howto

You are currently browsing the articles from MS Windows Articles, Reviews and Videos matching the category howto.

Windows Vista and XP Tweaks, Hacks and Tutorials

PCWizKid's Tech Tips relating to Windows have been featured recently in PCWorld Magazine and PCPlus Magazine. Below is a collection of video tutorial's created by PCWizKid. They are a variety of Windows Vista and XP tips, tweaks and hacks . Select the tip you want by clicking on the "menu" button below in the video window and play it.

17 of PCWizkid Tutorials have been included in the PCPlus Magazine 2008 Issue 272 on Supercharge Windows on the SuperDisc included with the magazine.
Watch all PCWizKid YouTube videos
Top Tweaks

Written by PCWizKid on August 15th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Tips and Windows XP and Xp and howto and pcwizkid and registry and tutorials and tweaks and vista and youtube.

Windows Vista Tips Tweaks and Video Tutorials

PCWizKid's Tech Talk has created a variety of Windows Vista and XP Tips and Tweaks in the form of video tutorials. You can scroll through the videos below and pick what you want to watch.
Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com


Tweak Windows Vista easily for free with TweakVI, click the image below for details.
Tweak Vista with TweakVI for Vista
Other Tips Users have watched

Written by PCWizKid on June 6th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Microsoft Windows Vista and howto and pcwizkid and tutorials and windows hacks and windows tips and windows tweaks.

How to adjust disk space in Windows Vista:

How to adjust disk space in Windows Vista

Did you know that Windows Vista, by default, allots an obscene 15% of a computer's hard drive space to System Restore. So, for example, if you have a 200GB hard drive then 30GB is devoted to system restore. Who needs a 30GB system restore? It seems Microsoft doesn't seem to have too much confidence in the stability of its latest operating system. You can change the amount of space that's system restore uses; however, it is far from easy to do so. You will need an account with Administrator privileges and use the command line utility "vssadmin." Read MVP website's howto tutorial on how to use vssadmin.

Written by Winston on January 11th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on howto and optimization and vista and windows.

Untitled

Remove The Crapware Which Came With Your New Computer

Well, last week, I treated myself by buying a new laptop. For the most part, I am happy with my new Compaq Presario laptop. What I didn’t like was the collection of trialware, a.k.a. crapware, preinstalled on it. This isn’t a unique problem. Several computer vendors add trial software to their products. Why? For profit. Profit for them but not for you. What you can do is remove them. The first thing you can try is to see if the software program came with an uninstaller. In Windows XP and Vista, go to the Start Menu > All Programs > [Software Program] > Uninstall [Software Program]. If there isn’t an uninstaller, go to the Start Menu > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs…and find an entry for the software program you want to uninstall > [Remove] > [Restart]. If you don’t find an entry for the software program, all is not lost; you can try a standalone uninstaller program, like Total Uninstaller. Total Uninstaller scans the Windows Registry and files belonging to the software program and then removes them. It is by far the most elegant way to remove a software program. Other popular and effective software uninstallers include Tune-Up Utilities 2008, System Mechanic 7 and CCleaner. Nevertheless, there is a small chance that some stray registry keys and files will be left behind. You can use a registry cleaner to remove them but this isn’t absolutely needed. These stray registry keys rarely cause any problems.

Written by Winston on January 7th, 2008 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on howto.

Optimizing Windows Vista


Whether you upgraded from Windows XP to Windows Vista or purchased a computer with Windows Vista preinstalled, there’s a lot you can do to optimize Windows Vista. Optimization involves not only making Windows Vista work faster but more usable and safer. Optimizing Windows Vista isn’t too different from optimizing Windows XP. Before making again changes, it is best to create a system restore point. To create a restore point, Start Menu > in the Start Search box, type “system restore” (without the quotation marks) > click “System Restore” > the User Account Control (UAC) will appear, click [Continue] > click “Open System Protection” > select your local hard drive (e.g. Local Drive C: ) > click [Create] > type in a name for the restore point > click [Create].


