Need a Powerful Registry Cleaner/Optimizer? – Get RegSeeker Freeware!

Getting frustrated while you wait for your operating system to load? Are some of your applications not working quite right? Tired of trying to figure it out?

Then it’s time to give RegSeeker, a free Windows registry cleaner, a go at cleaning and optimizing your Windows registry.

A jam-packed, jumbled registry can be one of the chief causes of computer slowdown and malfunction. A messy registry can often put a brake on your system, cause programs to stop working properly, and aggravate you while you hang around waiting for the operating system to load at a snails pace.

Even a new/newer computer is not immune to this type of problem. Over time, sometimes a very short time, repeated loading of the operating system and application software can create errors and leave unnecessary entries in the registry. This is where RegSeeker, a multilingual registry cleaner/optimizer, can prove to be very useful.

RegSeeker’s primary function is to clean your registry, which it does easily, safely, and thoroughly. Just launch the program, click on “Clean the Registry”, and delete the listed unneeded registry entries.

Congratulations, you now have a newly optimized computer!

Despite the fact RegSeeker has an automatic registry backup feature, I strongly recommend that you analyze the search results very carefully, and then ensure you have in fact backed up before deleting any registry entries.

After a previous review of this application, I received one comment in which the reader indicated he had suffered a complete meltdown of his computer after having run this application.

On the other hand I have been safely using this program on a daily basis for over three years, and I have not had to use this backup feature yet. However, as we all know there’s always a first time and that generally occurs when you least expect it. So my advice; err on the side of caution any time you are working with the registry and be sure to backup.

I download and test, 1-2 applications daily, so this program gets a real workout on my machines. As well, I use Revo Uninstaller, a powerful application uninstaller to uninstall applications which means less work for RegSeeker.

RegSeeker is multifunctional in that it also performs tweak operations. It can clean out your startup entries, Add/Remove program entries, adjust color schemes, change personal information entries, and it includes a general “Tweaks” menu option. I have found this tweaking ability to be relatively useful.

RegSeeker is an extremely valuable tool for keeping your Registry in perfect running order, and its “Tweaks” editing options allow you to do more with the user interface than you might have previously thought was possible.

RegSeeker is FREE for personal use only.

System Requirements: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server

Download at: Download.com

Hijack it Back! – Get HijackThis! – Free

Your home page has been hijacked and despite the fact you’ve run every anti-malware program in your arsenal, you can’t get it back. Don’t give up; there’s hope yet!

HijackThis is a free utility by Trend Micro which heuristically scans your computer to find settings that may have been changed by homepage hijackers, spyware, and other malware or unwanted programs.

This application has a well deserved reputation for being aggressive in tracking down unauthorized changes that have been made to your system/applications.

The program doesn’t target specific programs, but instead it analyses registry and file settings and targets the methods used by hijackers to redirect your browser. After the scan HijackThis creates a report, or log file, with the results of the scan.

Because of the heuristic methods used by HijackThis, the results of the scan can be confusing to those who are not advanced users. However, the strength of this program lies in the large community of users who participate in online forums, where experts will interpret HijackThis scan results for you, and provide you with the information you need to clean any infection.

There is a great tutorial on using HijackThis at BleepingComputer

The latest version (2.0.2), adds powerful tools to the Configuration window including, a process manager and hosts file editor to help you excise virulent infections, and the ADS Spy tool which scans alternate data streams, that browser hijackers can use to evade spyware removers.

Despite the fact that you may only need this small application infrequently, it deserves a place in your anti-malware toolbox.

System requirements: Windows Vista, XP, 2000, Me, 98

Software requirements: Internet Explorer, FireFox

Download at: Download.com

Like Porno Sites? – They LOVE You!

Consider this statistic: the pornography industry has revenues larger than the revenues of the top technology companies combined.

That’s right, the combined revenues of Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, Apple, Netflix and EarthLink. You’re not really surprised, are you?

Even if you are an infrequent user of the Internet, it is probable that you have been exposed to unwanted porn while surfing the web.

Now, I hold no moral, religious, or political views on the availability of pornography on the Internet; except of course that which is clearly illegal or morally reprehensible, such as child pornography.

