Online Computer Repair Services Are A Smart Choice

Everyone thinks about it, but no one thinks it will ever happen to them. The workday is moving along and all of the sudden a curse emanates from the boss’s office and the entire computer system goes down. No data can be found and the client is waiting, but all of this could have been avoided by using online computer repair services to prepare for this eventuality.

No matter which employee’s computer caused this issue, they are all interconnected and all equally important when it comes to being protected. If any truly important data is lost, there should be a system in place to help prevent this or at least a way to get it back. An online service can ensure that the data is safe and secure for retrieval at any time.

Online computer repair services ensure that the data can be accessed at any time, for any client, all while keeping it safe. Some support services require that an individual manage each account and if they are not available at 2 am, then you are out of luck. The online services are available all day and all night, 365 days a year and all with no waiting.

Remote backup is another feature of many of these services where they keep the data offsite in a secure server. This far surpasses the old methods of tape backup or even a secondary server onsite, which are fine if the world moves along perfectly every day. If a disaster occurs to the building, such as a fire, not all the onsite backups in the world will mean a hill of beans.

The need to keep a constant backup is one that every business, particularly ones that deal in sensitive data, should be well versed in. Online computer repair services can help in this respect by providing an automated offsite backup that continuously keeps a record of all the company’s data. They send this to an offsite, secure server that ensures that no harm can come to it.

Researching these companies is quite easily done online in order to help make an informed decision. Many of the websites have a frequently asked questions section that should eliminate any fears a potential client may have. This also allows the client to see into the background of the company and how well trusted they are in the industry.

The decision to use one of the online computer repair services that are available can help provide peace of mind not only for the business owners, but also for the clients. This is easily used as a selling point in the company’s commitment to the clients well being and protection. Being prepared for a disaster and not needing it is better than not being prepared at all.

Source:-dorchestercomputerrepair.com

Toshiba taps UPS for laptop repairs

Toshiba America Information Systems has roped in United Parcel Service to help it streamline the process for customers who need their laptops repaired.

On Tuesday, Toshiba's digital products division announced a new deal, under which UPS will provide repairs and support for the PC maker's notebooks at a center in Louisville, Ky. It will also handle shipping logistics and parts storage for the laptop-repairing process.

The company said the arrangement is aimed at reducing turnaround time for customers to four days or less.

"It will eliminate multiple transportation steps, centralize parts and repairs, and reduce costs," Mark Simons, general manager for Toshiba's Digital Products division, said in a statement.

Customers will be able to drop a system off at a UPS Store location and have it repaired and shipped back to them as early as 8:30 the next morning.

Toshiba said it hopes to save "millions of dollars" by revamping its service operations and achieving better inventory through the use of UPS networks and supply chain management. The shipping company has 3,300 retail locations and technicians who are certified to repair entire laptops, Toshiba said. The PC maker said it has nearly 5 million laptop customers to serve.


Source: news.cnet.com

Registry Hack Allows Windows XP SP2 Patching

People still running the now-retired Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) can trick the operating system into installing security updates, a researcher said Monday.

The hack requires an edit of a single key in the Windows registry, said Sean Sullivan, a security adviser with Helsinki, Finland-based antivirus vendor F-Secure, who spelled out the tweak in a blog post.

"It turns out that an SP2 system will think it's [Service Pack 3] if you edit this key: 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Windows,' and edit the DWORD value 'CSDVersion' from 200 to 300, [then] reboot," said Sullivan.

According to Microsoft, CSDVersion specifies the name of the most recent service pack installed on the PC.

Windows XP lives

• Registry hack allows Windows XP SP2 patching


• R.I.P. Windows XP SP2


• Microsoft extends Windows XP downgrade rights until 2020


• How to keep Windows XP SP2 safer after Microsoft stops patching


• Most firms face security 'red alert' as XP SP2's retirement looms


• Windows XP SP2 retirement looms, puts users in tough spot


• Windows 7 SP1 means end of XP downgrade rights


• Microsoft pushes users to ditch XP with IE9 plans, says analyst


• New Microsoft support service offers XP users Windows 7 goodies


• Microsoft wins Windows XP downgrade lawsuit

More on Windows

In other words, Sullivan's hack disguises XP SP2 as SP3 when Microsoft's security updates determine whether the PC is eligible for a patch.

