Spyware Removal

12 easy tips to make Windows boot up faster

Here are 12 easy tips to make your Windows computer boot up faster. This will apply to all ‘flavors’ of Windows i.e. Windows Xp, Vista and 7.

1) Remove unwanted applications from your start up: Use msconfig or some utility such as CCleaner.

2) Clean up your desktop: Unwanted clutter can slow boot up.

3) Defragment your disk: Very important if you have a large number of files on your hard disk after months of using your computer.

4) Check for malware: Viruses can eat CPU cycles and RAM and slow your computer down.

5) Update your BIOS: May not be necessary, but if new firmware has been released, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be updating.

6) Set the computer to boot from the Hard Disk in BIOS: This can save a few seconds.

7) Remove removable media & peripherals when booting: Can save another few seconds of time.

Disable unused ports: This can be done in the BIOS.

9) Remove fancy wallpapers, themes or sounds effects: This eat up plenty of RAM and CPU cycles. Use Windows Classic theme for best performance.

10) Upgrade Windows, apply patches and service packs: This should make your computer faster by fixing loopholes and make your OS more secure.

11) Hibernate your computer instead of shutting it down: May increase your power bills but worth the money as it saves plenty of time in the long run.

12) Clean you machine: Use a vaccuum cleaner or a blower to ensure that your computer is dust free.

Do you think someone is spying on your internet activity? Though Norton or McAfee might be able to locate spyware, some may be so well-written as to escape detection. In any case, downloading more software willy-nilly in an attempt to protect your computer is more likely to make things worse. Here are some steps a Microsoft Windows user can take to detect spyware activity; Macintosh OS/X, Linux, and users of other operating systems will have similar but different methods available.

- Press Ctrl-Alt-Del (all 3 keys simultaneously, known as a “three-finger salute”). This should pop up the Task Manager, or whatever Microsoft is calling it lately. One of the tabs should be Processes; click that tab.

1) Look up every process name on the Internet. Don’t trust all the information that you find, but try to get a general consensus from the more reliable sites whether that process name is likely to be malevolent or not.

2) Even if a process name is normal and expected (like svchost.exe), it’s still possible that a “hacker” was able to overwrite the normal system process with a tainted one.

3) If a process looks suspicious, for example u-r-0wn3d.exe, you will need to attempt removal. See Tips for ideas on that process.

- Open a command window, also known as a “DOS box”, by clicking Start | Run | cmd, or Start | Run | command on older systems. Type in the command: netstat -an. This will show you a list of systems you have connected to, and systems connected to you, and all “listening” ports. Learn the port numbers: 80 and 443 are typical for the “web”; 135, 139, and 445 are for Microsoft networks; find out what they all mean. If you see something suspicious, netstat -anbv might show you what process is doing the communication.

Spyware Terminator is a free spyware removal tool that is highly effective in protecting your computer free from spyware and other malicious threats. Spyware Terminator has many features like fast spyware scanning, real-time protection, HIPS protection, antivirus protection, and multilanguage Support. Support is included for free as well. Support is provided through e-mail and the forums.

Spyware Terminator’s detection capabilities and overall features are highly rated by industry experts and users. It has won the following awards: WebUser Gold Award 2007, OSAuthority Top Pick for 2007, 5 cows Tucows Rating, Softonic Spain Rating, BestVistaDownloads Award, Freeware Arena Editor’s Pick, and many more.

Spyware Terminator has also included the popular award winning open-source antivirus, Clam AntiVirus (ClamAV). This means that Spyware Terminator can also detect traditional virus programs along with spyware. ClamAV can be integrated into spyware scans, updates and the real-time protection.

System requirements:

To install Spyware Terminator you will need:
# At least 10 MB of free space on your disk drive
# Screen resolution min. 800×600 pixels.

To use Spyware Terminator functions you need to have one of the following operating systems installed on your computer:
# Spyware Scanner: MS Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP 32-bit, XP 64-bit, Vista 32-bit and Vista 64-bit
# Real-time Protection: MS Windows 2000, XP 32-bit and Vista 32-bit

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