I cannot lie!
Monday, 30 March 2009
Wednesday, 25 March 2009
In search of the Best and the Free Antivirus of all.
After months of experimenting with downloading, installing, uninstalling, many hefty antiviruses, and not to mention many antirootkits, I have finally zeroed in on the one, which is to my satisfaction is the perfect free available antivirus and free of any adwares (No popups or toolbars).
I am mentioning a few I remember:
1. Norton - You know what, in 18 hours it could not finish scanning my meek laptop with 512 MB RAM. I tried their Beta version too, which took a big memory space, but slowed down the system while scanning.
My Verdict = The worst!
2. Spyware Doctor - Came free with google updater. It did awesome job of identifying many virusses, spywares, malwares, e.t.c but it did slow down system while running scan and not to mention took a hell lot of time completing the scan. After few updates on following days, I found the memory it occupied doubled up! (From 32 mb to a whopping 77 mb)... Thumbs down! One point I noted was that, whenever I enabled it, after disabling it, it always somehow found some virus (atleast one)...... Strange isn't it.. try it, and please do let me know if that is not the case with you.
My Verdict = Bad!
3. AVG - Looked good, with simple user interface, colorful, but somehow, it could not clean my system properly. It occupied quite a lot of memory, mind you! I saw an unknown file in my external drive (It was a bad VB script), even on select scan it could not detect it, and gave it a clean chit!!!.. (Just like the other antiviruses mentioned above). Even song.pk could not be detected by it.
My Verdict = Not Good.
4. I used Threatfire (from PC Tools stable, family of spyware doctor) I hoped it would do some good job as promised by various links on it to their website, but it came a cropper.
My Verdict = Useless.
5. Bitdefender - Used this as well. Uninstalled it the same day.. Cause of some unknown reason, though it identified the viruses, but the option to remove just did not work!!! How spooky!! and how businessminded of them... But scanning was good and fast, but whats the use, when it could not remove the trouble!
My Verdict = A big Waste.
6. Spywareterminator - I used it for a long time, but finally got annoyed after updating to their latest version.. it just kept showing block - allow screen during installation. "The remember this action" didn't work after allowing, even installation mode failed to be of any help in this scenario. With tears in my eyes, I kissed it goodbye. It, combined with clamwin free antivirus had protected my system (somewhat) for almost an year.
My Verdict = Do not use it if you do not have patience.
Finally, my savior my favorite and my antivirus hero!
7. AVAST - Downloaded free from their website (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html)- It is free to use for personal use. Avast has done wonders on my system. It occupies less memory, detected all kinds of virusses, trojans, bad roots, and what not. What more, while scanning is on, my system works with normal speed (Good speed mind you!). It has an auto scan function, which starts only when the system is idle. I simple love it. I am sure you will not regret using it at all. The interface is marvelously simple and different than all others (infact, first time i opened it, I felt, I opened an audio player by mistake... he he) Note: I found it more effective on select scan.
My Verdict = The best! Close your eyes and Go for it.
P.S. I am no software expert but I am an inquisitive person, who is always in search of answers. I want value for what I do (even in downloading free antivirus!), I have written my experience honestly. My blog will do a world of good, if a layman like me starts with AVAST and saves time on wasting time on other so called free antiviruses available online.
Additional Note: If you are using Firefox browser, use this addon "Ghostery 1.3.9" you will see how google, msn, yahoo, work on providing you ads using hidden web bugs :o) It is also coming inbuilt with Internet Explorer 7. It will show you how many websites have how many webbugs and from whom all. Not bad though, but good if you know.
As I always say, "Extra knowledge never kills, its the application of that half knowledge which is dangerous" So do not use your knowledge in sensitive situation. Be a good judge.
Hope this round of enlightenment will prove good for you.
Wish you a happy and safe surfing.
I am mentioning a few I remember:
1. Norton - You know what, in 18 hours it could not finish scanning my meek laptop with 512 MB RAM. I tried their Beta version too, which took a big memory space, but slowed down the system while scanning.
My Verdict = The worst!
2. Spyware Doctor - Came free with google updater. It did awesome job of identifying many virusses, spywares, malwares, e.t.c but it did slow down system while running scan and not to mention took a hell lot of time completing the scan. After few updates on following days, I found the memory it occupied doubled up! (From 32 mb to a whopping 77 mb)... Thumbs down! One point I noted was that, whenever I enabled it, after disabling it, it always somehow found some virus (atleast one)...... Strange isn't it.. try it, and please do let me know if that is not the case with you.
