CompuClever Blog

Secure Computing Practices

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Synopsis:  This blog article focuses on the privacy and personal security functionality of PC Clean Maestro– the removal of personal and private files.  There are numerous examples of cybercrime and online hacking which exemplify damages that can be lost in terms of financial wealth, private data, and personal information that can be used against your will.  In this article we will offer some examples of how you can prevent falling into malicious traps.  For more detail of cybercrime examples refer to our newsletter.  While encryption and firewall techniques are available, experts agree that there are always vulnerable points of entry.  We emphasize eliminating the risk by removal of data where possible.

Introducing – PC Clean Maestro:

The CompuClever application PC Clean Maestro has more than one major function.  It is used to remove junk files, to uninstall programs, and for removal of data for purposes of security and retaining PC privacy. Removing private data that is sensitive or can be stolen is done in the same manner as removing junk files with minor differences.  We will outline the procedure here in step-by-step fashion.  Before we begin, let’s start with a best practice tip.

Best Practices: 1. BackUp Data

As we stated in our previous article… backup your data!  Continue reading...

Privacy and Security – Touchless Cyber Crime

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Synopsis: Our goal in presenting the following information is not to scare our reader base but to inform. With knowledge of real and potential PC crimes and threats you can take steps to guard yourself. Brace yourself for the real world as we take a look at some of the trends in cybercrime and security breaches. After that we introduce the privacy and security features available with PC Clean Maestro.

Cybercrime has been a growing concern since the onset of the first computer virus. The very first PC threats were more about status and cyber geeks flexing their brain muscle as they penetrate computer defenses and proliferate in typical virus fashion. These days there is much more to lose. Personal information and finances can be stolen with the use of more sophisticated and stealthy technology. One recent hot topics in this field is “skimming wallets” – theft which involves just walking past someone and picking up there credit card information. We will look at this and other forms of cybercrime and speak to how to guard yourself from PC cyber attacks.

Trends and Threats:

Researchers and security professional are in agreement: breaches of PC security are on the rise.  This is not only at an individual level but even with institutions and businesses that have considerable expertise and finances directed specifically at cybercrime prevention.

Continue reading...

Surf Faster with Internet Explorer

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When surfing the net we rely on our browser. In this article we focus on how to address Internet Explorer performance issues. This is a frustrating experience common to many computer users. We will look at potential causes and attempt to rule out anything that may be less likely but needs to be examined. We then focus on what is a common experience for those that have run IE for some time and have collected a few “add-ons” during their surfing adventures.

Getting to the Source

There are several potential causes for a slow browsing experience.  The plan is to identify the symptoms and then to systematically go through potential causes.  We will attempt to rule out the ones less likely to be crippling your IE browser experience but are potential culprits all the same.

What are the symptoms?  It could be you have been facing a number of IE browser symptoms that indicate poor Internet browsing health.  These could range from: slow startup, slow downloading of pages, crashes, and more.  We can go through these one at a time.

Internet speed:  A slow connection to the Internet means slow browsing speeds.  But is it the Internet connection or the result of the browser?  Continue reading...

Hard Disk Drive Basics

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An effective disk defragmenter is a vital utility for all PC users who take an active role in improving system performance. We have created two informational articles to cover this important topic thoroughly but in terminology that all computer users can understand. This article examines Hard Disk Drives and how they become fragmented. The follow up article will detail how fragmentation can impact system performance and how defragmentation and best practices can restore PC performance.

The Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is the main storage device for your PC; it is the mechanism that writes and reads data on the hard disk.  The HDD components consist of one or more drive platters sealed within a casing.  These drives connect to the motherboard of the computer through the use of internal data transfer and power cables.

The components within the drive include:

  • Head Actuator: controls the actuator arm.
  • Read/Write Actuator Arm: is similar to the arm of a record player; as the platter is spinning the arm locates and accesses the data needed so it can be read, written (edited), and deleted.
  • Read/Write Head: this is the device at the end of the actuator arm and is used to write or read the data on the platter.
Continue reading...

Defragmentation and Optimization

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An effective disk defragmenter is a vital utility for all PC users who take an active role in improving system performance. The previous article on this topic examined how Hard Disk Drives become fragmented. With this general knowledge we can now describe how fragmentation can impact system performance and how defragmentation and best practices can restore PC performance.

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) performance is measured in the following manners:

  • Seek time:  This is the time from when the processor (CPU) makes its request to when the data is first delivered.  Common seek time rates fall between 10 to 20 milliseconds.
  • Data rate:  This is the rate at which data can be delivered to the CPU.  Data rate times typically range from 5 to 40 MB per second.

The size (capacity) of the drive and the amount of free space is another key factor with respect to HDD performance.

The performance of the HDD can be a bottleneck for your PC even if you have plenty of RAM and are using a very high-end processor (CPU).  This is especially true and perhaps noticeable when you have to open and use data files that are very large such as movies, database files, .ISO Continue reading...