Is your computer running slower that it used to? You may want to make sure that only necessary programs are running at start up.

Microsoft has a built in tool called MSCONFIG to handle this for you.

To run msconfig you need to follow the steps below.

Windows Xp:

1. Click Start
2. Click Run
3. Type Msconfig
4. Hit the enter key
5. Click the startup tab
6. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

Windows Vista

1. Click Start
2. In the search box type msconfig
3. Click msconfig
4. Click the startup tab
5. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

Windows 7

1. Click Start
2. Type msconfig in the searchbox
3. Click Msconfig
4. Click the startup tab
5. You then need to go through each entry clicking next to the unnecessary programs. As long as you know exactly what you are shutting off there should be no problems. Just make sure that you leave your antivirus and Windows components alone.

This is a quick and easy way to speed up your computer, give it a try and let us know who it worked for you.

While working on some computers this past week, we ran into some issues where our customers had gotten software that was not purchased. It would be unfair to lecture them on the wrongs of having illegitimate copies of Office or Windows because many times they get it from someone and do not know that it was not legally purchased. Using pirated software is, in fact, illegal and if you are charged with a criminal violation, the fine is up to $250,000 per title infringed and up to five years imprisonment.

With that being said, you probably have a better chance of winning the lottery than you do of getting caught using a bad copy of Windows. There is more to the issue than the moral and legal problems that come with using pirated software. The problem is that you can not depend on your software being there tomorrow.

What happens is that your computer usually runs automatic updates, these updates check weather or not your software has the proper licenses. If you do have the proper rights to use the software, the update installs no problem. If not you are looking at the strong possibility that your software will become unusable.

In the case of Windows being a hacked version, you will get a “This copy of windows is not genuine” tag in the lower right hand corner of your screen and it will not go away until you put in a valid Windows Key.
In The case of Office being illegal, you will just get an annoying pop up asking you to activate office. If you do not have a valid key you will not be able to use office anymore and then all of your files that you made with office will be useless. If this happens to you, head over to openoffice.org and download open office. This program will read most of your Office docs.

So the main reason you want to have legitimate copies of your software is that one day the software that you depend on can be rendered useless. Below are some free alternatives to office and windows.

Alternatives to office:
Open Office
Google Docs

Alternative to Windows
Linux – Ubuntu

Update:

Here is another post that I wrote that lists some more free and open source alternatives to popular software titles: http://www.dweebsonduty.com/blog/open-source-and-free-alternatives

The best way to get rid of spyware and viruses is to not have gotten them in the first place. I know that is easier said than done but I think there are a few simple steps that you can take to help prevent infections. These steps range from being careful with what you click to adding an internet only user account.  These steps are fairly easy to implement but you have to change your behavior for them to really work.  Some of these you may have heard before but may have forgotten to implement and some will be new to you.  Lets get into it.

Switch to a more secure internet browser

Internet Explorer is widely known as the least secure browser.  The main reason for this is that it is the most attacked browser. Because it holds the majority of users it is attacked the most.  The other part is that the code is inherently insecure and while Microsoft updates it often, the users do not and thus are vulnerable.

How do you remedy this problem?

Use Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox to surf the net. They are free and you can get them both from http://www.dweebsonduty.com/recomended-software. The install is easy and quick and when you first run one of those programs they will import your settings from Internet Explorer and you will be ready to go. Then you will just surf the internet as you always have, you just click on a Chrome or Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Create A Limited User Account In Windows

Another good way to prevent spyware and viruses is to create a limited user account in Windows and use that to surf the internet. The limited user does not have the ability to install programs and some spyware and viruses will simply not be able to install themselves because they do not have the rights.

This link from Microsoft shows you how to add a new user in XP:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/winxp/accounts.mspx

This Link From Microsoft shows you how to add a new user in Vista and 7:

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Create-a-user-account

Do not click on links or open attachments in your emails

This is an oldie but a goodie. You should never click on a link in your email, no matter who it is from and what it says. If you get a notice from facebook, paypal, ebay, your bank… you need to type the address in your self to get to those sites. This will prevent phishing attacks, where hackers get your username and password by making you think that you are at one site but in fact your are at another.  Links can also install malicious software on your computer.

As far as attachments just do not open them without scanning them with your virus scan first. If you cant scan them, do not open them.

Run Windows Update Automatically

There are people that still think Windows Update will break your computer and that is simply not true(Most of the time). If you are not updated the day the update comes out you are ready for an attack. The hackers get the list of updates and write viruses to attack those items that were fixed in the update because they know that many people do not update Windows and will be vulnerable.

Microsoft tells you how to make sure you are updating here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/automaticupdate.mspx

Use A Firewall

Firewalls offer another layer of protection against malware. Windows has a firewall built in and if you have a router, your router will have one built in as well. Firewalls block unwanted and uninvited network requests. The don’t even allow the connection to be made and thus the malware doesn’t even get a chance to run. I highly recommend that you get a router if you do not have one.

This one is one of my favorite routers:
Linksys by Cisco WRT54G2 Wireless-G Broadband Router

This link from Microsoft tells you about Xp’s firewall:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/security/Internet/sp2_wfintro.mspx

This link from Microsoft tells you about Vista and 7′s firewall:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/firewall.aspx

Have updated Antivirus and Antispyware

You need to have both and Antivirus and an Antispyware. In fact I recommend that you have at least 2 Antispyware programs installed.  Head over to http://www.dweebsonduty.com/recomended-software and look in the security section and download and install what you need.  Just and FYI, you cant have more than one Antivirus but you can have more than one Antispyware as long as they are not running all of the time. The Antispyware programs that we list on our page do not run all of the time unless you upgrade them to the paid versions.

With that being said, these programs are no good if they are not run properly. You need to make sure to scan at least once a week with each program.

Conclusion

Just implementing 1 of these steps will make you many times less likely to get a virus, use them all and any virus that gets in deserves to get in .

Of course if you need any help you can head over to http://www.dweebsonduty.com/contact-us and we can help.

So you have Windows 7 and have been using it for a few months but do you know some of the shortcuts?

Here they are:

• Win+Home: Clear all but the active window
• Win+Space: All windows become transparent so you can see through to the desktop
• Win+Up arrow: Maximize the active window
• Win+Down arrow: Minimize the window/Restore the window if it’s maximized
• Win+Left/Right arrows: Dock the window to each side of the monitor (If you’ve got dual monitors, adding Shift to the mix (e.g., Win+Shift+Right arrow) will move the window to the adjacent monitor.)
• Win+T: Focus and scroll through items on the taskbar.
• Win+P: Adjust presentation settings for your display
• Win+(+/-): Zoom in/out
• Shift+Click a taskbar item: Open a new instance of that application