With the hack, Sullivan was able to force a Windows XP SP2 system to install the emergency patch Microsoft issued last week for a critical vulnerability in Windows' parsing of shortcut files.

That "out-of-band" update was officially denied to Windows XP SP2 PCs because the service pack was retired from support on July 13. By Microsoft policy, retired products no longer receive security patches.

After hacking the registry, Sullivan installed the shortcut patch -- which he had downloaded directly from Microsoft's site rather than via the Windows Update patching service -- and tested an exploit that has been used by attackers for several weeks to infect PCs.

"It did not infect the system after the patch," said Sullivan. "Cool."

The patch for the shortcut bug can be found on Microsoft's Download Center site.

Sullivan cautioned users that the registry hack is risky.

"Remember, this update is not officially tested or supported by Microsoft for SP2," Sullivan said. "Hacking the registry and applying updates is likely a very quick way to destabilize your system. You really should update to Service Pack 3 if at all possible."

Most users, in fact, steer clear of the registry, since as Sullivan pointed out, an editing error can cripple the computer. "Do so at your own risk," he added.

Sullivan admitted he had not come up with the registry tweak, but said he had remembered a similar hack touted by players of "Grand Theft Auto IV" a year and a half ago. A thread on the GTAForums.com site from December 2008 showed how the same hack could be used to fool the game into launching on a Windows XP SP2 system.

Microsoft has been pushing customers all year to upgrade from XP SP2 to SP3 -- or to move to the new Windows 7 instead -- and offers detailed instructions on how to get and install XP's third service pack on its site.

Source: computerworld.com

Make your Computer Healthy: Tips and Tricks

An important part of keeping the computer in good health and working efficiently is the maintenance of the computer. Windows 95 has a lot of the tools that are required for maintaining the system. Windows 98 extends the possibilities and this makes it a lot easier. There is a range of things that you can do in order maximize the level of efficiency that the computer is able to deliver. It is possible to maintain the computer at a very low cost. There are a lot of programs available for keeping the computer in good condition and a lot of these programs feature strong engines. There are a lot of programs that are found the start menu, program menu, accessories menu and also in the systems folder for tools.

It is recommended that the defrag disk is run in Windows 95 on a regular basis at least once a month at whenever you either remove or add a program. This can also be run in Windows 98 but is should be run once a week due to the new engine. The more this software is run the faster the system will be able to operate. The programs are places in the hard disk in such a way that it allows the regularly used programs to be located a lot easier.

The scan disk should be run on the system once a month regardless of whether you are using Windows 95 and Windows 98. It is possible to run this program once a month and this is especially the case if the hard disk is taking a long time to run the systems. Normally the checks will actually run through at a reasonable folder and file. The disk cleanup is good for seeing how much space unnecessary files, which are in the temp file or the recycle bin are taking up. This will then allow you to remove the unnecessary files.

The pcdocpro is a simple piece of software that is actually very effective. This software can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft website. The pcdocpro software normally takes about a minute to completely check the registry system of the computer. It is a very good idea to use the windows updates, as this will make sure that your computer is up to date and has all the latest problems sorted. Clicking on the start menu under windows 98 can access these updates.

There are other things that you can do in order to improve the speed of the computer system. The first thing that you can do is to let the computer completely start prior to opening any applications or software. Anther very useful thing to do is to refresh the desktop after closing any of the computer applications as this will remove ant unused files from the memory of the computer. It is a good idea to avoid using large sized icons on your wallpaper, as this will take up more the memory space on the computer.

Source: toolsntricks.com

Adobe Systems to Bring pay-per-use Software to India

KOLKATA: Adobe Systems, the company that owns the popular photo-editing software Adobe Photoshop, is working on offering its latest suite of

software solutions on a subscription basis and on a pay-per-use basis for customers in emerging markets including India.

