Keeping your computer cool is essential when it comes to keeping your computer running at it’s optimal performance. Here is a quick article that will help you keep your computer cool. If you need help with your computer’s heat, check out Hughes PC

Have you ever forgotten your Windows 7 password? It happens to the best of us, well if it happens to you, use this article to change your existing password without knowing it. For more help with your computer trouble contact Hughes PC.

You’ve done everything you’re supposed to do. You have an up to date antivirus, you update Windows automatically, you do not participate in Peer to Peer network file sharing, and you never open email attachments. Yet you were still infected by a virus and it was hell to remove. Now that it’s gone, you suddenly realize you can’t connect to Internet after virus removal.

The following will help you regain your Internet after a virus removal has broken it.

Check Your Web Browser Settings

One of the ways a virus is able to re-direct your browser is to set up a Proxy Server connection. You need to make sure your web browser is configured properly. Otherwise, you’ll receive the familiar “Internet Explorer Cannot Display The Webpage” error. Do the following to look for a proxy server connection:

• Open IE
• Click Tools, Internet Options and then the Connections Tab
• LAN Settings
• Uncheck Proxy Server box if checked

If a proxy server was setup, you should be able to connect to the Internet after you apply the change.

Repair Corrupt WinSock

Unfortunately, a corrupt Winsock usually follows the removal of some insidious viruses. You will need to take steps to repair it. In WIndows 7, you can click the “diagnose connection” option.

In Control Panel>Network and Sharing>Change Adapter Settings. Right-click your connections and select “Diagnose.” It might state there is a damaged Winsock and attempt repair it.

If it cannot repair it, you will need to manually edit the registry to fix the problem. The concept is to remove the Winsock entries and then re-install the TCP/IP protocol.

Fix Winsock By Editing The Registry

You will want to first backup the registry by creating a System Restore point. Go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore and create a restore point.

Next, open the registry by going to Start and typing regedit in the run dialog box. Hit OK. If a box pops up asking for permission, say YES. You should now be in the registry.

Note: doing something wrong in the registry can break your computer. Proceed with caution.

1. In Registry Editor, navigate to locate the following keys, right-click each key, and then click Delete:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Winsock2
2. When prompted to confirm the deletion, click Yes.

Note Restart the computer after you delete the Winsock keys. Doing so causes the Windows Operating System to create new entries for those two keys. If you do not restart the computer after you delete the Winsock keys, the next step does not work properly.

Step 2: Install TCP/IP

1. Right-click the network connection, and then click Properties.
2. Click Install.
3. Click Protocol, and then click Add.
4. Click Have Disk.
5. Type C:\Windows\inf, and then click OK.
6. On the list of available protocols, click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and then click OK.
7. Restart the computer.

The above steps should help you repair your browser and / or your corrupt winsock if you can’t connect to Internet after virus removal. If you need further assistance, please join our free computer repair forums for detailed help if you still can’t connect to the Internet.

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Tagged as: Internet, online, Security, virus

Even though you have done everything you were told to do to protect your computer from viruses, it is still possible to contract a virus on your computer. Use this article to check your setting to further enhance you internet security settings. If you are having virus or other computer related issues, call Hughes PC and let us know how we can help you.

Happy anniversary Basit and Amjad! Twenty-five years ago this month, the Alvi brothers of Lahore, Pakistan, gave the world the Brain Virus, the first bit of malware capable of infecting a DOS-based PC. Back in those relatively innocent times, the brothers actually embedded their real names and business address in the code and later told Time magazine they had written the virus to protect their medical software from piracy.

Who knows what they were really thinking, but by all accounts the Brain Virus was relatively harmless. Twenty-five years later, most malware is anything but benign and cyber criminals pull off exploits the Alvi brothers never envisioned.

Slideshow: Quiz: Separate Cyber Security Fact From Fiction7 Cybercrime Facts Executives Need to Know

No longer just a way to make a political point or demonstrate one’s technical prowess, malware has become a useful tool in the bag of tricks bad guys use to steal from consumers and institutions alike. And just as big-time drug dealers and many criminal gangs now mimic the ways of legitimate business, hackers have begun to do the same.

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One particularly disturbing trend coming to light in this anniversary month is the production and online sale of “kits” that allow relatively unskilled hackers to create and launch malware attacks. And by “kit” I really do mean a kit. “Attack toolkits are bundles of malicious code tools used to facilitate the launch of concerted and widespread attacks on networked computers. Also known as crimeware, these kits are usually composed of prewritten malicious code for exploiting vulnerabilities along with various tools to customize, deploy, and automate widespread attacks,” according to a recent report by Symantec.

Marc Fossi, a development manager for the giant security company, says attack kits are selling on the Web from $40 or $50 to about $4000. Some hackers peddling the higher-end kits even offer online support and subscription services, so customers can get updated versions of the malware. Symantec has also observed advertisements offering to help install and set up purchased attack kits for a fee. “It’s like a mirror of the legitimate software business,” he says.

Here are six reasons to be concerned:

1. Attack kits make it easier for relatively unsophisticated hackers to launch an attack. That’s not to say that any computer-illiterate bozo could successfully use one of these kits, but it’s much easier than building a virus or other malware from the ground up, says Fossi.

2. The prevalence, simplicity and effectiveness of the attack kits are contributing to an upward spike in cybercrime. For example, one major kit called ZeuS accounted for more than 90,000 unique malicious code variants as of August 2009. That’s 90,000 different malware applications; the number of computers attacked by ZeuS is in the millions. Not coincidentally, ZeuS is designed primarily to steal financial details, such as the online banking credentials of a victim. Its ease of use and ability to generate income makes it an appealing purchase for even novice cybercriminals.

