Make Your Computer Faster - Prefetch Folder

I've read some articles on Prefecth folder on Windows XP. Some of the articles said that emptying the folder will make your computer to become faster while some said it does not have any effect on increasing your computer performance.

From Wikipedia:

"The Prefetcher is a component of versions of Microsoft Windows starting with Windows XP. It is a component of the Memory manager that speeds up the Windows boot process, and shortens the amount of time it takes to start up programs. In Windows Vista, SuperFetch and ReadyBoost [1] extend upon the prefetcher and attempt to accelerate application and boot launch times respectively by monitoring and adapting to usage patterns over periods of time and loading the majority of the files and data needed by them into memory so that they can be accessed very quickly when needed."

PC Answers in their recent magazine (PCA 177) said emptying the Prefetch folder can help to reduce the boot time. However, if you read on Wikipedia, emptying the Prefecth folder does not makes your computer to boot faster.

In my opinion, it's best for us to test it on our computer so we can see if emptying the Prefetch folder will increase your computer performance or not. In my case, it does not reduce my boot time. So, emptying the Prefetch folder does not work for me. Try it yourself, maybe it'll work on your system.

P.S - If you would like to learn more on increasing computer performance, I strongly recommend you to buy the PC Secret Formula here http://ebiztools4u.com/recommends/pcsecretformula and if you buy it from this link, I will give you the full package of PC Safety 101 for free.

Another Solution To The Keyloggers Problem

Remember my post about RoboForm? Now this is another password manager and it's completely free and it's an open source software. In order to fight keyloggers and to prevent it from stealing your password, it's better for you to use a password manager. So you will only need to remember one password.

The software that I'm talking about is KeePass Password Safe. You can download it at http://keepass.info/ . KeePass is also one of the portable software. It means that you can bring it in your USB Flash Drive anywhere and you don't have to worry about remembering your passwords.

This is another alternatives other than RoboForm and you can choose which software that you would like to choose. If you want to download RoboForm, download it here - http://ebiztools4u.com/recommends/RoboForm - and if you want to download the KeePass, download it at its official website http://keepass.info/download.html

P.S - Download my free report on spyware here - http://www.chuangcomputer.com/getmyfile.php?file=securespyware.zip

PC Safety 101 - The Differences Between a Trojan Horse, a Virus and a Spyware

Many of us are confuse with these terms and often we think that all of it are the same. They might have some similarities but actually there are not the same. Most people will think that they are and this is not a completely wrong statement.

A trojan horse was a wooden horse that was given by the Greeks to the Trojans as a gift while in fact, there were Greek soldiers hiding inside the wooden horse. When the night falls, they came out and opened the city gate to let the Greek warriors attacked the city.

A computer virus works in similar fashion. It will only be executed if the user executes it and it does not need a host for it to spread. When it has been executed by the computer user, it will spread itself on the system like a virus.

Usually it will disguise itself as a legit program to make you click on it or it will disguise itself as a folder so you will think that it's a folder. A trojan horse is harmless if it's not being executed.

Spyware on the other hands is not like a trojan horse. It will send your browsing habit and sensitive information to the hackers and it does not require the user to execute it. When it infects your system, you will immediately see the effects such as your computer performance will become slow, your browser homepage will change and much more.

A virus is different from spyware and trojan horses. When it infects a person's computer, it will immediately replicate itself and will use the system memory until the system crashes. It also needs a host to spread from a computer to another computer and it can infect your system even if you don't execute it.

So, as you can see, they have some similarities but they are not the same. In order to protect yourself from these threats, you need to have a reliable anti virus and anti-spyware and remember not to open any attachments from unknown emails.

This article was written by Azwan Asmat and he is the author of Chuang Computer Tips Blog. Want to know the secret of securing your PC from dangerous spyware, adware, and malware programs that can ruin your PC, your finances, and your sanity?!

Visit http://www.chuangcomputer.com/pcsafety/ for more info.

*Featured on EzineArticles.com

How You Can Manage Your Password For Free

If you're a member of numerous membership sites, you must have a lot of passwords and usernames and it must be hard to remember all of it. I have two tips on how you can manage your password so you don't have to remember it.

