The Best Computer Tips and Tricks: Data Security

Disable Remote Registry Editing

Only you should be editing your Windows registry, so make sure this service is disabled by clicking Start, Run, and then typing "services.msc." Scroll down to Remote Registry and make sure the service is stopped, and then set it to either manual or disable.

Lock It Down

It's always a good idea to lock your PC if strangers are nearby and you step away for a few minutes. Just press Windows key+L to lock your PC. Alternatively, you can set your screensaver (via the Screensaver tab in Display Settings under Control Panel) to require a password if it's deactivated by checking the box in "Settings" that says "On resume, password protect."

Prevent Phishing Attacks

Protect yourself from identity theft and phishing attacks by using the the latest versions of Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Opera. These browsers include protection that double-checks URLs against a blacklist, and will notify you if you're about to visit a known phishing site.

Keep Your Software Up to Date

Hackers and crackers love to take advantage of exploits found in software, which causes the developers to release a patch to plug up the holes. Therefore, it's imperative you not only enable Windows Update but also download the latest version of any software on your system, especially your Web browser and antivirus program.

Be Wary of P2P Files

Virus makers love peer-to-peer file-sharing services. They name their virus "Angelina Jolie Wallpapers" or something similar and upload it. Then millions of people download it, launch it, and wonder why their computers are infested with viruses. Download with caution, and always use antivirus software. If you need an effective, free antivirus solution, we recommend AVG Free.

Wipe the Drive Before Donating Your Old Computer

If you are getting rid of a hard drive and want to render all or some of its data unrecoverable, you have two options. You can download Eraserto securely wipe any file or folder, and you can use Darik's Boot andNuke SE (DBAN) to write over the entire drive. To use DBAN, download it and burn it as an ISO disc, then boot from it. It will provide you with instructions on the welcome screen.

Encrypt Sensitive Files

If you want to encrypt sensitive data, you can buy a portable USB drive with built-in encryption like the CMS ABS-Secure Encrypted Backup System, but if you just want to protect a specific folder or group of files, we recommend Truecrypt, which is free. It encrypts a custom-sized volume with 256-bit AES encryption, so it's extremely secure.

Verify Your Backups

Many people have a "set it and forget it" mindset when it comes to backups. Even after you establish a regimen, however, it's critical that you check the target folders periodically to ensure the proper files are being backed up. If not, re-configure your backup routine to make sure it's working properly.

Back Up Your Data

You must back up your data, period. If you have the means, we highly recommend an external USB drive like the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus. If you already have an extra drive in your system—but just need some good backup software—try the free version of 2BrightSpark's Syncback, which is sublimely easy to configure.

Turn Off Your PC During Lightning Storms

Even surge protectors can be overwhelmed during electrical storms, and we've seen the results first-hand—fried motherboards, processors, hard drives and power supplies. If you're experiencing a heavy-duty electrical storm, take our advice and unplug your computer from the wall socket—just in case. And buy a laptop to use until the crisis passes.

Enable S.M.A.R.T for Your Hard Drives

S.M.A.R.T (self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology) allows your drive to report whether it's about to fail, which can give you a heads-up to replace it. All the modern hard drives have it—go into your PC's BIOS (press Del or F2/F10 during bootup) and enable it.

Enable Extension Viewing

By default, Windows hides file extensions, and virus-makers exploit this feature by giving their executable program names like Popularsong.exe, which appears as a harmless audio file if you have extensions hidden. To enable extension viewing, open any folder and click Tools, Folder Options, and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types."

The Best Computer Tips and Tricks: Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows Vista and XP and Microsoft Office

Windows Key+E

The best part about shortcut keys is letting your keyboard do half the work. This is a perfect example: This shortcut allows you to open Windows Explorer with one quick keystroke.

Windows Key+M

This is the shortcut to keep in mind when you are at work doing anything but working—it allows you to minimize all of your open windows, leaving just the desktop left exposed. To restore the windows, hit Windows key+Shift+M. Another quick way to do this is Windows key+D, which shows your desktop; to restore, just repeat the same keystroke. This is a handy shortcut to have around the next time your boss is wandering through the office.

