Apr 07

Computer viruses can cause a lot of performance issues with our computers. And anti-virus programs are not all of equal quality either. Add to this the problems we have with mal-ware and spy-ware and the money spent is tremendous, plus the added hours of work it requires.

These anti-virus programs vary from high quality to low quality. Many of the best known software programs aren’t successful in eliminating even the most common viruses we encounter.

It wouldn’t be proper for me to use actual company names but I would encourage you to talk to other technicians that work on computers about their opinions… you will probably be surprised. One time, after working for hours on problems involving a static IP, we discovered that the virus protection program was actually causing the problem. The ISP’s tech guy working with me, told me that they had encountered a tremendous amount of problems with this “best” known virus program… and they did not use it or endorse its use.

And I have also asked several pc technicians which program they recommend and have gotten some good advice as well as heard several bad stories about these well known software companies. And I have seen this personally in more than one PC that I have worked on and had to replace the existing anti-virus to solve its problems.

Avast and AVG software and a couple of other anti-virus applications have performed real good for me. The thing I like best about Avast is its “boot scan”. What that does is perform a scan of your computer before Windows comes on.. in DOS. That way it can search the data files in their raw state. It seems to find viruses that the others don’t.

Viruses are the leading problem in slow computer performance but registry issues are a close second. Our experience with some of the registry cleaning software has been outstanding as well. Reading other testimonials should be a good way to help you decide if this is the way for you to go.

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Sep 07

It is easy for anyone to understand that there is a large variety of registry cleaners that can be purchased to treat computer problems. Different programs will be able to offer varying options for the treatment of the problem. But if you are not experienced with these types of programs, you may be unsure about what you should use. Some of the accompanying information may be able to help you understand the use of these programs further.

For the most part, when there are repeated issues occurring on a computer, it is likely because of the registry. This can happen when there have been numerous programs installed into the computer, which later edit the registry in some format. If the registry never updates after the deletion of these programs or there are too many conflicting keys in the registry, it results in problems.

You will discover that there are many registry cleaner programs that you can use to treat the problem. It is important to understand that not all of these programs are the same. Some may offer different solutions or ways of treating the problem. Before you purchase any registry cleaner, you research about the program and read about the options it can offer you.

Some computers are going to need a very thorough cleaning. You may have to do repeated scans and runs of the program before you can get the desired result on your computer. Likewise, if you are using a very reliable and professional program, you may be able to choose settings that will allow you to get an in depth cleaning.

Generally, every registry cleaner needs to scan the computer before anything can happen. If the program doesn’t take any time scanning the computer, then nothing is going to be cleaned. You should try to find a program that will be able to tell you specific information after a scan, so that you can prevent faulty programs from being installed in the future.

It’s important to pick a registry cleaner that you know will be reliable. Though there are a number of cleaners that are available, not all of them are able to give the same quality of results. In addition, there are many programs on the internet that claim to be cleaners, but are actually types of malware instead.

If you have been dealing with repeated problems on your computer, you may want to consider trying out a registry cleaner. Although registry cleaners are a good solution for registry problems, it’s important to understand that they are not able to fix everything. If you continue to have problems, you should take your computer to a technician for further help.

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Aug 31

Having a slow computer can be very frustrating. If you like me, you are probably trying to do just about everything in order to speed up the process of what it is that you are doing. One of the best ways to do this is to get to your most commonly used applications as quickly as possible. Just think of how much time is wasted when you are looking all over your computer trying to find the applications that you use all of the time.

If you were to add up all of that time spent looking around your computer it would eventually accumulate to a fair bit by the end of the week. So what’s the alternative? In this article I’m going to show you two little tricks that you can do so that you will be able to find your applications much quicker.

To being, let’s start off with the quick launch (if you not sure, the quick launch is that little group of icons that are right beside your start button). If you don’t see a little group of icons right beside your start menu, just right click on the taskbar and select Properties and then select Show Quick Launch to get them there. Now, in order for you to do anything you are going to have to unlock the quick launch. To do that, just right click on the task bar and select the Lock Taskbar option. By now you should be able to see some dotted lines which will allow you to resize it the quick launch window. Now all you have to do is to just find the top 3 applications that you use the most and then go through your All Programs list in the start menu and right click on their icons and select Copy. To add them, just go to your desktop, right click and select Paste. Now you should now see a copy of that icon on your desktop - all you have to do now to complete this is to just drag it into the quick launch area and the icon should be in bottom right hand corner next to the start menu (you can delete the shortcut that you copied to your desktop now since you will not be needing it). So every time that you start up your computer or just log on you don’t have to look all over the place those 3 programs - there right in front of you.

Now the start menu can also be of use to you when you are looking around for your applications. If you click on the start menu you will notice a faint horizontal line on the left hand side. Everything that is above this line is permanently there unless you manually remove it and everything below this line is programs that you have most recently used. What you’re going to want to do here is to add 3-5 programs that you use regularly to the permanent (the top part) of the list. Just go to All Programs on the start menu, right click on the program icon and select “Pin To Start Menu”. Do this for all 3-5 programs that you want to add to your start menu. Now you have your main 3 programs on your task bar and the other 3-5 regularly used ones on your start menu so you don’t have look around your computer to find where they are.

To take it to the next level you can spend some time cleaning up your desktop. A messy desktop can really slow down your ability to find what you are looking for. Delete all files that are unnecessary and put all important files into folders that are organized. You should really only have shortcuts to your applications and maybe a few important folders on your desktop.

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