“Our engineers are working on offering the latest suite of Adobe software - the CS5 on a pay-per-use basis and also on subscription basis,” Mr Prabhjeet Singh, head, marketing for Adobe Systems India told reporters. He was here to launch the CS5 suite in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Offering a piece of software on a pay-per-use basis means an individual can use the software as he requires through the internet. He pays based on the number of hours he uses it or some other metering system.

Source: indiatimes.com

Symantec buying VeriSign's web-security division for US$1.28 billion

Symantec Corp. is paying US$1.28 billion in cash to buy a division of VeriSign Inc. that sells security technology to websites.

The deal, announced Wednesday after the market closed, represents VeriSign's most aggressive move yet to slim down and concentrate on its core business: managing traffic to websites with addresses ending in ".com" and ".net," and collecting fees for registering those names.

VeriSign has been purging divisions for the past three years in an acknowledgment that it was spread too thin by a buying binge designed to insulate it from the kinds of problems it had after the dot-com collapse a decade ago.

Prior to the deal with Symantec, which is expected to close later this year, VeriSign had sold more than a dozen businesses since 2007 for a total of nearly $1 billion.

What Symantec gets out of the deal is one of the web's best known brand names for security.VeriSign's logo — a check mark and the tag "VeriSign Secured" — is ubiquitous on websites that have bought its security technology. The VeriSign division that Symantec is buying sells "certificates" to websites that want protection for their customers' data. The Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, certificates allow data to be encrypted between a user's browser and a website's servers. A padlock icon appears on a user's browser when that technology is being used.

The certificate business has long been a cornerstone for VeriSign, but has come under pressure in recent years. In part, that's because cheap SSL certificates sold by other companies are easy to come by. Still, at the end of last year, more than one million sites were using VeriSign's SSL certificates.

While VeriSign has been contracting, Symantec has been expanding beyond its core business as a maker of antivirus software for personal computers.

Symantec and VeriSign shares were unchanged in after-hours trading. Symantec shares had fallen 32 cents, or two per cent, to close the regular trading session at $15.63. VeriSign shares had fallen 24 cents, less than one per cent, to $27.99. Reports of the acquisition talks leaked Tuesday.

Source: cbc.ca

Yahoo IM hosting a new worm, Be cautious!

Be cautious! An unexpected photo viewing invite on Yahoo Instant Messenger is the way of spreading worm. Since last two days people are receiving a downloadable link which seems as if their friends has sent message for sharing the images or photos but in reality it is a malware. This malware helps in installing a backdoor on Windows systems and spreads to a victim’s IM contacts.

If you at all receive a message with tags like ‘photo or ‘photos’ along with a smiley face icon, please avoid clicking on it. The malicious link seems quite similar to a photo viewing request from Facebook or MySpace.

By clicking on the link the yahoo users will get a downloadable file. Afterwards no action will take place but as the executable will downloaded already once user runs the file on windows system your PC will get infected and the malicious message will be distributed to all of the IM contacts.


Source: ub-news.com

PC Security is not difficult

These days, computers are essential for every person to fulfill basic needs. Computers come under the contact of virus when they are connected to Internet. I have experienced this when I purchased a brand new computer. As I am a gaming freak, I decided to get a new Internet connection in order to download games available online. I searched games on the net and download the executable files of the desirable game. My computer took couple of minutes to download the game and then I installed the game. After the game was installed, I observed something penasty with my computer. Some applications stopped working, blue screen of death problem and Windows freezed suddenly. My computer had been infected by severe viruses present in the executable file of game.
So I searched on Internet about virus attacks and I came to know about the various methods to avoid virus threats in your computer. Some basic practices, which I have exercised in order to prevent virus threats are mentioned below.
• Make sure that disks and files you run on your computer should be authentic.
• Don’t try the disks which have been used in other computers and don’t download files from unauthentic websites as well as avoid opening e-mail attachments without scanning.
• Download the antivirus software in order to detect the virus present in your computer.
• Install updates from the antivirus software website. Then the antivirus software will be able identify the virus and delete it.
• Download and install any software patches or other programs that will help you eliminate the virus. Or follow any instructions you find on deleting the virus manually.
• Try to scan all the files with the extensions .doc, .com, .xls and .ppt etc with antivirus software. Virus mostly present in the files with these extensions.
By following the above-mentioned instructions, I removed some infections from my computer but my computer was not yet completely free of malicious programs. Then I decided to go for technical support providers in order to make my PC secure. Everyone needs PC security to avoid unauthentic access to the data stored in the computer.
So if you find any difficulty while removing severe viruses from your computer then go for technical support firms who provide dedicated technical support to protect your PC against the virus attack. Their Microsoft Certified technicians will access your computer remotely and resolve the issue within fraction of seconds. So imagine the world with unlimited hassle-free Technical Support 24/7/365.

