Your Computer Connection

Internet Explorer 7.0 / 8 and Internet Options

2010-10-11T08:50:00.002-05:00

I wrote an article last year on deleting temporary internet settings, passwords, cookies, and browser history. I will define what those terms mean in a minute.
What I did not realize at the time is that more and more security sites such as credit card payments, bank statements, and some others use cookies to authenticate you as the person on the computer.

Most of these security type sites usually ask you a question such as:
• Are you going to use this computer in the future?
• Do you want to remember me?
• Is this your own or public computer?

A couple of months ago I setup one of my credit cards so that I can pay the bill on line. Everything was set without any problems. I performed maintenance on my computer and erased cookies. A month passed by and I went back to the credit card site to pay my following months bill. I tried to log in and it said I was not authorized to log in.

I had to go through the process again of authenticating that I was indeed the owner of the credit card. Again, the account was setup successfully. At this time I did not associate the deleting of the cookies a few weeks prior with why I could not log in.

Here is how I discovered I was deleting the financial information myself:
My computer started running slow again last week. I ran a free spyware removal program called Malwarebytes. I also ran Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft’s Adware. I use three different anti-spyware removal programs because one is not enough. They all have their specialties and you need to use at least three applications to remove most of the spyware on your computer.
The next step that I took was to start Internet Explorer and click on the Tools menu, where I selected Internet options and the following window opened:
• Under the General Tab in the middle of the window is a section called Browsing History.
• Clicking on the Delete button brings up the following window:
You will notice in the above window the definitions of:
• Temporary Internet Files
• Cookies
• History
• Form data
• Passwords

The option you should do periodically is the top one – Temporary Internet Files. My mistake was clicking on Delete Cookies. This is where the credit card site and my bank site lost all of its information to authenticate me as a valid owner / user.

NOTE: This was the second time that I deleted all of the information and had to go through the authentication process again. But now I know and it will not happen again.

You should delete all cookies at least every quarter, otherwise your computer will become overloaded with thousands of cookies.

The spyware programs also remove cookies, but these cookies are the harmful ones that have been identified, many of which were from Internet users. They also find the harmful cookies through phishing and fraudulent sites.

The other options on the page I do not use. Unless I wanted to cover up where I have been, I do not see a need to delete history.

I do not let Windows remember password or form data. I use a product called Robo Form.

This is a password protected software application that remembers your information. It installs a toolbar in Internet Explorer and FireFox, and it is very easy to use. I highly recommend Robo Form, especially if you logon to a lot of sites, subscribe to newsletters, and fill out forms.

Thanks for reading this issue. You will receive another newsletter next week.

John

Computer & Information Security at the Workplace

2009-06-14T15:57:00.001-05:00

Computer & Information Security at the Workplace
Helpful Hints
Passwords
• Select passwords with no personal association.
• Combine numbers, letters and symbols.
• Never write or post near computer.
• Keep secret; don’t share.
• Eight characters or more.
Awareness
• Train new employees
• Secure sensitive files
• Keep dial-up and Internet information secret.
• Monitor your surrounding environment. Challenge strangers walking around.
• Safeguard hardcopy: Clear your desk of sensitive papers before stepping out.
• Discuss security at staff meetings.
• Restrict access to users with a right and need to know.
• No magnets, food or drinks near disks, hard drives, credit cards, ATM card, Speedpass, or work ID.
• Follow your companies PC Policy.
• Do not make illegal copies of software.
• Use only software that your company buys. Personal copies of software on a corporate (company) asset (PC) is considered illegal.
Backups
• Make backups regularly.
• Lock up CDs, disks, external hard drives, and digital cameras.
• If you are on a network, save your data on the file server
• See the whole section on backups.
Locks
• Lock up notebook PCs at night.
• Lock up software.
• Lock up personal hardcopies of documents.
• Lock your desk.
Viruses
• Don’t install software from unknown sources.
• Use care when exchanging software and data disks between computers, especially home and work computers.
• See the whole section on viruses.
Sign Up For A Free Weekly Email Newsletter To Learn More Computer Tips For The Beginner: http://www.yourpcguide.com or send an email to computers@sendfree.com.

You Love Your PC, right?

2009-02-14T15:05:00.002-05:00

You love your PC, right?

