The Soft Side Of My PC

Title: Want to delete adware fast?

Word Count: 627

Summary: Three things come to mind when you hear the word “adware.” The first is in the first syllable – “ad.” This clues you into the concept of adware. So adware is a software that carries an advertisement. This advertisement is displayed as a banner pop up or a bar that appears on your computer screen when you’re using the software.

Keywords: best adware removal,adware remove,remove adware,delete adware,prevent adware,stop adware

Article Body: Three things come to mind when you hear the word “adware.” The first is in the first syllable – “ad.” This clues you into the concept of adware. So adware is a software that carries an advertisement. This advertisement is displayed as a banner pop up or a bar that appears on your computer screen when you’re using the software.

The second is spyware. Although not all adware are spyware, it is generally agreed that many adware programs also have spyware. This has caused a lot of hoopla because certain adware programs track a user’s information which is passed to third parties without the user’s permission. This prevalent situation has put the Electronic Privacy Information Centre on red alert, not to forget some lobby groups that are huffing and puffing about violation of privacy.

The third thing about adware is that it’s free. If you think about it, however, it isn’t really free because you are bombarded with unwanted ads and your personal identity is compromised. When software developers offer a software for free, they usually integrate codes into the software that will simultaneously download advertising banners into the user’s computer. The authors of such programs do this so they recoup their development costs for the adware. Even if downloading a program is advertised as free (like in shareware), there are strings attached.

Recognizing adware For those who aren’t that computer savvy, they may not immediately know that adware is residing on their computer. If you’re not sure, go to any search engine and type “adware” or “removing adware” and you should be able to obtain a list of the more common adware programs that exist.One online guide we consulted lists the more popular adware programs. Here’s a few of them (there are thousands more, so this isn’t a comprehensive listing):

· 180 search assistant · 20x2p · 91Cast · 2nd-thought · ABCScrabble · AceNotes · Active Shopper · Active Search · AdClicker · AdRotator

Some web sites will even make a list that will tell you whether it’s adware, malware, Trojan, or a dialer. So far, over 2500 programs have been identified as adware, Trojan or malware, and the list grows longer everyday.

Removing adware There are recommended adware removal tools. Like any product, it is a matter of choosing the one that’s right for you. If you’re not sure which product will do the trick, you can read the different forums on adware and adware removal to get an idea of people’s favorite removal tools. Two removal tools we often hear about are Ad-Aware and Spybot.

First step is to be aware that your anti virus programs will not remove adware. You need to have a modern anti-spyware scanner. Second, before running the anti-spyware scanner, shut off all your applications on your computer including your email. Disconnect your computer from the internet. Command your anti-spyware scanner to scan your PC and give it permission to remove any spyware or adware that it finds. When the task is complete, re-boot your computer. Re-boot even if the scanner does not prompt you.The process does not end there. After re-booting, run the scan a second time. It is likely that your computer is still infested with one, two or more spyware and adware. Re-boot.

After the second re-boot, perform a third scan. If you believe that your computer is still infected, turn on your computer into safe mode. This will NOT eliminate all spyware and adware remaining in your system, but at least will keep the infestation minimal. As a last resort, you may want to refer to www.TomCoyote.org. This web site will show you how to use HijackThis, a program that will capture pertinent areas that may be housing the “culprits.”

Title: UnHack Your Computer

Word Count: 556

Summary: Solve rootkit problems once and for all with UnHackMe ( http://greatis.com/unhackme/). Detect and remove rootkits before they even load with Partizan technology.

Keywords: Rootkit, UnHackMe, PartizanAntivirus

Article Body: There's nothing new under the sun, and rootkits are no exception. In the early days of personal computers, in the age of the DOS command-line operating system, there were viruses that hid their presence from the users and anti-virus programs. They did it by intercepting some system calls that were responsible for reading the files, and lied to the system by filling these calls with fake information. You could view an infected file right in front of your eyes and see nothing but legit code! These viruses were called 'stealth' in those days.

When computers evolved, Windows replaced the DOS. Old viruses did not run under the new operating system, and it wasn't easy to develop simple hacks to intercept system calls in Windows. But time has passed, and now there's a new wave of viruses that can work on Windows and hide their presence even more efficiently than the stealth viruses of the old days. These new viruses are called rootkits.

Today, using an antivirus does not guarantee complete safety. A rootkit could install into your system and fool the antivirus system by hiding itself. The problem is that modern antivirus programs try to detect rootkits at the time when they are already active. Antivirus programs use the very functions that are intercepted by the rootkits specifically for the purpose of deceiving antivirus. It's a gun vs. armor race and your PC is the firing range.