My main concern with pornographic Websites is focused instead on the primary/secondary use that many of these sites are designed for – as a vehicle for the distribution of potentially harmful malware applications that can be surreptitiously dropped onto unwitting visitors computers.

WOT, (Web of Trust) has just released a study of 19 million sites covered by the website reputation database which was conducted from March to May 2008 and focused on dangerous sites – such sites amount to 1 in 20 Internet sites. The survey employed sophisticated algorithms to ensure the filtering of non-adult content, and to enhance the accuracy of the finale results.

For those that are unfamiliar with WOT; it is a free Internet Browser resource (my personal favorite), that has established an impressive 4.5/5.0 star user rating on CNET, tests web sites you are visiting for spyware, spam, viruses, browser exploits, unreliable online shops, phishing, and online scams, helping users avoid unsafe web sites.

According to the key findings of the study, Websites offering adult content are the single most significant security threat exposure for Internet users, both home users’ and corporate users’, with 31% of dangerous websites falling into the category of adult sites.

Experienced computer users are generally aware that pornographic web sites are notorious for spyware, viruses, browser exploits and phishing attacks on insufficiently protected computers.

The credibility of this view is emphasized by Esa Suurio, CEO of Against Intuition Inc., the company that supports Web of Trust, who concludes from the survey that “Visiting the red light district of the Internet makes the user vulnerable to spyware, viruses and leakage of confidential information which can cause significant damage.”

Esa goes on to say “Given the size of the problem there has been surprisingly little debate on the topic. Perhaps the suffering parties, individuals and companies, hesitate to express their complaints in public.” No doubt this last can be explained by the old Puritan view, still held by many, that condemns the viewing of pornographic material.

Recently I came across statistics that indicate 91% of corporate computer users’ routinely break their company’s Internet usage policies. WOT’s survey makes it clear that such lack of responsible usage, particularly where inappropriate sites are accessed, can “put their company at risk by introducing malware, viruses and spyware which can cause a security breach in the organization. The potential for damage is enormous, from inside and outside their firewalls, considering that confidential data can be stolen by keyloggers and tracking cookies, a common form of malware used by porn sites”.

As a result of this survey WOT’s has enhanced its database with double the coverage of pornographic sites than it had previously. Parents who are concerned for the safety of their children on the Internet will be glad to know that WOT has information on nearly 1 million sites that are rated poorly for child safety.

Supporting statistics:

4.2 million pornographic websites

420 million pages of adult content

11 new porn sites are created each hour

34% of Internet users received unwanted exposure to porn

The average age of first Internet exposure to pornography is 11

Malware and phishing attacks cost computer users $18 million per year

Download WOT

WOT Demo video

Market facts, related links and research about Internet safety

Script Kiddie Bonanza – Do-it-yourself Phishing Kits!

Even a cursory Google search of the Internet for “malware” will convince you that cyber crooks are unrelenting in their chase to infect your computer.

Unquestionable, cyber crooks have steadily increased the use of custom-built websites, the manipulation of search engine results, and the exploitation of legitimate pages, all of it designed to drop malicious code including rootkits, password stealers, Trojan horses, and spam bots on your computer.

Recent statistics indicate that fifteen thousand web pages are infected daily; three times the rate of infection noted in the previous years. More disturbing, seventy nine percent of compromised web pages tracked so far this year were on legitimate web sites; including web sites owned by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies and ironically, security vendors.

Although it is not a new scheme, once again new do-it-yourself phishing kits are being made available for download free of charge from the internet according to PandaLabs, Panda Security’s laboratory for detecting and analyzing malware.

Using these highly sophisticated do-it-yourself kits, there is no need for amateur cyber crooks to be familiar with the intricacies of coding/programming, since the kits contain the graphics, web code, and the text needed to build fake websites that closely resemble the legitimate sites that are being spoofed.

To make these do-it-yourself phishing kits a complete package, spamming software is included, allowing the cyber criminal to use phishing emails as part of the entrapment process used to defraud potential victims of their banking details, personal data, credit card numbers, etc.

