GuruNews, Volume 9 Number 28, 8-7-09

Fri Aug 7 18:03:01 PDT 2009

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Vol. 9, No. 28                           

8-7-09

1 Windows XP self-help tools:  The Final Chapter  

2 What happens if I click this?

3 WiFi allergy a hoax, omnipresent files, Windows 7, and again, Gmail ad killer, Google Voice for the active military

4 Protect your files

5 Evil cookie killer

We’ll finish up this week with new uses for our old friends Task Manager and MSConfig.  We all know the former (also known lovingly as “The three-finger salute”) for its ability to kill stubborn programs that stop responding, and the latter’s Startup tab has been mentioned hundreds of times for cleaning out unneeded programs that insist on starting with Windows.  Both, however, are capable of much more.

The Startup tab in MSConfig is quite powerful when coupled with a list of files you might find there (like the one at the excellent and searchable http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php site).  WinAmp, 19 IM programs and HP Update will slow your computer to a crawl.

Those other tabs at the top have uses as well, although we seldom mention them. 

On the General tab you can disable or enable all the startups in one fell swoop.  This is very useful to help with trouble shooting an error or lockup when booting to Normal mode.  You can also launch System Restore from the General tab, which allows you to “roll back” Windows to an earlier date if you install a program that causes problems.

The Tools tab gives easy access to many hidden tools in addition to the ones we’ve mentioned.  Things like IPConfig to check you IP address, refresh your connection and clean your DNS cache in case of bad entries.  System Information displays lots of things about your PC including your Windows version, motherboard manufacturer, amount of RAM, processor speed and more.

The Services and .INI tabs allow access to advanced settings so poke around in those very carefully if you must but don’t change anything you aren’t familiar with.  The consequences could be costly.

Task Manager, on the other hand, can crash the system if used improperly but won’t do any permanent damage.

To open Task Manager hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys and tap Del.  If you’ve ever owned a computer you are, of course, intimately familiar with this tool to kill a program that stops responding or to even reboot the PC.

You can accomplish both of those from the Applications tab.  The Processes tab shows not programs but services running.  Things like Antivirus protection, update monitors and Windows components show up in here.

You’ll notice the display looks completely different on the Processes tab but the most useful is probably the CPU column.  It basically shows the amount of processor time being actively used by different things.  Most items show very small numbers, like 00 or 01.  System Idle Time is just that, the percentage of CPU cycles doing nothing.

If you notice your system periodically slows down or momentarily hangs now and then, pop this up and keep an eye on it for spikes in the CPU column.  Look for a program you just started if you suspect that, or open it full screen and just watch it if the problem is spontaneous.  This will likely point out the problem and give you a place to start looking for a solution.

The other tabs are pretty useless to most average users but you can watch some nice real-time graphical usage readouts if you’re into that sort of thing ;)

With the Tools tab in MSConfig that should cover most of the little hidden tools you never knew were there so we’ll call this series a wrap. 

Who knows where we’ll end up next week…

Kevin Mefford, Editor

pcguru at microdome.net

Terry Wise

www.ratland.com

Tech News of the Week

First, a mea culpa.  Seems like you and I and the rest of the Internet got duped with the 'Allergic to Wi-Fi' story.  The stench was strong coming off that one, but it's the sort of weird news I like: 

http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/07/there-is-no-wifi-allergy-newspapers-misreport-pr-as-science.ars

Second, team member Carmine e-mails in with a nifty gadget that he found while scouring the Internet.  It's perfect for the person that needs their files everywhere but doesn't want to carry them around all the time, and doesn't need anything sophisticated:

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/product/60793/review/pogoplug.html

Windows 7 has been released to manufacturing.  In my limited use of it, it really looks like Microsoft has cleaned up their act from the Vista debacle.  Here's a very thorough list of what you are likely to see in the upcoming operating system:

http://www.winsupersite.com/win7/

And for a detailed review of 7:

http://crave.cnet.co.uk/software/0,39029471,49303203,00.htm

If you use GMail, you have noticed the ads on the side.  There's supposedly an algorithm that determines if there are too many negative words in the body, and if there are, it removes the ads.  Looks like people have figured it out:

http://gizmodo.com/5330659/magic-spell-kills-all-ads-in-gmail

And if you know someone in the military that would love to get to hear some familiar voices, point them the way of this last link.  Google's opened their Google Voice service to the men and women that are serving our country, and it will help them hear from some of the people they have had to leave back home.

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/audio-care-packages-for-service-members.html

Fill us in on the best you find on the web!

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

Download of the Week

Do you have files that you want to keep private?  Files with tax information, banking information or something similar might be considered.  Androsa FileProtector lets you encrypt and password protect any file on your hard disk so that only those with the proper password will be able to read them. It uses powerful encryption algorithms, including AES(Advanced Encryption Standard) 256 bit/192 bit/128 bit, TripleDES (Data Encryption Standard) 192 bit, and DES 64 bit. It offers plenty more as well. You can compress the files as you encrypt them, to save on hard disk space. Get AFP v1.4.4 here: 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Security/Encrypting/Androsa-FileProtector.shtml 

Carlita Lupino

Cards57 at gmail.com 

Email Question of the Week

Q:  I just spent some time removing unwanted cookies from my computer with vista. I'm sure there are plenty of hidden cookies somewhere else, how do I find them and remove them?

A:  Posted today from the folks over at Lifehacker and the How-To Geek, they have suggested a program to do just what you are asking.  Please take a look at Cookienator, which is profiled here:

http://lifehacker.com/5332032/cookienator-cleans-up-questionable-cookies  

I have downloaded and tried it out.  It seems to do what it says on the tin, and seems to work rather well. 

Hope this helps, and please let me know if you need anything else.

Daniel A. Williams

daniel at thepcgurus.com

Contact info and legal stuff

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