Today I am in the chill-out-Sunday-mood, a good place to be once a week. I think no exercise today but maybe a little birding walk and maybe not.

Computers; There is always updates to do on computers, today it was CCleaner and Ditto on the laptop. Oh, I also updated Windows Defender. My desktop is very far behind on updates by now, the next time I start it up I will be updating for an hour or two.

Chores; Laundry was on the list this morning and I got it done, it takes so much time, but it has to be done   . If only …… I was rich!

OK not much happening today, later.

]]> http://hscomputertroubleshooter.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/99-ways-to-make-your-computer-blazingly-fast/ Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:08:49 +0000 hssparkz http://hscomputertroubleshooter.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/99-ways-to-make-your-computer-blazingly-fast/ By Aseem, Help Desk Geek

There is a fallacy that Forensics can recover data using an electron microscope – so let’s discuss this.

The Evidence against the fallacy.

Floppy Disks – where this belief started

Bit level recovery – on old floppy disks:

Yeah, but, I’ve heard they use an Electron Microscope

Yeah, but, I’ve heard they go down various “layers” with an Electron Microscope

So the depth of magnetic field does vary, but usually that’s due to temperature.  In a court of law, this would destroy the prosecutions case.  A summers day does alter the magnetism.

Probability Results – were basically like flipping a coin

There is no chance of recovery.

On old drives they could recover a bit – but not “data or files”.  On newer drives, there is no chance of recovery.

Windows “delete” key does not delete any files

Windows has no “delete” function, which is why the field of Forensics appears to have such mysterious powers.

Forensics exists because Microsoft doesn’t like”secure delete”, or any “delete” if we’re totally frank.  Which with the Internet, is a very dangerous stance for a company to take.  It offers the home user, absolutely no protection or security.

How do I delete files?

• The EFF recommends that you use 2 different wiping tools.  They recommend Eraser, you may prefer Ccleaner.
• Mix and match them.
• There is also a third tool called BCwipe.

Where to download Ccleaner

https://uwnthesis.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/secure-delete-cc-cleaner/

Eraser

https://uwnthesis.wordpress.com/2012/09/04/secure-delete-eraser-wipe-all-free-space-including-cluster-tips/

References

http://computer-forensics.sans.org/blog/2009/01/15/overwriting-hard-drive-data/

Evidence – Write patterns used for the experiment

Today I am going to talk about the Registry section of CCleaner. This tool will help you to clean the registry from the obsolete data and broken links/software/etc. keys – that is, junk codes – which are of no use to your computer anymore.

I promise this tutorial will be much faster than the previous one. Are you ready? Let’s begin:

1) First of all, open CCleaner and go to the Registry section (as always, pics will open in a new tab if you click on them):

2) Now, you can basically check all the boxes you see – they won’t harm your computer – , and then you can click on “Scan for Issues” (the first time you run it, the scan will be quite slow, but it will get faster over time as it will find less problems in the registry):

3) At the end of the analysis, you will probably have an almost infinite list of problems (since it’s the first time you run it). Now click on “Fix selected issues as shown in the picture:

4) Now a window will appear asking you if you want to keep a backup of the changes to the registry. I suggest you to do so, at least at the beginning, even though I never had issues… but you know, computers can make silly surprises:

5) At this point, I also advise you to create a folder named CCleaner in the Documents folder, where you can keep your backups (they are very small in size):

6) After having saved the backup, click on “Fix all selected issues”:

7) When the program will have completed its task, you can close the window. As a final recommendation, try and run it several times until you see an – almost – empty list of issues. One day, you will probably end up with a list like this:

Have fun cleaning your computer!!! And don’t forget to report any issues or steps that are not clear to you… I’ll be happy to help!!

Chances are your Windows machine just needs a good cleaning. Or it could need malware/bloatware removed. Most times it’s both. Luckily for us, there are many solutions out there both available for purchase and for free.

CCleaner has been praised for years now as the go to choice for cleaning up the clutter that clutters up so many consumer Windows computers. And for good reason, it’s dead simple to operate and the results, especially on a machine that hasn’t been maintained, are immediate.

Open the program, click ‘Analyze’ to see what gunk is residing on your computer, and click ‘Run Cleaner’ and CCleaner will do the rest.