Now, create a new text document using Notepad and list all your usernames and passwords in that text document. After you've finished listing all your passwords, now save it and you can name it whatever name you choose.

Then, you can use two methods, the first one is by changing the Notepad extension. Change or delete its extension so no one can open it. If you want to secure the Notepad file completely, use WinRar to password protect it and just remember the archive password. So, no one can open it except you.

Second, you can skip all the hassle above and download RoboForm. RoboForm is a password management tools and it can protect you password more securely than the above method. If you want to download RoboForm, you can download it here (Right Click and choose Save Target As).

P.S - Download my free report "How To Secure Your Computer From Spyware" here http://www.chuangcomputer.com/getmyfile.php?file=securespyware.zip at no charge!

Driver Error on Startup Make Startup Time Longer

If you have a long startup time, try checking the Event Viewer. There are cases about driver error on startup that makes the startup time to become longer than usual.

You can view the Event Viewer on Control Panel->Administrator Tools-> Event Viewer and if you found some faulty driver, try uninstalling the driver that you think might be the cause for the long startup time.

Another solution is you can use the System Restore Point to go back where your startup time is normal and if you've done everything but the result is still the same, then your solution might be to reinstall the OS.

However, reformatting your hard disk and reinstalling a new OS is the last solution and if it's possible, try to solve your problem without reformatting your hard disk.

Can't Remove Spyware Threats?

So, you've installed Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware 2007 in your system and there are some threats that cannot be remove by these software. How can you remove the threats?

There are three solutions that I know. First of all, use HijackThis to remove any malicious registry entries. However, please remember that removing wrong entries will affect your system.

The second solution is by installing SUPERAntiSpyware. It's an anti-spyware software and it's more effective in removing stubborn threats. However it only has a small spyware database.

Another software is SmitFraudFix. This software has helped me countless time in removing stubborn threats and I like it very much. Remember to install McAfee Site Advisor to help you determine which website is malicious in order to protect your system from spyware threat.

The New Version of Comodo Firewall Pro

I just installed Comodo Firewall Pro today and I love it. The new version have several features such as The Clean PC Mode, Smart Alert, Host Intrusion Prevention System and many more.

I also love the new Graphic User Interface. The installing wizard will guide to install the firewall without hassle. If you haven't upgrade your firewall yet, go to http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/ now.

One more, if you want to test your firewall, you can use a software called LeakTest.

Weird Spam Emails Consist of Random Numbers and Letters as the Email Subject

Several days ago, I received a weird spam email. The email subject is so weird because the subject consists of random letters and numbers arrangement. Because it was so suspicious, I immediately deleted it.

However, the next day when I woke up, I received the same email in my inbox and there are 10 more emails of the same format except it all came from a different domain names and email address. I deleted all of it again.

But this does stop the spammer from sending more spam. The same type of email came to my inbox on the next day and it keeps coming until today. It's already been five days now and even though I already created a numerous email rules on PopTray, but PopTray cannot detect it as spam because the email subjects is contstantly changing but still in the same random numbers and letters format.

The subject is something like '?xbFhkd=?kdjuh' but longer. I'm not clear about this threat yet. But, it best for us to be careful to prevent something bad from happening. So, I'm posting this here to warn you about this email.

If you received this type of email in your inbox, delete it immediately. I'm going to try a different approach in dealing with this type of spam and if it works, I'll tell you.

Ten Best Free Programs

The November edition of PC Answers list ten of the best free programs. So, here I will give you the list and my opinion about it.

1. OpenOffice.org - I agree that this is one of the best free programs out there. Because you can do almost everything that Microsoft Office can do and you can convert your document to PDF format for free.

2. GIMP and Paint.net - I only tried GIMP before and it's so good. It works just like Photoshop. However, it require some practice before you can create a good graphic with it. You can also create a 3D graphic using GIMP. So, I think it's also one of the best free programs. I never tried Paint.net. Therefore, I can't give any opinion about this software.