Alt+Tab

This allows you to easily scroll through all the windows you have open. If you're working in Word and referring to something in Explorer, for example, you can toggle back and forth between the two programs. You can also use this to switch between windows in the same program, making multitasking a breeze. Very similar is Windows key+Tab: In XP, it lets you scroll the items on the taskbar, and in Vista, it starts Flip 3D for a fun graphical spin on the same idea.

Alt+F4

This shortcut is a quick way to close a window in any program. Alt+Spacebar+C (which requires less stretching, but more keys) and Ctrl+W do the same thing. Any of the ways will allow you to close a window without using your mouse to hit the X in the upper-right corner.

Ctrl+Arrow Keys

In Microsoft Word, the left and right arrows allow you to move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word or the next word; the up and down arrows will do the same with paragraphs. This is very helpful when editing a document or scanning for any reason.

Shift+Delete

If you want to delete a file—and you don't want to deal with it later in the Recycle Bin—this is the way to go. Just be absolutely sure that this is a file you won't want back!

Hold Shift While Inserting a CD

Have you ever wanted to insert a CD and not use it right away? This shortcut allows you to bypass Autorun when inserting a CD so you can control exactly when you will use a CD you've inserted.

Ctrl+Drag

There are many ways to copy a file, but this just might be the easiest. All you have to do is click on the file, hold, and drag it into its desired location. This works the same as another handy shortcut, Ctrl+C.

Windows Key+U+U

Quickly shut down Windows by hitting the Windows key (don't hold it down), hitting U to reach the shutdown menu, and then hitting U again to shut down.

Windows Key+Pause

Need a quick way to get to the Systems Properties menu without too much thought? Just press these two keys and you'll be brought right to it.

Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y

Undo an action by hitting Ctrl+Z; if you change your mind, Ctrl+Y will redo the undo.

Shift + Arrow Keys

Holding shift and pressing one of the arrow keys will highlight text in Word (or a group of Excel cells) without the mouse, selecting in the direction the arrow points.

Ctrl+U, Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I

This one's for Office newbies. It's a snap to underline, bold, and italicize without the mouse if you press Ctrl+U (underlining), Ctrl+B (bolding), or Ctrl+I (italicizing).

The Best Computer Tips and Tricks: Windows Vista

Advanced Screen Captures with the Snipping Tool

Leave the Prt Scrn key in the 1980s where it belongs. In the Accessories folder on the Start menu, you'll find Vista's Snipping Tool, which lets you capture just the part of the screen you want. Start it up, click and drag the mouse to outline the area you want to preserve, and release the mouse button. After you've snipped, you can draw on the image with a pen tool, highlight or erase certain portions, or save it to a file.

Display Multiple Clocks

If you're a frequent traveler or have friends or family in another time zone, you can set up Vista to display multiple clocks at once. Click on the clock in the Start bar, then click "Change date and time settings"¦," and then the Additional Clocks tab. Check the box next to "Show this clock" for each additional clock you want to add, then specify the time zone and display name for each clock. After you apply your changes by clicking OK, clicking on the clock in the Start bar will show you the clocks for every time zone you've selected.

Improve Program Access with Quick Launch

The Quick Launch toolbar doesn't get a lot of respect, but it's a great way to launch your regular apps faster. If the toolbar isn't visible, right-click on the Start bar, select Toolbars, click on Quick Launch to add it, and then drag programs or shortcuts to it. You can start programs instantly just by clicking or, better yet, use the Windows key. Windows key+1 will open the leftmost program, Windows key+2 the next one, and so on, up to 10 (the 10th opens with Windows key+0).

Windows Mobility Center

Sorry, desktop users, this one's just for the notebook folks. The Windows Mobility Center, which you access by pressing Windows key+X, gives you the opportunity to tweak all sorts of settings on your laptop, all in one convenient place. You can change your display brightness, adjust the volume, check your battery status, turn off wireless connectivity, switch your screen orientation, set up an external display, and more.

Find things now with Instant Search

You don't have to open up a special window to find the files or programs you're looking for. Just hit the Windows key or click the Start button and start typing—Vista will present you organized lists of the top files and programs that match the text you've entered. (If you want to see Vista's full findings, click on the "See all results" link at the bottom of the Instant Search window.)