CCleaner also includes a Registry cleaner. There is debate on the effectiveness on cleaning the Windows Registry. In my humble experience, especially on computers that have had many demos, trials, freeware, and game software installed and uninstalled, there is a significant gain in performance by running the Registry cleaner. Again, the process is painless. Click the Registry button at the left sidebar, click ‘Scan for Issues’, and then click ‘Fix Selected Issues’. At this point you will be prompted to Back Up Registry. Feel free to do as such if you are nervous.

Under the Tools tab in the left side you will find 4 handy utilities. The first is Uninstall and it does just that. Simply highlight the program you wish to uninstall, click ‘Run Uninstaller’, and you’re done. Repeat for any unwanted software.

Typically after I use this utility I will use both steps above to clean out the residue from the uninstalled program.

If you see a lot of icons in your bottom right corner System Tray, chances are you have a lot of Start Up programs and many aren’t needed for your mode of work. Startup up applications can drain much needed CPU and RAM from your computer and slow performance. The second tab, Start Up, in CCleaner’s Tools menu allows the user to see what applications are opened when you start up your computer and disable the unnecessary ones.

There are 2 more Tools utilities: System Restore and Drive Wiper. System Restore can restore an erratic PC to a time it was working properly.

Drive Wiper is used to securely erase contents from your hard drive. When we delete something from our Windows machine, it is still possible to find the item. To truly remove the item, you would use the Drive Wiper. WARNING: Use the wipe option: Free Space Only.

Provided that your computer is not suffering from a virus or malware, CCleaner will no doubt prove to be a handy cleanup tool that will keep your PC running like the day you brought it home. Along with nightly scans using Microsoft Security Essentials and Malwarebyte’s Anti-Malware (both free) and I run my CCleaner once every week or two to keep my Windows computers up to the task.

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1) First things first: download CCleaner. These are the links: CCleaner for PC, CCleaner for Mac (for Mac users: I haven’t tried CCleaner on a Mac, but from the screenshots I have seen that it looks exactly like the one for the PC – anyway, if you have any problems during the setup phase, contact me).

(I checked all the pictures, since they look small I modified them to open in a new tab once you click on them, so you can see them larger)

2) After you have downloaded it, proceed to the setup. At the 3rd setup page, you’ll find this window:

I usually uncheck the first option because I like to keep my desktop clean, but you can leave it if you like to have shortcuts on your desktop.

3) At the completion of the setup, uncheck the option “view release notes” (you won’t need to see them – it’s just a notepad document):

4) Now CCleaner will be opened and you’ll see something like this (don’t worry about the tabs on the top, they’re from my awesome Toshiba laptop):

5) Now we can start the difficult part. It all depends on what you wish to keep or remove from your computer. You will see 2 tabs called “Windows” and “Applications”.

6) Let’s start from “Windows”. Here, I check everything except the options circled in red (sometimes they are useful to be kept in the computer). Here you can also start the first part of your personalization: If you like to keep passwords and auto-complete form history (like the popups that appear while you’re typing for example your login name on a web page) for Internet Explorer, then you should UNCHECK them, otherwise they will be deleted – if you are unsure about anything, you can comment or contact me -. I like to delete them every time I use CCleaner for a matter of security:

7) In the tab “Applications” you can basically select everything in order to be deleted (it won’t harm your computer). You can keep passwords, saved form information and even history for Firefox and Google Chrome if you wish to. As I said earlier, it is probably safer to delete them from time to time:

8) Now we can proceed to the first cleaning of the computer. Once all your desired options are selected, click on “Analyze” and a scan will start. The first time you are using it, it will be unbelievably slow, but just because there are a lot of junk files which are just wasting your computer’s hard disk space. At the end of the analysis you will see this (sort of):

9) You can finally click on “Run Cleaner” (remember to close the browsers – and remember to return on the blog once you have run the cleaner ) and your computer will be freed from all the junk files (also the cleaner will be considerably slow the first time you run it).

10) Enjoy your larger hard disk space and your (probably) faster browsers!!! Once you close CCleaner your personalization will be saved, so you don’t have to check/uncheck the boxes every time you open it.

