programs

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter and hope you can help me. There are many files listed in my Windows Startup, and some of the names appear more than once. I even have programs listed on my computer ... which no longer exist! How do I remove any unneeded listings? I removed the programs from the register using a RegCleaner, but they are still listed in the Startup. " My Response: I get asked this question quite often, and have commented on it before in the newsletter. The truth is that many of the programs listed in the Startup can be ... (view more)

If told you that 9 out of 10 PC's are infected with some form of Spyware, would you be concerned? According to Webroot Software, you should be! In general, Spyware is software which records information about you or your computer usage -- without ... your knowledge -- and then relays this information to a third party (quite often, for marketing purposes). Spyware has the ability to trace your every keystroke, and may record things such as passwords, credit card numbers, email addresses, and other personal information. All of this makes Spyware a serious threat to privacy and the protection of your ... (view more)

A while back, I was asked to review and critique a new program from Li Utilities: the same company who created WinTasks Professional and WinBackup. For the purpose of this article, I will explain basic tweaking terminology and how it applies to ... SpeedUpMyPC: all in Simple English. If you really want to learn about computer hardware and how tweaking can make a world difference -- you will definitely find this article an interesting read! OK, so what is SpeedUpMyPC? SpeedUpMyPC is a utility which runs quietly in the system Tray Bar. It monitors system resources, optimizes Internet connections, ... (view more)

Last week's mind-numbing question was sent in from Jon W. He asked: " I have a few programs listed in my MSCONFIG startup . One of the programs was LoadQM.Exe, and Google's search pointed me to your web site. Good info on the LoadQM.exe program! ... I've now deleted it from the start-up file. The other two programs I'm trying to find more information on are Carpserv.exe and Nwiz.exe/install, but didn't get any clear-cut information on these two when querying Google. Do you have any input on these two items? " My Response:I asked the Infopackets Readers to send me their thoughts on the ... (view more)

Last week, Stan L. Jr. sent in a question which asked what should be done when a program attempts to suddenly "call home" and request a connection to the Internet. Recall: " A few days ago, I was using my computer when all the sudden, I noticed that ... some program decided that it wanted to access the Internet. I tried to cancel the request to connect to the Internet, but the bugger kept coming back asking for a connection. I then decided to try the "3 finger salute" by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL at the same time to bring up Task Manager, but no programs were listed here ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Stan L. write s: " Dear Dennis, A few days ago, I was using my computer when all the sudden, I noticed that some program decided that it wanted to access the Internet. I tried to cancel the request to connect to the Internet, but ... the bugger kept coming back asking for a connection. I then decided to try the "3 finger salute" by pressing CTRL + ALT + DEL at the same time to bring up Task Manager, but no programs were listed here that seemed to be "out of the ordinary" that might have been attempting to access the Internet. Is there a program which ... (view more)

Last week's Visitor Feedback question asked, "How how can I tell what programs are taking all my space in my hard drive?" My first thought to this question was to use a minimalist approach, because I believe in "doing things myself" -- providing ... that the proposed solution is relatively simple. If you recall, my answer to the above question was straightforward: right-click on a folder and display its folder Properties, and have Windows display its disk usage. This gives a very general idea as to how much space was being used by an installed program. Fact: Programs that are ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Victor V. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your newsletters and read them every time I receive it. I have a question for you and I hope you can help. Can you tell me how can I tell what programs are taking all my space in my hard ... drive and how to remove them? I am running out of space! " My Response: To get a general idea of what is installed on your system, you could start with the Add / Remove programs in the Control Panel. Here you will find a list of installed programs. Since all programs are installed to folders (99.99% of the time, anyway), you can then attempt ... (view more)

Similar to ICQ and Yahoo Messenger , MSN Messenger is a chat program that allows you to interact with other people around the world. If my memory serves correct, ICQ is the "Grand Daddy" of all Windows-based chat programs with a graphical user ... interface (GUI), but MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are gaining in popularity. Conveniently, MSN Messenger comes bundled with the Windows XP operating system. Wait a sec -- did I say that was 'convenient'? No it's not. Since I installed Windows XP, MSN Messenger has been in my face multiple times asking me if I want to sign up for an ... (view more)

Whether you know it or not, Microsoft has a previous track-history for releasing sub-standard software that is known to be less than computer-friendly. What do I mean by "less than computer friendly?" Quite simply: either there are lots of bugs ... present in Microsoft's software, or their software has been known to make systems run sluggish . The Story Recently, I was visiting my brother and decided to hop on his system and surf the Internet. His machine consists of Microsoft Windows 98, has 128 meg of RAM, and is powered by a Celeron 600 MHz processor. Certainly, this system is not ... (view more)