CompuClever Blog

Groovy Windows Shortcuts

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One of our top support technicians has passed on some very useful tips on Windows shortcuts that he wanted to share with our readership.  That spurred on some others of us here at CompuClever to chip in our favorites as well.  Here is what we have come up with. We hope these will help you to easily navigate the choppy waters of the Windows operating system.

The Windows operating system can be a maze of commands, and people new to Windows or to computers in general, can find it daunting.  As with anything though there are always some hidden tricks that make things easier so I thought we should shed some light on them to make using Windows less intimidating and let you wow your friends with your new nerdy skills.

The Windows Logo Key

PC computer keyboards come with a button that some of us at CompuClever were not 100% certain about in terms of functionality.  So we are all learning something new!  The Windows Logo button is between the Ctrl and Alt keys and has the Microsoft Windows “flag” on it.  We will refer to it as the Windows Windows logo key key or simply the Win key. Most of the Windows shortcuts introduced below involve this particular key.

  • Windows key Windows logo key: Open or close Start (display or hide the Start screen in Windows 8.)

The Windows Key Shortcuts

We compiled a list of top 5 Windows key shortcuts that work across all versions of Windows:

  • Windows key Windows logo key+D: Display and hide the desktop
  • Windows key Windows logo key+E: Open File Explorer
  • Windows key Windows logo key+L: Lock your PC or switch accounts
  • Windows key Windows logo key+Pause: Displays the System Property dialog box
  • Windows key Windows logo key+F1: Displays Windows Help

Give them a try and you will be amazed at how easy it is to accomplish common tasks that would otherwise require a lot more effort.

Support for the Windows key shortcuts varies quite a bit across different versions of Windows. For those who are keen to explore a bit on this topic, please check out the Windows key shortcuts below:

  • Windows 10 (under Windows logo keyboard shortcuts)
  • Windows 8 (under Windows logo keyboard shortcuts)
  • Windows 7 (under Windows logo keyboard shortcuts)
  • Windows Vista (under Microsoft natural keyboard shortcuts)
  • Windows XP (under Microsoft natural keyboard shortcuts)

Of course, there are a lot more shortcuts but many of these are not too applicable when considering typical day-to-day computing activities.

The Windows Quick Link Menu

We are purposely holding off from talking about the Windows key Windows logo key+X shortcut, which opens the Quick Link menu – a “treasure box” full of magical shortcuts! It really deserves your particular attention. Interestingly, some of our seasoned techies claim that they never knew the existence of the Quick Link until we were putting together this article. Here are some of the shortcuts that are very useful:

Press Windows key Windows logo key+X to bring up the Quick Link menu (shown above), and press one of the keys below:

  • A – Opens the Command Prompt in “Administrator” mode
  • D – Minimizes all windows; takes you back to the desktop
  • E – Opens File Explorer (previously known as Windows Explorer)
  • F – Opens the Programs and Features list for uninstalling applications
  • M – Opens the Device Manager program; to verify if hardware and drivers are working
  • P – Opens the Control Panel
  • T – Opens the Task Manager; for closing programs that are not responding
  • U – Brings up the panel to shutdown the computer

Alternatively, you can also use the mouse to click and launch an item listed on the Quick Link menu.

Note: Quick Link menu function is not available for Windows XP or Windows 7.

Other Tricks

We have a few shortcuts that we have named here which we feel will really help you move around in Windows and impress friends and family.

Shake It: Here is another trick that can be useful if you have many open windows and you want to minimize all but the one you are working with.  If you click on the topmost section of the window – the top pane where you will find the name of the program – and  hold the left mouse button down, then move your mouse left and right like you are shaking it, all other applications will minimize leaving only that program is showing on the desktop.

Toggle:  One of the best ways to move from one open window to another is to use the Alt + Tab key combination.  Press and hold the Alt key first with your thumb and then use your middle finger on the Tab key and you will see all the items that are open.  When you hold the Alt key and click repeatedly on the Tab key you will toggle through all the open items.  You can get a 3D visual representation of this when you use the Windows Windows logo key key and then the Tab key as described above. Microsoft refers to this as “Aero Flip 3D”

Note: For Windows 10 this opens the Task view.  From here you can create virtual desktops and move apps from one desktop to another.  Click this link to find out more:  http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows-10/getstarted-group-apps

When you select one of the choices and take your fingers off the keys you switch to the selected item.  If you want to move to the last active item, just click the Alt key and once on the Tab key.

Magnify:  Having troubles seeing something on your screen?  You can magnify the screen of Windows programs by doing the following: click and hold the Ctrl key and use the scroll wheel up to magnify and down to make smaller.  You can also try the Windows magnifier tool by clicking the Windows Windows logo key key and the + and the – keys.

