PreparedPC

Utilities

AVG Antivirus 8.0’s recent set of antivirus definitions broke Windows XP by quarantining XP’s user32.dll as a bad file.
There are 2 ways to fix this:
Windows XP CD - If you have a Windows XP installation CD handy, follow these steps.
No Windows XP CD - Grisoft has created a bootable .ISO or bootable flashdrive image. Follow [...]

Corporations have disaster recovery plans, and so should you. If you want to minimize your own computers’ downtime due to hard drive failure, operating system corruption (i.e. the “Blue Screen of Death”), and the like, there are a number of solutions that you can use that can help you get back up and running quickly. [...]

Have you unboxed a brand new Windows computer and plugged it in, only to find a desktop full of “trial-ware” installed? Perhaps the browser’s home page has been hijacked redirected to the computer vendor’s website?
The situation is getting better. In early 2008, Sony began offering a “Fresh Start” option when you are purchasing a computer [...]

Even with a decent-size screen, if you’re running many applications at the same time, it can be time-consuming toggling through all those windows using Alt-F4 or the taskbar. Wouldn’t things be easier if you have one screen just for email, another for word processing, another for editing graphics, etc.?
Enter Desktops 1.0

Mark Russinovich and [...]

An .ISO file is an “image,” containing the complete contents of a CD or DVD. It’s a common way that versions of Linux (or many of its variants) are released. For example, you might want to download a copy of F-Secure Rescue CD 3.00 so you can scan a hard drive for any malware.
Also, [...]

JKDefrag is a freeware utility that handles that unglamorous but important task of defragmenting your hard drive(s). JKDefrag falls into that happy category of programs that handle a task better than Microsoft’s own utility for the job. Running JKDefrag is quite safe because it “hooks into” Windows’ defragmentation API (Application Programmer’s Interface), sending defragmentation requests [...]

It’s important to backup your files, but you may be inadvertantly storing and backing up multiple copies of files on your hard drive. You might forget that you have another copy of a video clip or MP3 file somewhere else on your hard drive, and duplicate folders of photos from Aunt Myrtle’s 75th birthday party [...]

Photo by Sister72

It’s one of those nagging things in the back of your mind: “What happens if my hard drive crashes, or the operating system gets corrupted, or…? I should do something about it.” Then you dismiss that thought because you think it’s too hard, or expensive.
It’s really not that difficult, nor expensive. We’ll [...]

Photo by DPS
Microsoft’s free application, SteadyState, is a way to quickly “undo” many problems that can develop as a result of spyware infections, people installing software that “breaks” other software, etc. It’s perfect for that spare PC that you’ve set up for the kids. Perhaps your parents are using a computer for the first time, [...]

Have you run into this problem yet? Your friend or family member, who’s been using a computer for several years, buys a new computer and asks for your help to “move everything over” to the new computer. You’re able to copy their data files to the PC, but when it’s time to set up their [...]