Once you have created a system restore point, you are already to start optimizing Windows Vista. Here is how:


  1. Restrict the number of startup programs: All programs use up RAM and CPU cycles. By limiting the number of startup programs, you have more RAM and CPU free. There are a number of ways to change the programs which load at startup. By far the easiest way is to use the Windows Vista’s System Configuration Utility. To access it, go to Start Menu > in the Start Search box, type “msconfig,” > from the search results, click “msconfig” > the UAC will appear, click [Continue] > a new dialog window will appear, click on the “Startup” tab > uncheck any program that doesn’t need to be loaded at startup > [Apply] > [O.K.] > Restart. It may be difficult to identify the startup program solely by its file name. Should you come across a program you don’t recognize, use the website Process Library to identify the program.


  1. Remove junk files: You would be amazed that the number of temporary files, temporary Internet files, download files and log files which Windows Vista generates. Removing these useless files will free up hard drive space. Like the older versions of Windows operating system, Windows Vista has a built in disk cleanup utility called, of all things, Disk Cleanup. To start Disk Cleanup, go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. Disk Cleanup gives you the option of cleaning files only from your user account or all users’ accounts. For now, just clean files from your account. Next, select the hard drive or partition where the files are located. Disk Cleanup allows you to select what files are to be deleted. At the very least, remove Download Files, Temporary Files and Temporary Internet Files. You can also include log files as well though some users might find the log files useful - to be honest, I have never found a need for them.


  1. Defrag the hard drive: After cleaning your hard drive, it is time to defrag it. To start Windows Vista’s Disk Defragmenter, go to Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. Be aware that it might take several minutes or hours to defrag your hard drive, depending on the size of the hard drive and the level of defragmentation.


  1. Get rid of the eye-candy: Windows Vista comes loaded with special visual effects, such as: transparent windows, animation, fading, special icons, sliding menus and other eye pleasing but computer resource hogging effects. You can select which visual effects you want to keep or disable, right click the “My Computer” icon on your desktop > click “Advanced system settings” > the UAC will appear, click [Continue] > in the new Windows, click on the “ Advanced” tab > under “Performance,” click [Settings] > click on the “Visual Effect” tab > uncheck any visual effect you can live without > [Apply] > [O.K.]. Personally, I keep “show contents when dragging,” “show shadows under mouse pointer” and “smooth edges of screen fonts.”


  1. Get rid of the sidebar: Windows Vista is the first Microsoft operating system to have a sidebar. The sidebar can be used to install several gadgets on the desktop. For example, by default, there is an analog clock and RSS gadget installed. To access the sidebar, go to Start Menu > in the Search box, type “sidebar” > in the search result click “Windows Sidebar Properties” > uncheck “Start Sidebar when Windows Starts.”


  1. Optimize the size of the paging file: There are 2 types of memory that Windows Vista uses. The first is the physical memory, RAM, and the virtual memory, paging file. With the paging file, Windows Vista converts part of the hard drive, ROM, to act like RAM. The important thing to remember is that RAM works much faster than virtual memory. By default, Windows Vista sets the size of the paging file to 1.5x the amount of RAM. For the most part, this is size is fine. But, if the size of is too large, Windows Vista would use more virtual memory, which is slower, than is optimal. So, the goal is to a set an appropriate size for the paging file. In addition, since the paging file which is part of the hard drive, it can also become fragmented. Fragmentation can be minimized by setting a fixed size for the paging file. To change settings for the paging file, right click on the “My Computer” on the desktop > click “Advanced system settings” > the UAC will appear, click [Continue] > click the “Advanced” tab > under “Performance,” click [Settings] > click the “Advanced” tab > under “Virtual memory,” click [Change] > select the local drive (e.g. C: ) > select “Custom size” > for both “Initial size” and “Maximum size” enter the same number. If you have 1GB of RAM, set these values to 1024MB. If you have 2GB of RAM, see these values to 512MB. If you have more than 2GB of RAM, consider setting these values to “0” and not using any virtual memory. When you have enter the amount of virtual memory, click [Set] > [O.K.] > [Apply] > [O.K.] > Restart.


  1. Optimize the size of the Recycle Bin: The size of the recycle bin is a percentage of the hard drive. If you have a 200GB hard drive then 12% of 200GB is 24GB. Who needs a 24GB recycle bin? Thankfully, Windows Vista allows users to adjust the size of the recycle bin, right click the “Recycle Bin” icon on the desktop > select “Properties” > select the hard drive > select “Custom size” > enter a reasonable size for the recycle bin (e.g. 250MB) > [Apply] > [O.K.].


