1.) Malwarebytes - www.malwarebytes.org
Malwarebytes is a standalone application that does not interfere with anti-virus software. It's designed to catch the normal stuff but also rogue security software, adware, and spyware. I have used this for about 7 years and only once have I met a false positive.
2.) Microsoft Security Essentials - www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials
Microsoft Security Essentials also known as MSE for short is Microsoft anti-virus product released in 2009. This is a program that can replace your McAfee or Norton antivirus. This was designed to remove computer virus, spyware, root-kits and trojan horses. I have used this since the beta and have found it very useful. It makes to use a ant-virus made by the people who actually make Windows.
3.) Super Anti Spyware - www.superantispyware.com
Super Anti-Spyware , another standalone program, is designed to remove spyware, ad-ware, trojan horses, rogue security software, computer worms, root-kits. I really have fallen in love with this software because it is really effective in remove tracking cookies. I am very shocked in what it finds sometimes.
-Q&A-
Why should I use multiple programs?
It's a good question. The main reason is that not all programs work the same and do not have the same virus database. Each will find different things.
Will these programs clean everything?
In most cases if you ask a security expert they will say no but in most cases if you ask an IT guy they say yes. I always say it is NEVER a guarantee that you will know that your computer is clean unless you reformat your drive and re-install Windows. It is that sad truth.
Windows 7 password expiring is not too common but it does happen. I received a computer from a program called California Connects in which by default they set the password to expire every 30 days. It's a huge annoyance. Yes, I understand it's the difference between security and convenience but if you have a strong password you should be ok. Now what if I don't care about the password. How do I remove it?
1. Go to the start button and type in “lusrmgr.msc” into the start menu search box. (or the Run box on Windows XP).
2. You should get the Local Users and Groups Window. Click on the "Users" folder.
3. The right will populate with accounts. Select the proper account. In my case its CAconnects.
4. A pop should show up and just check the "Password never expires" box and click OK
5. Now your set. Just close all the windows and restart Windows.
Many users know that you could easily change the wallpaper in your computer with a few clicks, but many do not know that you could make a website become a wallpaper on your Windows computer. Simply follow the following steps
- Right Click on the desktop
- On the Context Menu Select Properties
- In the properties windows select the Desktop Tab
- Below the Desktop Tab Select Customize Desktop
- In the Desktop Items Menu Select the Web tab
- Under the Web Tab you may either select your current home page for your internet browser to be the wall paper or you may add a new site to be the wall paper
- After selecting the site, press ok, and a new small window should appear.
- In that window, go to the top of it and select the maximize option.
- Website Wallpaper NOTE: Website animations do work!
How long is pi? The world may never know! But with the advancement of computers, you can now calculate pi to the millionths place. How do you do that? You can use Super Pi, It will let you choose the decimal places as a way to benchmark your computer's processor. The less time, the "faster" the processor. The software is somewhat obsolete with the advent of dual core processors and the latest supported operating system which is Windows XP, but I tried it under Windows 7 and it works! I used CPU-Z to probe for system info and Super Pi for the benchmark.
If you like the dock feature Mac OS X has, you might be interested in StarDock ObjectDock. They offer a "plus" version, but I think the free version is good enough. I used it for a while, it gets the job done nicely. On the other hand, I use Windows 7, and I found it to be overkill specially since Windows 7 allows you to pin icons, essentially, a static dock. I recommend it to anyone who does NOT have Windows 7 in their machine or does not like the pinned icons. Compared to the Mac OS X dock, it does NOT have stacks within the dock. A small set back, but not really essential to its overall functionality.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="485" caption="courtesy Google images"]
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Installation is simple. Simply download and install. It has relatively non-technical options to configure . The only option that is maybe a little tricky is the "optimize for performance or memory." Windows 7 and Vista need about 1GB RAM to start off, so if you have less than 2GB, I would recommend optimize for performance. Windows XP is less demanding, but if you have 512MB or less, definitely optimize for performance! Of course, you can always experiment with the setting!