No doubt you are curious as to why these phishing kits are free and downloadable on the Internet. Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, puts in perspective: “Cyber crooks that create these free services get money later on by selling pay services, more sophisticated and customized to the user’s needs – the cyber-crooks’ ultimate goal is to get money from the infections they spread.”

Follow the tips below to protect yourself against these types of threats:

• Your bank, or any other legitimate organization, will never ask you to divulge account information or passwords via email. Never give out this information, especially via email.
• Don’t open emails that come from un-trusted sources.
• Don’t run files that you receive via email without making sure of their origin.
• Don’t click links in emails. If they come from a known source, type them in the browser’s address bar. If they come from an un-trusted source, simply ignore them.
• Keep your computer protected. Install a security solution and keep it up-to-date. Also, before carrying out any kind of financial transaction on the Web, I recommend that you scan your computer with a second-opinion security solution, such as NanoScan at www.nanoscan.com

Be kind to your friends, relatives and associates and let them know that these types of scams are now epidemic on the Internet. In that way, it raises the level of protection for all of us.

One particular software developer has focused on the concept of “people driven security”, an idea based on the concept of the shared responsibility we each have, to offer mutual Internet protection to each other. Web of Trust has developed an Internet Browser add-on which takes security this one step further.

The solicited opinions of users/members on a web site’s safety are incorporated into the overall site safety rating. The advantages of members’ participation in exchanging their personal knowledge about a web site, in my view, cannot be overemphasized.

Free – Wise Registry Cleaner (5 Star Rated) – New User Friendly!

A packed, cluttered registry can often be one of the major causes of computer slowdown, and in some cases, computer malfunction.

On top of that, a messy registry can cause programs to stop working as they should, and it can lead to frustration while you wait for the operating system to load, often at a snails pace.

Even with a new/newer computer, the loading of the operating system and application software can, over time, create redundant errors and leave needless entries in the registry. This is where a Registry cleaner can prove its value.

If you’re a relatively new computer user it’s important that you choose a Registry cleaner which will clean your Registry easily, thoroughly, and most importantly for you as a new user, safely.

Wise Registry Cleaner is a free, non aggressive application that, as one of my friends says, hits a home run in the safety department. As it searches the Registry for obsolete/redundant registry keys, it differentiates between those that are “safe to fix”, and those that are “not fully safe to fix”. To provide the greatest safety factor for those who are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with cleaning the Registry, the application’s default removal setting is “safe to fix”.

In testing I found it was not particularly fast; certainly not as fast as my personal favorite free Registry cleaner for experienced users, RegSeeker. I did however find it to be very thorough in that it found 74 issues on my test platform; 55 entries in the category “safe to fix” and 19 entries in the “not fully safe” to remove category.

To clean your registry, just launch the program, click on “Scan” and the program will find, and then give you the option of removing, unneeded registry entries. By removing any unnecessary registry entries you will have taken an important first step toward optimizing your computer.

Even though Wise Registry Cleaner has an automatic registry backup feature, I strongly recommend that you analyze the search results very carefully, and then ensure that you have used the backup feature before deleting any registry entries.

System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista

Download Version 3.4.1 at: Download.com

T2W – Trojan 2 Worm (Constructor/Wormer) – Script Kiddie Paradise!

Many of us have seen the movie where the brilliant young computer hacker saves the world; or the one in which the geeky technical genius assists the police in breaking the case wide open, fingers flying over the keyboard, working his magic on the criminal’s computer system.

So what about it; do these types of computer wizards really exist? Well, to some extent there’s some truth in this; but not much.

Taken together, Hollywood’s portrayal of the genius hacker, and the virtual epidemic of malware currently circulating on the Internet, it’s easy to understand why most typical computer users’ have come to believe that hackers are a special breed of evil genius possessing a wealth of computer related skills unknown to the rest of us.

It’s just as likely however, that the malware attempting to infect your system (there are 3,000 new strains every day), was built by one of the so called “Script Kiddies”, who roam the Internet, as opposed to a truly knowledgeable criminal computer wizard.