Enjoy computing at its best with latest Acer laptops

Acer offers a wide range of laptops, notebooks, and desktops and satiates the requirements of both the professionals as well as homer users.
Features:
The latest laptop series- Acer Aspire 8940G comes with dual-channel DDR3 SDRAM support, Dolby optimized Acer CineSurround sound system, Acer Bio-Protection fingerprint solution, etc. This laptop is integrated with Acer Instant On Arcade, Acer Bio-Protection, Acer Crystal Eye, Acer Launch Manager, Acer eRecovery Management, Adobe Reader, NTI Media Maker, etc.
Usability:
With the use of Acer Aspire 8940G, you can get exciting entertainment experience due to the Blu-ray optical technology. You can easily connect with anyone, because of its built-in webcam, stereo microphones, and Wi-Fi connectivity.
Limitations:
While working with the Acer laptop, you can face any technical issue like, blue screen error, system crash, hard disk failure, driver conflict, etc. In such a condition, you should go for Acer support provider, so that, your system can become fit and healthy once again.
In case, you face any technical issue with your Acer laptop, you can contact any service provider for assistance. Many technical service providers offer remote support for all Acer laptops. Services offered through remote support are enlisted as:
• Installation, re-installation, and un-installation of software
• Troubleshooting software errors
• Configuring settings for Office suite, Internet, e-mail, etc.
• PC Optimization
• Data backup
• Virus and spyware removal
All the above services are offered through remote connection. While accessing online support for your Acer laptop, tech expert will access your system via online and will diagnose your system. Thereafter, they will perform the necessary steps to resolve your technical issues related to Acer laptop.

SEE MORE -
Antivirus Support
Asus Support

PC Optimization

PC optimization is a way to improve the performance of a computer system. You can optimize your PC using several tips and techniques. You can also use any of the good PC optimization software available in the market. Let us discuss some of the useful tips to optimize a Computer Setup.

Wipe off your computer desktop: Do not clutter your PC desktop with several shortcuts and programs. The shortcuts occupy considerable fraction of system memory. So, if there are several shortcut icons placed on the desktop then they will consume huge system memory. As a result, you should keep only the recycle bin and some of the frequently used applications on the desktop.

Minimize the size of recycle bin: By default recycle bin occupies more computer memory. You can alter the memory size of the recycle bin to a lower value to make your system fast.

Turn off screensaver and wallpapers: Screensavers and wallpapers occupy a large volume of system’s memory. So, to improve the performance of your PC you can turn off the screensaver and keep images of small file size as wallpapers.

Regularly delete temporary files from your PC: Temporary files are voracious eaters of computer memory. You can improve its performance by removing the temporary files at regular intervals. Windows XP provides “Disk Cleanup” utility that can automatically clean up disk space for all the unwanted temporary files stored on your PC.

Defragment your PC’s hard disk: Defragmenting a hard disk can help in improving the performance of your PC. The process of defragmentation frees up space on the hard disk and can automatically arrange the data stored on it thereby improving its performance. You can use the “Disk Defragmenter” utility provided in the Windows XP operating system and improve the performance of your PC.

Refreshing your desktops at regular intervals will help a lot in improving the speed of your PC. The process of refreshing a desktop removes all the unused files from your computer RAM, hence improving the computer speed.

Firewall Configuration

A firewall is a device or a set of devices, which can be implemented in any of the hardware, software or both. All the messages passing through the firewall are verified to meet some level of security criteria.