In Summary

Windows operating systems can be tough to get around and you can spend too much time trying to find what you are looking for.  We hope you can take one or two shortcuts suggestions offered here and put them to use on a regular basis to help save time.  Once you start using them it’ll be part of your PC practices and you’ll start looking like a “geek” in no time.

Please keep in mind… if you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover or have other feedback to offer, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

A Personal Encounter with Ashley Madison

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What are the consequences to piracy that involves millions of users and personal information? We look at both the overall effect of the greatest hack in modern day as well as how it came to our attention through someone seeking our support and professional guidance. We offer here testimony and strategy.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months, you must have heard about the Ashley Madison account hack. This was where hackers released the entire user database of names, email addresses, billing information, and account details of 38 million users tied to the site. Some described the historical hack episode as an extinction-level event for privacy.

Jeff Yang, a columnist for The Wall Street Journal, asked this simple but stern question in his CNN-syndicated commentary – Ashley Madison hack: privacy becomes extinct. Comparing the incident to the prehistoric planet-wide catastrophe that wiped out the Jurassic World, Yang declared that the data hack of the Toronto-based infidelity website was “an extinction-level event for privacy”.

Attack Aftermath

We were shocked when we first learned that hackers managed to steal close to 40 million users’ records from Ashley Madison, which made claims shortly after the incident that its members remained anonymous. However, in early August 2015 it was clear that this was not the case as hackers released details of millions of email addresses, billing information, and account details tied to the site[1].

As a group of seasoned IT professionals who have been actively involved with security R&D for a number of years, we can tell this hack event was different from all previous data leakages that impacted large corporations and national-level government agencies. This time, the privacy of many ordinary people – with repercussions to job, relationships, family life, marriage, and personal life – was exploited, ripped apart, and taken away.

What was the impact to this? Heartless spammers sent extortion emails to people demanding ransom in return of “wiping records clean”[2]. Adding salt to the wound, class action lawsuit experts and divorce lawyers are circling victims smelling hefty legal fees in the air. The rippling effect of the biggest privacy invasion in human history will be felt for a long time to come. Sadly, we CANNOT be fooled by those spamming extortionists; data leakage is just like waste water leakage – there is no way to retract or wipe absolutely clean what’s already there.

A Personal Encounter

Just a few weeks ago, the core group here at CompuClever was caught in a “personal” encounter with the Ashley Madison aftermath. A seemly normal support email came from a user requesting help with opening a very large (approximately 10 GB), compressed file. The technical support specialist who was dealing with the ticket noticed something abnormal – the origin of the file resides on “The Pirate Bay”, a controversial pirate website usually referred to as part of the “darker side of the web”. Due to the security concern, this case was quickly escalated to our co-founder and Chief Product Officer Yida Mao, who is also our in-house security expert.

Using an isolated environment, Yida led our security analysts to identify the contents of the large compressed file which actually contained the entire dataset of the Ashley Madison user account database. Due to security pre-cautions and with suspicion of possible computer virus contamination within the compressed file, we immediately notified the user to delete and quarantine the file without her having to opening it. We were told by this user that she had strong feelings that her partner had been active on the Ashley Madison site and wanted confirmation. We utilized alternative and safe methods to fulfill her queries and she was grateful.

When global-scale security breaches like that of Ashley Madison happen, we always have mixed feelings of horror and sympathy, along with a sense of responsibility. The magnitude of the hack, for both the number of people involved and the level of impact is HUGE. Can you imagine if the privacy and secrecy of the entire nation of Canada (approximately 36 million) was hacked, exposed, and ripped apart? Meanwhile, as IT professionals who are actively involved with R&D in the realm of PC security and optimization, we also feel deeply compelled to reach out to our families, friends, and to our users and readers in order to awake their sense of online security. Cyber security breach and privacy invasion is no longer something you only read about in cold war novels or watch in Jason Bourne movies, it is happening to people around us or may have already impacted you and your family.

Recommendations

So what can you do instead of just being paranoid? “Be vigilant and aware of your digital surroundings, just as you should be aware of your physical surroundings” says Yida Mao who has managed multiple R&D teams in the cyber security field and published research findings at several international software consortiums. He offers three core principles for protecting your cyber security and privacy:

  • Be aware of what’s already on your PC: Your PC has a lot of information to tell about you, including your personal data, financial records, photos, tax filings, family tree information, and more. Anything that physically reside on your PC can be stolen and exposed. Read more about how to safely remove sensitive information from your PC…
  • Be aware of what’s getting stored on your PC: Unless your PC is never connected to the Internet, you always face the risk of cyber-attacks or privacy intrusions. Your PC is not designed to battle any of these attacks alone and neither should you. Get comprehensive security software like CompuClever Antivirus PLUS to fend off cyber-attacks.
  • Be aware of what’s being sent from your PC: Frequently you, or your PC, will send out sensitive information or data without your full permission or intent. Do you have a data filtering mechanism to prevent information like your credit card numbers or social security numbers from being leaked out? If not, you should use something equivalent to the Data Protection function in CompuClever Antivirus PLUS to safeguard your personal data.