Microsoft tried to address the problem by releasing their own Rootkit Revealer. While being a correct concept, this tool fails on too many levels. Microsoft Rootkit Revealer is intended for use by system administrators and software developers. The results of its work are not detections but rather hint that there's something in the system that's hidden. And of course, Rootkit Revealer does not remove rootkits, making its benefits questionable at best for a regular computer user.

Complement your antivirus with a rootkit detection and removal system and liberate your PC from rootkits! UnHackMe with Partizan technology is highly compatible and designed to complement other antivirus solutions instead of conflicting with them.

The Partizan technology is unique to UnHackMe. Microsoft states that there exists no sure way to know of a rootkit's presence from within a running system. Instead of trying to combat rootkits on their own ground, Partizan fools them by booting with the operating system and taking control before any rootkits can load. Being the first to load, UnHackMe can safely watch all stages of the Windows boot process, effectively detecting and terminating any activities attempted by the rootkits.

Once there's no rootkit in the computer's memory, detecting and removing one is a matter of routine. UnHackMe can remove known rootkits by itself or simply block the rootkit from loading into memory and pass control to your regular anti-virus.

Scanning your entire PC for the presence of a rootkit with a regular antivirus can take hours of time depending on the number of files and programs you have. UnHackMe takes scanning speed to another level by taking only a few seconds every time your computer loads.

Antivirus and anti-rootkit products often conflict with each other. Not UnHackMe! You can safely pair UnHackMe with an antivirus of your choice, providing ultimate protection against all kinds of viruses and rootkits. Download your evaluation copy now from: http://greatis.com/unhackme/

Title: Travel Agency Software –How Sweet It Is?

Word Count: 354

Summary: Travel, especially leisure travel can be a fickle business. Your travel agency software is only as good as your clients last booking and the way the feel about their trip. The better the travel agent software, the more time and patience your travel agents have to listen to their customers, understand their needs and close the sale!

Keywords: Travel Agency Software

Article Body: Travel, especially leisure travel can be a fickle business. Your travel agency software is only as good as your clients last booking and the way the feel about their trip. The better the travel agent software, the more time and patience your travel agents have to listen to their customers, understand their needs and close the sale!

Tried and Tested Solutions - Travel Agency Software

Can you afford a melt down in your travel agency software? Of course not. So why take a bet on an unproven t travel agent software or custom designed packages? There are cost effective travel agency software providers that offer highly stable and totally reliable, travel agency systems – a safe, proven route for conservative, busy travel agencies.

Product Flexibility - Travel Agency Software

A stand alone travel agency package is just that – STAND ALONE! The meaning is when you have a problem, you stand alone opposite your travel agency software provider and seek customer support. How much time goes by before your problem is solved? An few minutes, an hour, 4 hours? The advantage of being a travel agency software subscriber is the safety in numbers factor. It’s not just your problems, it’s everyone of the network’s problem and will be fixed quickly.

System Flexibility - Travel Agency Software

Travel is a fast-changing industry and frequent travel agency software updates keep leading travel agencies just one step ahead of the pack. A well known, respected travel agency software developer has the resources and personnel to keep a travel agency fouces on selling travel packages that seamlessly interface with its flexible and adaptable tour operator system.

Keep It Simple - Travel Agency Software

A single travel agency software network that provides an end-to-end solution is a proven strategy for travel agency success. While your agents learn new products, your travel agency software provider upgrades the network without interruptions to your staff with software updates. This means your travel agency can seize new opportunities and change your system needs without having to migrate to a new travel agency software network system. All your agents have to do is Just ask for the order!

Title: That’s easy hacking, pal!

Word Count: 439

Summary: Usually geeks boast themselves to be able to crack a password protected Word document in a few seconds. They are lying. Here is how to secure a Word document in 8 simple steps.

Keywords: Secure Word RSA AES RC4 encryption

Article Body: Yesterday I was talking about secrets hiding and cryptography. A friend of mine said he was able to crack any Word document in one day as a maximum. He said it was not a problem of password complexity: he knew how to strip Word protection away. As a proof, he took an old Word document and he was actually able to crack it in a few minutes.

I said he was only lucky and that I was ready to bet a non trivial sum of money that he would not be able to crack a Word document encrypted by me. He laughed out loud, he said I just wanted to lose money... but he did not accept my bet.

Then I sent the Word document encrypted by me to him anyway: he is still trying to crack it (a week is already passed... but I think the encryption will stand against his attacks for ten/fifteen years).

