The identified flaws are in the very core of the computer hardware – the CPUs or also known as the processors.

About The Defect

The two newly identified defects have wide ranging impacts on devices from the phone you are carrying to the servers that send data to it as well as other mobile devices, laptops and desktops whether PC or Mac. The vulnerabilities enables hackers to access people’s personal information.

Google’s Project Zero team states that these flaws can enable hackers to gain passwords and other sensitive data from system memory.
The two flaws are known as Spectre and Meltdown.

Meltdown: Named this way because it melts security boundaries which are normally enforced by the hardware. This was found mostly in Intel processors (as far back as 1995). Also ARM has reported their processors are affected, but it is unclear at this time if AMD processors are affected. This vulnerability can be patched through an update. However, this fix could slow down computers as much as 30%.

Spectre: The name is derived from the root cause: speculative execution. It is not easy to fix – it requires a re-design of computer chips – so it is likely to haunt us for some time to come. This defect was found in Intel processors as well as AMD and ARM chips. While this flaw is harder to exploit for hackers, it is also more difficult to mitigate for users.

For more information on these we highly recommend going to: https://meltdownattack.com/

The Impact

Google engineers discovered these flaws and had kept the news a secret to enable time for fixes to be created and issued before other computer hackers could take advantage. However, Intel was forced to disclose as the story received coverage when a British tech website, The Register, uncovered it. This led to a drop in Intel’s stock.

These flaws have wide ranging impacts on all types of chip-based devices including cell phones, laptops and desktops – whether PC or Mac.

According to researchers:

“While programs are typically not permitted to read data from other programs, a malicious program can exploit Meltdown and Spectre to get hold of secrets stored in the memory of other running programs,”^[1]

News reports are emerging that any computer made over the last 20 years could be impacted and that fixing the issue could cause significant disruption around the world. So in a nutshell, it is almost certain that your PC is affected, especially if it uses an Intel based chip.

Companies such as Amazon state they are in the process of creating and distributing a fix for their services and devices. They made a statement: “This is a vulnerability that has existed for more than 20 years in modern processor architectures like Intel, AMD, and ARM across servers, desktops, and mobile devices.”^[2] They further stated that most of its infrastructure had now been made safe.

However, for older computers the update could be more difficult. Many devices have few updates as phone makers are slow to provide updates.

Risk Mitigation

It is not safe to work with sensitive information given there is a chance of leaking information if your device has a vulnerable processor and runs an unpatched operating system. This is applicable to personal computers and anyone using cloud infrastructure.

To deal with these defects you will need to update your software as patches become available.

Unfortunately, with older computers it may be harder to update. For many devices – especially those running Android – updates are few and far between since phone makers are often slow to provide their customers with new updates.

According to the Meltdown site:

There are patches against Meltdown for Linux , Windows, and OS X. There is also work to harden software against future exploitation of Spectre, respectively to patch software after exploitation through Spectre.

There is also work to harden software against future exploitation of Spectre, respectively to patch software after exploitation through Spectre.

The site goes on to explain that unlike usual malware, Meltdown and Spectre are hard to distinguish from regular benign applications. However, your Antivirus program may detect malware whichuses the attacks by comparing binaries after they become known.

We highly recommend that you ensure using a legitimate and effective Antivirus program such as: CompuClever Antivirus PLUS.

Brace for a Slowdown

To add salt to the wound, your device could be slower after you have made it safer from hacks. Hard to imagine – you fix your device and it actually results in a slowdown!

Intel says the average computer user won’t experience significant slowdowns after receiving the fix.

However, there are news reports^[3] that state fixing these defects will slow performance – especially for devices more than five years old. And for companies that deal with considerable network traffic and processing power the slowdown could be even more severe. This includes cloud computing providers, systems that crunch data, and retailers that process consumer transactions.

Was there ever a time that having your PC running at peak performance was more critical?

Which brings us to our second recommendation: CompuClever PC TuneUp Pro – not only will you find areas of improved system performance you can also better manage security of sensitive data.

Moving Forward: There are reports^[4] that point out that some experts are saying the affected processors will need to be replaced entirely in order to completely get rid of the risks created by these flaws. We can’t foresee newly designed chips replacing flawed ones in existing devices in the near future.

At present, there are no available processors that can replace the vulnerable ones and still provide the same kind of functionality. It will be years before new chips that can perform the same tasks safely and effectively, will be made available.

During the wait we need to take whatever measures we have that are at our disposal, to remain safe and to ensure the best performance we can manifest.

[1] https://meltdownattack.com/

[2] https://aws.amazon.com/security/security-bulletins/AWS-2018-013/v1/

[3 & 4] http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/04/technology/business/apple-macs-ios-spectre-meltdown/index.html

The post Spectre and Meltdown: Massive Security Holes Impacting All Mac and PC devices appeared first on CompuClever.

The post How to Fix Computer Sound Problems appeared first on CompuClever.

How to Repair Windows 7

This process will repair your systems Windows files and is useful for correcting issues within the operating system itself; the process will not delete your personal files or data.  Windows Store programs are also safe, but you may need to reinstall third party programs in some cases.

Insert the USB key, Restart your system. Wait for the first screen to pop up, then, click F8 or F12 (you can see which shortcut key on the screen) to enter the boot menu. Then select USB HDD option on the boot menu.

Select the Time and Keyboard options, and click “Next”

Click “Repair your computer”

Select the first option: “Use recovery tools that can help fix problems starting Windows. Select an operating system to repair”, click “Next”.