Option 1 – How to disable the Recycle Bin

Click on the Recycle Bin to select it

Right Click on “Recycle Bin”  > Properties (Last Option)

Select the radial button – “Don’t move files to Recycle Bin (Remove files when deleted)”

OK

Stops a copy of the file being sent to the Recycle bin (insecure)

******

Option 2 -  If you want to use the Recycle Bin – but run a proper Deletion programme to delete files (Windows 7 has no secure delete ability – it leaves files intact)

Install  Ccleaner – the instructions are here:

https://uwnthesis.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/secure-delete-cc-cleaner/

• Install CCleaner

• Windows Tab > System Section – Tick the box for “Empty Recycle Bin” (First Option)

• Run Cleaner button (Bottom right-hand side)

CCleaner will warn that this will permanently delete files

OK

*****

Option 3 – Use the Right Click menu to delete the files in the Recycle bin

• Ccleaner integrates into your Windows 7 right hand menu, so if you want to delete files directly from the Recycle Bin, then:

• Right click on the Recycle Bin > Run CCleaner (From the right click menu as shown)

****

Option 4 – Clear all the free space on your drive

First, decide the number of passes (to overwrite the data)

• 3 passes – this is for ordinary data

• 7 passes – sensitive files

• 35 passes – for mission critical files, such as the recipe to Diet Coke.  It’s unlikely you’d need this, but it’s there just in case.   Use this for highly sensitive files, rather than all the free space.

Tools > Drive Wiper > tick C drive

Security – Number of passes on the drive (go for 3 passes).

That’s it!  Leave it running overnight, and in the morning, all that sensitive data will be gone.  And you’ll have far more free space on your drive.

As a Christmas special, we’ll detail how to download this Forensics Tool and run it against your pc.   You’ll see all those downloads you’d forgotten about, or unused Google maps appear… it’s spooky to say the least.

It’s dangerous for you to leave such accounts lying around – so use this tool to find them, and delete these accounts.

Step 1 – Download your free trial.

http://www.magnetforensics.com/products/internet-evidence-finder/

They will send a download link to an email account.

Email will state:

Step #1:  Click here to begin download. Now Download the link given to you by email

Step #2: When the download is complete, open the IEFv571.0013setup.exe file and follow the prompts to complete installation.

Step #3: A dialogue box will pop up stating “The license key or dongle for IEF v5 is missing or invalid”; Click “Ok”.

Now Download the link given to you by email

******

INSTALL IEF

Step 1 – Save File

RUN

Yes

ENGLISH

OK

Wizard will run

NEXT

I Accept

NEXT

Accept standard file location

NEXT

Accept default Start menu

NEXT

Accept create a desktop icon

Next

INSTALL

FINISH

*****

Internet Evidence Finder is now installed.

*****

IEF ERROR – Ignore this error is because it’s a trial version

OK

*****

IEF Gui

Click on “Drives”

C drive

OK

FULL SEARCH

OK

Full Search of C drive has been selected

OK

SELECT ALL  – checkbox bottom left hand side of screen

OK

Yahoo user name message

Yes to continue without a user name

Enter Destination folder

Browse to desktop (for destination folder)

OK

No case information is needed

YES

Search starts

Just leave it run.  Green ticks will appear as each stage completes.

Recovered Artifacts

As you can see, IEF finds everything from your Google maps to pictures, cookies and successful downloads.  A Forensics team can see the maps you’ve looked at, successful downloads.  Things you’ve forgotten about, will be revealed.

Click on the remnant and it will give you pictures and download URL’s.  Revealing date and times of the downloads, exactly as a Forensics team would cite in court.

REBUILT WEBPAGES

The Forensics software has rebuilt webpages that I’ve visited for VPNBook (they reissued new OpenVPN certificates in December).  IEF has rebuilt that webpage, and shows exactly what I’d been looking at (Certificate downloads).  This could just as easily be your banking website.

****

How do you prevent the Forensics team seeing your banking or medical websites?

