PCTips Box

You invested in dead bolts and alarm systems to protect your business from theft of merchandise and equipment. But a cyber thief does not need access through the front door to steal the information you store on your PCs. Client credit card and bank account numbers, employee data and other confidential files are all at risk in a cyber attack.

Implementing sound security measures can greatly reduce your vulnerability to phishing (a type of Internet-based scam designed to steal your identity), spyware, and other malicious software used to steal or otherwise compromise business data. The good news is that built-in security features in Windows Vista Ultimate make it much easier to safeguard your PCs. Here are three you should know about: (more…)

Ever have the need to open more than one program or application at the same time?

Say it’s the beginning of the month and time to pay those dreaded bills. You know you need Excel, Windows calculator and Firefox or Internet Explorer open. Instead of opening them up one by one, you can easily create a batch file that will open all three programs at once.

And while your at it, why not have Excel open the spreadsheet file you use for tracking your budget and the browser open to your Bank’s home page. Here’s how to do it…

First let’s take a look at a batch file I created that will just open Excel, Calculator and Firefox: (more…)

User Account Control can be annoying, but it’s an extra layer of protection that protects your computer from viruses, hackers, and poorly written software.

UAC lets you know when someone or something is trying to change a setting or install/uninstall software on your computer. It also removes administrative rights from software making it harmless to critical system files and services.

Before UAC, settings could be changed and software could be installed/uninstalled without you knowing. Software running under an account with admin rights also had full admin rights which gave it full access to critical system files and services. (more…)

This guide shows you how to install Windows Vista but leave the set up (user name and password, PC name, recommended settings, time zone, and firewall settings) to the soon to be user of that computer just like the major PC manufacturers like Dell and HP do.

This is great for when you install Vista on a computer for a friend or family member but you want to leave the set up to them.

- Install Windows Vista but stop at the first set up window (the user account creation window) also known as the beginning of Out of box experience (OOBE) shown below. (more…)

Just want to share with you guys on how I can download files from Rapidshare by using the premium download links. As you already know, if we have a premium account, we can download files without need to wait for a certain time period before we can continue our next download. And we can stop and resume our download anytime as long as we download the files using the premium link.

If you don’t have a Rapidshare premium account and want to download files from Rapidshare, you can go to these websites. They will give you the premium download link so you can download the files like you have a premium account. (more…)

Everybody loves Gmail, but some people use a desktop client, especially in corporate environments where Outlook is king. Adding your Gmail account to Outlook 2007 couldn’t be easier.

First we need to make sure your gmail account is set up to enable POP (Post Office Protocol). In Gmail just go to mail settings and choose the Forwarding and POP tab. Click on one of the options to enable POP.

Now open up Outlook 2007 and go to Tools \ Account Settings… (more…)

Deep inside the bowels of Windows Vista, there’s a secret Administrator account, and it’s different from the normal administrator account you most likely have set up on your PC. This Administrator account is not part of the Administrator group. (Confused yet? You should be.) It’s a kind of superadministrator, akin to the root account in Unix, and by default it’s turned off and hidden. (In describing this hack, we’ll always use the capital “A” for the secret Administrator account, and a lowercase “a” for a normal administrator account.)

In versions of Windows before Windows Vista, the Administrator account wasn’t hidden, and many people used it as their main or only account. This Administrator account had full rights over the computer. (more…)

As long as security isn’t a big concern, configuring Windows Vista to log on to your user account automatically can save you some serious time and effort when your computer is starting up.

Just follow the easy steps outlined below to make Windows Vista automatically log on to your user account. After completing these steps, Windows Vista will stop prompting you for a user name and password on startup! (more…)

I’ve finally started making a few changes to my Windows Vista setup. One of the most annoying recurring problems I’ve had is that User Account Control, which is designed to protect your computer from unauthorized changes isn’t very intelligent and doesn’t learn from past behaviour. So, if you will constantly have to approve certain programs.

I’ve decided to turn User Account Control off. Yes, there’s a risk that I might be leaving my machine vulnerable but I’m pretty careful so I’m confident I’ll be ok. Disabling UAC is pretty easy: (more…)

As long as you’re the only user on your PC, deleting your Windows Vista account password will allow you to completely bypass the logon process. While it isn’t a very security-minded thing to do, removing your Windows Vista password might be something to consider if you have problems remembering your password.

Follow the easy steps below to remove the password to your Windows Vista logon account:

Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Deleting your Windows Vista logon password usually takes less than a few minutes
Here’s How: (more…)