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Angelo Consulting - March News Letter |
Friday January 12, 2007 |
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This news letter is also available at this WEB site link. |
Most of the information in this news letter pertains to Windows XP, ME, 2000. |
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Topics: |
Details: |
Email:
This mail filtering system has made email fun again by eliminating some 150 junk emails each week. |
Bluebottle is a challenge response email system. That means only mail sent from a person will get through to you; however, it is highly configurable too. You can grant access via a personal PIN or by creating a personal allow list. It does require a little bit of maintenance each month, but that time is nothing compared to the time it takes to deleted hundreds of junk emails each week. You can use Bluebottle as your primary email account or have it filter your existing comcast, MSN, whatever email. |
Windows:
Have a problem today that didn't exist yesterday or last
week? Use the Windows System Restore Feature to roll your system back
to a date just prior to the problem starting, and presto change-O, problem
gone. Of course, any software installed since that date is also gone
and will need to be reinstalled. |
To access the 'System Restore Point' feature: Click (Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore) Choose (Restore My Computer) or Choose (Create a System Restore Point) Click NEXT>> Do read all the info and warnings presented! I usually create a system restore point just after setting up a new computer and again just before and after installing new applications or service packs. |
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Tutorial:
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Ever find yourself retyping the same thing over and over?
Then it's time to create a template. In Word or Excel, from within
the 'File Save As' dialog box, click the down arrow in the "Save As Type'
list and choose Template. The file will not be saved in your regular
My Documents directory with a DOC or XLS extension, but will be saved as a
Template you may access by selecting 'File, New From Template', where a
dialog box displays document templates installed with Word or Excel and the
templates you created and saved. At the PCWorld link at left, is a very good article on Word & Excel Templates. |
Pop Up Blockers:
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Although nothing will stop all pop-ups, I find the Google
Toolbar to be a most effective popup blocker. Be sure to read the
setup messages; you'll likely want to OPT OUT of the advanced tracking
option before installing the toolbar. I install this toolbar on every PC I setup. |
Parasites and Data Miners; Oh My!:
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I use to love Ad Aware but have found a new love called Spybot S&D. Both do a good job, however, Spybot is building a huge reputation for being the best. It's important to note the makers of the program offer their software for free and warn "use it at your own risk". So build a system restore point before you run SpyBot (or any program that is effectively modifying your system registry) and you never have to send me hate mail. |
Parasites, Data
Miners, and Spyware.
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Spybot runs in two modes. Easy and Advanced. It
will find, quarantine, and remove parasites from your computer. it
can undo what it did, and best of all, you can tell it to immunize your
computer, meaning it will watch for attempts to re-infect your PC and block
the attempt. For the Techno-junkie, it offers much more. For the novice, it offers a simple solution. To Run Sybot Click (Start, Programs, Sybot - Search & Destroy, Easy Mode). Click the button for "Search For Problems" to start the scan. When it finishes, click the button "fix selected problems". Reboot. |
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Virus: Top 10 Viruses as reported by Sophos.com |
The Sophos web site provides a bunch of top ten list about virus, worm, and other world wide computer issues. For my time, money, and piece of mind, Norton Anti-Virus is the only way to fly a PC. |
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For Advanced Users Only. |
An advanced User is someone who has experience installing and uninstalling software, working in DOS mode, knows how to perform basic file & directory management using Windows Explorer, downloads files, can (copy, move, Rename files and directories), has started a PC in Windows Safe Mode, has accessed the Windows Control Panel to add a printer or update device drivers or at least understands what they just read. |
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Hijacked Windows Search & Tool Bar A common problem I get calls to fix every week involve a hijacked WEB browser. This is where the Windows Explorer's default home page has been set to a web site other then your desired home page, and your search buttons have been replaced with new ones. Your toolbar may have new buttons that can't be removed, your old search page won't come up and your preferred home page can't be accessed. Oh yea, and popup ads galore. Before moving forward in resolving this type of issue, create a system restore point and then reboot windows. |
For ADVANCED USERS: Use some caution here. Right click the Internet Explorer's toolbar to see a list of toolbar ad-ins. The list of toolbars should include Standard, Address, Links, and perhaps Google and Norton Anti-Virus. All others were added by a program or web site you visited. Write down the names of the extra toolbars you don't want. Some real pesky search bars include Clear Search, My Way, and Smiley Faces.. All are very hard to remove because what the uninstaller won't tell you is that you must reboot after the uninstall finishes. Find and destroy them! Look in the Windows Add Remove Programs list. To start the Add Remove Programs application, Click (Start, Settings, Control Panel, Add Remove Programs). Your presented with an alphabetical list of programs installed on your PC. Whoa! Don't get crazy now. We're just shopping. Scroll through the list and look for Clear Search and My Way Explorer tool bar add-ins. You can uninstall them and reclaim possession of your browser by clicking the uninstall button. A word of caution here is to be aware that when you uninstall a program, it's gone and the uninstall can't be undone. Data is almost never deleted though. Also, never click YES to a dialog box prompt asking if you want to delete files deemed unused by windows or other programs; just say 'NO TO ALL' and leave them. |
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Windows XP slow to start up or shutting down could be
caused by your Pre-fetch settings. It has been suggested that some Ad Ware and Popup Nag programs may use the prefetch routine to force reinstallation of programs you uninstalled. I've tried this little applet that clears the Prefetch cache and also modifies the registry to the Prefetch options you choose. Find the download at Jester2k. Download the file, perform a virus scan on the downloaded file before you run the installation. This is for XP only. |
What Is Prefetch?? - Taken From Microsoft
Website - "Windows XP monitors the files that are used when the
computer starts and when you start applications. By monitoring these files,
Windows XP can prefetch them. Prefetching data is the process whereby data
that is expected to be requested is read ahead into the cache. Prefetching
boot files and applications decreases the time needed to start Windows XP
and start applications." This has a performance impact on your PC. Disabling the Prefetch function or at least only enabling it for the Boot Files will allow you to free up some system resources and preserve some disk space. |
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A NEW WEB SITE I SUPPORT |
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| I hope you found the information contained within useful. Your comments and questions are welcome and appreciated. You are receiving this news letter because I care about your PC's health. Of course, if you prefer to not receive this news letter, just click the remove link and baby your history. On the other hand, send your praise to Mike. | Disclaimer:) Hey, you get what you pay for. Like your mother said, "Would you jump off a cliff just because your friends did it?". |