Valentine's Day
is the day of the year we show appreciation to our loved ones,
but when was the last time you pampered your computer? Taking it
out for dinner or giving it flowers won’t make it happier, but
new hardware drivers will. So go on,

give your PC the love it deserves!

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elements, inside and plugged into your PC, need drivers to
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outdated and slow down your computer.

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Start restoring your PC’s performance with a free scan, and
see how DriverScanner will improve your PC’s performance with:

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Happy Valentine's Day

John Gontowicz

www.yourpcguide.com

Your Computer Connection Newsletter

Spyware Doctor Ranked #1 by PC Magazine for removing Spyware

2009-01-30T13:30:00.000-05:00

The latest issue of PC Magazine reviewed the latest releases of spyware removal programs. They ranked Spyware doctor 6.0 as the winner in this category.

Spyware Doctor has been ranked as number one before in PC Magazines review. In the past couple of years Spysweeper and Spyware Doctor swapped first and second place. Spyware Doctor has been steadily number one for the past couple of years now.

Anti-virus software like Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, will only allow one version of anti-virus software at a time on your computer. Spyware programs allow multiple versions of the software. For example on my laptop right now I have Spybot Search & Destroy (free), Lavasoft Adaware (free - for getting rid of pop-up ads), Uniblue Spy Eraser and Spyware Doctor.

If I did not run any of these programs for a couple of weeks and then ran all of them, they would all find some “spyware” program on your computer. They all look for different variations and types of spyware. Some of these are no threat at all for the computer, others can be very harmful.

While doing testing I installed Spysweeper and Spyware Doctor on the same laptop. They both ran real slow to the point that it was taking a couple of hours just to do a scan. I uninstalled Spysweeper and Spyware Doctor finished the scan in under 35 minutes.

On some websites there are banners that appear saying “free computer scan”. I would be very wary of these banners. Many of them install spyware on your computer. Others run the scan in seconds and say for $29.95 we will get rid of them for you and you will be spyware free for a year.

I just fixed a computer that was given the latter sales pitch. When I ran Spyware doctor over 650 spyware files were on the customers computer. The initial call to me was that the computer was running slow. Removing the spyware resulted in at least a 50% increase in speed. Eliminating Internet temporary files, running disk cleanup and defragging the hard drive got the computer to almost like new.

I highly recommend Spyware Doctor. I usually run Spyware Doctor last, but it still picks up files that the other three do not pick up. The second choice would be Spyware Eraser, followed by Spysweeper. I just found Spysweeper very slow and when I visit a small business they want their computers fixed right away. A Spysweeper scan is almost always over an hour, longer if the computer has never has a spyware removal program run on it before.

Please visit my blog site below and leave comments or suggestions there. Please let others know about this article. My goal is to inform the computer user so that we can all prevent these viruses from spreading.

For more computer tips, free newsletters and information, go to www.yourpcguide.com and sign up for a bi-weekly free computer tips newsletter called Your Computer Connection.

To get a copy of Spyware Doctor please visit http://www.yourpcguide.com/spywaredoctor.html

John Gontowicz is the author of three computer ebooks including How to Learn Excel, How to Make Your Computer Run Stronger, Longer and Faster, and Computers 101. Please visit the site above for more information.

Comments and suggestions can be made on my blog site http://yourpcguide.blogspot.com

How to Unclog Your Computer

2009-01-30T13:28:00.000-05:00

I have been working on a lot of computers lately and one of the things that I notice the most is that there are programs still on the computer that are no longer needed.

Some of the new computers have a lot of demo software on there for the customer to try. If they like it, they have an option to buy it. If they do not like it, or even tried it, the computer still has to store the program and all of the related files.

In addition, many times parents will buy education software for their kids. The kids are now 9-10 years old, but the software that was bought for the 3-4 year old still remains on the computer.

Another example is AOL. Some people have started off using AOL, then they decided to go to cable modem, DSL, FIOS and the no longer use AOL. Even though they do not use it the software and all of the files remain on the computer.

Everything mentioned above slows down the computer, especially leaving AOL on it. AOL is a massive program and it puts software pieces everywhere including a program called the registry.

The registry is a program that keeps track of everything on the computer. If you no longer use an application and you do not uninstall it the Registry has to go through all of the data to get to where it needs to go.

So, the first step in getting rid of the applications that you no longer need is to go to the Start menu and look at all of the programs and files under the All Programs menu option. Just look at the different folders and applications to see what you no longer use, or even heard of.

