Friday, July 18, 2008

Clean this computer - Slow PC? Let's fix that.

Let's take a look at what we can do to make your PC quicker & more secure.

Visit the Microsoft Update website often.

Security patches, which are released on the second Tuesday of each month, are the first line of defense against badware, aka Malicious Software.

http://update.microsoft.com

Clear Registry errors & remove items from startup to speed up your PC.
Download & install CCleaner.

To clean the Registry:

Open CCleaner, click 'Registry' & 'Scan for Issues'.
Once the scan completes, click 'Fix selected issues'.
You will be prompted: "Do you want to backup changes to the registry?"
Select YES and save the .reg to your C:\ for easy reference. In the event that something goes wrong, running the .reg file will re-apply the changes made w/ ccleaner.
On the next screen, click 'Fix All Selected Issues'.
'Are you sure you want to Fix all selected Issues? 'OK', 'Close'.


To Clean the Startup:
Open CCleaner, click 'Tools', Startup.
Click a program that you do not want to start when Windows Boots & click 'Delete Entry'. You will be prompted: "This will permanently remove this startup entry for the program. Are you sure you want to do this?" OK or Cancel.
* Carefully select the items to delete from startup. Don't delete anything without first knowing what it is.

Do you have an Anti Virus...Is it up to date?
If you have no Anti Virus software or outdated anti virus software that wants a ransom to update the virus definitions, you need Avast.

After installing Avast, allow the software to scan your PC at the next restart. Avast will clean your PC of viruses/trojans & it updates free daily.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

IE opens websites in Firefox...



Internet Explorer is opening all websites typed into the address bar with Firefox instead!


This problem had me scratching my head.
The PC in question had Windows XP Pro SP2 w/ IE7 installed & had an issue updating to XP SP3. The PC Blue Screened but I didn't bother to write down the BSOD error message. Now being stuck in a constant reboot cycle forced a repair from the Windows XP SP2 disc, which results in IE6 being reinstalled & the forementioned problem of IE opening all links within Firefox. Documented below is the fix for the IE portion of this problem.

If firefox opens websites you typed within the IE address bar, this may be the fix for you too.

1. Close IE.
2. Click Start, Run & type: regedit
3. Search under: HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT until you find the
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\ {c90250f3-4d7d-4991-9b69-a5c5bc1c2ae6} entry & delete it.
4. Click Start, Run & type: c:\program files\internet explorer
5. Right click on "ieproxy.dll" & select rename. Add ".bak" to the filename.

* If IE is opened after deleting the registry entry but before renaming (or deleting) ieproxy.dll, the registry entry is re-created & the fix will not work.

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Please post a comment if this helps to resolve your ' Firefox opening IE URLs' problem.
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For additional information concerning this issue, see:
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/12/16/504864.aspx