I told you this little story as a metaphor of how things really go when talking about encryption: it is almost always a matter of process, and not tools.

Word has an excellent encryption system, although it is limited by US key length limitation: if you just know how to do it, you can super-encrypt a Word document, and be sure that no-one (except, perhaps, CIA) will succeed in cracking it. The problem is that it is not easy to encrypt a Word document well: you must know a thing or two before doing it. Just pressing "Protect this document with a password" does not work (and makes people like my friend boast himself!)

The story has morale: market lack of tools that make serious encryption easily. That’s one of encryption software house missions: to produce easy to use, but serious encryption tools (such as Folder Crypt).

Secondarily, that it is often heard of people cracking programs, software barriers, ciphered documents and this makes the casual Internet user think that no real security is possible on Internet. Again, this happens because encryption processes and policies are often weak, when not at all bugged.

On the contrary, data encrypted following secure processes and using encryption standard tools remain secret.

Oh, by the way: to safely encrypt a Word document just follow these steps:

1. Start Word. 2. Select File | Save as. 3. Select the Tools extended menu option. 4. Select Security Options from the drop-down list. 5. Click the Advanced button. 6. From the Encryption Type dialog, copy the name of the encryption type name and encryption algorithm from the Choose an encryption type list. 7. RC4, Microsoft enhanced RSA and AES Cryptographic provider 8. Set maximum key length to 128

Title: Spyware Removal And Prevention - Use Protection

Word Count: 409

Summary: Spyware is a term used to describe a broad category of malicious or privacy invading software. Spyware is very much like a virus in the way that it "infects" a computer's operation and functioning without the owner/user's consent. Spyware infects a host by a number of different ways. One way that spyware is distributed is by hiding it inside another piece of software. Disguising software in such a way is very sneaky but is usually not illegal. Often enough, when installing th...

Keywords:

Article Body: Spyware is a term used to describe a broad category of malicious or privacy invading software. Spyware is very much like a virus in the way that it "infects" a computer's operation and functioning without the owner/user's consent. Spyware infects a host by a number of different ways. One way that spyware is distributed is by hiding it inside another piece of software. Disguising software in such a way is very sneaky but is usually not illegal. Often enough, when installing the original software there will be a contract that you must read and accept to continue. About 99% of people never take the time to fully read that contract because if they did, they would learn that the software they are installing would also be installing spyware to do a number of nasty things. Some of these things include: 1. Logging all of your passwords and user names and sending them to people that exploit that information. 2. Logging all of your websites that you visited and keeping detailed track records of your Internet usages. 3. Pop up advertisements unsuspecting in hopes to make a few bucks from your clicks. 4. Slow and bog up your Internet connection.

As you can see spyware is usually an undesirable piece of software. The sad truth is that over 75% of all Internet connected computers are infected with spyware. That number continues to grow because spyware often reproduces itself automatically by sending itself to other computers from infected hosts. Essentially growing exponentially out of control. Even major multi-million dollar businesses undergo a tremendous battle against spyware, spending thousands and thousands of dollars every year. The problem with this is that while battling against spyware they are actually attracting more of it. If only they would put the time, money and resources into having computer and network systems free and immune to spyware will they ever win the war against it.

Now this may sound unbelievable at first but if you look at how anti-spyware softwares, firewall softwares and computer security softwares all work, they work by protecting computers from previously made malicious software, not by preventing new ones from infiltrating. A firewall is designed to block access from places that it is told are unsafe or unrecognized. This might seem like a preventive measure but its not! - If you recall the earlier part of this article, one of the major ways you get infected with spyware is that it piggybacks on a "trusted" piece of software.

Title: Speeding up your PC for free

Word Count: 621

Summary: This piece discusses the basic system utilities that come with the Windows operating System used for optomizing your PC's performance. Demonstrated how to use them as well.

Keywords: PC, support, computers, optomization, speed, faster

Article Body: My mother-in-law is not very good with technology. She understands that computers run the government and that the Internet is great for purchasing figurines on eBay, but that's about it. Like all tech-proficient son-in-laws before me, I am often my in-law’s foil for computer questions and repair. So, when she came to me demanding that I make her 1996 PC run faster, I knew she wanted me to use all my skills and computer super-powers to forcefully evolve her computer into the new millennium. By taking some very simple, and no-so-well-known cleanup steps both my mother-in-law and I were pleasantly surprised to see the notable improvement in performance. Looking to do the same with your PC? Of course you are!

