Save XP or Death of XP?

With the launch of Vista the death bell was sounded for Windows XP. Given that this is the most common OS in use at present, Microsoft will discontinue sales at the end of June and support for XP will discontinue around 2010.

New machines have been shipped with Vista pre-installed for some time now, but it is not to everyones taste and there are many software programs as well as hardware that worked well on XP but are not compatible with Vista. This means that many hardware and software vendors are cashing in on new sales of Vista compatible stock. Some vendors have issued updates to correct compatability issues.

Microsoft has said it would allow system vendors to preload the Home edition of Windows XP on ULCPCs - ultra low-cost PCs - through to June 2010, or one year after the next version of Windows becomes generally available. Also bear in mind that Vista’s successor, Windows 7 is due for release in 2009.

Microsoft introduced Windows XP in late 2001. They normally make operating systems available only for four years after launch date. But delays in producing Windows Vista, which had its debut in January 2007, forced Microsoft to continue selling XP longer than planned. Microsoft had originally planned to shelve Windows XP on January 30th 2008.

But it isn’t just emerging markets that want XP. In a recent survey by InfoWorld, there was a strong indication that people didn’t see a need to upgrade their home computers to Vista and that business still faced multiple challenges in porting their business critical applications to Vista. In short, the XP market is still alive and vibrant.

To experience all of Vista’s features, PC users need a computer with at least a 1-GHz processor, 1 GB of memory, and a 40-GB hard drive. By contrast, Windows XP Professional requires only a 300-MHz processor, 128 MB of RAM, and a 1.5-Gbyte disk.

A Microsoft manager has said that one of the security features in Vista was deliberately designed to ‘annoy users’ to put pressure on third-party software makers to make their applications more secure.

David Cross, a product unit manager at Microsoft said “The reason we put UAC (User Account Control) into the Vista platform was to annoy users–I’m serious.”

Also realise, that many of the security issues with XP have been resolved and it is now a stable platform, as long as you stay away from Internet Explorer and its permanently inherent problems. Use a safe browser such as Firefox and you will experience far fewer problems and faster load times.

So what can you do? Close to 200,000 people have signed a petition since January 14 to save XP. However, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer thinks we’re not serious about the Save XP movement, nor does he seem to take the people who signed it seriously. That’s where you come in. Help us meet our goal of 300,000 unique petition signatures by June 2008. Please ask your friends, family and colleagues to join the movement by signing up at www.savexp.com

The petition is on the right side of the page, so please take the time to sign this.

Go here now: www.savexp.com

© Free PC Security 2008

Technorati Tags: Save XP, Vista, Technology, Operating System, Free PC Security, Petition

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0.1

AVG Free Edition is the well-known antivirus protection tool which is easy to download, install and use and offers protection against viruses and spyware.

AVG v7.5 will no longer be available after 31st May 2008, being replaced with v8. It is important that you update to this new version to maintain your level of protection. AVG 7.5 for Linux will still be available, download details click here.

Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers.

Highlights include automatic update functionality, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

Version 8.0.1 adds integrated spyware protection and a new LinkScanner feature that gives users safety rankings for their Google, Yahoo, and MSN searches.

AVG Free provides the bare necessities, including a real-time shield to prevent infections, antivirus and antimalware wrapped up in one program, Version 8.0.1 adds integrated spyware protection and a new LinkScanner feature that gives users safety rankings for their Google, Yahoo, and MSN searches.

AVG Free is easy to use and has low system resource requirements which will not slow down your computer. Also included is an automatic update function, the AVG Resident Shield, which provides real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

Free download click here

For installation and setup instructions click here.

Minimum System requirements:
Intel Pentium 300 MHz
30 MB free hard drive space (for installation)
256 MB RAM
Compatible with Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is for private, non-commercial, single computer use only. AVG Free is available free of charge to home users for the life of the product.

© Free PC Security 2008
Technorati Tags: AVG Anti-Virus V.8, Free Tools, AntiVirus, Technology, PC Security, Free PC Security, AVG 7.5 Linux Version, AVG 7.5 To End

Duplicate File Finder

Easy Duplicate File Finder is a free powerful tool that helps you to find and remove duplicate files on your PC.

How much hard disk space on your computer is taken up with duplicate files?

Easy Duplicate Finder will show you.

FEATURES:

Search for true duplicates (files with same contents)
Powerful search engine with fast files check

Flexible Scan settings
Search files by mask
Size conditions & skip zero-length files option

Find duplicates from selected folders or drives
Add multiple folders/drives for scanning

Safety
Protect system files and folders
Move files to Recycle Bin option
Convenient user interface

Duplicate file management - remove only unnecessary duplicates
Select files manually (for deletion) or delete all copies automatically
Rename duplicate files with prefix/postfix
Move duplicate files to folder
Open folder containing selected file
Show file properties
Open file with associated program

Unicode support
Full support for files with Chinese, Japanese etc names
Export list of duplicates to HTML file

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
OS: Windows 95/98/Me/2000/XP/Vista
CPU: 400 MHz or higher
RAM: 128 MB or more
Hard Drive: 5 MB of free space

Easy Duplicate Finder is completely FREE. It is spyware, adware and malware free and requires no registration.

For Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista Download Here

For Windows 95/98/Me Download Here

© Free PC Security 2008
Technorati Tags: Duplicate File Finder, Disk Utilities, Free Tools, Technology, Windows 95/98/ME, Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista, PC Security, Free PC Security

BackUp Your System With XXClone

XXCLONE duplicates the whole Win NT, 2000 or XP system volume to another volume that will become ready to boot without a restore step.

You may boot the system from the clone volume by simply swapping the disks when a disaster strikes.

The cloned volume may be larger than the source volume, or even smaller as long as the volume data can fit.

You may copy from FAT to NTFS or vice versa. XXCLONE supports PATA, USB-disk and SATA. Ideal for periodic backup, or a one-time disk upgrade, or migration.

Unlike disk imaging tools, XXCLONE does not create an image file, but uses standard file copy procedures to copy the files to the new volume.

Therefore, you stay in Windows and may continue working while the cloning runs in the background.

With a full volume backup, files in the target volume will always de-fragmented automatically without the need for the time-consuming de-frag on the source.

Additional features include tools to duplicate the Volume ID, to repair non-bootable disk, and more. It supports command line arguments and suits batch file invocations, also.

Extremely easy to use with user-friendly GUI.

This is Freeware, although there is a licensed version available. The freeware version does not support incremental backups, but if you use it frequently to clone your system when it is in a safe and stable state the freeware version works very well.

You have many options, including making a Boot Diskette, use the Disk Management Tool to select Source Volume and Destination Volume.

XXCLONE has one very significant difference in its approach to the problem of cloning a Windows disk that makes it a class of its own.

XXCLONE views a Windows disk as a collection of files and directories and with a few exceptions, its access to data on the disk is carried out as a logical (file) access operations using the standard Windows file I/O Application Program Interface (API).

Nearly all of competing products on the market that are designed for disk cloning operations access the disk using physical, low-level (sector to sector) device I/O technique.

XXCLONE is a special purpose file-copy utility with extra features to make the target volume self-bootable (this portion of the operation still requires low-level disk I/O).  It is not a disk-imaging tool that treats a disk as a collection of sectors.

Click here to download XXClone

Click here for Comprehensive Online Manual and Screenshots

Download size: 1.15Mb
Supports: Windows 95, 98, ME, NT4, 2000, XP

© Free PC Security 2008
Technorati Tags: System Backup, Free Tools, XXClone, Technology, Freeware, PC Security, Free PC Security

Steps To Prevent Computer Freezes

Computer freezes usually occur due to problems that may not actually be visible. But these hidden problems can play a major role in the deterioration of your computer’s performance. If you are frequently haunted by unexpected computer freezes, then you must perform the following steps in order to resolve some of the problems that might be occurring in the background:

Step 1: Disable unwanted startup programs.

Startup programs, as the name suggests, are programs that load at system startup. Although, there are several startup programs and services essential for your Windows computer to function, there are some that are usually set to load at startup when you install certain software applications. These programs are usually not required until you actually use the application they belong to, and the rest of the time they unnecessarily run in the background eating up precious system resources.

To prevent these undesirable programs to load at startup, go to the Start menu, point to Startup and then delete the shortcuts of the programs you do not want to load at Startup.

Next, at Start > Run, type msconfig and then press Enter to open the System Configuration utility dialog box. Here, on the Services and Startup clear the check boxes of the services and processes you do not want to load at system startup. After you have specified your settings, restart your system to apply them.

Step 2: Remove unwanted information from the registry.

Accumulation of junk information such as outdated, empty, orphan, error and invalid entries, corrupt and fragment registry files and thereby slow it down. A slow registry takes a long time to fulfill requests sent to it by various programs and hardware devices and causes system freezes. This is the reason why, to fix Windows freeze problems, you need to regularly clean your registry and keep it free from this unwanted digital debris. You can do this easily with the help of a registry cleaner tool. Using a registry cleaner tool, you can perform several registry maintenance tasks, such as scan and remove unwanted registry entries, repair invalid and error entries, defrag the broken registry files, and backup the registry.

Step 3: Scan for malware programs.

Malware programs, such as viruses and spyware start filling up your hard disk with malicious files and programs as soon as they infiltrate your system. These malicious programs feed on your system resources and drastically bring down computer performance. This is the reason why when you are troubleshooting system freeze problems, you must run a full system scan using updated antivirus and antispyware tools to detect and remove any malware infections.

Note: For better results, it is recommended that you perform antivirus and antispyware scans in Safe mode. To start your system in Safe mode, restart your system, press F8 when the system is just starting up and then scroll down and select the Safe Mode option.

Step 4: Clean up and defrag the hard disk.

As your PC gets older, the hard disk gets filled up with loads of undesired programs, files, and folders. This unwanted stuff eats up a lot of space on the disk, causing clutter. Moreover, with too much information stored on the disk, new files cannot be stored in adjacent locations and are therefore, fragmented and stored wherever space is available on the disk. This clutter adds a lot of load on the hard disk’s head and also slows down data access time.

Therefore, to prevent system freeze and also to repair system freeze problems, you must use the Disk Cleanup tool to first get rid of all unwanted files and programs from your computer. And then, use the Disk Defragmenter tool to consolidate the broken files, speed up data access, and as a result, enhance the performance of your computer.

© Free PC Security 2008