3. Media Monkey - I never tried this software. If you have tried it, I would like to hear your opinion.

4. Google Desktop - I don't know why PC Answers list this software as one of the best free programs. Because in my opinion, this software only makes your computer become slower and I hate it. But, I think there must be a reason why it's one of the best free programs.

5. Audacity - I agree that this is one of the best software. I tried this software before and it's so simple to use and you can edit your MP3 without hassle.

6. LogMeIn Hamachi - This software is for accessing your computer remotely. I never tried this software before and I cannot say much about it.

7. HijackThis - This is one of my favorite software and I have it in my laptop. The size is so small yet so powerful. You can remove any malicious registry entries or you can ask experts to tell you which entry should you remove. This software is very good in removing spyware, adware, trojan horse and other online threats. It's a must-have software.

8. Yamipod - I don't have an iPod, so this software is no good to me.

9. VLC - This software can play almost any video file format so you don't have to install more than one video player in your system. I have this software on my laptop too and it has lots of useful features.

10. SyncBack - This back-up tool is a must-have for anyone that always back-up their files. It has lots of options that can automate a back-up task. Try it for yourself.

Event Viewer in Windows XP

A friend of mine ask me why his computer shut down process is taking forever. So, I checked his laptop and I cannot figure out what the problem is. I ran spyware and adware removal software, run CCleaner, check the msconfing, run registry cleaning, and everything that I can think of but with no result.

However, when I checked the Event Viewer on his laptop, it turns out that a programs is still accessing the system registry when he's shutting down his laptop. So, Windows has to saved the registry because it's still in use. That's why it's taking forever for his laptop to shut down.

I don't know what is the solution to this problem. But, I think it might be because there are too many programs installed in his laptop and I already advised him to reduce the programs in his laptop so the shutdown time will be reduced.

In case this happens to you, check the Event Viewer in Control Panel->Administrator Tools-> Event Viewer, so you will know what is happening during shut down or during bootup process.

Encrypt Your Files With TrueCrypt

I don't know if you know this software. But TrueCrypt can help to encrypt all your files so you don't have to worry if someone will open your files. Best of all, it's an open-source and free software.

According to the website, TrueCrypt can help to encrypt files in USB Flash Disk or entire hard disk partition. If you're sharing a computer and want to keep other people from opening your files, try TrueCrypt.

In my opinion, this software is useful for those who worry about their files will be open by someone who souldn't. For example, if you're a parent and you have lots of porn videos in your hard disk, you can encrypt it to prevent your child from seeing the files.

Another way how you can encrypt a file is by using WinRAR.

Get A New HP Laptop With A Discounted Price!

The holiday season is here. Thanksgiving and Christmas is just around the corner. Do you have any trouble finding the right gift for your love ones? How would you like a new HP laptop or a new Dell computer as a gift? Is it too expensive? I know a place where can you find a good Dell coupons and HP coupons.

Now, you can find it all at CouponChief.com. CouponChief.com is a website where you can get tons of coupons and buy gifts at a discounted price.

online shopping

I went to the website to look at the deals and I think you can save lots of money by visiting it. You can search for almost any coupons that you want. For example, you can buy HP Pavillion dv6500z Notebook PC at $400 off using a coupon on that website or how about $100 off on VIZIO 42” GV42LF LCD TV?

In my opinion, it’s a good website where you can find coupons for anything that you want to buy. I just saw a McAfee coupon on that website and you can save $15 on McAfee AntiSpyware by using that coupon.

Other than that, there are many other stuff that you can buy at a discounted price there. Check it out.

How You Can Create An Email Virus Alert System For Free

I just read an article about email viruses and it explains how you can create an email virus alert system for free. It's quite simple actually.

As most of you know, there are viruses that will use your email client to send messages to all your contacts in your contact list. The emails that it will send will contain virus in the attachment or a link where it will point to a virus download.

However, there is a way how you can create an alert system for free. First of all, what you need to do is you need to create a new contact on your contact list. Add the contact name as '!00' and the email address will be 'Virus Alert'.