My Verdict = Bad!
3. AVG - Looked good, with simple user interface, colorful, but somehow, it could not clean my system properly. It occupied quite a lot of memory, mind you! I saw an unknown file in my external drive (It was a bad VB script), even on select scan it could not detect it, and gave it a clean chit!!!.. (Just like the other antiviruses mentioned above). Even song.pk could not be detected by it.
My Verdict = Not Good.
4. I used Threatfire (from PC Tools stable, family of spyware doctor) I hoped it would do some good job as promised by various links on it to their website, but it came a cropper.
My Verdict = Useless.
5. Bitdefender - Used this as well. Uninstalled it the same day.. Cause of some unknown reason, though it identified the viruses, but the option to remove just did not work!!! How spooky!! and how businessminded of them... But scanning was good and fast, but whats the use, when it could not remove the trouble!
My Verdict = A big Waste.
6. Spywareterminator - I used it for a long time, but finally got annoyed after updating to their latest version.. it just kept showing block - allow screen during installation. "The remember this action" didn't work after allowing, even installation mode failed to be of any help in this scenario. With tears in my eyes, I kissed it goodbye. It, combined with clamwin free antivirus had protected my system (somewhat) for almost an year.
My Verdict = Do not use it if you do not have patience.
Finally, my savior my favorite and my antivirus hero!
7. AVAST - Downloaded free from their website (http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html)- It is free to use for personal use. Avast has done wonders on my system. It occupies less memory, detected all kinds of virusses, trojans, bad roots, and what not. What more, while scanning is on, my system works with normal speed (Good speed mind you!). It has an auto scan function, which starts only when the system is idle. I simple love it. I am sure you will not regret using it at all. The interface is marvelously simple and different than all others (infact, first time i opened it, I felt, I opened an audio player by mistake... he he) Note: I found it more effective on select scan.
My Verdict = The best! Close your eyes and Go for it.
P.S. I am no software expert but I am an inquisitive person, who is always in search of answers. I want value for what I do (even in downloading free antivirus!), I have written my experience honestly. My blog will do a world of good, if a layman like me starts with AVAST and saves time on wasting time on other so called free antiviruses available online.
Additional Note: If you are using Firefox browser, use this addon "Ghostery 1.3.9" you will see how google, msn, yahoo, work on providing you ads using hidden web bugs :o) It is also coming inbuilt with Internet Explorer 7. It will show you how many websites have how many webbugs and from whom all. Not bad though, but good if you know.
As I always say, "Extra knowledge never kills, its the application of that half knowledge which is dangerous" So do not use your knowledge in sensitive situation. Be a good judge.
Hope this round of enlightenment will prove good for you.
Wish you a happy and safe surfing.
Sunday, 8 March 2009
Understanding Processes that run in the Task Manager of your Laptop or PC and Speeding up you system by controlling them.
Have you ever wondered about so many processes running on your computer, which you can see in the window's Task Manager. Ever felt helpless about not knowing them? Came across system hanging when opening a new program or even an explorer?
I am a non-tech person, but my curiosity to understand these processes, and belief in the urban myth that you can find any answer on the internet, gave me a lot of confidence, and to my surprise, I found a lot of answers as well. Now at least I know the good processes and bad processes running on my computer. I have successfully stopped the bad processes, and it has worked wonders in speeding up my laptop and increasing the responsiveness of any new command I give to the system (please read as faster opening of new program e.g., firefox e.t.c.)
Here are few of my findings to understand these processes better:
1. Click on run tab in the start menu and type "msconfig" (without the inverted commas of course). Click on services tab, and you can see all the processes which run automatically when you start the system (one reason why system is slow during the boot up). These processes have good processes as well, which are necessary for windows to function normally, so we can tick in the box at the bottom which says "Hide all Microsoft services". Half of the list will be gone and now you are left with the processes of the programs which you have installed and knowingly or unknowingly allowed them to start with the start of the system. You can see their name in the Manufacturer column. If you find these unnecessary, untick the box and click on apply. (eg, you can allow antivirus software's processes). Keep them to bare minimal and you will be surprised to see the speed at which your system starts in the next bootup.
2. You can download a freeware called "Free Extended task manager" from (http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_task_manager) which is actually an extension of the window's task manager and can do a lot more than a window's task manager is capable of. For example, if a process is not shutting down even after multiple end task commands, you can see the processes which are running for that program in just a click. You can freeze these processes or end them as well and see the immediate closure. Sometimes even after closing a program, it leaves some processes running on the system, you can use it to end these processes which can slow your system down considerably.