The next step is to click on the Start menu and click on the Control Panel icon. When the Control panel opens click on the Add/Remove programs option. In XP and Vista, Add/Remove programs is either in the first row (icon vies), or on the left column (word view).

When the Add/Remove window opens you will see all of the applications that are installed. If you have a lot of applications on your computer it can take 30 seconds or more to populate all of them on the screen.

Click on the application that you want to remove and select Remove (XP), or Uninstall (Vista). Follow the prompts and the program will uninstall. Some applications ask you to restart your computer after it is uninstalled. You can do this each time, or just wait until you uninstall all of the applications. Once you are done, go to the Start menu and select Restart and the computer will restart.

The next and final step is to delete the folders associated with the programs. Add/remove mainly work with the applications, not the extra files it installs. Click on the My computer icon and then select the drive C icon. Next look for Program Files folder and double click on that to open it. The next thing to do is to look at the folder names and delete the folders of the applications that you uninstalled. The folder names are usually the same as the application that you removed.

After you are done I would click on the Start menu , then click on Accessories folder, and then the System Tools folder and select Disk Defragmenter and let it run by clicking on the defragment program. What this application does is gets rid of the extra spaces on your hard drive. The extra spaces were left there from the applications that you removed. After it is complete, which usually takes an hour, the hard drive will work less and find what it is looking for faster. The end result is a faster computer.

For more computer tips, free newsletters and information, go to www.yourpcguide.com and sign up for a bi-weekly free computer tips newsletter called Your Computer Connection.

To get a copy of Spyware Doctor to eliminate spyware from your computer, please visit http://www.yourpcguide.com/spywaredoctor.html

Comments and suggestions can be made on my blog site http://yourpcguide.blogspot.com

My first impression of Windows 7 beta

2009-01-29T14:19:00.000-05:00

I have had a lot of people ask me recently about Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. They have heard online and in some articles about this new operating system from Microsoft.

It was just released in January 2009 as a beta operating system. A beta means that it is in the testing phase. Microsoft has opened it up so that people can try it. The audience is usually hardware and software developers so that they can make sure that their existing products work on it, and any future products that they develop will work.

I have been a beta tester for Microsoft for years and I downloaded this operating system yesterday and I installed it on an IBM/Lenovo Thinkpad T43 laptop. The installation was easy and it completed in under 30 minutes.

After starting Windows for the first time it provided a list of hardware items that it did not find drivers for. A driver is what allows a hardware component such as a printer, sound card, etc., to talk to the computer to make them work together.

Here is what the computer could not find on my computer: wireless adapter, sound card, fingerprint reader, modem, and power management tools.

I went to the laptop manufacture’s site and I download Vista drivers for all of these hardware components. The Vista driver fixed the sound card and modem. I had to use XP drivers for the wireless adapter, fingerprint reader and power management.

So, right now all of the internal hardware components work. I have not tried installing a printer at the time that I am writing this.

What I have learned so far is that it takes a long time for the operating system to start and get to the logon screen. I would say a little over three minutes. At this point the first problem appeared. Usually on other operating systems the fingerprint screen is the first screen to appear. This is where you can have the computer scan your fingerprint so that you do not have to enter in a password.

The problem that I encountered is that the first screen that comes up is the login / password screen. I manually put in the password and press the Enter key. When the computer completes starting and you see the desktop then the fingerprint screen appears and you have to scan your fingerprint. Granted the Vista driver did not work and I had to use an XP driver, so I will wait and see if a Windows 7 driver appears.

The next thing that I did was go to Windows update and had the computer go out and look for updated patches and drivers. It found a more up-to-date network driver, sound and video. I installed these items and everything still worked.

When I initially installed the operating system a window opened and asked if I was doing an upgrade or a complete install. I clicked on complete install. A warning message opened and it said that it was going to copy all existing files and folders into a folder called windows.old. I clicked OK and it proceeded to install.

I would have thought that Windows 7 would have reformatted the hard drive, which is what I wanted, but I was never given the option.

After the installation I looked at the folders and only a couple of them were transferred over: Windows, documents and settings and program files. All of the other folders I had remained on the Windows 7 side. To me, it should have moved everything, or given me the option to delete all data, which is what was implied on the original installation screen. So, I manually deleted all of the other folders including windows.old since I did not need it.