Therefore, every time the virus tries to send an email to your contact list, it will send it to the first name in the contact list and that will be the '!00'. The email will bounce back because the email address is invalid and you will be notified when that happens.

So, this way, you have created a system where it will notify you if there is a virus that is trying to use your email.

RegSeeker - A Registry Cleaning Software

In my computer, I have two registry cleaning software and one registry defrag software. One of it is Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and the other software is RegSeeker. First, I will run Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and then I will run RegSeeker.

Usually, RegSeeker can clean registry entries that cannot be detected by Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and after I ran both software, I will run the Free Registry Defrag to defrag my registry.

RegSeeker also has a lot of features and it can also tweak your system, doing backups, searching registry entries, and so much more. You can download it for free here http://www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm

As for now, I still don't see any side-effects by having more than one registry cleaner and registry defrag. However, if you're not sure about deleting registry entries, use the Free Registry Defrag software.

My computer has become a lot faster after using these software. But, please remember that deleting registry entries will affect your system and some programs might not be able to work perfectly if you deleted the wrong entries.

P.S - If you have any problems because you use registry cleaner or registry defrag software, share it with me by posting it on the comment section.

Cannot Delete Files: It Is Being Used by Another Person or Program

I know I posted about this topic before. However, in this post, the solution is different than before. In my previous post about Cannot Delete Files error message, I said that I successfully deleted the file by killing the explorer.exe process and use the task manager browser to delete it.

However, in this post, there is a simpler solution. Just use the software that I'm going to tell you and you can delete the files safely and without hassle. If you're an experienced computer user, my method on deleting the files by killing the explorer.exe process might be a little bit technical for a computer newbie.

If you're a computer newbie or my method does not work for you, you can try the Unlocker. It's a freeware software created by Cedrick Collomb to solve this kind of problem. You can delete the files in 3 simple steps.

If you would like to know more about it and if you want to download it, go here http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Try it and if you like or do not like it, share it with me by posting in the comment section of this post.

Computer Speed Up - Youtube and The Temporary Files

I know some of you just cannot live without Youtube because there are lot of videos there. I love to watch videos on Youtube too. However, for those who don't know, watching Youtube or other video sharing websites will make the size of your temporary files to become larger.

It's because the video that you're watching on Youtube will be downloaded first into your temporary files folder and if you're a frequent user of Youtube, you will have a lots of temporary files. Therefore, your computer will become slower.

In order to make your computer to become faster, there are two ways and I'm sure some of you already know what I'm talking about. But, not all people know about computer. So, let me tell you how you can delete the temproray files. First of all, if you're using Windows XP, you can use the disk cleanup wizard.

Just open My Computer->Right click on your desired drive and click disk cleanup. A list of file components will come up and you can safely delete all of the files there. By doing this, your computer will become a lot faster.

One of another method is to use CCleaner. CCleaner will clean all your temporary files and can make your computer to become faster.

However, if you would like to know more on how you can increase your computer speed, visit http://www.ebiztools4u.com/recommends/pcsecretformula

Another Reason Why Your Computer Become Slow

A friend of mine ask me why his dekstop computer has become so slow even though it has 768MB of RAM. He said the computer speed is just like a 256 MB RAM computer. So, I went to his house and did everything that I know to increase his computer speed.


But, when I open the CCleaner to clean the temporary files, I saw something that give me a hint why his computer has become slow. The picture that I'm about to show you is not from his computer.


I just take the screenshot to show you what is the hint.

As you can see, the CCleaner will show you the computer RAM and in my friend case, I saw that his computer RAM is only 256MB in CCleaner. So, the problem are either in the RAM itself or the RAM slot where the 512MB is located. That's why his computer has become slow.

Next time, when your computer is slow, check the RAM and the RAM slots. There is a software that will check your RAM but I forgot what is the software. I will post it next time when I remember it.

Message Subjects That You Should Be Aware Of

If you received an email with these message subjects, please be aware and look if the link inside that message is in IP address format. If it is, never click on the link and never download anything from the website that come up.

