Antivirus help - Tips to prevent from computer viruses

Welcome to the antivirus help report.

We have put together this comprehensive antivirus report in order to help millions of computer users around the world get a better understanding of computer viruses and basic personal computer safety.

Viruses and similar computer threats such as Trojan horses and internet worms are constantly becoming more serious threats to the safety of our computers and computer networks.

As we all become more dependant on computers for the running of our daily lives, the threats take on a much more personal significance. As recently as only 5 years ago, a virus might only attack a local computer (like the one you are using to read this report), or perhaps a small network (such as a university or small business). Rarely did they have far reaching global economic impacts.

Today viruses, and more seriously mass mailing internet worms are having devastating impacts on businesses both large and small. Most often this is managed by creating viruses, Trojan horses, or internet worms that take over control of certain parts of unprotected private computers.

Most recently we have seen the impact of attacks such as MyDoom, Sasser, and SoBig, all of which infected unsuspecting personal computers in people's homes and small businesses, and then launched internet attacks on specific corporations such as Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, eBay and others.

The goal of this report is to provide you with very easy to understand explanations of:

1) how viruses, Trojan horses, and internet worms work2) how you can recognise when one reaches your machine3) what you can do to protect your computer or computer network from being infected, and4) what you need to do to stop your machine from being used as a host to spread viruses, Trojan horses, or internet worms to other machines.

This antivirus help report is designed for people who have only basic knowledge and understanding of viruses, Trojan Horses, and Internet Worms. It is not going to make you an expert on viruses and such, but it will give you the knowledge and skills that you need to protect your home computer, or computer network in a small business.

The antivirus help guide is designed to be read from start to finish, but there is no reason that you can't jump between chapters if there is something that you are keen on reading.

We have tried very hard to make it as non-technical as possible but still provide accurate and valuable information that you can use in your fight against computer viruses and related attacks.

Now a Comic Book on Steve Jobs

The Zen of Steve Jobs is a new comic book that explores the life of Steve Jobs at the time when he was fired from Apple and particularly his friendship with Kobun Chino, the Buddhist monk from Japan who was Jobs’ spiritual guru as well.

Unlike Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs that is based on actual interviews with Jobs, this 80-page comic book is a mix of both fact and fiction. The illustrations were done by JESS3 and some of the book pages are available for reading on their blog.

How to recover corrupted Excel workbook

There are 3 ways to recover a corrupted Excel file.

Option 1. Recover or repair the file manually with Excel

The steps for manually recovering a workbook are quite simple.

1. Select Open from the File menu. In Excel 2007, click the Office button and select Open.

2. Using the Look In control, locate and specify the corrupted workbook. 3. From the Open button?s dropdown list, choose ?Open and Repair?.

4. If this is your first attempt to manually recover the workbook, click Repair in the dialogue box that appears.

Usually Excel will be able to recover the entire file, but it doesn?t always work. If you?ve tried this process and you can?t recover the entire file, you can still at least recover your data. To do so, click Extract Data in step 4.

Option 2. Use the last saved version

If the file becomes corrupted while you?re working in the workbook, DON?T save the file. Instead, revert to the last saved version of the file. Doing so without saving first should get rid of whatever was corrupting the file. Be forewarned ? you could possibly lose some data, but if you?ve been regularly saving your work (as you should be!) this is a lot better than losing the entire file.

To revert to the last saved version:

1. Choose Open from the File menu. In Excel 2007, click the Office button and select Open.

2. Using the Look In control, locate and specify the corrupted workbook.

3. Click Open.

Option 3. Try opening the file in another program

If Excel can?t open the corrupted workbook, there are several other programs you can use to try to open it. Microsoft Tools is one option:

1. From the Windows XP Start menu, choose All Programs. 2. Select Microsoft Office, then Microsoft Office Tools and Microsoft Office Application Recovery. 3. In the dialogue box that appears, choose Microsoft Office Excel. 4. Click Recover Application.

You can also try opening the workbook in Microsoft WordPad. The only caveat: WordPad will convert all the data into text, and it won?t recover formulas. However, it will at least restore your important data. It will also recover your VBA procedures (macros) ? just search recovered text for ?Sub? and ?Function? to find them.

You may also be able to open the corrupted .xls file in Word, but again, the data is the only thing you?ll be able to recover - and even that may give you mixed results. So only try this as a last resort!