Once Windows 7 was loaded and the desktop was there I was able to move around quickly. I started Internet Explorer and it was Internet Explorer 8.0. Again, I was able to go to sites quickly.

One thing that I noticed immediately is that when I had multiple windows open, and I put my mouse over them a small miniature version of the window was displayed. I was able to click on the window and I went directly to the screen. For example, I had four Internet Explorer windows open, but only one icon on the taskbar on the bottom of the screen. When I place my mouse over the one icon, all four windows were displayed as miniature windows on the bottom of the screen.

That is all I had time for yesterday. Because of the driver issues it took me 1.5 hours to install Windows 7. I will play around with it more this week and install some software on it. I will let you know what I find out.

Top Ten Excel Tips for Beginners

2009-01-29T09:53:00.000-05:00

There are many tips for Excel. This article is for the beginners and covers the tips that I go over in the classes that I teach at local schools.

1. 80% of the most commonly used features, for beginners, in Excel can be done with two toolbars. A toolbar is the icons that are under the menus that are in text format (File, Edit, etc.). You should have the Standard toolbar and the Format toolbar on your screen. To make sure they are, go to the View menu and select Toolbars. There should be a checkmark next to Standard and Format. If one of these does not have a checkmark, highlight the menu option with the left mouse button. The toolbar will be displayed.

2. You can use Control (Ctrl) keys to do a lot of functions. For example, hold down the Ctrl key and press the S key and the file will be saved. Ctrl + P will print the document. Ctrl + B will Bold letter the text or number. There are many more. For a complete listing click on the link at the end of this article and you can download a free copy.

3. You do not have to use the mouse to navigate to a specific cell. You can use the arrow keys (left, up, down, right), or the PgUp and PgDn keys. Enter will go down one cell, and the Tab key will go to the next cell to the right. Holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the Home key will go to the first cell. Ctrl and the End key will go to the last cell.

4. Excel can look at what you typed in and follow the sequence. For example, if you typed in the word Monday, you can use a technique to have the next cell display Tuesday, etc. Say for example you type in Monday. Move back to the cell that contains Monday and you will notice on the bottom right of the cell that there is a little square. This is called a handle. Using your mouse carefully put the mouse cursor over the little square. The cursor will turn into a + sign. Click the left mouse button down and while continuing to hold down the button move your mouse down (or to the right). Go down or to the right seven cells while holding down the left mouse button. (A cell is the intersection of a row and column.) Let go of the mouse button and the seven days of the week will be displayed. This works for time, numbers, months, calendar, quarters, and a couple of others.

5. All formulas and functions begin with the equal sign. For example to add 1 and 2 together, the formula would be =1+2.

6. If you wanted to add up a column, or row. Type in the items that you wanted to add together and highlight the items you want to add, plus one empty cell. For example, say that you had numbers in cells A1 through A5. Highlight A1 through A6. On the Format toolbar is a Greek Symbol ∑ . Click on that symbol and the sum of the numbers will be displayed in the empty cell that you highlighted.

7. If you had a number that you wanted to display as a percentage, highlight the cell and on the Format tool bar is a percent (%) sign. Click on that symbol and the number in the cell will be displayed as a percent.

8. Say that you had a large spreadsheet and you wanted to go directly to cell J5. You can press the F5 key on the top of the keyboard. Type in J5 and press the Enter key. Your cursor will automatically go to cell J5.

9. When you are unsure what feature to use in Excel, highlight the cell(s) and click on the right mouse button. A window will open and the most commonly used features will be displayed in the menu.

10. To insert a row or column, click on the letter for inserting a column, or number for inserting a row. After clicking on the number or letter, click the right mouse button and select Insert from the menu option.

There will be other articles on Excel Tips. This article was to get you started. If you have any questions send me an email at yourpcguide@comcast.net.

Please visit my site to get the Control (Ctrl) key shortcuts by going to www.yourpcguide.com/shortcuts.htm

For a complete guide on learning Excel for beginners visit www.yourpcguide.com/howtolearnexcel.htm

Written by John Gontowicz, Computer Trainer and Support.

New computer virus alert - Downadup

2009-01-29T09:37:00.003-05:00

There is a virus out that is a new strain of an older virus. The virus is called Downadup and as soon as it goes onto your computer it contacts another computer, called a server, for more instructions. This can potentially make this virus very dangerous at any time.

