Archive for April, 2009

Is your computer running slow? Are you thinking about buying a new one? You may not want to go PC shopping just yet. For home computers that are less than 5 years old and used primarily for emailing and surfing the net you may be able to extend the lifespan of you old PC and save some cash. Here are 5 easy ways that may help you get another 1 or even 5 years of use out of your computer (depending on the age of your machine) before you definitely need to consider buying a new one.

1. Upgrade or replace your computer’s memory.

This is one of the most useful things you can do to improve your computers performance and I recommend at least doubling the amount of memory you currently have installed. Since computer that was bought less that 5 years ago will most likely be running a version of Windows XP anything 1gigabyte (GB) or more would be a good idea if you computer can handle it.

If you know enough to do it yourself then buy what you need online where the price is generally cheaper than retail, though I would caution you if you computer is still under some kind of warranty. Opening up your PC will likely void any warranty or service plan you have if you do not take it to a professional.

If you don’t know what you are doing or have a warranty then by all means take your PC to a local computer shop. Tell them that you want to put more memory in your computer and as long as you buy the memory sticks at their store, they will generally pop them in at little or no additional charge. Plus they will usually offer helpful suggestion on ways to improve your PC’s performance or tell you if your computer is still worth upgrading.

Depending on how much memory you put in your machine and where you buy it, this could cost a couple hundred dollars. However, it is likely still cheaper than buying a new computer.

2. Clean up your start up programs.

If you computer runs slow, especially during start up, you probably have too many programs all trying to start every time you boot up. Look in the lower right-hand corner of you screen where the clock is located on your toolbar. Every icon that is there when your PC starts up is likely a program using up valuable processor power and slowing things down.

Configure these programs so that they do not load when you start up. It is generally better and less annoying to access these programs from your desktop or start menu when you need them. Most programs have a preference/options choice you can access by right clicking on the icon. Run through all the options and uncheck or deselect anything that tells the program to load during start up. Also if you no longer need or use the program, uninstall it. A good rule of thumb is to have only your antivirus, antispyware, time and network connection icons in that space at start up.

3. Defrag your computer

Open up your start menu in the lower left hand corner of your screen. Click > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmenter. This will help to better organize the information on your computer’s hard drive (HD) and make it easier for your computer to access the information that is stored there. Windows gives you the option of scheduling regular times for the computer to defragment, which is a good idea. Generally it is better if you don’t do this more than once per month.

4. Clean up your Hard drive

Use the same steps as above to get to the system tools folder where the Disk Cleanup option is located. Run this program and Windows will suggest things to get rid of that will help clean up disk space. Check the options you want to perform (be sure to read everything) and let the computer do the rest of the work.

5. Clean up your Internet History Files

For this just go into your start menu and then into your control panel. Find your internet options/properties and open it. This may be easier if you have classic view enabled; the option is on the left hand side of the screen when you open the control panel.

Before you do anything else make sure that you have every password and username you use online memorized or written down somewhere safe and accessible. Also make sure that you have bookmarked all the pages you frequent so that you don’t lose this information. Once you have internet options open you should see an options that says to store visited web pages for X number of day. (This option may also be under Settings in the Browsing History section of the first tab.) Generally this will be set at 20 unless you or someone else has changed it in the past. Set it to a low number like 1 or 5 (mine is set to 0) so that your computer will not store all that information and use up HD space that could be filled with pictures of your family and friends.

Next, under Browsing history, click the delete button. You should get a pop up titled Delete Browsing History and below it are several options. This is why having your usernames and passwords written down will be a good idea. Click the delete all option and you should get another pop up that has an unchecked box with “Also delete files and settings stored by add-ons”, check the box and click yes.

Using these options will probably not have your computer running like it did when it was new, but you should see a definite improvement.

There are options to recovering lost pictures and you can learn how to recover erased files from a digital camera. Digital cameras are used around the world and as with any electronics issues and problems can occur whether with the camera itself or due to human interaction. Most issues with erased files deal with the memory card that is corrupted, accidentally formatted or damaged.

Many times damaged or erased files on the memory card of your digital camera can be restored. There are photo recover tools that can recover your deleted pictures even if you reformatted the memory card. There is a catch; if you reformatted your memory card and then proceeded to take pictures then you will probably not be able to restore the majority of your erased files.

As with hard drives when you delete the pictures on your digital camera the memory card does not actually erase them, it just tells the card that the space where those pictures occupied can be written over. Those pictures are assigned a classification of available so if memory card starts getting full new pictures will be written over your old pictures.

A great piece of software that is free and can recover your deleted or an erased picture file is Stellar photo recovery. This program can recover pictures that were lost, reformatted or deleted. It can be used on the majority of digital camera memory cards including xD picture card, memory stick, flash card, SD card, MMC card an more.