To paraphrase Wikipedia: a script kiddie is an inexperienced malicious hacker who lacks the ability to write sophisticated hacking programs and who uses programs developed by others to attack computer systems, and deface websites.

With the dramatic increase in user participation on MySpace, FaceBook, and other social networking sites, the attack surface for malware development tools used by these hacker wannabes has increased proportionately.

Now a new Script Kiddie tool has been discovered by Panda Software which reports this morning on the T2W (Trojan2 Worm) application, also known as Constructor/Wormer. According to Panda, the main function of this malware creator is to convert an executable file (virtually any executable file), into a worm, giving it the capacity to spread itself.

According to Panda, this application, which is driven by a point and click interface, makes it dead easy to construct a worm that allows the selection of a specific infection date, disables particular options of the operating system, including the Task Manager, Windows Registry Editor, and Folder Options. The malware can be crafted to function with popular Internet Browsers including Internet Explorer, FireFox, and Opera.

Given that Script Kiddies generally have limited hacking skills, the question is – who would build and distribute this type of destructive application? The consensus in the Internet security community is: the real cyber criminals.

In Panda’s view, the strategic objective of the real cyber criminals is to create a situation in which the distraction created by Script Kiddies flooding the Internet with malware created by T2W, will increase the opportunity for the more insidious banker Trojans (created by them), to commit mass identity theft.

What you can do to reduce the chances of your system becoming infected.

Do not click on unsolicited invitations to download software of any kind.

Be careful in downloading freeware or shareware programs. Spyware is occasionally concealed in these programs. Download this type of program only through reputable web sites such as Download.com, or sites that you know to be safe.

Consider carefully the inherent risks attached to peer-to-peer (P2P), or file sharing applications.

Install an Internet Browser add-on that provides protection against questionable or unsafe websites. My personal favorite is Web of Trust, an Internet Explorer/FireFox add-on that offers substantial protection against questionable or unsafe websites.

For information on free security software and download links to that software read: Need Free Security Programs? -10 of the Best, on this Blog.

Audacity – Free Multiplatform Audio Recorder/Editor

Several months back, I needed to record 20 minutes of streaming audio from the Internet, and since I am not an audio hobbyist, and have limited experience recording using my computer, I simply launched Windows Sound Recorder and sat back to watch it do it’s job. I thought!

No such luck. I was surprised to learn the maximum recording time on Sound Recorder is only 30 seconds, which was far too short for my purpose.

A mad scramble to find a freeware/open source replacement for Windows Sound Recorder led me to Audacity which, as it turns out, is the most popular free, open source audio editor/ recorder available. It works with many operating systems, including Windows, Mac, GNU, and Linux.

Audacity has a surprisingly easy to use interface, and I found it to be feature-rich and flexible. The first thing that struck me on launching the program was, it advised me I had several hundred hours of available space on my drives in which to record. Not 30seconds!

Audacity has the capacity to handle multi-track editing, a good number of audio effects including reverb, delay, compression, echo, phaser, wahwah and reverse. Its audio export functions include MP3, OGG, AIFF, and WAV and more.

One of the more interesting features, for me, is Audacity’s capacity to convert tapes and records into digital recordings. I have a large collection of old 60’s and 70’s albums that I have many times considered converting to digital recordings and burning to CD’s. I now have the application to do just that. Now, if I can only find the time!

System Requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP

The Audacity web site lists the following features:

Recording:

Audacity can record live audio through a microphone or mixer, or digitize recordings from cassette tapes, vinyl records, or minidisks.

With some sound cards, it can also capture streaming audio.

Record from microphone, line input, or other sources.

Dub over existing tracks to create multi-track recordings.

Record up to 16 channels at once (requires multi-channel hardware).

Level meters can monitor volume levels before, during, and after recording.

Import and Export:

Import sound files, edit and combine them with other files or new recordings.

Export your recordings in several common file formats.

Import and export WAV, AIFF, AU, and Ogg Vorbis files.

Import MPEG audio (including MP2 and MP3 files) with libmad.

Export MP3s with the optional LAME encoder library.

Create WAV or AIFF files suitable for burning to CD.