  1. Display the extension for all files: By default Windows Vista does not show file extensions. Why is it important to see file extension you ask? Well, you don’t want to accidentally open an executable file (e.g. .exe). Sadly, hackers create files which look like innocent text files but, in fact, they are program files. Users click on them and end up installing spyware or some other form of malware. However, you can have Windows Vista show file extensions, start Windows Explorer > from the menu bar, select “Tools” > Properties > Folder Options > select “View” tab > uncheck “Hide extension for known file types” > [Apply] > [O.K.].


  1. Make Windows Vista Secure: Microsoft made Windows Vista to be the safest operating system it has ever created and they did a decent job. Windows Vista comes with a bi-directional firewall and Windows Defender, Microsoft’s anti spyware application. However, you will need an antivirus program. There are several decent free antivirus programs so you don’t have to spend a dime - which is a good thing since you had to spend your money on Windows Vista. The 3 most popular free antivirus programs are: Avast, AVG and Antivir. All 3 programs can be downloaded from Filehippo’s website. All 3 programs have their strengths and weaknesses. Antivir has the highest detection and removal rate of the 3 but does not scan incoming e-mail – it does however scan outgoing e-mail. Avast has a detection and removal rate but its unorthodox GUI is less than intuitive to use. Grisoft’s AVG has the lowest detection and removal rate of the 3 but its inituitive controls makes it easy to use. PC World Magazine has an excellent review of many popular free and not so free antivirus programs.


  1. Increase the number of simultaneous connections that Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7) uses to connect to the Internet: By default, IE 7 only creates 2 simultaneous connections to the Internet. However, if you have a broadband connection, you can increase the number of simultaneous connections to 10. Unfortunately, to increase the number of simultaneous connections, you need to edit the Windows Registry, which is no small matter. If you do decide to go ahead, create a system restore point prior to editing the registry. It will save you a lot of grief should something go wrong. To edit the Windows Registry, you need to start Vista’s registry editor, go to Start Menu > in the search box, enter “regedit” > in the results, click “regedit.exe.” At this point, refer to Microsoft’s support page to edit the registry. The webpage is for IE 5 and IE 6, however, they apply to Windows Vista as well. You can also refer to VistaWired’s tutorial as well. I am sure many people would say that, instead of editing IE 7 settings, switch to Firefox web browser. Well, I can’t deny that is a great idea.






Written by Winston on December 29th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on howto and optimization and vista and windows.

10 Tips To Improve Your Wireless Network

If Windows ever notifies you about a weak signal, it probably means your connection isn’t as fast or as reliable as it could be. Worse, you might lose your connection entirely in some parts of your home. If you’re looking to improve the signal for your wireless network, try some of these tips for extending your wireless range and improving your wireless network performance.

1. Position your wireless router (or wireless access point) in a central location

When possible, place your wireless router in a central location in your home. If your wireless router is against an outside wall of your home, the signal will be weak on the other side of your home. Don’t worry if you can’t move your wireless router, because there are many other ways to improve your connection. (more…)

, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Written by Jason on November 7th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Guide and Hardware and Internet and Wi-Fi and Wireless Network and broadband and computer and howto and microsoft and transferring files and wifi and wireless and wireless router and wireless signals.

Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life

Top 15 Ways to Extend Your Laptop’s Battery Life

This is for all you laptop owners. Here are some tips on how to extend the life of your batter, both short-term and long-term. No one wants their laptop's battery to die after 2 hours and no one wants their battery to be unable to hold a full charge after only 1 year.

The 3 most power consuming components of a laptop are the display, hard drive and CD/DVD drive. Needless to say, the best way to conserve power is to reduce the power used by these 3 components. This collection of tips have some old as well as new tricks to do just that. The article touches on some ways to make sure your laptop continues to hold a charge many years after you brought it.

It is good to talk about topics on laptop batteries other than their danger of catching on fire.

Written by Winston on July 9th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Laptop and howto and optimization.

Remove Stubborn Files

New software programs offer more features and speed. However, this growth is not without its share of problems. In fact, as software becomes more and more sophisticated, it becomes bloated and more cluttered. As a result software programs become harder to uninstall. Yes, it is true that most programs come with their own uninstaller. But, they still leave remnants of the program on the computer, such as orphan registry keys and .dll library files. It has become such a problem that several major software makers have developed their own special removal tools, including: McAfee, Nero and Symantec.