The program works by scanning the memory card and just recovers all available pictures. It should be noted that if you have an xD card and reformatted it the pictures cannot be recovered. The only problems associated are that sometimes the computer will not recognize the memory card and you may need a USB card reader, though if you keep the card in your camera and hook your camera up to the computer there shouldn’t be a problem.

by David Omar

1. Its Existence Virus is a computer program designed to inflict some damage in computers. Virus, like its name, shares some elements that are possessed by its counterpart in the flesh and blood world namely the ability to multiply itself and infect another computer. Any removable media such as floppy disk and flash disk without any protection or encryption can easily be hitchhiked by a virus to spread on another computer. Optical disc such as CD or DVD not like general assumption can easily become one of the medium. Why? Because not like the old days when CDs are produced by large corporate who has clean systems to produce these kind of media, nowadays CD and DVD can be produced in any house in the world with very poor protection of virus.

The chance of a virus to even spread its wings is by occupying a server system to which dozens to thousands of computers are connected. Internet is a true ‘marketplace’ for this kind of threat to spread as easy as toxic gas spread out in the air.

Other threats that lurk on the world of unknown are worm and Trojan. While worm refer to program that can find its own way to the targeted computer even if it is not transferred intentionally, Trojan is a program that appears or promote itself unharmed but actually has the ability to do some damage. Some Trojans even introduce themselves as viruses or worm busters, but actually they are the culprit themselves.

2. Its destructive ability

Ok, so now you know the enemies, ‘What’s the fuss, boss?’ you might asked. Well the effects of these beasts can range from harmless display of message(s) in your desktop to destruction of your entire system (its application and operating system). Most of the time, a Virus can make your computer or network running slow because their activity running in the background take lot of CPU resources. Another type of virus multiplies itself into every folder in your PC thus taking an inconsiderably high amount of hard drive space. It doesn’t stop there because the process of multiplying itself takes CPU resources. So it’s really annoying when you are in the middle of a task that really needs CPU power. Even worse, another kind of virus prevents you from booting at all. Even if you succeed in booting Windows up, the virus will sense any attempt you do to remove it. So for instance you are triggering an antivirus scanner command or running ‘Run’ command to use ‘msconfig’ panel (Ms Configuration utilities) to disable some startup programs, then the virus will initialize to restart the computer by itself. Very, very Annoying huh? Well, Irritating more precisely.

3. Our effort in building a defense

We can advise you to activate your windows firewall feature to prevent an unwanted application and internet processes to access your system. Or you may want to try system virtualization in which you have a cloned (virtual) system running on your original copy so that when virus related disaster come, your original system are safe. But most of the time, these are not quite effective.

We also will tell you a simple argument: Even if you know everything about computer, and you even might seems to know every pattern of new viruses, worms, and Trojans, the effort of fighting against virus attacks is a day and night struggle. While unfortunately, you need something to replace your place there so that you can do something else more important, your hobby, and your job (well except if your job is in antivirus agency). Thus, the only solution is that to build something that can automate itself in building the defense and can update itself whenever new threat appears. Yes, it is a program we all called as antivirus. There are so many antivirus software out there, from freeware to trial ware (meaning that you can try it out for a period of time until the license is expired, usually the period is 30-days). But before you moan more, there are a lot of free antivirus programs that are quite powerful out there. Here are six of our recommendations:

1. AVG Free Edition

2. Avira AntiVir

3. Avast! Home Edition

4. ClamWin

5. Comodo Anti-Virus

6. PC Tools Anti-Virus

These free antivirus programs are great for stand alone and offline PCs. But if your PC is traveling a long way home in the network (online), we might suggest you to download the more upgraded versions, the full versions, or whatever they refer to the more-featured versions. These versions offer protection from Spyware and Malware which in fact can be a medium from which viruses, worms, or Trojans penetrating and lurking inside the deepest space of your PC.

Find more anti virus articles including product recommendation at PC Software Adviser.com

About the Author

David Omar is a freelancer for IT and game coverage that submits his works for many websites and blogs in these fields. He has just released a software centric coverage website at http://software-adviser.synthasite.com. If you have any question, request, or anything else, he is open to it. Just drop an email at pc.software.adviser@gmail.com.

by Paul Orams

An IP Camera is a stand-alone device that transmits video and sometimes audio through a computer network, using either network cable or wireless technology. It has a built-in web server which allows the camera to run individually without being connected to a PC. It also allows you to view the audio and video by connecting directly to the camera with your internet browser without any software being installed. This allows you access the camera from any location on the planet from any PC. IP cameras have many advantages over traditional CCTV security cameras. Features such as wireless connectivity, remote viewing over the internet, the ability to record to a remote location plus no more changing video tapes as all data is digitally recorded onto a PC. Advanced features of network cameras can offer added security for certain applications. These features include infrared, motion detection and pan/tilt/zoom. Infrared If low light is an issue then infrared is a must. Cameras can come with a built-in IR (Infrared) lens or the ability for an add-on IR lens to be equipped. Infrared is a wave of light that is outside of the visible part of the colour spectrum. Infrared illuminators shine this wave of light which the lens picks up. If infrared is not necessary then do not bother as a normal lens will pick up a much better picture in normal light.