• The advice of the EFF, is to regularly use secure delete programs
• Use Ccleaner or Eraser.  Ccleaner is the easiest to start off with.

https://uwnthesis.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/secure-delete-cc-cleaner/

CCleaner (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Late last night I discovered I had been hacked.  My debit/credit card information was stolen and two Western Union Transactions for $112 each had been made from my account.  It was a total of $224 and was all the money I had for Christmas shopping.

Today, from the moment the alarm clock went off, I was on the phone.  I called NSA, FTC, local police department, FBI, my bank – it was actually first – and as many other people as I could locate numbers for to report what had happened.  What happened?

On Friday, December 14, 2012 I received a call from a Washington state area code.  The person on the other end was a man with a very thick Indian accent.  This sent up red flags immediately.  When I said I couldn’t understand him he said, very carefully, as if he had to concentrate very hard, “Please, one moment.”  Within seconds another man, again with an India accent was on the line, but I could understand him.

He began with, “Hello, my name is Jordan and I am calling from a Microsoft service center.”  Another red flag popped up.  “As you may have read, Microsoft is working with the NSA to help locate possible terrorist organizations.  We do this through ping backs and other means.  Microsoft has been receiving odd error reports from your computer.  This is a courtesy call to inform you your computer is currently remotely controlled by the NSA.”  I checked on my computer and it was being remotely accessed.  Someone was going through the computer and doing a lot of cleaning and organizing of the common files and spent a few moments in the cookies.

“Please don’t be alarmed,” this second man said, “this will only take a few moments and then the scan of your computer will be completed and once again under your control.”  Jordon asked me questions about whether or not I had been receiving any unknown, Arabic spam e-mail, of course I had.  Many people have received spam in Arabic script locally.  He asked if I had noticed a difference in how my computer was acting differently, slower” etc.  I answered him that it wasn’t.

The remote access stopped on my computer and Jordan thanked me very much for my cooperation and said they hoped they had not taken up very much of my time and to have “A wonderful holiday!”

When I discovered the two Western Union transactions everything fell into place.  I felt dumb for having fallen for it, and replayed it several times in my head, but I could not tell, at any point during this 20-30 minute conversation of red flags other than the ones I have mentioned.  Still, I just can’t help but feeling violated.

I am good with my computer.  I am tech savy, and though I am not a major hard tech person, I have protected my computer and my husband’s computer for years without anything like this happening.  All I can say is – they got me, and they got me good.

From the information I gathered today, even from the local computer forensics department at the police station, I had done everything I needed to do in order to protect myself.  \

• I went through every program on the computer and sub-programs with a fine tooth comb and located the remote access program that had been downloaded to my machine and removed it and all of its little bitty parts.
• I updated all of my virus, malware, spyware, and firewall software.
• Immediately after that I ran a virus scan of my entire computer and external hard drive, as well as any other drives on my computer.  The scan came back negative.
• Next was the malware scan.  It was surprising to see I did not have a lot of malware on the machine.
• The spyware program was long.  There were 3 pages of spyware ‘tags’ removed.
• Finally was CCleaner™.  I used it to completely do a quick cleaning of my cookies, browsing information and search sites.  Nothing stood out there.
• The very last thing I did was run a direct word scan for several different words to do with banks and bank accounts, etc., and came up clean on my machine.

The computer forensics person assured me I had done a good job and told me this sort of scam was growing in number in the Central Kentucky area, especially in Fayette County.  Sometimes it is the FBI and some other agency, or just straight up Microsoft.  A lot of folks don’t fall for the solo Microsoft gig, but some do.

Also in all of my calling, I was asked if my wallet with all of my information was anywhere near the computer at the time.  It was – it was right in front of the keyboard because I was getting ready to make an Amazon order for Christmas presents.  I was told the readers for obtaining your RFD information only need to be within 3 feet of you and that there was a new way of obtaining the RFD over the telephone lines.  It wasn’t explained further how it could do it, but this sent me to the computer researching.

I didn’t find out anything hard about this sort of technology, but that it had been rumored to exist for a few months now.  It is supposedly expensive technology and isn’t easy to get hold of.

After having a hearty cry by myself and then playing Halo 4 for a couple of hours I…didn’t feel better.  I can still go Christmas shopping – it just won’t be without a close eye to what is chosen, though – and the world will keep spinning.  My computer world is as safe as I can make it, and my husband and friends are standing by me – though a couple of friends practically laughed at me and told me I had been too gullible (I’m being polite with this paraphrasing); and a couple have told me point me that it couldn’t happen like that because there wasn’t technology out that could do that.