These are the message subjects:
------------------------------------------------
If your in your office, keep the speakers low, lol
Happy Halloween
Dancing Bones
Halloween Fun
Watch him dance
This will make you laugh
You'll laugh your but off
Man this is funny
I am sending this to everyone
Have a Happy Halloween everyone
Party on this Halloween
Nothing is funnier this Halloween
Make him dance
Dancing skeleton
The most amazing dancing skeleton
For people with a sense of humor only
If your in your office, keep the speakers low, lol
To much fun I played with this for hours
Show this to the kids
Send this to your friends
Man this rocks
-------------------------------------------

* I found this message subjects list on PandaLabs Blog. So, be careful.

Beware of Fake Anti-Spyware Offers

I just read from eWeek Security about fake anti-spyware offer that scams thousands of people. The pop-up ad will offer to sell you rogue anti-spyware with amount ranging from $19.95 to $79.95 and if you accept the offer and use your credit card, you're in for trouble.

The software that you will download is a rogue anti-spyware that will act as a rootkit and keylogger. It will record your personal and sensitive information such as online banking username and password.

They will also steal the credit card number that you've used to buy the software. The offer uses advertising service such as Google and Yahoo and it will be hard for website owners to determine which ad is good or bad. Therefore, it's up to you to determine which security warning is genuine.

My advice, you should only buy from established companies such as McAfee and Norton. Never buy from companies that you've never heard of. This will save you from a lot of trouble.

Search Your File Faster With Copernic Desktop Search

Copernic Desktop Search is one of the software that I use in my computer system. It's a software that will index all your files so you can search it faster. It's almost like a search engine and most of all, it's free to install and use.

It will sort your search results according to the results categories. You can find more information here http://www.copernic.com/

Increase Your Computer Performance

This is one tip on how you can increase your computer performance in Windows XP. You can choose either to improve your performance or appearance. In order to do this, you need to go to Control Panel.

From Control Panel, go to System-> Advanced-> Performance->Settings -> Adjust for best performance. This will make your Windows XP looks like Windows 98 because the taskbar and the color of all the windows will turn to grey.

Sometimes, changing to this setting can also solve the Sysfader problem. So, if you're having Sysfader problem or want to improve your computer speed, this tip will help.

Spyware Cleaner - How To Delete Spyware From Your System

This is one of my articles from Ezinearticles.com website and it was rated 3 stars by the readers.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Spyware Cleaner - How To Delete Spyware From Your System
by Azwan Asmat

Spyware is software that will send information about your browsing habit to the hackers. They will use it for themselves or they will sell it to the advertisers. It can also cause a lot of problems to your PC, but there are ways to remove it.

If you're infected by spyware, it can change your homepage and the Internet connection will become very slow. Other than that, it will also make your startup time longer and your system will become very slow when loading a program.

If you have these problems, then it is possible that your computer is infected by spyware and in order to get rid of it, you need software that can remove it from your system.

The software that you need are Spybot Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware 2007. Both are very good products because both can detect most threats and remove it from your system. After installing the software, make sure you update both of it so you can get the latest threats definition. After that, scan your system and remove every threat that they found.

In order to protect yourself from visiting malicious websites, download and install McAfee Site Advisor. It will warn you if you're visiting suspicious websites when you're online. After that, you need to install Spyware Terminator because it has a real-time protection.

Real-time protection is essential because it can detect threats coming to your system right away. Other than these software, having a good antivirus can also help you to protect your computer.

In conclusion, you need Spybot Search and Destroy, Ad-Aware 2007, Spyware Terminator and McAfee Site Advisor to protect you from this type of threat.

Azwan Asmat is the author of Chuang Computer Tips - http://chuangcomputer.blogspot.com/ - Want to know the secret of securing your PC from dangerous spyware, adware, and malware programs that can ruin your PC, your finances, and your sanity! Visit http://www.chuangcomputer.com/pcsafety/ for more info.

Cannot delete file: It is being used by another person or program.

"Cannot delete file: It is being used by another person or program"

Yesterday this message came when I was trying to delete a video file. What should you do if you received this message?

