We acquired the domain name www.computertipssite.com and moved our blog to this site.  We still use wordpress but we have better SEO marketing with this domain name.  This site will be deleted by the end of the month.  Thanks for your comments.

We all have data to manage on our computers.  We also need to make sure we have a way to recover our computer to a workable state.  Keeping your data healthy is the key to your computer life.  Having a software application that makes it easier to do is even better.  Check out this application called Partition Logic named one of PC World’s 100 best products of 2008.  Go to http://partitionlogic.org.uk

Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool.  It can create, delete, format, defragment, resize, and move partitions and modify their attributes.  It can copy entire hard disks from one to another.

Partition Logic is free software, based on the Visopsys operating system.  It boots from a CD or floppy disk and runs as a standalone system, independent of your regular operating system.  It is intended to become a free alternative to such commercial programs as Partition Magic, Drive Image, and Norton Ghost…

Please post your comments and questions, Thanks.

Check out this link.  I can be president in 2008.  Technology has come a long way.

Click here

As an IT professional, I come across some interesting computer security concerns.  There was a report about the anti-virus xp 2008 malware and then I got it.  I was surfing the web and wam, I got this malware downloaded to my laptop.  It took over two hours to get rid of this pest.  Now would be a good time to backup your important data on your laptop and desktop computers.  You will not be sorry that you did.  We have too many free storage services available today, so you do not have an excuse.  This malware got through my firewall and disabled my norton anti-virus program. This link will take you to a tutorial on how to remove this pest, enjoy:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic111715.html .  Please post your comments.

I am always looking for ways to discover unwanted or unauthorized application on my computer.  Sophos, a computer security solution company; has put out a free tool for home users and network computer systems.  It scans your computer for unauthorized application that you have not installed.  These application would have been installed in the background as you surf the internet from one website to another.  I recorded an introductory video for on downloading the applciaton. 

When I was surfing for some web programming information, I came across this microsoft link to help you fight spam. Tips on avoiding junk e-mail (spam). If you want more privacy, please go to Email Warden.  You can get a disposable email account that works with your current email samelessly.  Please send in your comments as we would like to provide you with more computer tips from user generated questions.

I was reading about new computer gadgets today and I came across this on for the ladies.  This computer tip is for real and is for your finger tip.  Check out the video and then comment below.  Thanks.

There are alot of people across the country who have joined Weight Watchers.  When you go to lunch and forget your point guide what do you do?  I found this link and it will download to your web enabled cell phone.  You can have your Weight Watcher’s point guide with you all the time.  This computer tip is your free of charge.  All the best in your Weight Watcher’s program.  http://www.infoaccelerator.net/wwCalc (THIS APPLICATION WILL ONLY DOWNLOAD TO YOUR WEB ENABLE CELL PHONE AND YOU MUST HAVE INTERNET SERVICE TO USE IT.)  Please post your comments.

I have been surfing the web since 1995.  You I know, it has been a long time.  As a manager at then, Egghead Software store in Northern Virginia, we were always testing new software and hardware while creating a great user experience in the store.  I have always had a spam issue from the first time that I setup an email account.  I came across this great service that will help you fight the spammers.  http://www.emailwarden.com/Default.aspx - the service is free and it issues fake out email address for you and forwards to your real email address. It rates the sites that you visit and help weed out spammers.  Chceck it out and let me know what you think about this one. 

Most of use look for help searching the web.  Some free sites are www.protonic.com and www.it-pitstop.com .  The first site is where you can post a question and have an expert will reply.  The second gives you a free 7 day no obligation trail with a live technician online for free.  You do not even need to use a credit card to download the application to your computer.  After that it is only 12 bucks per month or $20 bucks per incident.  Check these out and let me know what you think.

Welcome to Computer tips site blog – the guide for the busy user.WordPress.com Our post will bring you information that you can use today and always.  Please visit this site everyday to post your comments.  Thanks for your support. visit http://www.computertipssite.com for your free pc protection guide for online marketers. Our gift to you.

Online marketers are challenged to find ways to protect their websites. It is this quest, that I have put together the website Computer Tips Site. Visit this site and get the free pc protection guide for online marketers today. You will be glad that you did. Post your comments here after your review.

A security certificate is issued to provide digital security for a web site or services that runs over the public and private Internet. It is a way to valid the integrity of your information as it goes from point a to point b over the Internet. Installation of a certificate issued by a Internet security provider is one of the first items to install on web sites and hosted servers that store important data for the owners of the web site or hosted server. It can insure that your information is protected on the world wide web. Trusted certificate providers are VeriSign, Godaddy and Comodo to name a few. Many sites use certificates to secure back end data. Front end web site data search as contact forms, homepages with login scripts and any pages that need protection on your web site should also be considered for protection for the start. During the holiday season, we in the IT profession see increases in web site security issues from all over the world. Please keep this in mind as you manage your web hosting sites. Please add your comments to this blog posting. Happy Holidays!

When people send their information from our website to our email box, is it secure? Most times it is coming as clear text to our inbox and we just assume that the web hosting company is taking care of this function. Unless you purchase a security certificate from your web provider partner, you web hosting site is fair game. It is important that you protect your web visitors privacy and information to insure that the relationship reminds trusted. Please check out the link on the right “Web Hosting Information” to get a free bulletin about the “16 Ways to Secure Your Web Site Today”. Please add your comments to this blog.