Anything is possible.  When you really get down to looking at our world and the intelligence of the human race currently, this is very possible.

I am not going to argue with them.  They are friends and they are sorry money was taken from me under fraudulent means, but sometimes, like many people these days; they have to close their minds to possibilities of what could be out there.  I am not a conspiracy theorist per se, but there are things the governments of the world have access to – scientific advancements, medical advancements, transportation advancements, etc. – the common people do not.  The reason it is kept so closely guarded is because it matters to the security of the nation if a car can indeed run the way it is needed on electricity or that there really has been a cure for cancer but helping people would somehow endanger the country….  Maybe these ideas are just nothing more than imaginative thinking, but What if they are not?

Anywho….  I just wanted to catch you all up on what has been happening and explain why Part X1 of “A Story of Emily Post” is not up today.  It is coming.  The writing is keeping me sane through all of this.  It will be up by no later than 8:00 AM Monday, December 24.

The next scheduled posting of “A Story of Emily Post” is on January 4^th because of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.  Other posts will be appearing, of course, while Emily is having her own little respite from death threats and almost-reckless behavior!

Related articles

• CIA-Sponsored Trolls Monitor Internet & Interact With Users to Discredit Factual Information (willyloman.wordpress.com)
• How to Use Emsisoft Anti-Malware to Protect Your Computer From Threats (vikitech.com)
• A new brand of cyber security: hacking the hackers (powersthatbeat.wordpress.com)
• Common Malware Types: Cybersecurity 101 (veracode.com)
• Online Security Basics for Small Business Websites (cio.com)
• Online Security Basics for Small Business Websites (computerworld.co.nz)

The strange thing about this user’s hard drive being full is that it wasn’t full the day before. In fact, the day before this happened, the hard drive had something like 200+ Gigabytes free. I noticed that earlier in the day, that had dwindled to 70 Gigabytes. At this point, a mere .24 Gigabytes remained on the drive.

I hurriedly informed the head of the office that the drive was nearly full, which he told me was abnormal. I had originally thought that the user might have transferred a large amount of files onto the drive, and inadvertently filled the drive. However, upon being told that the user hadn’t transferred any files, I began to wonder what the problem was.

I had read about Malware filling the empty space of hard drives, and was beginning to suspect that such Malware was to blame. The only problem with this theory was that the user ran Malwarebytes and Avast Anti-Virus software regularly. I knew that Malwarebytes would have picked up anything suspicious.

As I started to explore the C:\ Drive for large files that looked like they didn’t belong, I remembered that there’s a program that will do that for me: TreeSize Free.

The next part of the problem came when I tried to open an Internet Explorer browser window to download the program. I discovered that I couldn’t connect to the internet. A quick check on my network settings revealed that they were all correct and I shouldn’t have been having problems. What was going on?

Back inside the C:\ Drive, I started manually scanning every folder that I saw. I turned on Hidden Files and Folders, so that I could check them out. Do the following to turn them on for yourself:

First, use the Windows Hotkey combination of (Windows Key + e) to bring up the Windows File Explorer window. Navigate to your C:\ Drive:

Click on the ‘Organize’ button on the top of the window, and then click ‘Folder and search options’:

This will bring up a small dialog box that looks like this:

Click on that ‘View’ tab, to bring up a few of the viewing options in Windows.

Click in that bubble next to ‘Show hidden files, folders, and drives’ to enable hidden file and folder viewing. Click OK, and look at the contents of your C:\ Drive again. You should now see a new folder, called ‘ProgramData’:

Note that the hidden folders appear with lighter folder icons.

If your hard drive has suddenly become full, there’s a good chance that a large file somehow made it’s way into a hidden folder. In my case, the ‘ProgramData’ folder was hundreds of Gigabytes in size. It turned out that a program had somehow dropped a 300 Gigabyte log file into it’s folder under ‘ProgramData’. Deleting the log file recovered the hard drive space, and took care of that internet problem that I was experiencing as well.

