My Dell Latitude notebook
running Windows 10 with 8GB RAM and a 500GB hard
drive is less than three years old, but seems like
it's much much older. It seems to be slower by the
day, takes minutes to boot up and will just freeze
up for no reason. Even though I run anti-virus I'm
concerned I have a nasty virus or even malware.
I've tried some of tricks that I read about
online. I don't trust these apps that say they
will speed up my PC. Can you make a
suggestion?
- Jules N. Brentwood, CA |
Well, you're not alone. What you
need to do is repair and optimize your Windows
operating system. However, this can be a challenge
for even an expert. This is why we strongly urge
folks to use a safe PC diagnostic and repair
program named Reimage. This easy
to use program will save you the time and risk of
reinstalling Windows. Reimage's free scan
will quickly and safely scan your system for all
sorts of problems, like corrupt files, a deep
hidden virus, malware and even browser injections.
After the scan, Reimage will repair
the damage found on your PC with their patented
technology that repairs your Windows OS with a
robust database of replacement files. Reimage's award
winning technology actually reverses the damage
done to your Windows operating system.
» Download Reimage
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My good friend told me
about how her personal identity was compromised by
on-line identity thieves. She explained how they
can follow me using digital fingerprinting. Is it
true that this happens to the majority of web
users? And doesn't my anti-virus prevent this?
Most importantly, how can I protect myself from
this terrible invasion of privacy?
- Douglas M., Columbus, OH |
|
Yes, your friend is 100% correct.
Thousands of online companies secretly monitor
close to everything you do online. This nefarious
activity is known as "Digital
Fingerprinting". The companies can sell and
share your personal whereabouts and activity to
others in order to influence your daily online
life and decisions. They are experts that know
where the information is stored on your system,
and they want it. Sadly, anti-virus software does
not help with this problem. To protect yourself,
we recommend you use an app named TrackOFF. The
privacy experts at TrackOFF prevent
nasty data miners from obtaining and stealing
information about you and your family (age,
religion, work and school), your finances (income,
debt, credit, loans, bank accounts) and web
history (articles, videos, shopping). Try TrackOFF's free
online scan to see the digital tracks you leave
behind and protect yourself in minutes.
» Download
TrackOFF |
I get so many different
opinions from so many different people that I
thought you would be my final expert answer to
this age-old question: Should I leave the computer
on all the time or shut it off when not in use?
Two computers are in question, one being my home
computer with intermittent use daily, and the
other is used about every two weeks on average?
- Mike R., Culver City, CA |
|
It really comes down to your
person preference. Don't worry about factors like
if turning off the system too many times will hard
the components. It isn't recommended, however, to
leave BOTH computers on all the time. To conserve
energy, power off the systems and unplug them when
not in use. Personally, I don't like to wait for
my system to boot up, so I rarely shut my system
down. Instead, I have it set to turn off the
display after 10 minutes of inactivity and enter
sleep mode after 15 minutes. The computer wakes up
much faster from sleep mode compared with a cold
start, but the downside is it may be a little
sluggish if lots of programs are left open. An
occasional reboot solves that.
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Driver Tip:
Prevent a Driver or Update From Being Installed
from Windows Update
Sometimes a Windows driver from
Windows Update doesn't work right, and you want to
roll back to the previous driver. The problem
with that is that Windows will just go ahead and
install that update again later. So what can we
do?
Just uninstalling drivers or
updates won't prevent them from being installed
again. There's no way to "hide" an update or block
updates from within Windows itself, but Microsoft
provides a downloadable tool to do this. It's
intended for temporarily hiding buggy or otherwise
problematic updates while they don't work properly
on your system.
Download and run the "Show or hide
updates" troubleshooter for Windows 10 from
Microsoft, which you can download here.
When you run this troubleshooter,
it will search for available updates and allow you
to "hide" them, preventing Windows from
automatically installing them. In the future, you
can run this troubleshooter again and unhide the
updates when you want to install them.
» Perform a driver scan
now!
PC Performance
Tip: How Can I Speed Up My PC?
Do
you wonder why your PC appears to get slower as
you use it? Well, you're not imagining this, it's
true. It's more of a Windows issue. Over time,
especially while downloading and updating software
and surfing the web, you involuntarily collect
junk. This kills PC performance. Take a minute and
run eSupport.com's free PC Scan and fix your
PC.
» Perform
a PC performance scan now!
BIOS Tip -
Securing Your BIOS
Many people do not
know it, but your computers BIOS can become
infected with malware. The most famous was the
Chernobyl virus back in the 90's. These days,
there is less of a chance of this happening, but
it is much better to be safe than sorry. There is
a way to make sure your BIOS is secure and to
protect it from any potential malware
infections.
The first step in your safety plan
is to protect your BIOS with an administrator
password that must be entered before a BIOS update
can occur. Boot or reboot your PC. While it's
starting up, repeatedly tap the 'DEL,' 'F1,' or
whatever other special key is required to launch
the BIOS. This information is typically displayed
onscreen during the boot process, although it
might not be immediately obvious. This text, for
instance, appears verbatim at the bottom of the
screen for just a few moments after we start our
computer.
Once your BIOS setup menu is
loaded, look for the menu item that enables you to
set up a password. There might be more than one.
It may be listed as SET SUPERVISOR PASSWORD or
SECURITY OPTIONS.
Select the menu item for creating
the password and enter a password (usually twice,
to verify what you typed the first time). If you
think you might have trouble remembering the
password later, as you'll access your BIOS
infrequently, make sure you write it down
somewhere.
Save your BIOS changes and your
computer will reboot. From here on out you'll need
to enter this password before any changes can be
made to your BIOS, ensuring malware will have a
harder time harming your PC.
» Perform
a BIOS scan now!
Duck Duck
Go |
Don't allow
your browser to follow you online and track your
behavior. Switch to DuckDuckGo and take back your
privacy! They don't store your personal info. They
don't follow you around with ads. They don't track
you. Ever. Go to : https://duckduckgo.com
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"Things work out best for those who make the
best of how things work out."
- John Wooden |
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Broke |
ThisIsWhyImBroke is an electronic magazine
dedicated to 'unique window-shopping' and unusual
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site is a wonderful compilation of ingenuity,
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per hour.
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Xertz
To gulp down quickly and greedily,
like a glutton.
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Unshorten
This browser extension
automatically expands a shortened link when you
click on it. No need to copy and paste or right
click. If a shortened link is detected, unshorten
will expand the link and inform you of the
destination. Unshorten also runs a check on the
URL to see if it is known to be malicious and
strips any known tracking
cookies. |
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