How to do Computer Registry Maintenance

Is Computer registry maintenance really required? How to do it? What are the risks? Read the details below to find answers.

The registry is a database in Windows that contains important information about system hardware, installed programs and settings, and profiles of each of the user accounts on your computer. Windows continually refers to the information in the registry.

You shouldn't need to make manual changes to the registry because programs and applications typically make all the necessary changes automatically. An incorrect change to your computer's registry could render your computer inoperable. However, if a corrupt file appears in the registry, you might be required to make changes.

Registry Editor is a tool intended for advanced users. It's used to view and change settings in the system registry, which contains information about how your computer runs. Windows refers to this information and updates it when you make changes to your computer, such as installing a new program, creating a user profile, or adding new hardware. Registry Editor lets you view registry folders, files, and the settings for each registry file.

Ordinarily, you don't need to make changes to the registry. The registry contains complex system information that's vital to your computer, and an incorrect change to your computer's registry could render your computer inoperable. However, a corrupt registry file might require changes. We strongly recommended that you back up the registry before making any changes and that you only change values in the registry that you understand or have been instructed to change. For more information, see Back up the registry.

You must be logged on as an administrator to perform these steps. If you aren't logged in as an administrator, you can only change settings that apply to your user account.

Before you make changes to a registry key or subkey, we recommend that you export, or make a backup copy, of the key or subkey. You can save the backup copy to a location you specify, such as a folder on your hard disk or a removable storage device (highly recommend). If you make changes that you want to undo, you can import the backup copy.

To open Registry Editor Click START->Run and type regedit. If you're prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

Locate and click the key or subkey that you want to back up or click the "Computer" key to backup the entire registry.

Click the File menu, and then click Export.

In the Save in box, select the location where you want to save the backup copy to, and then type a name for the backup file in the File name box.

Click Save.

For advanced information about editing the registry, go to the Microsoft website for IT professionals.

Although you can back up more than just the registry key or subkey that you are modifying, doing so adds to the size of the backup file.

Before editing the registry, it's a good idea to create a restore point using System Restore. The restore point contains information about the registry, and you can use the restore point to undo changes to your system. For more information, search Help and Support for "System Restore."

The Windows registry is a database that lists all of the configuration settings that determine how Windows looks and behaves. Sometimes, settings that are no longer needed will remain in the registry in case they're ever needed again. There's nothing unusual about this, and this data is small in size.

Some products available for free on the Internet suggest regular Computer registry maintenance or cleaning. Although a registry setting can become corrupt on occasion, in general, the registry is self-sufficient. If you decide to install a registry cleaner, be sure to research the product and only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust.

The only product we recommend is Registry Easy Computer Registry Maintenance Tool

Warnings

Some programs available for free on the Internet might contain spyware, adware, or viruses. Only download and install programs from software publishers that you trust. Even if you trust the website you download the program from, you need to also trust the publisher of the program. For more information, see When to trust a software publisher.

We strongly recommend that you only change values in the registry that you understand or have been instructed to change by a source you trust. Be sure to back up the registry before making any changes.

View the original article here

Top 3 Computer Maintenance Software

There are thousands of Computer maintenance software available in the market. However, only few can do the job very well. We have been repairing computers for over 15 years and following are our top 3 picks of PC maintenance software for average Computer users.

#1 Registry Easy

This is by far the best product available in the market today. It allows you to scan your PC FREE and identify hidden errors and fix them immediately.

The most important feature of this computer maintenance software is the list of errors it can identify and fix. Not like other PC repair tools, this can identify hard to find PC errors and repair them instantly.

Visit the Registry Easy Website for more details on this PC maintenance software.

#2 Driver Robot

The main cause for most of the Computer problems is software divers. If you wonder what are drivers, they are the programs, which are talking to individual components of your PC. Each component such as mouse, Video card, your sound devices etc has dedicated drivers.

The hardware may not function properly when the drivers are not up to date or corrupted. Driver Robot can automatically scan your PC then download and install latest drivers for your PC. This will enhance the speed of your PC and keep it error free.

Visit Driver Robot Website for more details on this PC maintenance software.

#3 Workstation Optimizer

This is very special PC repair software. Workstation Optimizer is a combination of Computer maintenance and spyware remover. It has been developed in such a way that it can take care of computer maintenance as well as computer security problems.

Visit Workstation Optimizer website for more details on this Computer maintenance tool.

