Computers Problems & Solutions

1. NTFS Partition. 2. Disable Error Reporting 3. Disable Automatic Updates (only if your XP copy is pirated) 4. Disable "Recent Documents" Viewed 5. Setup XP Firewall 6. Setup screensaver password 7. Setup BIOS password 8. Setup "AfterBios" login password 9. Account Modifications -Rename Admin Account -Disable Guest Account -Disable Help_Assistant Account -Disable Support Account 10. Install a virus scanner. 11. Change Login Screen (default shows usernames) 12. Disable Remote Registry (and other services) 13. Disable/Change Auto-Search settings in IE. 1. NTFS Partition . Be sure to install XP onto an NTFS partition so that you (the admin) can take advantage of file permissions. You want this option so that "you" can decide who reads, writes, executes what files. If you didnt install XP onto an NTFS partition. Convert It. To convert to NTFS follow the instructions below. Open a command prompt and type "convert c: /FT:NTFS /v" This command will con...

How to Updating your computer? What are updates? Microsoft offers important updates, which include security and other critical updates, to help protect your computer against new viruses and other security threats that can spread over the Internet or a network. Other updates contain enhancements, such as upgrades and tools that can help your computer run more smoothly. Update your Computer Follow This Steps: 1 . Click Start, and then click Control Panel. 2 . Depending on which Control Panel view you use, Classic or Category, do one of the following: Click System , and then click the Automatic Updates tab . Click Automatic (recommended) Option and select the day and time you want Windows to install updates. (Your Select Time Every Day 3:00 AM. Your Computer Update Every Day 3:00 AM) Click Apply -> OK .

How to Adjusting your cookie security policy? If you do not want your computer to accept third-party cookies so that marketing companies cannot identify what ads they have shown you, or if you just want to adjust your cookie accep tance settings, then follow these steps: 1 . Open Internet Explorer. 2 . Click the Tools menu bar item and select Internet Options. 3 . Click on Privacy tab. 4 . You will see the up and down slider that allows you to select different levels of cookie security. I recommend that you bypass this and just click the Advanced button instead. 5 . Once you click the Advanced button and see the Advanced Privacy Settings window, check the box that says Override Automatic Cookie Handling. 6 . Your settings for first- and third-party cookies will now be available for adjustment . I recommend that you always accept first-party cookies. You can decide if you want to block or select the prompt to accept third-party cookies. Prompt will pop up a dialog box notifying yo...

How to Stop Annoying Add? Did you ever go to warez/cracks sites only to be bombarded with 3 -4 windows opening up at a time, with porn, spam etc? I discovered a VERY easy way to block about 90-95% of this, without using any pop-up stopping programs. Here's how you do it... 1) open Internet Explorer and Go to TOOLS and then INTERNET OPTIONS. 2) Click the SECURITY tab, move the slider up to HIGH and click APPLY. This applies the highest security settings to IE, which blocks EVERYTHING, including JavaScript, Applets and so on that pop-ups are based upon. The catch is this... Some places like online banks and other web sites need these functions to work properly... So you'll need to re-enable one important thing.. 1) Go to TOOLS and then INTERNET OPTIONS. 2) Click the SECURITY tab, CUSTOM LEVEL, scroll down to SCRIPTING, and under ACTIVE SCRIPTING, select the ENABLE radio button. 3) Click APPLY and you're pretty much done. Note : This does NOT completely remove pop...

WINXPCPS.REG This Registration (.REG) file clears the Page file when you power off the computer. Restart Windows for these changes to take effect! ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR SYSTEM BEFORE MAKING ANY CHANGES! Browse to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Session Manager \ Memory Management and add the DWORD variable "ClearPageFileAtShutdown"=dword:00000001 You can also do this without reg hacking. Go to Control panel -> Administartative tools -> local security policy . then goto local policies -> security options . Then change the option for " Shutdown: Clear Virtual Memory Pagefile "

Temporarily Assign Yourself Administrative Permissions Many programs require you to have Administrative permissions to be able to install them. Here is an easy way to temporarily assign yourself Administrative permissions while you remain logged in as a normal user. Hold down the Shift key as you right-click on the program’s setup file. Click Run as. Type in a username and password that have Administrative permissions. This will also work on applications in the Start menu.