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You can never be too careful when it comes to security and your computer. It sucks to think that there are ready made kits for hackers to buy, that are ready for launch and infect your computer with a virus or a Trojan.

I personally have to pick my iPad. It is just as useful as a netbook or laptop, but more compact and user friendly. But I think if I had to choose a laptop or netbook, I would choose the netbook. I say this because I like portability, and the netbook is smaller and easy to carry around, the down side is that you still have to carry it in a bag to keep it from getting damaged. Respond and let me know what you think.

Making a budget and sticking to it is a popular new year’s resolution–and like so many others, the task is easier said than done. But if you’re serious about managing your money, the Web continues to offer new sites and services that can help put your finances in order.

All are built around downloading and categorizing transaction data from banks and other financial institutions where you have online access to your accounts. Since all budgets involve setting spending limits for various types of expenses, categorizing transactions is key to helping you see where your money is going.

The sites differ, however, in the manner in which they present the data and in what tools they provide to help you set up and live by a budget. The latest features include spending recommendations based on your location, income, and other personal information, as well as mobile apps that keep you posted when you’re not at a computer.

Here’s a look at how five popular Web-based budgeting services perform.

Mint

Mint makes it easy to see if you’re busting your budget.

Probably the best known Web-based personal finance manager is Mint.com, which in the wake of its acquisition by Intuit has become that company’s online alternative to Quicken desktop software. Mint prides itself on its huge roster of supported financial institutions–some 15,000, according to founder Aaron Patzer–and its automatic sorting of transactions into more than 100 different categories. You can also create custom categories.

Mint analyzes transaction data to tell you where your money has gone in the past six months, and it uses handsome, slick graphics to illustrate how your spending stacks up against that of other people in your geographic region. It also has calculators to help you save toward specific goals; for example, it can figure out how much you’d need to sock away each month to have enough for a down payment on a house in three years.

As for budget creation, Mint, like other services, will suggest spending limits in categories you specify based on historical data. You’re on your own for adjusting those limits, but Mint will work with you to hold to them.

“Most people have a few problem categories that they want to watch,” Patzer says. To assist you, Mint can send alerts via e-mail, text message, or its iPhone or Android apps if you’re approaching or hitting a spending target for, say, restaurant or entertainment expenses, or any other category you specify.

Pros: Has great graphics; automatically categorizes expenses; integrates with a huge number of financial institutions; mobile and e-mail alerts

Cons: Not great for identifying itemized deductions; the best you can do is create tags that identify the line-item transactions

Bundle

Bundle analyzes your expenses and includes an iPhone app to track vices.

One of the newer services, Bundle, focuses squarely on budgeting through a combination of features, including analyzing your recent expenditures and looking at demographic data to show how other people in your situation are spending their money.

You can specify the categories for which you wish to create budgets; Bundle will then show you the benchmarks it comes up with, which you can adjust as you see fit. I liked Bundle’s categorization system, which by default shows only top-level categories but displays subcategories if you want to see them.

On the mobile side, Bundle’s cutely named ViceTracker iPhone app can help you monitor splurges in real time, but it seems designed more for sharing your activity with friends via Facebook than for serving as a full-blown cash manager. Nevertheless, Bundle’s graphics–both on the site and in the app–one-up Mint’s by displaying your expenditures by category as appropriately sized, bouncing colored bubbles that you can click to view transactions.

Pros: Great graphics and categorization system; includes demographic data; iPhone app tracks vices

Cons: iPhone app more friendly for Facebook fun than for money management

Buxfer

Geekier users seeking robust mobile support might like Buxfer, another relatively young service. One of its more unusual features is that it can update your accounts through SMS text messages sent via Twitter. You must register your mobile device with Twitter to do this; you also have to learn a set of message formats that might stymie nontechies.

For example, you might send coffee 5.45 tags:drinks,coffee acct:amex in a message. Buxfer’s translation: You spent $5.45 on coffee from your ‘AmEx’ account and want to attach the tags ‘drinks’ and ‘coffee’ to it. Other message formats let you check account balances, see how you’re doing on budget targets, or report transfers or income.

Buxfer offers a lot for mobile budgeting.

If you prefer not to rack up text-message charges, you can send these formatted messages to your personal e-mail address at buxfer.com. Buxfer also provides mobile sites for the iPhone (i.buxfer.com) and for BlackBerry handsets and other smartphones (m.buxfer.com).

Buxfer calls its categories “tags” because you can assign multiple categories to a transaction. This feature can be useful, but it might also lead to confusion at tax time. For instance, I’d be worried about duplicating deductions.

You can edit the tags that Buxfer creates automatically (I had to change a good number of them), and then create rules for tags to save time with recurring transactions. In my tests, however, tag editing sometimes seemed to go slowly.

Buxfer also offers some unusual social networking features, intended to facilitate money transfers between friends or groups of people, such as roommates who share expenses. For those features to work, though, your friends or colleagues must also sign up with Buxfer.

The basic, free account is somewhat more limited than most: It won’t track brokerage accounts or let you set spending limits for multiple tags without upgrading to a paid version. Fortunately the charges aren’t too high, ranging from $2.79 to $3.79 a month.

I had some problems setting up my Charles Schwab checking account on Buxfer, probably because it’s linked to a brokerage account (Buxfer kept sending messages saying that I needed to upgrade my account to one that supported investments). However, installing the free Buxfer Firefox add-on, Firebux, solved the problem.

Pros: Unique mobile features work with SMS and Twitter; social networking integration

Cons: Basic account somewhat limited; categories and tags might be confusing

Next page: Two more tools to keep your budget on track

I personally prefer mint.com to the others. I have used it on my PC, phone and the iPad. It is great in linking all your financial accounts together.