As of Thursday, January 22, 2008, 1.2 million computers have been infected with this new strain and the virus keeps spreading, especially on corporate networks. It is worth taking a moment and checking your computer systems, and your friend’s computers.

This virus disables your virus protection on your computer. If your computer is on a home or business network there is a potential if one of the computers has this virus it will spread to all of the other computers on the network, including servers in seconds.

If you have a virus protection program that is kept up-to-date, chances are small of the computer becoming infected. This virus has been called Downadup, Kido, or Conficker and if you run a scan and see any of these names I would check that your virus program and Microsoft security is working..

One of Microsoft’s updates in October 2008 prevents your computer from being infected with this virus. Microsoft also has a free Malicious Software Removal Tool at the Microsoft site. When you go to the site type in the initials MSRT in the search box and the tool will be the top one in the search results. You should download this tool, run it and make sure that you do not have this or any other malicious software on your computer.

This virus is a labeled as a worm virus and besides disabling the anti-virus software stops all of the Microsoft updates from working, and it also blocks you from accessing any of your accounts that are on secure sites (credit card, banking, reservations, etc.).

One of the ways that the virus spreads is from inserting a USB device. A USB device can be a flash/thumb drive, ipod, external drive, camera, CD-ROM burner, etc. If your computer is infected with this virus and you connect the USB device to another computer, that computer will immediately become infected.

If you do not have an antivirus software, there is a free one on line from a company called Grisoft. You can go to their site and in the search box type in AVG free edition, and the free version will be in the search results.

If you have Comcast Internet then you can download for free McAfee Security suite which includes anti-virus. If you have Verizon they offer a security package for a couple dollars a month. I would look at your Internet Service Provider (ISP), and look at your account, or benefits/features page to see what they offer. I was on one computer in North Jersey and they offered Trend Micro for free.

Some colleges also offer free anti-virus software for all of the students and staff members who attend the school.

For more computer tips, free newsletters and information, go to www.yourpcguide.com and sign up for a bi-weekly free computer tips newsletter called Your Computer Connection.

Comments and suggestions can be made on my blog site http://yourpcguide.blogspot.com

The Top 12 Signs That Your Computer Has Spyware

2008-10-30T14:19:00.001-05:00

1. When you start Internet Explorer or FireFox, your default home page changes to something else.
2. You go to a site and you get a message that your computer is being scanned for viruses. This is spyware that nested itself on your computer and it wants you to click the link so that it can find out some information from you
3. You get pop-up ads, even when you are not using the Internet. Some of them have your name in them.
4. You want to search for something and after you type in the words and press Enter, or click on the Go button you are re-directed to another site.
5. Items appear in your Favorites list and they were not there before.
6. Your computer runs real slow and the applications or windows open real slow. They look like they are being painted on the screen. If you are familiar with Task Manager and you open the application you notice that there are many processes running that you have not seen before.
7. When you type in the name of a site to go to, you wind up on a different site.
8. A toolbar appears that you did not install yourself, or a toolbar appears at the bottom of the screen.
9. You notice that your hard drive light or cable modem lights start to blink very fast and often.
10. You answered yes in a box to help the vendor do research. This research could be surfing the Internet, or how you use a program.
11. You suddenly receive emails with a common theme. For example, coupons for a specific product or financial aid and credit cards by searching for college financing options.
12. Spyware has become more intelligent and not detectable. You should scan your computer at least once a week.

15 Tips to Protect your notebook computer

2008-10-27T11:26:00.000-05:00

The Top 15 Ways to Protect Your Computer System

Most new computer users use the computer for a specific purpose. I know of some people who use it only for e-mail. Others use it to view and print pictures that they took with their digital camera. Some people use it for doing work at home like word processing or spreadsheets. Teachers may use it to develop class plans that they do not have time to do at work.

Even though Identity Theft is in a lot of newspapers, letters from banks, TV, the Internet, most people do not protect their computer and their information. Maybe their attitude is “It can’t happen to me”. I am surprised that more than half of the home computer wireless networks in my neighborhood are not secure. Someone can have a laptop in their car and surf the internet for free. Some households can also borrow the neighbor’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) without having to pay for it themselves.

I have a little gadget that detects wireless networks. I am amazed that some small business and even schools in my area do not have a secure network. I taught an Identity Theft class in a school, and I went right onto their network without any login information. The school assumed that they were secure.