Create a Shortcut to Lock Your Computer Leaving your computer in a hurry but you don’t want to log off? You can double-click a shortcut on your desktop to quickly lock the keyboard and display without using CTRL+ALT+DEL or a screensaver. To create a shortcut on your desktop to lock your computer: Right-click the desktop. New and then click Shortcut . The Create Shortcut Wizard opens. In the text box, type the following: rundll32.exe user32.dll,LockWorkStation Click Next . Enter a name for the shortcut. You can call it " Lock Workstation " or choose any name you like. Click Finish .

When you visit a Web site that requires authentication or attempt to connect to remote com puters, you are given the option to save your password so that the next time you visit the page or attempt to access a remote resource, you do not have to reenter your password. This feature can be a huge convenience, especially if you access a particular Web site or resource frequently. The downside to this convenience is the potential for horrible security and privacy problems. Essentially, you are taking the password off all of the sites and resources for which you saved a password. Anyone who has physical access to your computer can get in using your username and password, even if they do not know your password. 1 . Open Mozila Firefox. 2 . C lick on Tools -> options -> Security -> Seved Passwords -> Show Passwords -> Yes. 3 . The Stored User Names and Passwords window will load, showing you a list of all of the accounts that are saved on your computer. 4 . To remov...

Windows XP Professional boxes running the NTFS file system have the capability to set indi vidual file permissions on both files and folders. File and folder permissions allow you to specify exactly who will be able to read, write, execute, and even list or access a folder. So, file and folder permissions can be a very powerful tool to protect your data from others' eyes. If your file system is FAT32, then you will not be able to set permissions. Fortunately, an easy way exists for you to convert your FAT32 file system to NTFS. Do a search in the Windows Help and Support Center for Convert to NTFS and you will be shown directions on how you can go about converting your drive's file system. Setting the permissions on with a lot of control requires you to disable simple file sharing and security. To do so, follow these steps: 1 . Open up any folder on your computer and expand the Tools menu and select Folder Options. 2 . Click the View tab and scroll to the bottom of the Adv...

Another cool feature of Windows XP Professional's NTFS file system is its ability to encrypt files. Permissions on files and folders work well to protect them when the operating system is running. However, if special software and hardware are used, the raw data can be accessed on the hard drive. With the absence of the operating system running to protect its data, anyone can very easily lift the data off the drive no matter what permissions were set on the file. Such software and hardware is usually expensive and primarily used by data recovery companies and law enforcement agencies. To protect your computer's files and folders from conventional recovery methods, you can encrypt the files. Doing so will scramble and encode the data within the files so that the only data lifted off the hard drive with recovery tools when the operating system is not running will be scrambled garbage. Encrypting files is not just for personal use. If you work for a company that has very se...

Windows XP includes a guest account that is disabled by default. However, at some time, this account may be enabled by an application. If you have Windows XP Professional, I recommend that you disable this account using the old Windows 2000 Local User and Group application. Just in case it becomes enabled again, I recommend that you rename the guest account and also assign it a password. Follow these steps to disable the guest account: 1 . Click the Start button and select Run . 2 . Key in lusrmgr.msc and click OK . 3 . The Local User and Group application will launch. click on user account and Right-click the Guest username and select Set Password . 4 . You will be prompted with a warning screen. Just click Proceed . 5 . Type a complex password in both boxes and click OK . 6 . The password has now been set. Next, rename the account by right-clicking it and selecting Rename . 7 . Type in a new name, such as Disabled, and click Enter to save the changes. The vulnerable guest ac...