How to take a backup of your Computer

All Computer users MUST learn how to take a backup of important files. Regular data backup is very important. You never know what can happen to your PC tomorrow. Computer viruses, hard disk problems and many other Computer problems can damage or completely destroy your valuable data.

Here is a very simple method to take a data backup of your PC quickly.

Step 1 ? Organize your files.

You must have all your files in a proper folder structure. Always use one root folder and keep files under sub-folders of the root folder. My suggestion is to create a folder directly under your C: drive instead of using My Documents folder. Once organized it will be easier to take backups.

Step 2 ? Select an external storage device

These days? storage devices such as USB storage sticks are very cheap. You can use USB sticks, CDs or an external hard drive to take backups. 

Step 3 ? Create a backup plan

A backup plan is very simple. It is about how you want to keep your data backups. For an example if you want to take daily backups and keep them separately then you can create 7 sub-folders in the destination backup storage device. This sub-folder can be named appropriately such as the date of your back up etc.

Perhaps you want to take weekly backup and keep 4 weeks worth of data at a given time. Then you can overwrite week 1 backup on 5th week.

All above are Computer backup plans.

Step 4 ? Create a BAT file to semi-automate the backup process.

A bat file is an executable file, which you can use to take the backup for you.

Let?s say you want to backup all files and sub-folders in your C:Docs folder to your USB stick. You need to identify the drive letter of the USB stick by visiting My Computer. Then create appropriate destination folder structure in the USB drive. Let?s say F: is your USB drive and you have created a subfolder named Backup to take today?s backup.

Now your task is to copy all files and folders in C:Docs to F:Backup

Here is how to create a bat file.

Open Notepad (Start > Run > Notepad)
Type following commands

Then click File menu and select Save As

Select ?All Files: from the Save As Type drop-down list

Type backup.bat as the file name and save the file directly under your C: drive.

The file name could be anything as long as it is ending with .bat file extension.

Here is an explanation of the commands in the bat file.

Xcopy ? this is the copy command
C:Docs ? source folder. 
F:Backup ? files will be copied to this folder.
/E ? copy directories and sub directories including empty ones.
/H ? Copy hidden and system files also
/R ? Overwrites read only files
/Y - Suppresses prompting to confirm you want to overwrite an existing destination file.
Pause ? this will prompt you to enter any key to close the program.

Almost done.

Step 5 ? Let's see how to take a backup

Now you are going to run the backup.bat file. Here is what to do.

Click Start and select Run
In the space type as follows and click the OK button.

This will open a small black window and at the end prompt you to press any key.

That?s it. Go to F:Backup folder and verify whether all files and folders have been copied.

Many Hard Disk Crash Cases. Are You Ready?

My clients reported a fair bit of hard disk crash cases during last few weeks. So I thought of providing some useful data protection tips on this issue of the newsletter.

You must always be ready for a sudden hard disk failure. Follow these steps and make yourself ready.

1. Take daily backups. Here are tips to do it quickly.

Data backup is like an insurance policy. You cannot buy it when you want to use it. You need to get it in advance to use it. Still 90% of the home Computer users are not taking regular data backups.

Do you know why most people are not taking backups? Because their data is everywhere on the hard disk and it takes multiple copy/pastes attempts to complete a backup. Therefore the solution is to organize your data.

Keep all your important files under one main folder. This includes your documents, spreadsheets, movies, images, emails (personal folders) and everything that you cannot afford to loose.

For an example I have created a folder called DOCS (C:\DOCS) and all my important documents are under sub-folders of the DOCS folder. Therefore I have to backup only the DOCS folder, which is very easy.

Always take backups to an external media such as a USB stick, external hard drive or on a writable CD. A good practice is to create 7 folders for seven days in the backup media and take backups to the appropriate backup folder depending on the day of the week.

I.e. If you are taking a backup on a Monday then the data to be copied to the Monday folder of the external media.

Add a daily task in your email calendar to remind you to take a backup.

2. Keep a good data recovery software with you.

Taking backups is a must. Apart from that you can keep a good data recovery software to use in a hard disk crash situation. We use Stellar Windows Data Recovery Professional edition. Visit best Windows data recovery tool page to read my review of this software.

In the next newsletter I am going to introduce a Computer repair expert and his DIY Computer repair eBook. This is one of the best computer maintenance and repair books I have ever seen. I have been trying to get a very special price for my newsletter subscribers. Will let you know in the next issue of Computer Tips.