Another security concern is when someone has a laptop and they leave it unattended at the airport. When they look for it the laptop is gone. Some thieves just re-sell the laptop for quick cash. Other thieves see what type of information they can take off of the laptop. Even if the thief re-sells the laptop quickly, your personal information is still on the laptop. If the computer does not have a password on it, then anyone has immediate access to the information on the computer.

I had one customer put her laptop into her luggage and checked it in at the airline. When she arrived at the hotel and opened her case she saw that the laptop was gone. There was also a note inside that the airline inspected her luggage. Did this customer learn? No, she did it again. And to make matters worse, she was traveling with someone else. He saw that she checked her luggage with the laptop in it, and he followed suit. A big surprise here – both laptops were gone.

Home networks is another big security concern. When I see an unsecured home network I leave a flyer on their door and say that there network is not secure and for $25 I will secure it for them. I usually write the name of their network on the flyer so that they know. Four out of five people call me.

Here are some ways to help protect your computer system (they are not in any order of importance):
1. Put a password to access your computer. I would even put a power-on password which means that once you turn on the computer you need to put in a password before the computer starts up. This should not be the same password you use to login to your computer. This advice is needed for laptop users.
2. Buy a surge protector and plug all of your computer items into it. Buy one that works and has a guarantee, and not just a power strip.
3. During a thunder storm, or any storm that looks like it has an effect on power, turn the computers off. I would even unplug the surge protector from the wall. If the home is hit by lightning the house wiring can burn out computer components.
4. If you need the computer constantly on, invest in an Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS). The computer can stay on up to three hours without electricity. If you have a laptop plugged into a UPS, then you have the three hours and the laptop battery time.
5. If you are connected to the Internet, wired or wireless, you must have a router with a built-in hardware firewall. You should also have a software firewall as well. Most times software scans the internet looking for vulnerable computers. It is not unlikely if you have cable, DSL, Satellite, or FIOS that your computer is not scanned 15 or more times a day. A hardware and software firewall prevents this from happening.
6. Get anti-virus software installed on your computer. If you do not want to pay for it, get a free one.
7. Install spyware removal software on your computer and run it regularly. You can just get free ones if you do not want to invest in a commercial product, although the commercial ones are better.
8. Do not have Windows remember your passwords. On my blog I recommend a product for remembering passwords.
9. In Internet Explorer and Firefox have your security settings to at least medium.
10. When traveling keep your laptop in sight. Do not check it in with your luggage.
11. When you go into a wireless café or hotel that has internet access you should have an internet security product. McAfee and Norton are pretty good. There are also a couple of free ones.

One other thing to keep in mind with a laptop is that many of them can transfer through infrared to other laptops or PDAs / cell phones. It only takes a couple of seconds to transfer your information. Credit card numbers for example are 16 characters. There is software out there that can look for a string of 16 characters, or your social security number.
12. Do not open attachments from someone you do not know.
13. If an email does not look right, do not open it. Ebay, your bank, paypal, etc. will not ask you to click on a link to update your account information. They say, log into your account and verify your information. These fake emails are phishing for your information. When you click on them it does look like the right sight, but as soon as you sign into this phishing site they have your login name and password. You should then immediately go to your site by typing in the address and change your login password. If you can change your login name do that as well.
14. Do not give your passwords out to others.
15. If someone requests to remotely access your computer make sure their software is permission based. This means that you will get a pop up window or email and you give the person permission to look at your screen. That way if you do see something wrong like looking at your emails or documents you can stop the connection between the two computers.

I hope you found this article informative. In the resource box below click on the blog link where you will find more useful hints and recommended software and hardware.

John Gontowicz
Sign Up For A Free Weekly Email Newsletter To Learn More Computer Tips For The Beginner: http://www.yourpcguide.com or send an email to computers@sendfree.com

The Registry - The most important file on your computer

2008-05-15T08:38:00.000-05:00

I recently had someone call me about their computer running slow. This customer regularly scans for viruses and spyware. They also run Disk Cleanup once a week. I ran a utility called Registry Mechanic. The Registry is a file on your computer that tracks every activity for both hardware and software.

Sometimes the registry gets too large and the computer starts slowing down.
I have arranged for $5.99 off of Registry Mechanic for up to 3 computers for my subscribers.

Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/5rqm7h

You will see an improvement in speed on your computer after running this software. Works especially well on older computers.