For example, a colleague of mine recently decided to switch from McAfee Antivirus to Symantec Norton Antivirus. He used McAfee regular uninstall program and not their Consumer Product Removal Tool (MCPRT). After uninstalling McAfee, he tried to install Norton Antivirus. But, Norton Antivirus refused to install because it detected the presence of another antivirus program. You guessed it. There was enough trace McAfee registry keys and files left behind to prevent Norton Antivirus from installing, which was to be expected since 2 antivirus programs installed on the same computer just doesn’t work. Running MCPRT would remove the trace elements but it would create another problem. MCPRT not only removes McAfee Antivirus but all McAfee products, including McAfee SpamKiller, McAfee SiteAdvisor and etc.


There are other problems such as the dreaded “can’t locate install.log.” In situations such as these you need is a dedicated uninstaller program. Many of uninstaller programs are bundled with utility suites, such as: TuneUp Utilities 2007 and Iolo’s System Mechanic 7. Others are standalone programs such as Your Uninstaller and Total Uninstall. All the programs I mentioned come with a free trial period so you can try them before deciding to purchase it.



Written by Winston on May 19th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Software and howto.

Restore Windows XP Performance

Restore Windows XP Performance


When you first took your computer out of the box, your computer was blazing fast. However, over time, you noticed that your computer gradually slowed down. Unfortunately, over time, your computer starts amassing useless temporary files, fragmented files on the hard drive, startup programs and the occasional spyware or other malicious files. Believe it or not, restoring your computer’s performance is relatively easy. What you need to do is to Clean It Up, Trim It Down and Lock It Up. Before going any further, you should create a system restore as a safety precaution. To create a system restore point, go to Start > Help and Support > Undo Changes to Your Computer with System Restore > Create a Restore Point > enter a name > [O.K.] > [Close].


Clean It Up

No matter how you use your computer, obsolete and useless files will clutter your hard drive. Removing these files will free up some precious hard drive space. But, that is not enough. You also need to defrag your hard drive. Ideally, you want your files to be consolidated on the hard drive for faster retrieval. But, in the real world, files are scattered throughout the hard drive. That’s why you need to defrag your hard drive.

  1. Remove Obsolete and Useless Files: Windows XP comes with its own disk cleanup utility. You can find it at Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Cleanup. If you have more than one hard drive, you need to select the hard drive you want to clean. Once you are in Disk Cleanup, select Download Program Files, Temporary Internet Files, Temporary Files and Recycle Bin. I recommend you don’t select Compress Old Files. After making your selection, click [O.K.].

  1. Defrag the Hard Drive: Once again, Windows XP comes with a disk defragmenter. You can find it at Start Menu > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. If you have more than one hard drive, you need to select the hard drive you want to defrag. Once in Disk Defragmenter, click [Analyze] to check the level of fragmentation your hard drive. Windows XP will inform you if you hard drive needs to be defrag. Of course, you can always click [Defragment] with or without Windows XP recommendation. Be patient; the process can take minutes or hours to complete depending on the level of fragmentation. Unfortunately, Windows XP’s defragmenter does not defrag the paging file. To defrag the paging file, you need to use the free utility PageDefrag. You don’t need to install it. Instead, click on it and select to defrag the paging file on the next reboot.

  1. Remove Obsolete Registry Keys: This is very important. Unless you absolutely know what you are doing, Do Not make any changes to the Windows registry. This includes adding, deleting and editing any registry key. Even a slight error in the Windows registry can lead to your computer becoming unstable and even unusable. You will need a registry cleaner to scan and remove obsolete registry keys. There are several free registry cleaners so you don’t need to spend a dime. But, I should mention that in my experience, the paid versions are invariable better than their free versions. Broadly speaking, all registry cleaners can be divided in to 2 groups. The first group are aggressive and the second not so aggressive. Each group has its own pro’s and con’s. Aggressive registry cleaner will search deep and wide to find all obsolete or useless keys; however, they cast a large net and they occasionally mislabel a registry key as useless when in fact it is not. The second group plays it safe and only includes registry keys that are completely safe to remove. However, they will miss some useless registry key. I recommend you stick with the second group. In this second group, I recommend the free CCleaner and Easy Cleaner. If you want a more aggressive scan, use either Eusing’s Registry Cleaner or Regseeker. Finally, always create a system restore point before making any changes. All of these programs prompt users to create a backup of the registry keys before making any changes. If you don’t mind spending some cash, PC Tool’s Registry Mechanic, TuneUp Utilities 2007 and Iolo’s System Mechanic 7.0 are excellent commercial registry cleaners.


