Tag Archives: computer
Just What The Heck Is Spyware, Anyway? (Page 1 of 2)
What Is Spyware? It goes by different names. Spyware, adware and malware are some of the more popular monikers. It really doesn’t matter what you call it, though. The bottom line is that you don’t want it on your computer. First of all, let me state for the record that I think the internet is a wonderful thing. I think a majority of people would agree that the World Wide Web has made life for all of us a little more convenient. Whether it’s reserving a hotel room, buying music online, checking the local weather or any number of thousands of useful sites (did I mention email?) we all have gotten a little bit spoiled with having all this information right at our fingertips. That being said though, sometimes we seem to get a little complacent and let our guard down. We forget that the internet has a seedy side full of ways for unscrupulous people to con honest (if not a little niaeve) people out of their money (or worse!). In this article, I’ll cover a few of the pitfalls that many people tend to have trouble with.
Adware: This type of malware is designed to do one thing and one thing only. Get you to buy something. Once this type of software has infected your computer, you will start getting a lot of pop-up ads. Sometimes these ads are the pop-under type. Pop-under’s get by any pop-up blockers by generating an ad without stealing the focus from the web page that your viewing. You usually won’t even know it’s there until you close your browser and see the ad (or ads) displayed on your desktop. Generally, this type of malware is little more than an annoyance, but sometimes multiple instances can cause major slowdowns in your PC or even cause system crashes. Adware is usually bundled with some other “free” software such as free desktop wallpaper, icons or screensavers. It may or may not be disclosed in the end-user license agreement (EULA) of the free software, but even when it is, most people never read those agreements anyway. If you want to protect your computer from this type of malware, you should ALWAYS be suspicious of free software.
Spyware: Spyware does exactly what it’s name implies. It spies on you. Well, actually it spies on your web surfing and purchasing habits. The information that is collected is usually then sold to unscrupulous vendors who target you with spam email. Again, this type of marketing is usually just an annoyance, but anytime your privacy is compromised (especially by some sleazy dirtbag who will do anything to make a buck) there is cause for concern.
Trojan Horses: Sometimes simply known as “Trojans”, these, in my humble opinion, are the worst offenders. If you know the story of the Trojan War, then the name given to these vicious baddies will make perfect sense to you. Here’s the way it works: You are happily surfing along the internet, minding your own business, when all of the sudden a banner pops up and cheerfully anounces that you have won a FREE IPHONE (or a free laptop computer, or a free vacation, etc.). All you have to do to claim this generous prize, it seems, is to “CLICK HERE!”. Trust me on this one, do not ever, EVER, “CLICK HERE!”. BIG MISTAKE! What you’re doing with that click, is allowing malware to be downloaded to your computer that will make your life miserable and, as an added bonus, you’ll never get your free prize.
PC Slow Fix Simple Ways to Fix Slow Computer
For all computer users, they may find a fact: they are very satisfied with their computer running speed when they take the new computer or laptop home. While, they will be disappointed at that their computers become slower and slower day after day. What is the PC slow fix? Ask for help on the Internet or from your IT friends, they may tell you that you need to kill viruses or free up your hard drive space by defragmentation. After done above, you may find your problem has not been fixed.
After several trials, we get 5 practical ways to make the computer back to speed.
1. Check for viruses
To check for viruses is the most common way computer users may choose to speed up their computers. But here we take it as a bad idea. For the antivirus software itself is almost guaranteed to be one of the most important reasons to make your computer slower than ever before.
2. Open Windows Update
To open your Windows Update and keep your Microsoft programs latest is another way to improve your slow PC. But it is very annoying to allow your Windows Update automatically which will insist on installing the updates in the middle of a deadline or an important cha session, no matter what you are doing then. I prefer to make the Windows wait until I choose to update by manual.
3. Remove Web page history
IE usually stores a historical archive of websites you have visited. If it is too big, it will surly slow your browser down. To clear your web history weekly will be sure to fix your slow PC problem.
4. Turn off add-ons
Too many items installed as add-ons in Brower are another key factor to slow your IE browsing. You need to choose to disable these add-ons to make your computer run faster. Follow steps below to turn off the add-ons: select Tools option in IE banner, and turn to Manage Add-ons.
5. Free up hard disk space
The running time of a hard disk will also slow down your computer. Thus, another good and simple method to fix PC slow problem is to free hard drive space by deleting junk files, removing useless and unneeded folders or items, uninstalling unwanted installed programs, clearing Internet cache files and emptying the Recycling Bin, etc. by some disk cleanup software such as Acebyte Utilities.
Auslogics Duplicate File Finder: Delete Duplicate Files for Free
There comes a time when your hard drive becomes so full that there is hardly any space left – you can’t install new software and you even can’t defrag because there is not enough free space. When this happens, a lot of people panic and start uninstalling software and deleting files. As a result they end up deleting something they really need. Of course, you could always move your files to an external hard drive or even use Cloud storage, but that’s not always convenient. Luckily, there is a better way to free up disk space without having to move or delete any useful files or software – all you need to do is delete duplicate files with Auslogics Duplicate File Finder. With the help of this software you can free up a lot of valuable disk space without any hassle.
If you are an active computer user, then most likely you create a lot of files. You save documents in MS Word and Excel, download songs, videos, photos, and software. After all, that’s what using your computer is all about. However, this leads to a low disk space problem, especially if you accumulate duplicate files. These files get created in a few different ways. Sometimes we forget that we’ve downloaded something off the Internet, download it again, and save it to a different folder. So you end up with two copies of the same file. Other times you edit a document and save a second version without deleting the first one. Believe it or not, duplicate files can take up gigabytes of space and also make you less productive because you need to do more work when searching for the right versions.
There is another reason for you to delete duplicate files. When you accumulate too many duplicate files, your computer starts slowing down. That’s because the more files there are, the longer your hard drive needs to find the files you want to open. On top of that, your antivirus has to do more work if it has to scan duplicate files, and disk defrag takes a lot longer. Deleting duplicate files with the free Auslogics Duplicate File Finder will not only free up disk space, but also improve computer performance.
Auslogics Duplicate File Finder will quickly scan your computer for duplicate files and present you with a list. The great thing about this program is that it’s free and can match files by a number of parameters, including by content. This way you can be sure that only true duplicates are deleted. There is also a handy preview feature that allows you to preview the duplicates you are about to delete.
Remember to search for duplicate files every once in a while and you’ll find that you have more free disk space than you thought.