Have a great day!

Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/5rqm7h

John Gontowiczwww.yourpcguide.com

Nine Steps to Having a Clean Computer Desktop

2008-05-12T09:45:00.005-05:00

In August of 2007 the company I was with down-sized and I was out of a job. Since then I became an ebay Powerseller in less than four months. I learned how to do this by reading Auction Profits Unleashed by Lee McIntyre and Auction Selling 101 by John Thornhill

I have also started my own business training people on how to use computers, Microsoft Office applications and Adobe Creative Suite. Other classes include How to Sell on ebay and Protecting Yourself Online. I am also fixing computers and setting up home computer networks.

I have a website www.yourpcguide.com and a free computer tips newsletter that you can subscribe to by sending an email to computers@sendfree.com. I sell a $9.99 computer ebook that is called Computers 101: The Questions You Forgot to Ask - www.yourpcguide.com/computers101.htm, and an ebook with videos called Keep Your Computer Running Longer, Stronger and Faster - www.yourpcguide.com

I was still falling short of what I was making at my job. So, I started looking at other ways to make money online. I found the greatest marketing idea of all time - in a FREE book http://tinyurl.com/67sjkx by Harvey Segal.

I also joined Wealthy Affiliate a couple of weeks ago. I needed something that would make me focus on. I was trying this and that and getting nowhere. So far following their plan I have started making money. Click here for more information.

Internet Marketing Success!
Wealthy Affiliate the most wide array of Internet marketing resources available in the World. From advertising techniques, to finding the right audiences, and choosing HOT products that sell like crazy, to 1-on-1 mentoring and coaching by Kyle and Carson. Wealthy Affiliate has everything you need to make money online.

Today’s Your Computer Connection Article:

Nine Steps to Having a Clean Computer Desktop

It seems that wherever you go online, when you want to download and save a file, they want you to save it to your desktop. The main reason they say this is so that you can easily find it. Over time this will become a big problem for you. Your computer has memory called RAM which is physically chips inside your computer. This type of memory is considered short term. You open an application and it goes into RAM. You close the application and it exits the RAM.

The problem you have is that the desktop takes up RAM. The more files on your desktop, the more RAM is taken up. This slows down the computer and sooner or later you will run out of resources and get error messages that say Virtual memory too low. Not that files on your desktop is the only reason for that error, but it contributes to it.

You have to think of the desktop as a temporary storage area. Once you download the file, install the program or read the file, then delete it off of your desktop. It is OK to have shortcuts on the desktop, but you want to keep it as clean as possible.

What do I do if I want to save the files on my desktop?

The best thing to do is to create a folder and put everything into that folder. Then, you put a shortcut to the folder on the desktop. Below are the steps to do this:

1. Double click on the My Computer icon. You may also click on the Start menu and double click on My Computer icon in the menu that opens.

2. Double click on the Drive C: icon and a list of folders and files will be displayed.

3. Click on the File menu, which is located at the top left of the screen, and select New menu option, then select Folder.

4. While the folder is highlighted type in Desktop Items and then click somewhere else on the screen. You now have a folder called Desktop Items.

5. The next step is to use your mouse and click on the Desktop Items folder icon with the right mouse button. Select the Send to menu option, then create desktop shortcut. There will be a folder icon now on your desktop called Desktop Items.

6. Now you can click and drag the files to the Desktop Items folder. Click on the icon with the right mouse button and drag the icon so that the folder Desktop Items is highlighted, release the mouse button and select the Move menu option. The file is now in the folder and not taking up RAM memory.

7. Do step 6 with all of the files that you downloaded or saved to your desktop.

8. To see the files in the Desktop Items folder double click on the folder.

9. The next time you save a file off of the Internet just save the file in the Desktop Items folder. You can also still save it to the desktop and drag the file into the Desktop Items folder.

I hope this article helped you in getting your desktop more organized. Saving memory space
is key to having a computer running more efficiently. Follow the steps above and organize your desktop now. The first time is always the hardest, but after that first time it does get easier.

John Gontowicz

It's Goodbye to Google

2008-04-27T16:25:00.004-05:00

It's Goodbye To Google
by Harvey Segal

You read that right.

I've told Google to push off.

Stop spidering me.

I no longer want my online business to depend on its ever
changing whims as to what makes a good or bad ranking.