Trim It Down

Once you have completed cleaning the junk on your computer, you need to turn off the bells and whistles on your computer. Have you ever noticed that after installing a new piece of software, a new icon appears on your system tray? It is very common for programs to add themselves to the startup program list. Ask yourself, do you really need Real Player to load at startup? Having to start so many programs takes time and resources. You need to cut down on the number of startup programs. Startup programs aren’t the only things which take up resources. Windows XP has a lot of eye candy. All those animations, fading toolbars and pretty icons make your desktop look great but slow down your computer. By cutting down on the number of special effects, you can free up CPU cycles and RAM. In addition, there are several Windows services working in the background. Many of which you don’t necessarily need. Microsoft tries to anticipate which services Windows users need. As a result, several services are turned on by default, some of which you don’t necessarily need. You can free up resources by disabling unnecessary services. This requires caution since disabling the wrong service might make your computer unstable or unusable.

  1. Turn Off Unnecessary Startup Programs: To remove a program from the startup program list, go to Start > Run > type “msconfig” (without the quotation marks) > [Enter] > click on the Startup tab > uncheck any program you don’t want > [O.K.] > Restart. It might be difficult to identify a program solely by its name. You can find out what a particular program does by searching for it on Bleeping Computer’s Startup Program Database. Just type in the name and click [Search]. In the rare case where it can not identify the program, you can also search for it on CastleCops’ Startup Program Database or search for it on the Process Library website. There are a number of programs that you want always to keep, such as your antivirus program, anti spyware program and firewall.

  1. Disable Visual Special Effects: The simplest thing to do is to remove the desktop background. You can trade in your Star Trek theme desktop background for something that doesn’t need as much resources. Go to Start > Control Panel > Display > click on the Desktop tab > select None > and select a color for the background. Next, move on to disabling visual effects. Right click My Computer > select Properties > click on the Advanced tab > under Performance, click [Settings] > click the Visual Effects tab > select Custom > uncheck any special effects you can do without > [O.K.]. Personally, I do away with everything except Show Window Content When Dragging and Show Shadow Under Mouse Pointer. You can experiment.

  1. Disable Unnecessary Windows Services: Again, this is an area in Windows XP which you need to know exactly what you are doing. Turning off the wrong service can cripple your computer. Create a system restore point before making any changes. Once you are done, go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Things you need to know. Under status, if it says Started then the service is currently active. Under Startup Type, there are 3 possible values: (1) Automatic – the service is always on; (2) Manual – the service is turned on when needed; (3) Disable – the service is always off. Only change one service at a time. Keep a list of Windows services you have changed and their original settings. Consult online guides like The Elder Geek website for a description of each Windows service. Another good source is the Black Viper list hosted on MajorGeeks’ website. Determine if you need a particular Windows service or not. If you are not sure if you need a particular service, set it to Manual. If it is needed, the service will turn on by itself. To disable a service, right click the service and select "Stop." Right click the service again and select Properties > under Startup Type, select either "Disable" or "Manual" > [Apply] > [O.K.].


Lock It Up

Unfortunately, spyware is a very common cause of computer slow down. A decade ago, there was little spyware. Instead, your common hacker was a computer savvy teenager who created viruses for the purpose of bragging rights. These days, malicious files are created for the purpose of making money. For example, a third party hired by an ad agency might create an adware application which downloads itself on to your computer without your knowledge and consent. The adware then changes your web browser’s settings so the browser is redirected to the ad agency’s website. Another common tactic is to install spyware on your computer and steal all your user ids and passwords. To fight against these newest attacks, you need to add security software to protect your computer. All computers should have at least an antivirus program, anti spyware program and a firewall. There is no shortage of good free security software. Remember, free does not mean inferior. Please read my post of free security software. To secure your computer, you need to set Windows XP to automatically download and install Windows updates. In addition, you need to install and update your security software regularly, secure Internet Explorer and disable Windows components which pose a security risk.

  1. Set Windows XP to Automatically Download and Install Windows Updates: This is the single most important step towards securing your computer. To turn on automatic updates, go to Start > Control Panel > Security Center > Automatic Updates > click [Turn on Automatic Updates].