It acts as a computer security barrier, which analyzes all the incoming and outgoing traffic to and from your computer or network based on the firewall settings. There are some common types of firewalls like: Application level gateway, Packet filtering firewall, Circuit gateways and Hybrid firewall.

Application level gateway firewall works on the application layer of the protocol stack. It works more intelligently than the packet filtering firewall. Packet filtering firewall examines the information contained in the header of the message packets.

There are some factors based on which the filters can be added or removed from the firewall:

1. IP address

2. Ports

3. Protocols

IP address: Every computer connected to Internet has a unique IP address. The firewall configuration can be customized to block any IP address so that your computer will not allow any kind of communication to take in between.

Ports: The firewall can be configured to allow or block messages from any port number.

Protocols: There are some commonly used protocols like IP, HTTP, TCP, FTP, and SMTP etc., which can be included in the firewall filter.

Some operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows offer built-in firewalls that are turned on by default to block all the incoming threats from Internet. There are several other third party firewalls available. You can choose any one the firewall to replace the default firewall in Windows.

Install Printer

Know how to install printer on Windows XP computer

Before installing a printer on Windows XP operating system is to have suitable printer driver for the printer you are installing. There is no need to worry if you don’t have a driver disc. You can use the printer driver provided with by the printer manufacturer in the form of disc or you can also download the latest printer drivers from the manufacturer’s website. Follow the below mentioned steps to install printer on Windows XP system (assuming that you are installing the printer on a Windows XP computer and the printer is to be directly connected to the system).

1. Click on Start

2. Go to Control Panel

3. Click on “Printers and other Hardware”

4. Select “Add Printer” tasks from the task section to continue the printer installation.

5. You will see a “Welcome to the Add Pinter Wizard” screen, click on “Next”.

6. Select “Local printer attached to this computer” for printer connected directly to your PC.

7. Now click on “Automatically detect and install Plug and Play printer” option (in case you don’t have any information about the make and model of your printer).

8. Click on Next.

9. Select a Printer Port from drop-down menu present where the printer is connected or you can choose to create a new port.

10. Click on Next.

11. Select manufacturer of your printer from the list of manufacturers available and then choose the model of you printer.

12. Click on Next.

13. If you have the latest driver on CD/DVD disc then you should click on Have a Disk button to select the specified printer driver.

14. If the correct are selected then Windows will automatically install the files on your computer.

15. You will see a Printer icon in the Printer and Faxes section in Control Panel after the successful installation of the printer on your computer.

You can further make changes to the printer setting and feature by selecting the properties of the printer and selecting the desired settings.

Common computer problems and Easy fixes

If you have computer, then you have probably face these computer problems before. Once you purchase a computer, you must accept that sooner or later it will eventually crash due to a virus or some other massive error. If someone told you that your computer will last more than a decade, don’t believe it because it is just a myth or another sales pitch. But of course, you should take care of it if you want it to last for its third year without any defects. However, there are many people that would prefer to buy a new computer than spend some time trying to fix or figure out the problem with their laptop or desktop.
Usually you will need some kind of maintenance because your computer will tend to lose its original speed and performance. Well, here are some if the common problems that a computer user usually experience. Most of the time the biggest problem that your computer has is YOU – the owner or the user. There are many people that neglect the first signs of computer problems. You shouldn’t neglect those simple maintenance tasks that can enhance or prolong the life of your computer.
1. Computer speed or performance has slowed. There are several reasons why this happens to your computer. Lack of maintenance, fragmented data, corrupted registry, spyware, and unnecessary loading of computer programs and services can surely affect your PC speed and performance. Managing your programs and cleaning your registry can easily boost your computer’s performance speed up to 30%.
2. Computer system freezes and blue screens of death. You need to do some serious diagnostic procedures to effectively know the problem with your computer. Computer virus or spyware are maybe some of the reasons to your computer. Update your anti-spyware removal immediately to avoid this kind of problem and thoroughly scan your computer to see if it has any viruses or spywares. If you find that your computer is free from spyware then updating your hardware drive is the next step. Hardware drives makes it easier for your computer to effectively communicate with other hardware components. Without an updated driver the CPU locks up and may cause problems when you are using your computer. If that doesn’t work try to increase your Computer RAM to help avoid computer freezes. By increasing the RAM you get more use out your computer's computing power.
3. The computer keeps on rebooting again and again. This kind of problem is usually associated with hardware issue. Faulty power supply is usually the cause of this problem. Dirty or defective cooling fan is another reason why your computer is rebooting spontaneously. When your computer is trying to cool itself when the fan is defective it automatically switches off. Dust that accumulated in your computer can trap the heat inside which makes it hotter. What you should do is to clean the fan and make sure that it is running properly. Do not forget to check your power supply.
4. Noises and vibrations. This one is almost certainly that you have hardware issue. High pitched noises can be caused by electronic components. Whatever the reason, you conduct a small investigation. Unplug your computer and remove the case and run the computer to discover the origin of noise. If a loose wire or faulty fan is not the one that is making the noise then it may be time to call a computer tech to help you with your problem.
5. Your browser home page changed itself. It is known as "high-jacking" which is also caused by a Spyware installed on your system. The spyware in your computer installed a java script into your web browser that tells your browser to change settings hence changing the default home page of your browser. What you can do is to run an anti-virus or spyware program to remove the spyware from your computer. All of the problems stated in this article can be avoided easily by simply maintaining your computer.