The first Three steps taken were simple:

1. Run the Disk Cleanup Utility (Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->SystemTools)

2. Run the Defragmenter Tool (Start-->Programs-->Accessories-->SystemTools)

3. Scan the main disks for errors (My ComputerRight-click on C drive-->Properties-->Tools Tab-->”Check Now” button under Error Checking)

The Disk Cleanup Utility should be obvious in nature. Use it to remove pesky files that live in your seldom-to-never accessed portions of your hard drive. These files cause system overhead when performing searches or loading program data. The Defragmenter tool is actually quite old, dating back to the days of DOS when most of the “geeky” stuff was done using that unforgiving command line most home users have come to dread. Defragmenter sort of rearranges the files on your drive to remove gaps that occur naturally over time. Applications may seem to live in one spot conceptually. However the reality of it is that the OS takes portions of unused disk space that actually break up the continuity of the program. Even thought the OS knows where to find both parts of the program’s code to make run without errors, it takes more time to read the instructions from all of the different regions. Finally, use the Disc Scanner/Error checker to find possible flaws in the hard drive that slow down the physical movement.

The next step required software to detect for spyware. After a long, hard search I came to find that three anti-spyware programs seemed to work above all. The first is a program known as Spyware Killer, or by its retail product name, Stopzilla. The programs costs about $20 (with rebate) and was the most comprehensive of all programs I used. Stopzilla found programs running in the background that I would have never spotted myself. The second program is called Spy Doctor. The initial scans are free, however I found that I had to purchase the whole program to make it as effective as Stopzilla, and the price was about $30 instead of $20. The final program I used was the Windows Anti-spyware suite (beta edition). The Windows program ran well, but the beta edition expires and there is no immediate renewal in sight.

The last step I needed to take was to run a Registry Cleaner utility. The registry is a large database used by the Windows operating system to hold information about how your machine should look, behave, and operate. Since my mother-in-law’s computer was almost 10 years old, countless program installations left the registry bloated, and resource-consuming. We found that “Registry Mechanic”, made by the same people who created the Spy Doctor program mentioned above, was the most popular application for the job. The program was simple to follow and the free trial edition was more than enough to smooth out the registry wrinkles. In the end, we were able to almost triple the performance of her PC for little more than $20.

More Information

Title: Solve Mathematical Equations Automatically

Word Count: 404

Summary: Solve linear, square and cube equations, high order and nth degree, simplify and calculate expressions. Equation Wizard works its way exactly as an experienced mathematician (and your teacher).

Keywords: solve equation, linear equation, square equation, cube equation, nth degree equation, power equation, root equation, math problem solver

Article Body: A single-click equation solver? Nonsense! You'd need MathCAD for that, and that costs a fortune! Or do you really?

Solve mathematical equations with just one mouse click! Forget about mathematical problems once and forever! Spend quality time on a TV program or your favorite computer game instead of spending it on a math home assignment (just kidding!). Let Equation Wizard solve your math problems on a computer, and see the solution written in a proper mathematical notation with comments in plain English.

Equation Wizard by ElasticLogic solves what your calculator cannot help you with. Solve algebraic equations written in any form completely automatically! Equation Wizard solves algebraic problems by finding both real and imaginary roots for your equation. It can solve every equation you throw at it. Linear, square, cubic or nth power, expressions, square roots, cube roots, and even nth roots and factorials are easily solved with Equation Wizard. Stop wasting your brain resources on routine operations. Computers are kings of number crunching – let them show their best!

Proving yourself again and again that you're good at math? Sure you can solve a math problem, but is it worth your time? Stop using your brain to solve no-brainer equations! Give yourself a break and let your computer do what you paid it for (or, rather, what you paid for it!). Just type what you see in your textbook, and if it happens to be an equation, it will be solved!

Got an interesting assignment that's a real challenge to your abilities? Let Equation Wizard teach you a lesson on how to solve that kind of problems with a little demonstration. It'll show you how to solve the problem step by step. Equation Wizard comments every step and every action it performs to simplify and solve the equation in plain English. "Raising to power", "Collecting terms", "Reducing to the common denominator" are typical comments to expect while Equation Wizard works on your problem.

Solve linear, square and cube equations, high order and nth degree, simplify and calculate expressions with Equation Wizard. Equation Wizard works its way exactly as an experienced mathematician (and your teacher). It reduces the equation to a canonical form, determines its order and finds its roots. The result looks so clear and natural you'd never tell it's a work by a computer!

What are you waiting for? Download Equation Wizard now! As you'd guess, it's right here: http://www.equationwizard.com/