1. Reboot your computer in safe mode and try deleting the file again.
2. Close any program that might use the file
3. Try restarting the computer
4. Open your task manager and stop any programs that might use the file.

In my case, even after I did all the steps above, I still cannot delete the file. So, here's what I did to delete the file.

First, I open the task manager and stop the explorer.exe process with the task manager still open. Then, I click 'new task' and go to the location of the file that I want to delete.

Then, I delete the file from there and it works!

It looks like there is a program attached to explorer.exe that's using the file or explorer.exe itself was using the file. That's just my theory because I don't really know what the hell has happened.

If you guys know, I'd be glad if you share it with me.

This Is Not My Article!

Ok..I found my old article '2 Must-Have Software For Parents' was rewritten by other people. It's not actually rewritten, but it's more like they changed several words. One of this rewritten article is here http://cheap-vacationsxlyrxi.blogspot.com/2007/11/2-must-have-softwares-for-parents.html

The original article are here. I wrote two versions of this article. One for Goarticles.com and one for Ezinearticles.com.

1. Goarticles - http://phorcys.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=343814
2. Ezinearticles - http://ezinearticles.com/?2-Must-Have-Softwares-For-Parents&id=380300

These two articles are the original and please note that I DO NOT RECOMMEND ASIAN ADULT CHAT. So, next time you stumble upon this article, please remember that the originals are from the above sites.

PayPerPost - Where Advertisers Meet The Bloggers

I submitted my blog on PayPerPost almost one month ago and it was approved today. So,there will be sponsored posts on this blog. I've heard about PayPerPost on Warriorforum.com and decided to give it a try. The money that I will make from the sponsored posts will be used for this blog maintainence.

I will use it for blog makeover, to provide better posts quality for my readers and such. But, in order to provide quality contents to you and to ensure this blog quality, sponsored posts will only appear on this blog once a week and a maximum of 6 sponsored posts a month.

payperpost

The PayPerPost is a place where advertisers meet the bloggers and they (advertisers) will post opportunities for the bloggers. In my opinion, this PayPerPost service will provide money that the bloggers needed for their blog maintainence. It's a win-win situation. You (the readers) will get better contents, we (bloggers) can make money and use it for blog makeover and the advertisers will get their shares too.

But it's not easy for a blog to get approved. Your blog must be 90 days old and most of the blog posts must be original. The blog must not be created for the purpose of sponsored posts. So, you can say it's actually quite hard to get approved.

Are you a blogger? If you are, then you can try PayPerPost too. But, make sure your blog meet the requirements needed and comply with their term of service.

Stripes on Screen - Acer Aspire 5052

Last 2 months, a friend of mine asked me about a problem that her laptop encountered. The screen sometimes went into blue and white stripes and sometimes it will become all white. These are the picture that I took when the problem occured.

This white screen occured on August. At first, I thought this problem can be solved after I run the scandisk. But, the problem came again after two days.

So, scandisk is not the answer. I spent almost whole day trying to figure out what the problem is and I suspect it's the display driver problem. But, because the stripes constantly came out, I cannot change any configuration or do anything and we decided to send it to the Acer technician.

After we sent it, surely enough, the technician said the problem lies on the display driver. I don't know what the technician did, but I think he rollback the display driver or updated it.

The problem ceased and my friend never encounter the problem again. So, if you have similar problem, I think it's your display driver.

Assessment For Your System - How To Assess Your Own System

Today I will tell you how you can assess your own system. This assessment is not from me. It's from Chuck Easttom from his book "Computer Security Fundamentals". I just put it here to share this knowledge with you guys.

All credits should go to him.

First of all you need to determine on a scale 1(lowest)-10(highest) how high is your system profile. If you're a little company, you might get a 3 and if you're a popular company, you might get a 9.

Then, on a scale 1-10 (highest), determine what is the value of information that your computer/company hold. If it's a sensitive information, you might get a 7. Then, add those two numbers together to get a number between 2 -20.

The next step is to rate your security system from 1-10(highest). If you have a high security system, rate it as 8 and if your system don't have any protection or little protection, you might get a 1 or 2.