To summarize, there are a few steps that you can take if your hard drive has become mysteriously full very quickly. The first step is to either use a program or manually search for any large and mysterious file(s) that are new to your system. If you do locate the source of the consumed space, make sure that you deal with it properly (Mine was a Log File, which I was able to delete). If you can’t find the source of the drive consumption, or you think that the source is Malware, use a free program like Malwarebytes to scan the computer and eliminate the threat.

Let me know what you think by posting below.

A lot of people, and I mean A LOT of people have asked me if I can speed up their computers. I always answer with a simple ‘Yes.’ I know that even in situations that I would consider drastic, I can typically squeeze at least a little more speed out of someone’s computer. This, of course, differs from computer to computer. The installed Operating System is obviously a large factor in the equation. The edition of that OS might even be a larger factor. Whether or not the owner of that computer chose to perform routine file maintenance is also a factor, along with several others.

I know that some of you don’t think that keeping your Operating System clean is an important task. I really wish I didn’t know that, and I have to beg to differ. An unorganized OS is taxing on your computer for a few different reasons:

-Your hard drive has to work harder to find unorganized files, and even harder if it is full of junk and unnecessary files. This will likely shorten the life of your hard drive.

-YOU have to work harder. Your computer will definitely become slower as it’s hard drive fills up and more memory becomes used. If your files are unorganized, it might take you longer to find a file you need, thus wasting your valuable time.

-You are potentially allowing Spyware, Malware, and viruses into your system. If you’re not using utilities to scan your system for these threats, they are possibly making their way into your computer. Having mass amounts of unorganized files gives the bad stuff more places to hide. It will also increase the time that it takes to scan your system for these threats.

The following guide is very simple to follow. It will walk you through a ‘Day in the Life’ of the programs that I use to keep my computers nice and tidy, and free of problems. All of the programs that I use are free utilities, so you don’t have to worry about shelling out any cash for them. Keeping a tidy computer and file system is very important if you want to preserve the speed of your computer, as well as the life of your hard drive.

MACINTOSH

I’ll admit it…I didn’t use an antivirus program on any of my Macs for a long time. Now I use Avast Free, which is a decent Antivirus utility. Just download, install, and run the program. It will scan your computer and let you know whether or not it finds any viruses. From there, you can just eliminate those viruses.

The only other Mac utility program that I use is CCleaner. CCleaner is a great program for finding and cleaning junk files out of any system. You just have to download and install this one too, which is extremely easy. When you finally run the program, you are presented with a simple interface. You can click ‘Analyze’ to find junk files on your computer, and ‘Run Cleaner’ to clean them out of the system. MacJanitor is a similar utility that you can use as an alternative to CCleaner.

WINDOWS

Windows is the OS that really allows me to see what these utility programs can do. Before I do anything in Windows, I make sure that I have the following utility programs installed:

-AVG Free

-CCleaner

-Spybot Search & Destroy

-Malwarebytes Anti-Malware

-Advanced System Care (optional)

AVG Free is one of the best Antivirus programs that I’ve encountered recently. The interface is straightforward and easy to use, and it’s powerful. The installation takes a few minutes, so be patient. Make sure that the utility is always up to date, and make sure that it is constantly running. It will protect you even when it is not scanning. Opt for full scans of all of your drives once in a while and you shouldn’t have a problem with viruses.

CCleaner is as useful on Windows as it is on a Mac. Follow the same instructions to download and use CCleaner on Windows. Be patient if this is your first time running CCleaner, as it will most likely have a lot that it wants to clean. This is a good thing. I’ve seen systems that were boosted noticeably after using this utility.

Spybot Search & Destroy is a great program to find and eliminate Spyware. I would recommend running it at least once a month to make sure that your computer is free of Spyware.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is an even better program for detecting Malware. The cool thing about this program is that it can run undetected. Often, if a computer becomes infected, it will recognize and shut down anti-virus and anti-malware utilities. Malwarebytes is the exception, and I’ve seen it shine when other utilities fail. If a system becomes too locked up with infections, running Malwarebytes in Safe Mode is often a good way to get it back up and running. I typically run this program once a week to keep my system free of problems.