The Administrator account is the most important account on the computer. Users should not be using the computer under the Administrator account. That just is not a good security prac tice for anyone that is running Windows XP Professional and has sensitive data on their com puter. I like to disable my Administrator account and rename it, so that anyone trying to get in with that account and at that privilege level will not be able to. To disable the account, perform the following steps: 1 . Click the Start button and select Run . 2 . Key in lusrmgr.msc and click OK . 3 . When you have the Local User and Group application on your screen, Click on User and just right-click the Administrator and select Rename. Give your administrator account a new name, such as admin123. 4 . Next, disable the account by right-clicking on Administrator and selecting Properties . 5 . Check the Account Is Disabled box. 6 . Click Apply and OK to save your changes.

As you know that passwords are the only form of security available now a days, Its really important for one to create a strong passwords, Keeping a weak passwords can make you vulnerable to attacks such as Brute force, Dictionary attacks, Rainbow Tables etc. So in this article I will tell you to create a strong password so you can secure your account from getting hacked What makes a strong password? A password can be considered strong if it contains following things: It needs to contain special characters such as @#$%^& It must be at least 8 characters long. It must not have any common words such as 123, password, your birth date, your login name and any words that can be found in the dictionary,(This will prevent you from getting hacked by a Dictionary Attack) a variation of capitalization and small letters Alternatively there is a website named www.strongpasswordgenerator.com which automatically generates a strong password for you, The website allows you to choose a password leng...

Users can do a lot of things when browsing the Internet to make sure that they do not end up receiving spam. But before anyone can prevent the actual receipt of spam, he or she needs to be aware of why spam is received in the first place. So, why is that annoying spam sent? To start off, the most common reason why users receive spam is because they submit their e-mail address to a Web site or company that starts sending them advertisements or sells their e-mail address. Usually, most Web sites notify you when they intend to sell your e-mail address, if they plan on doing so. This notification is commonly hidden away in the terms of service agreement or privacy policy so much so that 99 percent of Web visitors check the agreement box but never actually take a look at the information. This is by far the number one reason why users receive spam. They sign up for some service that promises them some great free offer, such as free movie tickets, and then they end up receiving tons of...

Windows XP Service Pack 2 has many new features that make Windows XP the most secure Microsoft operating system to date. One of the new features, called execution protection, takes advantage of a new hardware protection found in the latest CPUs of modern computers. One of the most common types of computer break-ins and virus exploits has to do with buffer overflows. These occur when data is being sent to a buffer faster than the CPU can process it. When the buffer becomes filled, the system can become unstable and sometimes can execute code that was placed in the buffer. This is how many types of viruses spread. They take advan tage of an unchecked buffer and can get the CPU to execute their malicious code. One easy solution to solve this problem is to include a feature in the CPU that will disable executing of data in all buffers. By doing this, a virus might be able to get its code into the buffer, but because of limitations of the CPU, the code would never be executed, rende...

If you manage your finances or shop online, then you have probably had experience with using secure Web connections, otherwise known as SSL. These secure connections encrypt the data that is transferred from a Web server to your computer. Once the data gets to your computer, your browser has a special key that decrypts the information and displays it on your computer. During this process, when the file is decrypted, it is saved in the Temporary Internet Files directory so that the browser can display it. This default appears to be harmless because the Web page is only saved on your computer. If no one has remote access to your computer, the data would be safe, right? Not necessarily, because your data is now vulnerable to anyone who has physical local access to your computer. If that person is clever and lucky enough, he or she can sort through your Temporary Internet Files directory to find confidential information, such as your online banking information. All of this informa...

You already know about Auto Complete from the address bar. We have taken care of that pri vacy problem by clearing the file that stored the information, as was shown in the section about removing the address bar suggestions. However, that is not the only situation where Auto Complete attempts to provide assistance. Another situation where Auto Complete tries to give a helping hand is when you are filling in text boxes on Web pages. Auto Complete in this sit uation works exactly the same as Auto Complete with the address bar. As you begin to fill in the text box, several suggestions will appear, based on information that you have already typed in. To get an idea how this works in action, visit a search site such as Google (www.google.com) and start to type in words for which you want to search. When you do so, words similar to the ones you have typed in the box on other visits to the site will appear. This capability allows anyone that uses your computer to be able to see what ot...