  1. Installing and Updating Your Antivirus and Anti spyware Software: Be it your antivirus or anti spyware, you need to update it regularly. Most antivirus and anti spyware programs have an automatic update function; be sure to turn it on. Antivirus and anti spyware programs need virus and spyware signatures to detect and remove the latest threats. In addition, try to use an antivirus which has heuristic capabilities. Heuristic scanning is different from regular virus scanning. It does not use virus signatures to detect malicious files; instead, it focuses on detecting behavior which is common to all viruses. This is great when a new virus signature is not available. I highly recommend Antivir, which offers both real time and on demand heuristic scanning. In regards to spyware, unlike antivirus programs, you can install more than 1 anti spyware program. In fact, it is advisable to do so. I use Lavasoft’s Ad Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy and Microsoft’s Windows Defender without any problems.

  1. Install a Firewall: The function of a firewall is to monitor communication between your computer and the Internet. Ideally, you want the firewall to monitor both incoming and outgoing traffic. Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) comes with a firewall. If you haven’t already downloaded and installed SP2 then now it is a good time to do so. Unfortunately, the firewall is only unidirectional; it only monitors incoming traffic, which is less than ideal. Windows XP’s firewall assumes anything already running on your computer is safe and allows any of your computer’s applications to connect to the Internet. This is problematic. For example, let’s say a Trojan Horse was already on your computer when you installed SP2. Windows XP’s firewall will not stop it from collecting data from your computer and transmitting it to the Internet. There are several free bidirectional firewalls. I highly recommend Sunbelt-Kerio Firewall. Other good free firewalls are Comodo Firewall Pro and Jetico Firewall. These last 2 firewalls are more suited for advanced users since they will prompt a user to either allow or block a connection while Sunbelt-Kerio Firewall will make the decisions for you

  1. Secure Internet Explorer: As a result of being the most widely used web browser, Internet Explorer is a prime target of hackers. By far the single most important thing to secure Internet Explorer is to update to Internet Explorer 7. Internet Explorer 7 fixes several vulnerabilities found in Internet Explorer 6. IE 7 adds an integrated anti phish tool, tighter control over ActiveX and Javascript, easy security certificate identification and blocking popup windows disguised as new windows. In order to update to IE 7, you will need to go through Microsoft’s Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation process to install it. You can download IE 7 from Microsoft’s download webpage. If you don’t want to update to IE 7, there are still ways to secure IE 6. From the menu bar go to Tools > Internet Options > click the Security tab > click on the Internet icon > under Security Level for this Zone, click [Custom level]. Make the following changes:

    • Download signed ActiveX controls – [Prompt]

    • Download unsigned ActiveX controls – [Disable]

    • Initialize and script ActiveX controls not mark as safe – [Disable]

    • Run ActiveX controls and plugins – [Prompt]

    • Script ActiveX marked safe for scripting – [Prompt]

    • Active Scripting – [Prompt]

    • Allow Programmatic Clipboard Access – [Disable].

  1. Remove Windows Services and Components which Pose a Security Risk: Unfortunately, Internet Explorer is not the only security risk in Windows XP. In fact, there are security vulnerabilities throughout the operating system. Microsoft included many services to Windows XP to provide users with more features; unfortunately, hackers have exploited these services to take control of your computer. For the best security, disable Windows services which allows remote access to your computer.

    • Remote Access Auto Connection Manager – [Manual]

    • Remote Desktop Help Session Manager – [Disable]

    • Remote Registry Service – [Disable]

    • Telnet – [Disable]

    • Terminal Service [Disable]

    • Universal Plug and Play Device Host – [Disable]

    • WebClient – [Disable].

    • Messenger (has nothing to do with MSN messenger) – [Disable]. (You can choose to uninstall Messenger, go to Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Add/Remove Windows Component > select Messenger > Remove).



Notes




Written by Winston on March 3rd, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on howto and optimization and windows.

Reduce Firefox Memory Consumption

Reduce Firefox Memory Consumption

I am a big fan of Firefox, Mozilla's open source web browser. Unfortunately, Firefox has been plagued by memory leaks which have been present since Firefox 1.x. However, there are ways to curb Firefox use of memory, such as decreasing the number of webpages Firefox keeps in memory. Find more tweaks and tips to reign in Firefox memory use.

Written by Winston on February 27th, 2007 with comments disabled.
Read more articles on Browser and Firefox and howto and optimization.