After a recent email newsletter article on securing your wireless network, Clif (of the Clif Notes Newsletter that I enjoy) wrote to yank my leg a little and to ask:

Hi Terry,

I appreciate your tips on securing the router. Most of the wifis in my neighborhood are wide open. That’s nice when my cable goes out and my neighbor’s dsl is still running … I just hop on the neighbor’s wifi for a quick ride. Do you think I should tell them?

I use a different method to secure my wifi. I use a “trusted stations” list in my router that only allows PCs with a MAC address that I’ve entered there. My network looks wide open, but they can’t log onto it.

How does that sound?

Clif

Clif already knows my thoughts about open networks and why they should be closed — that’s why he included a grinning smiley face. While an open wireless network can be handy for use by others, there are security risks for both the network operator and the person connecting through the open network.

Continue reading Security versus the Open Wireless Network

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I recently made some boot changes to a notebook computer that resulted in a remarkable increase in the boot speed.

It was a small, light Sony — one of the 12-inch monitor models.

Tech Humor
With notebooks, you can get small, light, fast and cheap.
Pick any two…

In this particular case, the notebook took 4.5 minutes to boot, and it’s owner wanted it to be much faster.

I referred to my favorite tool to get his boot process under control — Winpatrol Plus.

Continue reading Speeding Up the Windows Boot Process

I’ve found a great tool that examines my computer to make sure that it has the latest updates of the most common software packages — not all the updates, but the security updates for the versions I’m runninng.

It’s called Secunia Software Inspector, from the Danish security firm Secunia (www.secunia.com).

Secunia offers three versions of its software inspectors:

* Secunia Software Inspector — scan on-line (free)
* Secunia PSI — download version for personal use (free)
* Secunia Network Software Inspector — the full-featured product.

Quoting Secunia’s FAQ:

# What’s the difference between the Secunia PSI and the Secunia Software Inspector (the online version)?

The Secunia Software Inspector identifies about 40 of the most common applications, while the Secunia PSI can identify over 4,200.

Contine reading A Look Inside Secunia Software Inspector

If you’ve been using computers for any length of time, you’ve had the problem.

Maybe you haven’t had a hard drive fail, yet, but you’ve managed to delete or overwrite one of your data files with a changed version — and immediately said “Oh, NO!”

Most people have the problem and have no way to recover a copy of their older version. But you can, if you make a habit of backing up your data.

Karen’s Replicator ( www.karenware.com ) is a great program that I use for making backup copies of my data files. With Replicator, I can schedule backups of any modified files as often as I like. I can back up to a different directory on my hard drive, to a different hard drive (internal or external) or even to a directory on a shared drive across my home network.

By scheduling a daily backup of my data files, I know that…

Continue reading Data Backup versus System Backup

I’ve had reasons to do some Windows Registry repairs a few times. Fortunately, I found Optimize 2.0 and bought a license.

It’s come in handy for routine maintenance and cleanup of my registry, and optimizes my computer and Internet connection, too.

Read my Optimize 2.0 Review – Five Months Later Review –
or download Optimize 2.0 now to try the trial scan!

More new articles added this week to Terry’s Computer Tips:

Longtime subscriber M.Y. Choy wrote to ask, after a recent email newsletter article “Should I Choose Vista or Windows XP?”:

Dear Terry, the above topic appeared on your 13 May Newsletter.

Unfortunately, I have already switched to Vista and have found this problem i.e. after installing Acronis Disk Director Suite V.10 successfully, I cann’t start the program. Vista “said” that:- “E000101F4: Not enough privileges. You do not have enough privileges to start Acronis Disk Director Suite”

Why Vista allowed us to install the program but denied us to start the program??. Beside this, there are other problems such as “missing” drivers. I donot think many people would start switching to Vista. I regretted doing that.

By the way, is there any way to bypass that annoying ” donot have enough privilege ….” thingy?? Best regards. M. Y Choy

The intent of the “Not enough privileges” error is to protect your computer from viruses, trojans, adware, spyware and other nasties that try to modify system files.

Continue reading Vista’s Not Enough privileges Error