Are you looking antivirus support to remove spyware embedded in PC?

Are you looking antivirus support to remove spyware embedded in PC? The typical computer purchase usually comes with some form of installed antivirus software, but it is worth noting that these programs cannot deal with a wide variety of threats such as adware and spyware simply because they cannot detect and destroy them.

Antivirus support program is capable of detecting them while they run. However, you may also want to take note that different programs have different ways of scanning, with some scanning the system memory that the applications use while others scan the files directly to try to detect malware.

Another way Spyware generally costs the user a lot of time not only by slowing down the PC but also displaying many pop up advertisements that distract the user. Also, people tend to spend a lot of time looking for solutions to spyware removal problems online. There are many programs online that can help you scan your computer system for malware and viruses, but not many can permanently get rid of all the detected malicious software.

Some people want to try removing spyware on their PCs manually but usually do not end up with very good results. Some even end up deleting the wrong entries and damaging their computer permanently.

Are you looking for Spyware Remove?

Find Spyware & Adware Removal support on the market now at http://www.iyogi.ca/virus-removal-support/ first!

Computer install to get the desirous software

In today’s computer world no software is the ultimate one. As developer are working deliberately to give the best to the users. Hence, computer install is an essential part, both for beginner and the experts.
For critical software install user can take the help of reputed organization who are offering remote support for installation purpose. But, you must be aware of some general installation procedure so that you don’t have to frequently call them up.
Let’s get acquittal with installation of some important software program on your computer.
Installation for Security software and web browsers
Users can make use of CD/DVD of the latest security software like Windows Defender, Spyware Doctor, No adware and so on. For browser you have plenty of options, you can go for Firefox, Opera, IE 8. If you have the internet connectivity you may go for online download from authentic sites. General steps can be followed as:
STEP 1. Download and save the startup program to a desired location.
STEP 2. Run the setup file and proceed on following the prompts.
STEP 3. Accept the agreement and enter the suitable key words.
STEP 4. Click on “Finish.” Restart your system.
Communication has been revised well with the latest email clients. Programs like email client can be installed internally from the web browser.IE 8 have been designed to automatically launch your default email client.
However, if you have the ambition to install a different email client on your computer, you can change your default client in the browser's Internet Options menu. Proceed as follow:
STEP 1. Explore the Internet Explorer.
STEP 2. Navigate on to the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options."
STEP 3. Select the "Programs" tab.
STEP 4. Click the button "Set Programs." Select "Set Your Default Programs" from the window that appears.
STEP 5. Select your email client from the list of programs on the left side of the screen. Next, click "Choose defaults for this program."
STEP 6. Check the box next to "Mailto" and click "Save."
Hence, you have got your preferred email client installed on your computer. Hope, that the above computer install article would be useful for you.