEM RESTORE IN WINDOWS XP

If you experience problems with your Windows XP computer after updating drivers or installing software, or after making a change to your computer's settings, System Restore can save the day. This feature quickly and easily restores your computer to a previous state when you know it was working properly, and it does so without altering your personal files in any way. For this reason, System Restore is a great alternative to formatting your hard drive and reinstalling your operating system if you can't get Windows XP to boot properly, since it prevents your files from being lost.

Create a System Restore Point
To restore your computer to a previous state in WINDOWS XP, you must have System Restore points stored on your computer. System Restore points are created regularly at system checkpoints and whenever you install new software or drivers on your computer. However, you can also create them manually, if you prefer. In fact, it's very important to create a manual restore point prior to making important changes to your computer, such as making manual edits to the system registry. To do this, click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and System Restore. When System Restore starts, click Create a restore point and click Next. Type a name for your restore point in the field marked Restore Point Description, then click Create and Close.

Restore Your Computer to an Earlier State 
Restoring your WINDOWS XP computer to a previous state is similar to creating a new restore point. Click Start, All Programs, Accessories, System Tools and then System Restore. Click Restore my computer to an earlier time. Select a date on the calendar when you know the computer was working properly. If necessary, press the back arrow button to access a date in a previous month. Click Next. Save your work, close all open programs and click Next again to restart your computer.

Important System Restore Tips for Windows XP
If Windows XP won't save any System Restore points, you won't be able to restore your computer to an earlier time. It may become necessary to turn System Restore off, then back on again, to restore the computer's ability to save System Restore points. Keep in mind that turning System Restore off will delete all existing System Restore points from your computer, so don't use this technique if your computer is able to save Restore points.

To turn off System Restore in Windows XP, click Start, right click My Computer, then clickProperties to open System Properties. Click the System Restore tab. Click the check box beside Turn off System Restore, then click OK. Click Yes to confirm your selection.

To turn System Restore back on again, open System Properties again, then click theSystem Restore tab. Clear the check box beside Turn off System Restore, then click OK.