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We often forget how vulnerable our computers are. To be more specific, our PCs. Although I’d like to include the Macs in this, I can’t see how they apply. By now you know I’m addressing computer viruses.

I work with a Mac and PC both, and have to say that I’ve never encountered any virus hoopla with the Mac. So, back to the PC burden. You must first understand how to keep viruses and spyware off your computer. This is your first line of defense. The good news is all you need is a free online virus scan. See, you don’t even have to purchase software.

Let me run this one by you; have you ever gotten hit with a trojan horse of some sort? If you have, you certainly knew it.

Computer viruses have the power to obliterate your hard drive and basically crash your system. All of the sudden you’re sitting before a screen full of lines, your keyboard and mouse no longer work, and you’re two seconds from pitching the entire machine out the window. YIKES! Let’s hope this never happens to you.

Sadly it did happen to me. One fine day, while I was researching a school paper topic on the web, everything slowed down. It was like I had dial-up or something. Then my monitor started having difficulties. Finally my screen froze. I attempted to re-start the PC, but the screen kept on freezing. It was time to call in the big gun.

My computer technician of a brother came to my rescue. In no time he said my PC had crash because I had a virus. After a couple hours he had it back up and running. He was struggling to quarantine the virus and eliminate countless spyware I never knew I had.

He then recommended that I do an online virus scan on my wife’s computer. Just to make certain she had no bugs in the system. Fortunately the free online virus scan said that there were no viruses found on her laptop.

Is it about time you did an online virus scan? I’ll bet your PC could use the routine check-up. Remember, these scans are free online. Although you can purchase software, you don’t have to in order to keep your hard drive clean of nasty viruses. Just don’t put it off. Get it done today!

It began with the launch of the revolutionary iPhone from the Apple stable. iPhone mobile application development is currently one in all the most advanced software program development areas where a lot of of analysis has been poured onto. Being a 3G phone the Apple iPhone supports additional applications that are now being developed at application development facilities by iPhone open application development firms also software program development companies. By obtaining any of the iPhone applications users will lead the device perform additional for them, that too, in style.

Gone are the days, after you had to resort to solely some set of functionalities along with your mobile handset or just any different device. But things have come back an extended method since the launch of refined and powerful gadgets like the Apple iPhone. History always speaks about Apple’s exploits in the whole gadgetry market – if its was the iPod a few years back that ate all attention, now is that the iPhone in all its versions.

The Apple iPhone works not only as a communication device, it is also capable to spice up your entertainment spectrum with its huge sets of fun and utility features. The device offers awe-inspiring sound result with its integrated music player. Sorting of music files will be done as per tracks, names, genres simply like the iPhone. The coverflow function that spellbound all those who used the iPhone can additionally be seen here during this device. 2 MP camera, huge memory area, utility features, multiple connectivity options (GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth, WLAN) etc. are the other noticeable feature in the iPhone by Apple. But the highlight of the phone is its third party software supporting capability. It’s because of this ability of the device, you can install any of the business, entertainment, gaming furthermore utility applications onto the device. For obtaining these applications you’ll search the web. There are many iPhone applications development corporations that build applications accessible for download throughout the web itself. iPhone applications development India is one such massive name that has been giving niche applications for the iPhone for download since the device hit the market.

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With all of the resources available to you, you may well ask yourself, “Why do I need a computer expert to maintain my computer?” The short answer is, you don’t. Just like you don’t need a technician to fix your car, repair your furnace, or do any other maintenance or repairs. If you have the knowledge and the time, you can easily repair and maintain your own computer.

But be warned, there are several potential “gotchas” involved in maintaining your own computer. If you decide to repair your own automobile, a company won’t sell you a carburetor what will break your car. Unfortunately, that’s not true of computer maintenance. There are many programs out there that either don’t do what they purport to do, perform unnecessary functions, or are just plain dangerous to install. It’s up to you, the computer maintenance technician, to determine what programs you can safely use in what manner.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the programs out there and what the do-it-yourselfer needs to watch out for.

Registry Cleaners Websites such as Finally Fast.com and Double My Speed.com have been promoting themselves heavily of late. These (and other) sites offer products to download and install that purport to improve your computer’s performance. These programs are mostly registry cleaners. The Windows registry is simply a database that the operating system uses to store everything it needs to know to run as per your specifications. In addition, it’s available to any other program to write their information in there as well. Since Windows 95, the registry has been the recommended repository for user preferences, settings, and any other variables a program has to remember.

Over time the Windows registry will become cluttered with unneeded information, most frequently caused by uninstallation programs not removing all of the data they should. The concept of a registry cleaner is that it will detect and remove these orphan settings, frequently improving computer performance.

The problem with registry cleaners is that they will often incorrectly detect a setting as unneeded and delete it, causing problems with either installed programs or the Windows operating system itself. Registry cleaners are good, but you should never blindly take their advice as to what to delete. You should always review each entry to verify that it can be deleted safely.

And keep in mind there are freeware applications that do an excellent job of cleaning your Windows registry. Ccleaner is the one recommended by The Computer Psychic. (Go to Google and search for ccleaner.)

Anti-Malware Applications Malware (spyware and virus) cleanup and prevention is one of the most important aspects of computer maintenance. If you catch a virus on your system, you leave yourself open to all sorts of mischief – including having files deleted, getting your address book scammed and spam e-mails being sent in your name, and even having your credit card and banking information stolen! Spyware can be just as bad – it typically “watches” what you do on your computer, down to even logging keystrokes, and thus stealing your passwords. In addition to these problems, spyware and viruses are often poorly written, causing performance problems in your system.