Motion Detection Many network cameras come with a feature called motion detection. Hot-Spots can be setup within the video frame to detect motion. Once motion is detected, the camera will begin recording or generate a snapshot which can be emailed to you or sent to a web server. Snapshots can also be sent to a mobile phone or PDA.

Pan/Tilt/Zoom Having the ability to pan and tilt adds greater security if you have a large viewing area. Once logged into a network camera with pan and tilt capabilities, controls appear next to your video allowing you to move the camera left, right, up and down. The controls can even be used even over the internet. As well as pan and tilt, many cameras come with zoom. Zooming is also handy when a greater detail of video is needed. Network Cameras can come with two methods of Zooming: Optical and Digital. Optical is best as digital simply enlarges the given area and does not add anything further to the image. Why are they useful?

An IP network camera can be useful in a number of situations.

Office or shop

For the boss who needs to keep an eye on his staff to make sure they working and do not have their hands in the till at any time of day and from anywhere in the world.

In a lock up or warehouse

This offers the more security than usual as recordings can be done off site so any potential intruders would not be able to sabotage any recordings.

In the home

Whether at work or on holiday the peace of mind of being able to check up on your home is invaluable.

To check up on an elderly relative or babysitter

More and more people are having them fitted at the home of an elderly relative to check on their well being in the event that they are not contactable by phone. They are also useful to check in on a babysitter or cleaner who you may have suspicions of.

“We foresee Network IP cameras being in every home or workplace within the next 5 years or so” said a spokesman from PC Recovery. “They are an invaluable tool that is going to drastically reduce crime and will add peace of mind to elderly and vulnerable people.”

About the Author
www.pcrec.co.uk PC Recovery is a small family run Home pc repair business operating in Essex and Kent.

by Green Network Hardware

The fight for the planet is on. It is now fully proven, undeniably, evident that the earth is fighting for its life. During its short but deadly lifespan, human civilization has managed to place a devastating strain on the planet’s resources and health. It is now our duty to reverse this ill effect, even though it may be too late. There are thousands of ways people can contribute to the cause: from taking on older techniques such as recycling paper to utilizing newer technologies like fuel-efficient cars. I’d like to concentrate on one specific way through which people can help the planet- recycling computer equipment.

Throwing away used networking hardware, monitors, hard drives, routers, RAM, webcams, batteries or anything of the like can have a devastating effect if the equipment ends up in our landfills.

From nysscpa.org: Most of the environmental concerns with computers lie with the monitor, specifically its cathode ray tube (CRT). Each color monitor contains, on average, four to five pounds of lead, considered hazardous waste when disposed of, according to EPA standards. Computers also contain other hazardous materials, including mercury, cadmium (a known carcinogen), and hexavalent chromium (shown to cause high blood pressure, iron-poor blood, liver disease, and nerve and brain damage in animals).

One way to get rid of old computer equipment is to donate it to one of the many non-profit organizations that will accept it. Many local schools and non-profits could greatly benefit from your old computer equipment. Two sites to help you donate are sharetechnology.org and cristina.org.

If you believe that your equipment is beyond repair or reuse, one option for disposal is the full dismantling of the hardware. Many hardware manufacturers, such as Dell, Apple and HP, provide their own programs to dismantle and recycle old equipment. You can visit each of their respective sites to find out how these programs work.

The final option is to seek out a reputable hardware recycling or asset recovery program online. One problem with the current computer sales environment is that consumers are goaded too frequently to buy upgraded or better computer hardware. This cycle creates more waste on the other end when the old equipment model is ‘kicked out of the house’ by the younger model.

Much of the time, experienced hardware professionals may actually be able to repair or salvage your old equipment. Instead of buying new equipment, you can save money and the environment by repairing, reusing, and recycling your hardware. There are several online vendors that will pay top dollar for your used cisco, dell, apple, HP, or any brand name computer hardware. This creates an ‘eco-system’ for computer hardware that benefits the planet instead of harming it.

Some of these vendors provide repair and recycling services to resell the refurbished computer equipment at a lower price. In turn, businesses and consumers can then purchase a refurbished cisco or refurbished juniper router, dell server or mac powerbook at a discounted price. The key to this cycle is no new equipment needs to be manufactured, and in turn create additional waste.

Many citizens, cities, consumers and corporations still do not know how to properly dispose of computer equipment, even though it has become so commonplace. It is integral that this ‘know-how’ become common knowledge.
About the Author
I’m trying to make people more eco-conscious in disposing of their computer hardware.