I also mentioned Advanced System Care in the roster above. While I don’t really use it anymore, this program is a great suite of utilities. You can scan your computer for issues, add/remove programs, and free up memory all from within this utility.

All of these utilities are available in all of the latest versions of Windows, and several are available in much older versions as well.

Built-in Windows Utilities

Remember, you also have quite a few built-in Windows Utilities at your disposal. You can check them all out by clicking

Start–>All Programs–>Accessories–>System Tools

Make sure you check all of these out and see what the OS’ utilities can do. Remember not to run any programs that you don’t entirely understand, and not to delete any files that you aren’t sure about. Use the utilities above as well as the Windows utilities with caution.

Are there any programs that you use regularly to keep your Operating System running nicely? Comment and let me know.

3d Review

If your computer is running slow, we usually think that it is time to replace or upgrade our PC. However, the reason behind your slow computer may lie in your Windows registry being too crowded with unnecessary entries; if this is the case, then a registry cleaner will solve the problem. As you use your computer, your registry becomes filled with unnecessary entries and this causes your computer to slow down. A registry cleaner will remove unnecessary files in the registry and repair any errors so that your computer will begin performing well again. After using the registry cleaner, you may be surprised at how your computer starts running as if it were new again, and replacing it is no longer necessary.

While there are many registry cleaners available, we will focus on what has been called by users as one of the best in the market, CCleaner. While RegMachine is easier to use and Registry Medic has better technical support, CCleaner has one big advantage over the two of them: it is freeware that can readily be downloaded. But of course, the fact that it is free is not the only reason it is highly ranked – CCleaner also has a good search engines among registry cleaner utilities almost as powerful as the RegCure. The software’s scan engine performs two complete scans – the first is the standard scan done by all cleaners that identifies and eliminated unwanted files in the registry. The second scan, however, filters out certain suspect files from the first scan and examines if problems would arise if they are removed. This confirmatory second scan thus protects the integrity of your Windows O.S. by not accidentally removing useful files.

This dual scan feature is what lifts CCleaner’s rankings above the rest but still is not even close to what RegCure does. RegCure has his utility regularly updated with the latest database of registry errors to ensure that your PC is fully protected. And provides a real technical support.

CCleaner is PIRIFORM’s system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it’s fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware!

Cleans the following:

Internet Explorer
Temporary files, history, cookies, super cookies, Autocomplete form history, index.dat files.

Firefox
Temporary files, history, cookies, super cookies, download history, form history.

Google Chrome
Temporary files, history, cookies, super cookies, download history, form history.

Opera
Temporary files, history, cookies, super cookies, download history.

Safari
Temporary files, history, cookies, super cookies, form history.

Other Supported Browsers
K-Meleon, Rockmelt, Flock, Google Chrome Canary, Chromium, SeaMonkey, Chrome Plus, SRWare Iron, Pale Moon, Phoenix, Netscape Navigator, Avant and Maxthon.

Windows
Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files, Log files, Clipboard, DNS Cache, Error Reporting, Memory Dumps, Jump Lists.

Registry Cleaner
Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, Invalid Shortcuts and more…

Third-party applications
Removes temp files and recent file lists (MRUs) from many apps including Windows Media Player, eMule, Google Toolbar, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and many more…

100% Spyware FREE
This software does NOT contain any Spyware, Adware or Viruses.

NOW THE PROBLEM IS, WE CAN’T BUY THIS SOFTWARE,SO WE HAVE TO USE FREE VERSION OF THIS.BUT FREE VERSION OF CCLEANER DOES’NT PROVIDE FULL FEATURES.
SOO WE NEED TO ACTIVATE FREE VERSION INTO PRO VERSION….ITS SIMPLE…

Follow The Steps:

1. First Download the Latest FREE version Of CCleaner From HERE.

2. Download The KEY And CRACK From HERE.

3. Disable the Internet.

4. Install the Latest CCleaner BUT  Do not start It.

5. Extract The Zip File You Downloaded From This Site.

6. Now In the folder “Key” -> “Professional”, copy the file “branding.dll” to “C: \ Program Files \ CCleaner” .

7. Now Open *MANUAL.txt* File, There You Can See The *Name* and *Licence Key* Of Product.

8. Run CCleaner Program.

9. You will get a popup windows of activation. Fill The Details Which Is Provided In *MANUAL.txt* File.

10.Your Done! After Complete Activation ,You can Enable Your Internet.