Many of us go about our business without thinking about how we are computing these days. With all the security threats about us, one would think that we as computer users would be more protective of our privacy. Instead, we operate our computers without knowing how secure we are computing. I came across a little program that can help you determine if you are secure when computing. It is freeware but has some very useful layman’s terms information for you. Please go to PC Security Test 2007. Share this information with others and post your comments on this blog.

Most computer users are afraid to touch any technical stuff on their computer. Good computer users will learn the basic maintenance routine but once you get in trouble with them, the maintenance of the computer usually stops. The computer users either stops using the computer or goes out and buys a new PC with prices so low these days. Today, there are useful programs that can help you maintain your computer at optimal operating levels without you know all the technical details. Good IT Solutions has found such a solution. nCleaner is a system cleaner that allows you to clean both your system and applications, free more disk space, boost your system’s speed and get more stability and privacy protection. nCleaner contains an advanced system and application cleaner with over 90 cleaning items available, a Registry Cleaner, a Tweak Manager, an advanced Start up Manager, a Junk Finder, a Free Space Shredder, a System Resource Monitor, a System Adviser, supports logging and statistics as well as advanced Scheduling. The best feature I like is the advance Scheduling. You get to set it and forget it. You did not know how much space you are using for crap left behind from Internet surfing and/or programs that have been removed from your computer. nCleaner is a good it solutions for people working from their home office or small office setup. It keeps your system optimized so you do not have to do the hard work. Save yourself some time and check out this great utility. Non commercial usage is free of charge. Add your comments here to let us know what you think about the application. Click Here for nCleaner web site.

Most of us do not perform the type of maintenance necessary to keep your computers working properly. Our is that our data will always be available and our computer will work without fault. The reality is that it does not work like this without proper care. If you do nothing else to your computer, please make sure that you at least do these four things. They are as follows:

1. Check for updates to your operating system once a week.
2. Defragment your hard drive at least once a month
3. Run a disk cleaning utility once a week.
4. Backup your my documents folders, system state files and email messages.

These may be simple task but they will help you computer keep working, provide fast searching on hard drives, clear your computer of necessary files and provide a way for you to recover in case all is lost. There are tools available to help you complete these four task.

You can program your computer to check for updates weekly by scheduling a task on your computer. You can also schedule defrag through scripting your computer and/or scheduling a task. You operating system software comes with a utility of two to clean your hard drive. Finally, there are many programs including free ones to backup your data on your computer. If you do nothing else, the four steps about can keep your computer running without issue. Email techsupport@retlub.com if you would like more detail information.

I discovered today that ie7 will crash with google toolbar installed. If you upgrade to ie7 from the previous version with google toolbar installed, it removed some files in the ntdll.dll location causing a conflict in the add-on/extensions of ie7. You can run ie-7 with extensions off and see if that clears the error. The best solution will be to deinstall google toolbar and reinstall the latest version of the application. Do not forget to reboot the computer after you have completed the reinstall process. I’m old school and I always reboot. XP and vista do not require reboot but old habits die hard.

As a computer professional, I’m always ask to help out with a computer problem from friends and family. I do not mind but sometimes I wish I could show them simple things that they can do on their own. One of the biggest for me is cleaning your computer of junk. In the spring, we all do house cleaning and for computer spring cleaning should happen at least once a month. With all the time that we spent on the internet and download/upload. Now is the time to do a few simple things to your computer. Backup at least your system state files, email messages and my document folder. Then you will need to clean and defragment your hard drive to make it perform better. Finally you will need to use some type of identify and privacy system to protect all those purchases over the internet. I will show you how you can do this in three simple steps.

• Step 1 – Backup your data is very important first step. You have to make sure that you can recovery in case some disaster happens. I found a very good and easy system to do this at Comodo.com web site. They offer a free backup application that you can use for personal use to backup system files, email messages and my document folder. You can do other backups as well but this is a start.
• Step 2 – After you have successfully backup your important data, now you want to clean and defragment your hard drive. Cleaning will get ride of old temp files and other file types that take up space on your computer. You can do a disk cleanup which comes with Windows or you can download CCleaner and do the same time. If you want to use what I use, email me at techsupport@retlub.com with the subject line, I need a PC hard drive cleaner and I will send you the file. Then you can run defragmentation to compact and optimally order your hard drive giving you better performance. If you do not want to do this on your own, go to www.it-pitstop.com and sign up for 7 days of free no obligation service and one of the IT professionals will do the steps for you free.
• Step 3 – Now that you have completed step 1 and 2, you need to protect your internet transactions. Making sure that your identity and private credit card numbers are protected can save you a lot of work in the future. These days, you have to be your own police to protect your ID. Go to www.comodo.com and get their free for personal use iVault application. This application installs in minutes on your computer and once programmed can protect your ID online, credit card numbers as well as social security numbers. It even helps with banking transactions online as well.

Use these three simple steps along with updating your operating system on a weekly basis will help keep your computer running for years to come. In my next post, I will talk about firewall and anti-virus programs to protect you from internal and external threats to your computing. If you have any questions in the main time, please post comments.