3. A freeware called "Process Lasso" by Bitsum technology can be downloaded from their website (http://www.prolasso.com/prolasso.php). This software helps regulate the processes running in your system and maintaining the responsiveness of your windows to the maximum. It will lower the priority of processes which are not currently in use but are taking too much space, over the program which you are using at the moment. This really speeds up your system and response time quickens.
4. Last but not the least, I have installed the Spyware Terminator, a free spyware from "www.spywareterminator.com" and combined it with ClaimWin Antivirus (ClamAV) from their website (http://www.clamwin.com/), together their database is huge and can identify a long list of viruses. Why I mentioned it here is cause this spyware, does not allow any .exe file to go unnoticed and run without you permission. It could be little time consuming when you are installing a new software, but it shows its worth detecting a virus program's process which tries to run itself without your knowledge. With every pop up to allow or block a process, it also displays information about this process, eg. Manufacturer like Microsoft, adobe, and so on, so you can identify it from which software it is running from. It very well displays type of virus detected and its threat level in the pop-up. All you need to do is click on Allow or Block, and thats it, your system stays clean.
Here we are. Using these 4 steps, a layman like me, can now control the running processes in his system, and keep the system working at good speed without hanging up when opening a new program in the computer. Doing these things, I do not actually remember when my system hanged last time! Isn't it amazing?
All the best!
I am a non-tech person, but my curiosity to understand these processes, and belief in the urban myth that you can find any answer on the internet, gave me a lot of confidence, and to my surprise, I found a lot of answers as well. Now at least I know the good processes and bad processes running on my computer. I have successfully stopped the bad processes, and it has worked wonders in speeding up my laptop and increasing the responsiveness of any new command I give to the system (please read as faster opening of new program e.g., firefox e.t.c.)
Here are few of my findings to understand these processes better:
1. Click on run tab in the start menu and type "msconfig" (without the inverted commas of course). Click on services tab, and you can see all the processes which run automatically when you start the system (one reason why system is slow during the boot up). These processes have good processes as well, which are necessary for windows to function normally, so we can tick in the box at the bottom which says "Hide all Microsoft services". Half of the list will be gone and now you are left with the processes of the programs which you have installed and knowingly or unknowingly allowed them to start with the start of the system. You can see their name in the Manufacturer column. If you find these unnecessary, untick the box and click on apply. (eg, you can allow antivirus software's processes). Keep them to bare minimal and you will be surprised to see the speed at which your system starts in the next bootup.
2. You can download a freeware called "Free Extended task manager" from (http://www.extensoft.com/?p=free_task_manager) which is actually an extension of the window's task manager and can do a lot more than a window's task manager is capable of. For example, if a process is not shutting down even after multiple end task commands, you can see the processes which are running for that program in just a click. You can freeze these processes or end them as well and see the immediate closure. Sometimes even after closing a program, it leaves some processes running on the system, you can use it to end these processes which can slow your system down considerably.
3. A freeware called "Process Lasso" by Bitsum technology can be downloaded from their website (http://www.prolasso.com/prolasso.php). This software helps regulate the processes running in your system and maintaining the responsiveness of your windows to the maximum. It will lower the priority of processes which are not currently in use but are taking too much space, over the program which you are using at the moment. This really speeds up your system and response time quickens.
4. Last but not the least, I have installed the Spyware Terminator, a free spyware from "www.spywareterminator.com" and combined it with ClaimWin Antivirus (ClamAV) from their website (http://www.clamwin.com/), together their database is huge and can identify a long list of viruses. Why I mentioned it here is cause this spyware, does not allow any .exe file to go unnoticed and run without you permission. It could be little time consuming when you are installing a new software, but it shows its worth detecting a virus program's process which tries to run itself without your knowledge. With every pop up to allow or block a process, it also displays information about this process, eg. Manufacturer like Microsoft, adobe, and so on, so you can identify it from which software it is running from. It very well displays type of virus detected and its threat level in the pop-up. All you need to do is click on Allow or Block, and thats it, your system stays clean.
Here we are. Using these 4 steps, a layman like me, can now control the running processes in his system, and keep the system working at good speed without hanging up when opening a new program in the computer. Doing these things, I do not actually remember when my system hanged last time! Isn't it amazing?
All the best!
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