Change Preinstalled Vista Features

If you don't think you'll ever use preset features like Remote Differential Compression, the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 XPS Viewer, or Windows Meeting Space—or if you really need a simple telnet client—it's easy to remove or add them. Go to the Control Panel, click on "Uninstall a program," and select "Turn Windows features on our off." Then just click on the checkboxes to add elements you need—and lose those you don't.

Maximize Performance

Not sure if your computer is operating at maximum efficiency? Vista can let you know for sure. Just check out the Reliability and Performance Monitor, which you'll find at Control Panel > System and Maintenance > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools > Generate a system health report. Windows will check your disk drives, drivers, services, software and hardware configuration, and more to give you a full accounting of what might be causing you trouble. If it finds a problem, it will explain it to you in detail and suggest how to resolve it.

The Best Computer Tips and Tricks: Windows XP

Control Inactive System Tray Icons

You don't have to hide or show all the icons in your system tray—you can control their disappearing acts. Right-click on the taskbar and select Properties. Click on the checkbox next to "Hide inactive icons" (if it's not checked by default), then click on the Customize button. For each item on this list, you can choose "Hide when inactive," "Always hide," or "Always show" options to decide what you'll see and when.

Fit More Icons on Your Desktop

If your screen is so cluttered with Word documents and program shortcuts that you can't see the rolling meadows of your wallpaper, you don't need to move piles of stuff to the Recycling Bin. Just change the amount of space between icons. Right-click on the desktop, select Properties, then click on the Appearance tab, and click the Advanced button. In the "Item" drop-down, scroll down to Icon Spacing (Horizontal) and Icon Spacing (Vertical); changing the value in the "Size" field will move icons closer together (while increasing the number will move them farther apart). When you're done, click OK. To make your existing icons follow these rules, right-click on the desktop, select "Arrange Icons By" and then click Align to Grid, then go back to the same menu and click "Auto Arrange."

Shut Down from Your Desktop

If you're trying to eliminate every extraneous mouse click, you can shut down your computer with an icon on the desktop. Right-click on your desktop, click "New," and then click "Shortcut." In the "Type the location of the item" field, type "shutdown -s -t 00" to give you a way to shut down the computer immediately. (Change the -s to -r to create a reboot shortcut instead.)

Change What Programs Start When Windows Does

You can prevent a lot of apps forcing Windows into chilled-molasses boot times—without uninstalling anything. Click Start, then "Run...," and type msconfig. This brings up the System Configuration Utility window. Click on the Startup tab to see a list of all the apps slated to start when you boot up Windows. Click the check mark next to any you don't want, and then click OK to save your choices.

Type With an Onscreen Keyboard

Whether you have trouble with your hands or you just prefer using the mouse, typing with Windows' onscreen keyboard can be a great convenience. Navigate to Start > All Programs > Accessories > Accessibility, and click "On-Screen Keyboard." Click OK to clear the dialogue box and then start "typing"—you can even change the settings to "press" keys just by hovering your mouse over the letter you want (enable this feature by selecting "Typing Mode" from the Settings menu).

No-wait Screen Savers

Don't want to wait for your screen saver to kick in? Create a shortcut to it just as you would for any other program by hitting Windows key + F to search your computer and click on "All files and folders." Type "*.scr" in the "All or part of the file name" field to find every screen saver file on your computer. In the resulting list, right-click and drag the screen saver you want to your desktop. Whenever you want it to start, just double-click its icon.

Change the Refresh rate of your Graphics Adapter

Refresh rate of your monitor determines how fast the screen if updated. Generally, the higher refresh rate monitor can support, the better. Optimum refresh rates can be set manually for a flicker-free display. If Windows hasn't already configured it. Right-click on the Desktop, click on Properties and open Settings > Advanced > Adapter. Depending on your graphics card and monitor, you will get different choice for the refresh rate. Click on Apply after setting the appropriate refresh rate. Click through the warning message to change the refresh rate. If, for some reason the display becomes garbled, don't do anything, Windows will restore the original refresh rate.

Window and menu Animations

One of the desktop enhancements built into windows is the animation displayed when you minimize and maximize windows or when displaying menus. Disabling this makes navigating Windows a lot faster. Open the Desktop Properties dialog by right-clicking any blank area of the desktop and clicking on Properties. Disable Animate windows, menus and lists form the Effects tab.