I don't want to spend time collecting thousands of
backward links then find that they are probably worthless
because the anchor text does not contain a suitable
keyword, or the site does not have sufficient page rank,
or whatever the latest algorithm is.

I don't want to buy expensive cloaking tools and run the
risk of penalization.

I don't want to be bothered about whether a domain has a
static or dynamic IP address or have to use different
hosts to make a network of minisites.

What's that you say ? You don't need fancy tricks - just
provide good relevant content.

My answer ?

Nonsense.

I have a huge content site devoted solely to ClickBank,
the only one of its kind.

If you wanted to find the most relevant content for a
search on the keyword 'ClickBank' don't you think that
would be at the top ?

Well Google used to agree with you.

It was ranked number 2, with only ClickBank.com itself at
number one.

Today it is ranked ... wait for it ... number 426.

It is beaten out of sight by sites which have nothing to
do with ClickBank but happen to mention that keyword once.

I asked a search engine expert about this and he suggested
that it was due to keyword density, in other words too
many mentions of the word ClickBank.

Well that has to be the case - the site is after all a
'Complete Guide to ClickBank'

His advice - try replacing the word ClickBank occasionally
e.g. use 'CB'.

No way.

That was the last straw and became the inspiration for me
to develop a revolutionary approach to getting traffic.

It led to me being called 'The Guru who said goodbye to
Google' in the marketing forums.

And this new approach ?

It uses some of the fundamental pillars of Internet
marketing that you already know - techniques which will
never become obsolete.

But they are combined together in a new way and with a
viral twist that you won't have seen before.

It includes giving out free information in a certain way
and I show you how exactly in my book, The Ultimate
SuperTip.

And just to illustrate the principle: the book is free
and you can reproduce this article and change the URL to
point to your own rebranded version.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Read the 24-page book which took the Internet by storm
http://tinyurl.com/67sjkx

Top Ten Internet Explorer Tips

2008-02-05T08:32:00.000-05:00

The Top Ten Tips Using Internet Explorer 7.0

1. By default, the old classic menu is not located on top of the window. You have to click on the Tools menu and click on Menu Bar to show it.

There is another, non-permanent way. While in Internet Explorer press the Alt key and the menu will appear at the top of the window.

Press the Alt key again, and the menu disappears.

2. There is a keyboard shortcut in Internet Explorer to go to the last web page that you viewed. Press the Alt key and then the left arrow key on the keyboard. To move forward press the Alt key and then the right arrow key on the keyboard.

3. If you want a keyboard shortcut to go between the different Tabs in Internet Explorer 7.0, press the Ctrl key and press the Tab key. You will be able to go through the Tabs, one at a time. Holding down the Shift & Ctrl key and then Tab will scroll the Tabs in reverse.

4. To go to the bottom of a web page, press the Ctrl key and press the End key. To go to the top of the web page, press the Ctrl key and press the Home key.

5. To zoom the text on a web page, press the Ctrl key and click on the + key. To zoom out, press the Ctrl key and press the – key.

6. If you wanted to add the www. and .com to a web address you typed in, press the Ctrl key and press the Enter key. For example, typing yourpcguide in the address bar and pressing the Ctrl and Enter key will change this to www.yourpcguide.com

7. To zoom in, or select what size you want to see a web page, look at the bottom right of the Internet Explorer window. Click on the number and you will see a variety of zoom in and zoom out features.

8. You may notice different colors in the security status bar in Internet Explorer 7.0. Red means that the web site security certificate is out of date. Yellow means that the certificate on the site cannot be verified. White means normal validation took place. Green means that the security certificate is valid, and the site is encrypted.

9. If you are at a website that you like and you want to keep it as a Favorite, press the Ctrl key and press the letter D. This will bring up the favorites window. You can then select where you want to save the favorite.

10. IE7 allows you to search the history of where you visited for the past four weeks. Click on the Favorites button and then click on the down arrow to the right of the History button. You can then select the Search History menu option. Type in a keyword and the results will be displayed.

Resource Box
Author: John Gontowicz
Website: http://www.yourpcguide.com
If you are interested in learning more about organizing your favorites visit http://www.yourpcguide.com/favorites.htm
Computer Tips Newsletter Subscription: computers@sendfree.com
Internet Marketing Tips Newsletter: marketingonline@sendfree.com
Do you have a computer question? yourpcguide@comcast.net
Hainesport, NJ