Subtract the second number from the first number, you will get a value between -8 to 18. The lower your number is, the better your security is.

To summarize it,

Profile/Value 1-10 (highest)
Information 1-10 (highest)
--------------------------
Total 2-20 ------>(a)
----------------------

Security 1-10
---------------
Total 1-10 ---------->(b)
---------------

Your system security assessment,

(a) minus (b) = Your security assessment

This assessment is created for company security. But for home users, just use the same method to see how likely your system will be attack by the hackers.

Disclaimer: I didn't create this system assessment. It's created by Chuck Easttom

What Happen If You Buy From A Spammer?

I found this interesting articles from CA Security Advisor Research Blog. The operation is called Operation GreenDot, Following the SPAM. Mark Wade, the writer of that blog (If I'm not mistaken) tried to follow a spam email and actually buy something from them.

The spam email brought him to a website selling fake watches and earrings. After making sure that everything is secure for him to the transaction online, he used a newly bought debit card to buy the earrings.

He checked the spam email header, the website IP address and such to know where has the money went. The virtual tour has brought him to Korea, China, and back to U.S. In the end, he still didn't get the earrings that he has paid.

In conclusion, never buy anything from spam emails. If you want to read the full blog post, go here
http://community.ca.com/blogs/securityadvisor/archive/2007/10/23/operation-greendot-following-the-spam.aspx

It's an interesting article and I love it.

How To Secure Your Computer From Spyware

For all the readers that haven't downloaded my report "How To Secure Your Computer From Spyware", this is the chance for you to do so.

http://www.chuangcomputer.com/getmyfile.php?file=securespyware.zip

Click the link above to download. Do you have any suggestions regarding this report? Feel free to email me.

Critical Windows Update Email?

Guess what? I received an email today asking me to download critical Windows updates from its attachment. This email makes me think, if this email come from Microsoft and it contains updates for Windows, why not install it using Windows Update?

Second, have you ever received an email from Microsoft? I don't know about you, but I never ever received any email from Microsoft asking me to update Windows from email attachments.

Here's the email body :

"Dear, customer

New bug in Windows Kernel was found. It makes your computer vulnerable.
We strongly recommend you to install this Critical Update (in attacment).

Best Regards,
Microsoft Window Update.

of Wilmette, Ill. stress for children in the shuffle, the academy's report. compared with often is sacrificed Social pressures compared with of me that become creative, often is sacrificed Ginsburg, the report's lead author and son in particular has has a "

This email is very unprofessional. Will Microsoft address me as "customer"? I don't think so. They have all the information they need to address me as my name or stating what OS that I use.

This email doesn't even state the update is for what OS. Windows ME? Vista? XP Home? or XP Professional? It lacks information. PLUS, the email didn't came from Microsoft.com and it came from another domain name.

Look at the last messages, what it has to do with Windows Update?

I sent the email to SpamCop.net and check its IP location using http://ip-adress.com/ipaddresstolocation/ and found out that it's from Buxton in UK. Does Microsoft has an office there?

Conclusion? This is another Trojan Horse attack and I don't have to download the attachment to find out. I just deleted the email. If this email truly came from Microsoft, they will update the critical updates from Windows Update.

Remember, if you received this type of email, ignore it and NEVER download the attachment.

Security Suite or Individual Application?

Internet security suite such as Norton 360 provides everything that you need to be safe when using the Internet. However, even though it provides total protection, it cannot eliminate some threats.

It can detects the threats but cannot eliminate some of it. But, it's different if you use individual application as your protection. You can pick the best firewall, the best antivirus, or the best anti-spyware and put it together to use in your system.

But, most people don't like the hassle to install each application and configure it. They like it better if the system does it all. Using individual application can cause problems if the software cannot work with each other.

Internet security suite solved this problem because the applications were made to work with each other and you will have less problem with it.

In my opinion, if you are not an advanced computer user and have the money, then go with security suite for total protection. But if you're an advanced user and like to pick the best software in the market, use individual application for your computer security.