NOTE: IF YOU CAN’T UNSERSTAND THE STEPS OF HERE,THEN PLZ READ THE  *MANUAL.txt* FILE WHICH IS PROVIDED IN ZIP FILE YOU DOWNLOADED.

Got Any Problem? Just Comment!!

The first of these products and the one I use most often by far is CCleaner. CCleaner is a one-stop-shop for removal of “junk” on your hard drive: temporary files, unwanted browser cookies, and other such files that aren’t doing anything other than wasting space. CCleaner has a registry cleaner which is great for sorting out the mess that the Windows registry can become after multiple program installs and uninstalls, to say nothing of what can happen after big (multi-file) Windows updates or service pack installs. Additionally, CCleaner has a host of system management capabilities including: installed programs, start-up entries, browser start-up entries, and system restore points. What takes the program from good to great is the fact that basic functions are incredibly simple, requiring the click of a single button.

The next program is my hands-down recommendation for de-fragmentation, though I must add a disclaimer due to technological advancement: if you own a machine that uses a solid-state hard drive (SSD), DO NOT DE-FRAGMENT YOUR DRIVE. EVER. For everyone else, there is Defraggler. With the deployment of Windows Vista, Microsoft decided that the end users didn’t need to see what was going on when their systems were being de-fragmented, nor did they need to know when it was going to be finished, or what had been done during the excessively long time it took the de-fragmentation utility to run. Microsoft decided it had over-played its hand in this area and returned marginal control and discretion access to the end users, but by then I was using Defraggler. Not only does it tell you exactly what is going on while you’re using it, you can use it to get in and de-fragment individual files (a useful ability when dealing with a hard drive that is too full). In more recent versions, Defraggler has included an indicator of how ‘healthy’ your hard drive is based on its S.M.A.R.T. status.

If you’ve never deleted a file that you didn’t mean to delete, odds are that you will at some point. Such a situation can range from annoying (I can retype that…) to dire (I can’t go back to Everest to retake those pictures…) Recuva can save you the time and effort of having to regenerate that file on your own by recovering the data before it’s over-written. In Windows, files aren’t really deleted unless you use a secure-erasure, which writes new data over the old file. Instead, the file’s location is removed from Master File Table (MFT) if you’re using NTFS (which you probably are) or the File Allocation Table (FAT) if you’re using an older system (both the MFT and FAT work like address books for all the files on your hard drive). This results in your system losing the ability to find the file, and so it appears to be gone. Recuva goes through your hard drive and looks for these files, then makes them active again by resetting the address of the file so your system can find it again.

The last tool that Piriform offers is called Speccy, and it’s quite handy to have around. Very few people keep a list of all the internal parts of their computers; generally speaking, enthusiasts are going to have every part memorized, but average users just want it to work. In either case or if you fall somewhere in-between, the need to know about a certain part of your PC may arise – this is where Speccy comes in. The program probes your system and returns the information on its parts in an easy-to-navigate interface. An example of how useful this can be is upgrading your computer – making sure all the parts you’re about to spend money on will work is time well spent. Is your processor or video card up to the challenge of running a new piece of software? Speccy can tell you if your computer is up to par. While it’s not a tool you use on a daily basis, it is one that you’ll likely wish you had if the need arises.

For the performance they offer at the humble price of free, Piriform products are worth your time.

CCleaner is an optimization and cleaning tool for your computer.It is a freeware system optimization, privacy and
cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system allowing
Windows to run faster and free from virus. Nowadays, cookies, temporary files, and various other means of tracking your Web footprint are par for the course.Some of these trackers are useful, while
others can be potentially intrusive. Thankfully, there are myriad
freeware cleaners out there that help keep your system in check.We can clean our pc in just one click.
CCleaner is one of the better ones for its ease of use and powerful
cleaning capabilities.It is Perfect Optimizer and so useful.So Download now ccleaner from youdata.blogspot.com and clean your computer.

Click on button near size of Ccleaner to download.THANKS

Download Ccleaner