Tech Weekly

This program once installed loads into the right click menu. All you have to do is right-click on a file and choose "Remove on Next Reboot" and the file will be deleted the next time the computer restarts. You can download this by clicking HERE or the picture above.

Labels: Download of the day

Did you buy a new PC this past Holiday Season which came with the latest Norton or Symantec product installed with a trial version of an anti-virus or security product? Decided that you don't like how much of a CPU resource hog it is and not interested in purchasing it, but you just can't seem to get all of it uninstalled from your computer. Well you can fight with individually uninstalling all the applications or you can go with Symantec/Nortons removal tool which I must admit does a good job of taking out all the installations.

It will remove the following items:

• Norton AntiSpam 2004 - 2005
• Norton Antivirus 2003 - 2007.2
• Norton Ghost 2003, 9.0, and 10.0
• Norton GoBack 3.1 - 4.2
• Norton Internet Security 2003 - 2007.2
• Norton Password Manager
• Norton Personal Firewall 2003 - 2006
• Norton SystemWorks 2003 - 2007
• Norton Confidential Online 2007
• Norton Internet Security 2007 Add-on Pack
• Norton Save and Restore 1.0 - 2.0
• Norton 360

Follow these directions to download the Norton Removal Tool and run it to remove the above programs.

1. Click on the following link to download the Norton removal tool
   ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
   
2. Click Save and save the file to your desktop
3. Close all  Norton Application windows you may have open, and double-click on Norton_Removal_Tool.exe to start the removal tool. Windows Vista users will have to right-click on the file and select "Run as Administrator"
4. After the removal tool finishes, you should be prompted to restart your computer.
5. Once the computer restarts, your Norton product should be uninstalled.

Labels: Do-it-yourself, Download of the day

Common Windows Errors

As a Windows user, you may encounter many different types Windows errors on your system at some time or another. Let’s have a look at some of the common Windows errors and the methods you can use to prevent them.

• Stop Errors: These errors usually occur due to faulty device drivers, malfunctioning hardware, incompatible system BIOS, problematic applications, overheating of computer components, virus infections, corrupt registry files, and damaged system files. These errors may occur at any time when your PC is functional. When a stop error occurs, your PC usually performs a physical memory dump and displays a blue screen comprising an error code and an error message.

• Dll Errors: Dll (Dynamic Link Library) files are dynamic libraries of executable codes that can be called by various applications to perform specific functions. DLL errors usually occur due to missing, corrupt, incompatible, or damaged DLL files, malfunctioning hardware devices, faulty program installation, virus infections and a damaged registry. A system that is frequented by DLL errors is said to be in DLL hell.

• Vxd Errors: VxD (Virtual Device Drivers) are used to establish lower level communication between your system hardware and internal Windows functions. These files run in the privileged CPU mode to perform their tasks. VxD errors are usually generated due to missing, incompatible, or faulty VxD files, memory conflicts, a faulty motherboard, virus infections and registry problems.

• Runtime Errors: Runtime errors usually occur when an application running on your system fails due to bugs that were not rectified during the development phase of the application. These errors may also occur due to conflicts with other applications and services running on the system, software problems, malfunctioning memory, malware infections, and a damaged registry.

Common Methods to Prevent and Fix Windows Errors

You must ensure that all hardware connected to your system is working properly. As a careful user, you must regularly vacuum the internal system components to keep it dust free and prevent problems such as overheating and short circuits.

To prevent errors occurring due to obsolete, incompatible, and incorrect files, you must regularly update your system BIOS, device drives, software applications and operating system with the latest security releases and service packs released by their manufacturers.

You must be careful while installing and uninstalling applications and must avoid overwriting or deleting important system files, especially DLL files, in the process. This helps you in preventing Windows errors that occur due to missing, corrupt, and incompatible files.

If you are receiving errors due to program conflicts, then the best way to find out the conflicting program is by performing a clean boot. To clean boot your PC, run ‘msconfig’ to open the System Configuration Utility. Here, on the General tab, select the Selective Startup option and check the Process SYSTEM.Ini and Process WIN.INI File checkboxes. Next, on the Service tab select the Hide all Microsoft Services checkbox, and then clear all the services being displayed in the Service list. Similarly, clear all but one checkbox on the Startup tab and restart your PC. If you receive an error then the program you left selected is causing the conflict. If you do not receive the error, then continue the process by selecting an additional Startup program or service in the System Configuration Utility until you find the service that is causing the error.

Lastly, ensure that your system remains free from malware infections. To do this, install reliable antivirus and antispyware programs on your system and run regular full system scans to detect and remove all malicious files from your system. It is also a good idea to invest in an advanced registry cleaner tool. Using this tool, you can easily keep your registry free from unwanted errors and prevent several troublesome Windows errors.

Labels: Registry

Want to use the Pandora site outside the U.S.? Well with the recent legal problems Pandora has made their service unavailable in countries like the U.K. With that one group has stepped up and offered a site called GlobalPandora that is available for users in those areas that can no longer normally get to Pandora.

All of this not make sense? Never heard of the Pandora radio site? Well give it a listen, it is really easy to use and much better in my opinion than downloading a lot of music if you are a casual listener. Take me for instance I do not own any CD's I would rather listen to whatever is playing on the radio. This is much the same only for the Internet. And the best part is just put in a Groups name, song name or album name and not only will Pandora play songs from those picks it will also offer to play similar music that you might not have ever heard that you may find you also like

Labels: Site of the Day

With the last couple of weeks of intense CES coverage. I found this
story to be rather funny. Apparently Gizmodo got a hold of some
TV-B-Gone remotes and went around turning off all the television
screens as the walked thru CES. Might be childish but still it is funny.

Labels: Tech Videos