Import and export all file formats supported by libsndfile.

Open raw (header less) audio files using the “Import Raw” command.

Note: Audacity does not currently support WMA, AAC, or most other proprietary or restricted file formats.

Editing:

Easy editing with Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.

Use unlimited Undo (and Redo) to go back any number of steps.

Very fast editing of large files.

Edit and mix an unlimited number of tracks.

Use the Drawing tool to alter individual sample points.

Fade the volume up or down smoothly with the Envelope tool.

Effects:

Change the pitch without altering the tempo, or vice-versa.

Remove static, hiss, hum, or other constant background noises.

Alter frequencies with Equalization, FFT Filter, and Bass Boost effects.

Adjust volumes with Compressor, Amplify, and Normalize effects.

Other built-in effects include:

Echo

Phaser

Wahwah

Reverse

Sound Quality:

Record and edit 16-bit, 24-bit, and 32-bit (floating point) samples.

Record at up to 96 KHz.

Sample rates and formats are converted using high-quality resampling and dithering.

Mix tracks with different sample rates or formats, and Audacity will convert them automatically in real-time.

Plug-Ins:

Add new effects with LADSPA plug-ins.

Audacity includes some sample plug-ins by Steve Harris.

Load VST plug-ins for Windows and Mac, with the optional VST Enabler.

Write new effects with the built-in Nyquist programming language.

Analysis:

Spectrogram mode for visualizing frequencies.

Plot Spectrum command for detailed frequency analysis.

Download at: Download.com

FREE Online Backup – Mozy on Over!

Just like death and taxes are a certainty, the fact that your computer’s Hard Drive will crash one day and refuse to respond, is every bit as certain.

Computer industry statistics seem to indicate that the real-world annualized failure rate (average percentage of disks failing per year), was much higher than the manufacturer’s estimate – an average of 3% vs. the estimated 0.5 – 0.9%. The cost of recovering data from a failed hard drive can exceed $7,500, and success is never guaranteed.

So when that inevitable day arrives, what will you do?

If you are one of the few, out of the ordinary, computer users who regularly and faithfully backup, you will have a lot of work ahead of you but you will recover.

However, if you haven’t backed up, you have lost everything including:

1. operating system
2. applications
3. correspondence
4. pictures
5. music
6. customized settings
7. email accounts, rules/filters, folders and messages
8. data including, letters, graphics, music, databases/other projects

The operating system and applications can be replaced, if you have the original install media. But not all computers with preinstalled operating systems have the original operating system installation media supplied with the computer.

The message here then is: everything that can not be replaced needs to be backed up.

It’s now easier than ever to backup giving the large choice of relatively inexpensive media, including CDs, DVDs, USB sticks, external Hard Drives, and increasingly gaining popularity, Online Backup Services.

Perhaps the most popular of these free Online Backup Services is Mozy: Free Online Backup.

Mozy, which requires a broadband connection, is a free and easy to use, software service that gives you 2GB of space allowing you to backup your data over the Internet. When needed, the backed up files can be restored over the Internet.

Mozy includes a Windows Explorer context menu which makes restoring files very easy. Right click on the file you want to restore, and Mozy gives you a list of all previous versions of the file. As well, Mozy incorporates a virtual drive explorer in Windows that allows you to view the files you’ve backed up without having to access the Internet.

If you are not familiar with backup software, or you’re not comfortable with XP’s version, then Mozy might well be the ideal tool for you. Check it out.

Mozy Quick Facts:

Open/locked file support

448-bit Blowfish encryption

128-bit SSL encryption

Automatic or scheduled backups

New and changed file detection

Block level incremental backups

Bandwidth throttling

File versioning

Public or private key encryption

Download at: Mozy

Additional Free Online Backup Sites:

XDrive – XDrive supplies you with 5 GB of space. The backup software runs on Windows, and provides automatic backups of your data.

IDrive Basic – 2 GB of backup space Free Online Backup, Encrypted, Secure and Automated.

Humyo – Humyo allows you to store up to 25 GB of media files (photos, videos, music) and 5 GB for non-media files.