But if you need another reason to switch to Linux, there is a project called Cairo-Dock which, in my opinion runs circles around the Mac OS X. Above is a screenshot, but if someone wants more information on Cairo-Dock, please let me know!
OneTech Tip has addressed alternatives to Windows and Mac OSX but what about the software. There are hundreds if not thousands of software that is free to use without a cost to the user. In some cases the open sourced software is sometime better, more efficient or meets your specific needs in comparison to larger, bloated commercial software.
Open Source Alternative is a great place to start if your looking for some free and open sourced software ranging from office software to games as well. Now, the site I noticed does not have an exhaustive list but it does provide some good suggestions for alternative software. For example, you may search for an alternative to Photoshop and it will yield Gimp.
If you are looking into becoming a more part of the open sourced movement consider this site to help you meet all your needs. Here's a challenge, try only using open source software for a week or a month.
Open Source as Alternative: http://www.osalt.com/
Ever wanted to convert something useful or just for fun, but you cant? Well, Clip Converter does it for you. Just simply copy and paste the media url into the box that says media url, and then select the file type you would like to choose, and then click download. That's how simple it is. It has a wide range of file formats that it can convert videos in. Some of them are MP3, WMA, and AAC. So try this converter out now here.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="139" caption="Image via Wikipedia"]
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Video Lan, creators of VLC Media player, have created VLMC(Video Lan Media Creator). Before I begin, I have to warn you. This software is still in pre-alpha, which means it is not stable and still some features are not implemented. VLMC is like Windows Movie Maker. It is a free open Source video editing software. I have tested it out and I see a lot of potential in this software and when it's done i bet it will be better than Windows Movie Maker. Give it a try here or wait till they release the final version. It it available on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Remember Myspace? I know everyone is on Facebook now and animated pictures are not popular anymore but you never know when trends can reappear. Today's tip is how to create an animated picture or also called GIF. If you head over to Picasion.com and browse over to upload your pictures in sequence. You are able to change the speed and size of GIF. When you set just click "Create Animation". Below is an example.
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="200" caption="Image via Wikipedia"]
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If you have received itunes recent update, 10.0.1 , you know about ping or have seen it. So you know what I am talking about. From the first day I disliked it. It was very intrusive and I did not have a use for it. I used other tools for sharing music that I like. Here is how to get rid of ping itunes.
- Click on ping on the left hand side
2. Go and click on your email in the upper right hand corner of itunes.
3. You should get a prompt to enter your password. Do that.
4. Go and click "Turn Off" it will disable most of the features of ping.
If you followed these steps correctly. Ping should not clutter your itunes and it will only visible on left hand side under "Store".
The first beta build for Mozilla's browser, Firefox 4, was just released today with a variety of changes. First and foremost, check to make sure your crucial add-ons are currently compatible with the latest build. In this case, that would be beta1. If all is still well, then install and prepare for the changes (only two of them).
The first difference is that tabs are now on top of the window, similar to the layout the beta release for Safari 4 used. If you weren't a fan of them, there is an option for you to return them to their familiar home.
The second is the introduction to the "Firefox button". Instead of a menu bar, you get a button. If you've ever used an app from Microsoft Office, then you know what I'm talking about. Just like the tab change, there's an option for the menu bar to return (which I will be doing).
For now, these changes will only be available for those that use it on Windows but will later be available for Mac and Linux users. You can get the beta here.
In iTunes, a very useful feature is Finding duplicate songs in itunes. Many of us have GBs of songs. If you just go to File -> Show Duplicates menu item. You can use this feature to help find all duplicates from your library. However, we have different versions of songs. To find the 'Exact Duplicate' hold down shift in Windows and the option key in Mac and go to File ->Show Exact Duplicates. With this button iTunes shows only true duplicates, and not other versions.