6. Test the health of the hard drive

The hard drive is where all of your computer's data is stored. Unfortunately, like everything inside or connected to your PC, these will, overtime, degrade and eventually fail.

Before a drive fails entirely though, it will give you tell-tale signs of impending doom in the form of sluggish performance, louder than standard operation and, if bad sectors have developed on its storage platter, ‘clicking' sounds. If you've noticed any of these, it's best to try and first back-up all essential data and then run a check to test the drive's health. Before you get cracking however, we recommend disabling any non-essential software.

To check your drive's health, double click on ‘Computer' and then right click on the drive - that you want to run a check on - and select ‘Properties'. Now, click the ‘Tools' tab and then hit ‘Check Now'. Make sure to un-tick the ‘Automatically fix file system errors' but tick the ‘Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors' option boxes. Once done, hit ‘Start'.

This process could take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours (depending on the health and size of the drive). If problems are detected, we recommend - if you haven't already - first trying to back-up your essential data before allowing the app to try and fix the issues. If a problem is detected and cannot be corrected however, it's a sure fire sign the drive is close to failing completely.

Posted by Annette King in Virus & AntiVirus News at 16:05

If your PC has fallen ill and you want to get it back into running condition, read on as WINDOWS talks you through 10 ways to nurse your PC back to health...

1. Install security software

If your computer is giving you random problems and crashing or is even performing poorly, the first port of call when it comes to recovering is to check for viruses, Trojans, malware and more. To do this, you'll need to get hold of security software. Keep in mind however that these days it is better to have a fully-fledged suite that includes antivirus, antispyware and a firewall rather than investing in a single antivirus-only package.

You can buy a complete security suite from various vendors [such as ESET]. These are easy to install and make it quite simple for novice users to maintain a smooth running rig that's free from trouble.

There are also free alternatives available for download which perform the same functions. The bottom line is that if your computer is unprotected, you need to install a security suite immediately. If something is not quite right with the running of your system, run a scan, and you might just detect something malicious - whether it's a virus, Trojan or other mal-ware.

Posted by Annette King in Virus & AntiVirus News at 16:59

New List Provides Practical Tips and Tricks for Getting More Mileage from your PC Investment

Now more than ever, consumers are trying to make their dollar go further. The generally accepted practice of replacing PCs every 2-3 years is no longer the norm. Avoiding viruses, spyware and popups are one of many ways consumers can extend the life of their PC into a fourth, fifth and even a sixth year.

PCLive.com, a provider of instant online computer support services for consumers, has released its top ten practical tips users can employ now to extend the life of their PC. The list was provided by Dan Gookin, author of the PCs for Dummies book series. Gookin regularly posts tips and topics surrounding consumers’ common, everyday PC hassles on PCLive’s blog For PC’s Sake. Gookin’s top ten list features the following tips:

Posted by Annette King in Virus & AntiVirus News at 16:27

A group of researches on Tuesday said 637 million Web users are surfing with outdated Internet browsers and therefore at greater risk of Web-based attacks.

Using data collected from Google Web searches and security firm Secunia, the researchers, Stefan Frei (of ETH, Zurich), Thomas Dübendorfer (Google), Gunter Ollmann (IBM ISS), and Martin May (ETH, Zurich), analyzed the browsers used in a new report (PDF). They did so in an effort to understand why so many recent attacks by criminal hackers have been aimed at the browser, and why those attacks have been so successful.

Overall the authors found that roughly 40 percent of users were using insecure versions of Web browsers. Among the least compliant were users of Internet Explorer, which currently dominates the Internet browser market.

The data was collected in mid-June 2008. The users were scattered among 78 percent Internet Explorer users, 16 percent Firefox, 3 percent Safari, and 0.8 percent for Opera. Of these, 52 percent were running the latest version of Internet Explorer, 92 percent for Firefox, 70 percent for Apple, and 90 percent for Opera.

Posted by Annette King in Virus & AntiVirus News at 16:56