SpywareBlaster – Updated for FireFox 3.0

It’s not very often that I forget about security protection software installed on my computer. But I must admit to having forgotten about the fact, that for years, I have had SpywareBlaster installed on my system.

I allow myself to feel better about this when I consider that unlike other security programs SpywareBlaster, once installed, does not run in the background and continues to provide protection without the need for user interaction.

SpywareBlaster prevents ActiveX-based spyware, adware, dialers, and browser hijackers from installing on your system by disabling the CLSIDs (a system used by software applications to identify a file or other item), of spyware ActiveX controls. A secondary but equally important function offered by SpywareBlaster, is its ability to block spyware/tracking cookies and restrict the actions of spyware/adware/tracking sites in Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Seamonkey, Flock and other browsers.

Since SpywareBlaster doesn’t scan for or clean spyware, but as stated earlier, prevents installation only, you should use it in combination with Spybot Search & Destroy and/or Ad-Aware, in addition to your normal anti-malware security applications to gain the maximum amount of protection.

SpywareBlaster is definitely low maintenance and the only thing you need to remember (the very thing that I had forgotten) is to update the database, which contains information on known spyware Active-X controls, regularly. Automatic update is also available for an annual fee of $9.95 USD.

SpywareBlaster also includes a System Snapshot feature with which you can take a snapshot of your computer in its clean state and later revert to this state, undoing any changes made by spyware and browser hijackers that have infected your system despite the security in place. I recommend that you take advantage of this important feature.

This is an important security protection tool to install on your system, particularly if your browser uses Active-X.

Version 4.1 adds full Firefox 3 support, (if you’re not using FireFox 3.0 yet, you need to consider doing so), and various feature and protection enhancements, tweaks, and optimizations.

Download at: Javacool Software

Free CrossLoop – Be the PC Tech Guru for Family/Friends

Are you, like me, the tech support guru/IT department for your friends, family, and perhaps even the neighborhood?

I’m often asked by friends, to help them, their friends, their neighbors ………. the list goes on endlessly, to reconstruct a computer that is not responding properly, has become loaded with malware, or in some instances, has been taken over by a hacker.

Earlier this year, I was called upon in just such a situation, which is when I discovered CrossLoop; a free remote desktop application with a simple and distinctly user friendly interface, which CNET’s Download.com has recognized as one of The 10 Best Downloads of 2007.

After spending some time viewing an excellent introductory video on CrossLoop, available on YouTube, it was easy for me to see that this neat little application had all sorts of possibilities.

It struck me right away that the typical computer user using CrossLoop, doesn’t need to know anything about ports or protocols, or any other complicated jargon, and with CrossLoop up and running, connection to the remote computer can be accomplished within minutes. Even some of my friends, who are moderately techno competent, are now using this neat little tool to rescue their family’s and friend’s computers.

The individual needing assistance installs CrossLoop and runs the main application, then goes to share, and provides the access code to you. You then enter the 12-digit access code, click the connect button, and on connection the CrossLoop server does all of the behind- the- scenes work.

CrossLoop enables you to see the screen, and control the mouse and keyboard on the remote computer. Many users have commented that it feels just as if you are working side by side with the remote user, on the same PC. I second that perception. Awesome!

If you need to transfer files during your session, you’ll find that it’s a snap. What could be easier than using drag and drop to copy a file or folder onto a dialog box?

Security is built into all aspects of a CrossLoop session. Data is encrypted at the end-points before being transmitted using a 128-bit encryption algorithm made up of a randomly generated 12-digit access code.

The CrossLoop help page is one of the most complete I have seen. It provides a step by step text and pictorial guide to the process, so that even newbie support techs should have no problem looking like a pro.

Bottom line: If you have the skills, and you have the opportunity to provide tech support to your family or friends, then CrossLoop is the must-have tool for the job. It’s a powerful productivity tool that enables you to quickly collaborate with anyone, anywhere in the world.

CrossLoop Quick Facts:

Connect Any Two PCs

Available in 21 Languages

File Transfer Capability

Switch control to make collaboration easier

View Only and Share Control modes

Download the latest version at: Download.com