Bitmap as icons

You can preview bitmaps (.BMP files) as icons in Explorer instead of the default icon of the application it is associated with. Open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_ CLASSES_ROOT\Paint.Picture\DefaultIcon. Double-click the Default string and change it's value to '%1' (without quotes). Close the Registry Editor and restart windows.

Select your Monitor

Select your Monitor 

Windows might not always detect your Monitor accurately. This affects display and refresh rates. To select your monitor manually:

• Right-click on the Desktop.
• Choose Properties from the context menu. On the Settings tab press Advanced button. Select the Monitor tab. If your monitor is not listed (correctly) here, click on Change.
• Select your Monitor form the list, or if you have a driver disk for your monitor, select have Disk.
• Click Apply, and follow any other instructions on screen.

Trace the route

A great utility included with Windows is a program called Trace Route. Open a DOS window and type tracert <location name>. The location name can be any IP address or Internet domain like tracert .The program will then trace the route from your Internet service provider to that locating, and show you every server along the way. This could be useful for when you can't connect to a site it will show you if some server is down along the way.

Assigning passwords to folders in win 98 and 2000

Right-click on empty space in the folder which you want to protect and
select CUSTOMIZE THIS FOLDER, then choose CREATE HTML DOCUMENT FOR THIS
FOLDER. Once the document is opened in Notepad, scroll down until you see
<script language>="JavaScript"> Insert a blank line after this string.
Then insert the following text.

var pass = prompt("Enter the password")
if(pass != "YOURPASSWORD")
{window.location="C:"}
Hit the Enter key on your keyboard

Put a password in the place of YOURPASSWORD but leave the quotes. Save the
document, exit Notepad,
refresh the folder (or hit F5), enter your new password, and the next time
you try to enter that folder,
you'll be prompted for your password. If you enter a wrong password you'll
end up in C: drive!

This works on Windows 98 and 2000.

Tool Tips

To disable ToolTips in Windows, open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Control Panel\Desktop. Double-click User Preference mask and change its value to 3E 00 00 00. Chose the Registry Editor and restart Windows.

Clean Desktop

To hide all the icons on your Desktop, open the Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft \Current Version\Policies\Explorer. Add a DWORD value and name it NoDesktop. Change it's value to 1. Close the Registry Editor and restart Windows.

Automatic maintenance

The Windows Maintenance Wizard can automate a lot of routine system maintenance tasks. To open this wizard, choose Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Maintenance Wizard. It sets up the Task Scheduler to regularly run Scandisk, Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup.

MS Office memory hoggers

A typical installation of MS Office installs Find Fast, an indexing utility that loads at startup. This hogs system resources by regularly indexing the entire hard disk(s). You can improve performance of your computer by removing Find Fast form your Startup folder. To reclaim the space used by the Find Fast index, open Control Panel > Find Fast, select your hard drives(s) and form the Index menu, click on Delete Index. When you've deleted your Index, click on Close and Stop form the Index menu. Another item installed in the Startup folder is named Microsoft Office. This does nothing apart from loading all MS Office libraries at startup to speed up launching of any Office applications. Since this is not necessary, you can delete this shortcut, too.

Restart only Windows

When restarting Windows, you don't always need to go to thought the BIOS initialization and POST. Instead of simple clicking on Restart form the Shut Down Windows dialog box, help down the Shift key as you click on OK. This will restart only Windows. This is particularly useful when you change some registry entries or a few system settings.

Improve Removable Disk Drive Performance
Windows gives you the option to use write-behind caching to improve the performance of removable disk drivers.

• Open control Panel > System > Performance and click on File System.
• Check the Enable write-behind caching on all removable disk drives check box under the removable Disk tab and click OK

Note: If this result in a problem with disk operations, uncheck the Enable write-behind caching on all removable disk drives check box.

Dummy entries in Add/Remove Programs list

Sometimes, even after program are uninstalled, or due to the files being deleted instead of a uninstalled, the entry in the Add/Remove Programs list does not get deleted. To remove it form the list: 1. Start the Registry Editor. 2. Open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion\Uninstall. 3. Delete the program entry here. You can also use TweakUI to do this.