I actually don't know if it matters which virus scanner, firewall, etc. that you have anymore. I know 3 very important things:

1. Backup. once a week, once a month, the 'minute' you finish that...

Windows live onecare... do I really want the company that I need to buy security software to even relatively safely run my operating system to PROVIDE said security software?

There is a free program out there by Stardock called Bootskin (http://www.stardock.com/products/bootskin/).

It will work on just about any system, and it has a pretty easy to use GUI.

I fully agree with this part. even as late as XP, using a static page file did give me better performance, especially when multitasking. Vista does its virtual memory very well, and with the added...

Piracy might be bad, but so is leaving a bug in a piece of software for so long.

If you 'own' a copy of office, but don't have the disk, you shouldn't be punished for losing the thing. I would...

I'm not gonna lie to ya, your HJT log is a whole helluva mess. I can understand if you can't reinstall.

If this is the case, we'll start with a full AVG scan. I see you did that already, so that...

This will do it for you:
IntelliAdmin (http://www.intelliadmin.com/blog/2006/11/automatic-login-to-windows-xp-and.html)

And, just as a general tip, if someone messages you out of the blue asking for you to 'see thier new vacation photos,' with a direct link to it. I would very strongly recommend to think before you...

also, check that the hardware is not damaged

and, this probably goes in another forum.

well, everyone has associated that they want 'faster shutdown times'. well, the shutting down of a system doesn't take as long as the starting up. and, added together, that should be the final...

It seems to me that it depends on the system. i see a linear increase in performance up to 4x my actual RAM.

Setting a static page file is mainly a tip that should be reserved for the computer user who has forsaken friends and family for the realm of PC gaming, but anyone can do it, especially if you do...

I posted this along with a full alternate method in this thread: http://wRww.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread32495.html (http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread32495.html)

but as far as...

I recently figured out an update for this hack that makes the procedure immensely easy. If someone else posted how to do this before, I'm sorry, I'm just not aware of it:

get up to the point...

I go over a method to replace the original explorer.exe in this thread: Hack Windows Explorer (http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread32587.html)

Using this method, you can still use the...

" WARNING: The radiation shield on your monitor has failed! Please duck under your desk now and cry for help from your local IT Professional! "

another great way to quickly access frequently used programs is with this program: Hotkey Helper (http://www.tucows.com/preview/352676)
With it, you can set practically any keystroke to do certain...

i've done the 'all white' one to my buddy... took him an hour to get it straight again... and i've set someone's desktop style to entirely black before... it was an idiot freshman who forgot to log...

here's a quick little practical joke that you can do to your friend, (or computer illiterate enemy)

close all windows and everything on the screen, so all that is seen is the icons on the desktop....

ok, i went and made an ass of myself for not making sure the method worked first...

you need to disable the windows logon screen, so that the 'secure' logon box comes up instead. with that done...

They changed things around for XP i think... i don't know why M$ didn't update thier site...

anyway, here's a step-by-step:

Control panel:
Administrative Tools:
Local Security Settings:...

*I gotta note that you can find your system information just as easily by going in through 'Help and Support,' but this is just cooler to do when sitting at someone elses computer, and you don't have...

*You can probably find different methods of doing this somewhere online, but this is the way that has always worked for me*

*NOTE: This hack might not work 100% all the time, i'm not exactly sure...

Quick update: the extra file you need to delete is 'logonui.exe.manifest'

*Taken from the ATOS website, http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/index.html*

If there's one thing i hate, it's the windows XP logo. I CAN'T STAND IT!

so like, wavy and multicolored... so,...