There are dozens of applications on the market that claim to remove malware from your system. And many of them do a good job. But here’s the rub – many programs that present themselves as anti-virus or anti-spyware are, themselves, viruses and spyware! The Computer Psychic has seen all too many systems where the owner has – with the best of intentions – installed an anti-malware app into their system, only to see the floodgates opened; they find themselves with more popup ads and performance problems than they’ve ever seen before.

So how do you make sure you don’t install one of these #$%& programs? First of all, if you get a pop-up message telling you that your computer is infected with viruses and click here to download a virus cleaner, don’t do it! Without exception, these programs are scams. Downloading one of these apps will introduce your system to more viruses than you thought existed. In fact, when you see this window, you’ll be presented with an OK and Cancel button. Don’t click either one! If you click Cancel, it will still install a virus. Instead, click on the little X in the upper right-hand corner to close the window.

Secondly, if you use a search engine looking for anti-malware programs, be careful what links you follow. Malware creators will name their applications very similar to – or even exactly the same as – legitimate programs, hoping to confuse you into downloading theirs instead of the good one. For example, if you wanted to download Spybot Search and Destroy (an excellent anti-spyware program) and searched for it in Yahoo, the very first result you’ll find purports itself to be Spybot. Clicking their link takes you to a page that says it’s Spybot Search and Destroy, but is actually an application that acts as a gateway to allow viruses into your system.

So, again, you need to take the time to learn what is and what isn’t safe to install. The Computer Psychic has a very easy recommendation. Microsoft has a vested interest in keeping your computer malware-free. If they do a good job of preventing viruses from getting into your system, then that’s one less thing that Apple can beat them up over. Towards that end, in September of 2009, Microsoft released an excellent free anti-malware program named Microsoft Security Essentials (www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials). In the past, The Computer Psychic has recommended against all-in-one solutions, arguing that no one application can catch everything. But Microsoft Security Essentials is just that good. It does as good a job as – or better than – any other application, or combination of apps, in blocking any type of spyware or virus.

Startup Monitors While not as popular as the other system maintenance programs, proper use of a startup monitor can dramatically speed up your computer. A startup monitor will tell you just what programs, drivers and processes load when you start your computer.

When you boot up your computer, the operating system will also auto-start many other components – possibly a fax application, printer elements, video or mouse drivers, to name a few. These are good – they are essential for the proper operation of your computer. However, many applications add themselves to the auto-run settings for their own convenience – not yours.

For example, programs such as Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office will tell the operating system to pre-load some of their components as Windows starts up. This allows their software to open more quickly when needed. The downside of this is, even if you aren’t actively using their software, your computer is using memory running those components. Better to not pre-load those components; let the software take a second or two longer to load, and speed up your entire system.

Another popular use for the startup is for auto-update programs. These apps will periodically check the internet looking for updates. If one is found, the program will present you with a window telling you an update is available. Not only do these apps consume computer resources, they can be an annoyance.

In order to easily prevent unwanted software from running automatically, The computer Psychic recommends a Microsoft application called AutoRuns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx). Using Autoruns you can decide just what apps you want to run when starting your computer computer. Once again, though, don’t blindly turn of all apps. Make sure you know what you’re disabling.

Summary

As you can see, using the tools recommended in this article makes it quite possible for anyone to maintain their computer’s health. But as with anything technical, make sure you know what you’re doing before just tinkering away.
The Computer Psychic

With over 20 years industry experience, Steven O Smith is the owner of The Computer Psychic, providing affordable on-site computer repair to residences and business in the Vancouver, WA and Portland, OR area. Visit http://www.thecomputerpsychic.com for more valuable information and free software.

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Many people do not realize how much of a key part the registry plays in your computer and its operations. In order to get top performance from your PC you need to have your registry in good condition in order to avoid crashing and errors. Visit best registry cleaner reviews.

The signals that there is an issue and you need to repair your registry are obvious. It may become apparent that your PC is not as quick as it once was when it is loading and operating. You will often find that things crash either temporarily or completely and you need to reboot. You may also get problems starting with things that previously worked just fine. Go to registry software fixes.

The PC is such an integral part of modern life that it can easily get you down when you start to see problems occurring more frequently. There comes a time when you assume the worst and think it will die on you soon. But in a lot of situations this is not completely necessary.

By doing some occasional maintenance and running a quality cleaner over your PC occasionally you should get some good benefits. It is simple to follow and the cleaner will take care of everything for you. See registry repair tool.

Just what issues with a registry most often occur?

One type is where data is deleted but information still exists in the registry. The extraneous data uses up computer resources and you can often witness a slow-down and dragging as it tries to perform duties.

A further issue is after some data has been relocated but your computer does not know and attempts to read the data anyway.

Another problem like this is when your PC attempts to read data from a file but it is blank and so cannot perform the action.

It could be that you have just 1 of these problems or possibly each of them. If you have had your computer for any length of time and not performed a scan then you may not realize the number of issues a registry scan will find in most cases. Many of these will not be overly serious but will add to the issues you have over time.

Before you try out the first software tool you come actoss you should know that quality can vary. Because of the integral nature of your registry within you computer you should ensure you only use a trusted cleaner.