We urge you to take time and assess what protective measures you have put in place to safeguard your information and your privacy, regardless what software or tools you choose to use. Do not delay or procrastinate, cyberattacks do not wait for you – instead, they catch you off-guard.

In Summary

We are excited to be able to provide an AV product that can equip you with tools designed to safeguard you from cyber attacks. Together with our prior technologies such as PC Clean Maestro you can be more proactive in protecting your privacy and securing your personal information in order to safely enjoy your PC computing practices. We plan to continue covering this theme of protection and security in upcoming articles and welcome your feedback.

Please keep in mind… if you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover or have other feedback to offer, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

 

[1] CNN: Hackers released details of hacked Ashley Madison accounts.
[2] CNN: Spammers sent extortion emails to Ashley Madison users.

Windows 10 and Antivirus

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During the launch event of our newly released security product –  CompuClever Antivirus PLUS 2016 back in August, many keen users have contacted us about Windows 10 support. I am very excited to announce, as of today, CompuClever Antivirus PLUS 2016 officially supports Windows 10.

>> Learn more about CompuClever Antivirus PLUS

Now, with Windows 10, Microsoft imposes stringent requirements for antivirus software to ensure they are fully compliant to the enhanced security Application Programming Interface (API) specification for Windows 10, AND that the antivirus program also contributes positively to the user experience especially in terms of impact to PC performance. CompuClever Antivirus PLUS 2016 fully meets these new and heightened standards. The antivirus software has been officially approved by Microsoft as being compatible with Windows 10.

>> CompuClever Antivirus PLUS 2016 Now Supports Windows 10

If you are upgrading to Windows 10, please be aware that Microsoft said: “If your anti-malware subscription is not current (expired), Windows will uninstall your application and enable Windows Defender”. We have expressed our concerns about Windows Defender stating that it is not the best antivirus protection you can get, free or paid, even according to PC Magazine.  We recommend anyone upgrading to Windows 10 should check what antivirus protection is running after making the switch.

>> How to tell if your antivirus provides you enough protection

With CompuClever Antivirus PLUS, you can protect a PC with the best antivirus technology trusted by over 500 million users around the world. Still not convinced? No worries, take a FREE 7-day trial for a spin and we guarantee that you will see the difference between your current antivirus program and CompuClever Antivirus PLUS 2016, which offers total security protection with no compromise of PC speed.

Give you and your family the best PC security protection available!

Vigilance and Silence

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In a previous article discussing whether we really need to compromise PC performance in exchange for security, we presented the CompuClever Photon technology – an innovative feature that adapts security protection to the uniqueness of your PC. Photon makes CompuClever Antivirus light and fast, imposing almost no overhead to system resources. But how should an antivirus react to a true threat when it detects an intrusion? We are often presented with popups and reminders, like the one shown below, that most of us, even including those who work in the IT industry, don’t know how to respond to, which may result in taking the wrong action.

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS works differently and better than this. It is essentially a silent security solution that only communicates useful information in language you can understand, keeping you informed and, keeping you in the driver seat. This is achieved through the combination of two features: Autopilot and Profiles.

Introducing Autopilot and Profiles

What makes CompuClever Antivirus’ user-centric approach possible is the Autopilot and Profiles features, which work hand-in-hand to deliver silent security 24/7.

Autopilot

Autopilot makes the best security decisions for users, without user interaction, while eliminating notifications and popups. When Autopilot is switched on and CompuClever Antivirus detects any type of threats, it will automatically block it. Users do NOT need to define their protection levels or what actions to take whenever a threat is detected. It is automatically enabled and can be simply disabled.

The “secret sauce” of Autopilot is another cool technology: CompuClever Profiles – an intelligent technology that determines what you are doing with your PC and makes the right decisions for PC security! Additionally, with Profiles, CompuClever Antivirus not only works silently but also optimizes your PC for its best performance.

Profiles

The Profiles technology is designed to automatically detect when users work, play, or watch movies, and it prevents other apps from slowing down the system. Beside the standard profile, there are three profiles that fit most of our day-to-day PC usage patterns: “Work”, “Game”, or “Movie”. CompuClever Antivirus PLUS will identify whenever the user is engaged in one of these activities and will maximize PC performance by directing more of the system resources to those particular applications. In addition, Profiles offers users an uninterrupted experience by postponing resource-consuming operations such as scheduled scans, automatic product updates, system maintenance tasks, Windows updates, and other third-party operations. It also suspends unnecessary background programs, eliminates pop-ups, and adjusts visual effects according to activities users are currently engaged in. Here are some behavioral description of each profile:

  • Work: postpone scheduled scans, initiate automatic product and signature updates every two hours, activate the anti-spam module, deactivate Search Advisor, and block product notifications.
  • Game: postpone scheduled scans, initiate automatic product and signature updates every twelve hours, deactivate Search Advisor, and block product notifications.
  • Movie: perform the same operations as the Game profile, but start product and signature updates every eight hours.

You can manually set your PC to one of these profiles or let Autopilot take over the control and make the best decision for you. Either way, CompuClever Antivirus PLUS ensures you are completely protected while you enjoy the best of what your PC is designed to deliver.

Real-Time Optimization

CompuClever Antivirus PLUS Real-Time Optimization is a plugin that improves your system performance silently in the background, making sure that you are not interrupted while you are in a Profile mode. Depending on the CPU load, the plugin monitors all processes, focuses on those that take up a higher load, and adjusts them to your needs.

The system is optimized by increasing the Profile’s application performance, postponing system updates and Windows automatic updates, suspending unnecessary background programs, and eliminating popups in order to provide the best movie or game experience.

Security Report

Although CompuClever Antivirus is considered completely silent, it still reports to you once a week by delivering an easy-to-understand Security Report.

The Security Report presents the security status for the past week including scans, disinfections, an events timeline, and feature recommendations. These tips are important in managing the overall protection and users can easily see actions to be taken on their PC. The overall security score is calculated based on the critical protection used previously and other conditions that might represent a security risk. The Security Report uses an issue tracking system to detect and inform users about issues that may have impacted the security of the system and the data on it.

Conclusion

To learn more about the features and benefits covered in this article:

Be still and know you are in control of your PC security with the help of CompuClever Antivirus PLUS!

Protection vs. Speed

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Does antivirus software slow down PCs? The answer is a definite Yes; but, a conditional one depending on which security software you’ve chosen to run on your PC. According to an extensive endurance test, performed by AV-Test.org, the evidence of PC performance impacted by antivirus software was more than convincing. An antivirus solution that does a mediocre job on reducing its impact on PC performance slows down your PC by taking too much resource like CPU, hard disc, and RAM. As a result, you were forced to make a compromise for speed in exchange for security.

But, is it really necessary to choose between protection and speed? A well designed antivirus program should impose minimum or no impact to PC performance while still delivering the best protection against malware and online threats. This is how CompuClever Antivirus was designed and made. Let’s dive into some details.

CompuClever Photon technology

The core technology is called “Photon” and it makes CompuClever Antivirus the lightest antivirus ever. It is an innovative antivirus technology that takes the weight of the system and accelerates scanning speed by gradually adapting to each user’s PC.

How it works

Built with the same type of artificial intelligence technology used by the robotic industry, Photon goes through the following cycle to adapt to your PC:

Click to see a larger diagram: How Photon works
  1. Fingerprinting: performed early in the installation a unique “fingerprint” was built for your system.
  2. Pre-training: a scanning pattern based on the fingerprint is then formed by querying the reputation of each application and system process from Cloud intelligence, maintaining a precise list of everything loaded in the system based on reputation.
  3. Active monitoring: whenever your system “fingerprint” changes, Photon immediately checks the reputation list and alerts the antivirus engine to take prompt and appropriate action.
  4. Continued training: when new “intel” is added to the Cloud intelligence, the reputation list will be instantly updated as it pertains to the relevancy of your system’s unique “fingerprint”.
  5. Adaptive scanning: Photon directs the antivirus engine to pay more attention to suspicious applications rather than trusted ones.

The result

Photon technology enables CompuClever Antivirus to reduce its footprint by minimizing the requirement of computing resource like CPU power, hard drive access, and memory usage. The result is obvious:

  • The antivirus is quiet and non-intrusive.
  • It brings low or no impact on system performance.
  • Your PC enjoys faster boot time.
  • Your applications runs smoothly.

Better yet, there is nothing you need to do or configure in order to enjoy the benefit of Photon – it’s built-in and pre-configured and self-adapting. Just relax and enjoy, knowing that you are both well protected and your PC is still as fast as it was before installing the program.

Recommendation

If your PC is sluggish, we recommend the following actions:

Remember, an effective security protection doesn’t have to come at the price of degraded PC performance.