Choose a recovery tool base on your computer problem:

1)  If you have issues about starting, click “Startup Repair”. If it detects a problem, it will automatically fix the problems that are preventing Windows from starting. If not, please select another option.

2)  If you want to restore Windows to an earlier point in time, please click “System Restore”. If you have more than one save point to restore please do them in the order of most recent to oldest.  You may have to restart the computer between each restore to complete the restore process, the computer will tell you is you need to restart the system.

Windows 7 is set to automatically create Restore points so even if you have not created any but have used the system for a while, there normally will be several restore point to choose from.   Using the “System Restore” may remove programs (if they were installed after the date you go to they will need to be installed again), but it will not affect your data files.

3)  If you want to recover your computer using a system image you created earlier, please click “System Image Recovery”.  (Please note, using the “System Image Recovery” will result in data and personal files being erased, as well as programs (unless you created the image after installing your programs).  We advise only using this option when all else fails and after your data files are backed up.) It will search on your system to find the image. If you backup the system image on a DVD, you need to insert the DVD.

Create System Recovery Image

In case the system you purchased did not have an image created you can do this for yourself.  If you are organized you could create one after your programs are installed, this would mean you would only need to backup data files and restoring the image would correct Windows and install all of your programs too!

If you would like to create an image please perform the steps detailed below:

Click Start (normally in the lower left corner of the screen)
Click “Control Panel”
Click “System and Security”
Click “Back up your computer”

The Backup and Restore Center then opens.

Click “Create a system image”

Windows looks for available backup devices, such as a hard drive, DVD burning drive, or network drive.

Choose the location to save your system image
Click “Next”

***Do not save the backup to the recovery partition: FACTORY_IMAGE or Recovery. Doing so corrupts the recovery information.

Confirm the settings, and then click “Start backup”

***Make sure that you have enough blank space on the external drive or enough blank DVDs to create the system image.

Windows will then prepare to create the system image. (If you are backing up to DVD, label and insert a blank DVD in the DVD drive.)

If you are backing up to DVD and a message displays requesting to format the DVD, choose to format the DVD.

If using DVDs label and insert a blank DVD when you are prompted. Continue to follow the on-screen instructions until the image is complete. This might take from several minutes to several hours, please store the backup in a safe place once the image is complete.

The post Repair Windows 7 with Your Recovery Disc appeared first on CompuClever.

If you have a flaky computer, a Recovery Disc can help by repairing Windows to make things run smoothly again. If you ever encounter a corrupted system file, a Recovery Disc will help you find it and fix it as well. If Windows crashes and you can’t get it to restart, you can also use a Recovery Disc to restore your computer’s operating system.

The best thing is by using a Recovery Disc you’ll be able to save all the data on your computer. This includes Word documents and spreadsheets, your photo collection and your valuable photos and movies.

In short, the Recovery Disc is a lifesaver that provides peace of mind. But, surprisingly, few people have access to one.

Recovery Discs Are Hard to Find

In the past, when you purchased a Windows PC, you likely received a “recovery disc”– an actual compact disc – that you would use to troubleshoot problems and restore Windows on your computer. Over the years these recovery discs can be easy to misplace. If you ever need one in an emergency, they are nowhere to be found.

Microsoft and most PC manufacturers stopped shipping Windows installation disc a few years ago – which is probably better for the environment.

Windows 10 doesn’t come with a Recovery Disc by default – this can be a real problem if you run into trouble with your computer.

Produce a Recovery Disc On Your Own

However there is a step-by-step process you can follow to download and create a Windows Recovery Disc for both Windows 8 and Windows 10, but if you want to protect your Windows 7 computer, you’re basically out of luck. Windows 7 has basically been “retired” by Microsoft, so a Recovery Disc with the full reinstall option is very hard to find online.

But no matter what, the process of producing a Recovery Disc takes some dedicated effort, and can be a real hassle. That’s because, to do it right, you need:

• A blank USB key that’s at least 4GB in capacity
• An actual working PC to produce a recovery disc (but what do you do if your PC won’t start?)

On top of that, the actual process of downloading and setting up a full Recovery Disc with the option of reinstalling the Windows OS could take as long as a few hours!

Imagine when you actually need a Recovery Disc, this could be a massive pain… but we have a simple solution.

Choose Your Windows Recovery Disc

Our CompuCleverGEAR store offers Windows Recovery Disc for Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7 for both 32- and 64-bit versions. Please select the right version for your PC.

Having a Windows Recovery Disc ready by your PC provides you a peace of mind with an emergency plan for both your PC and your important files and data.

Always be prepared and don’t be caught in the rain without an umbrella.

The post Windows Recovery Disc – Be Prepared Ahead of Time appeared first on CompuClever.

In our previous article we provided information about USB technology including USB flash drives.  With that information in hand you are ready to speed up your PC with ReadyBoost.  Let’s start with an overview of the technology.

Who Will Benefit?

Using this technology is best for users with 8 GB of RAM or lower, using a traditional spinning platter hard drive (HDD), and an operating system of Windows Vista or higher.

ReadyBoost will have little performance improvement or will be irrelevant if:

The Technology:

From the many articles we have passed on to you in the past, you likely have a good idea that CompuClever programs such as PC TuneUp Maestro and PC Clean Maestro can regain performance that has been lost due to: defragmentation; clutter of junk files and unwanted applications (leading to the reduction of available space).  These tools can also assist you when faced with a bogged down Internet connectivity as well as using functions related to improving browser speed and startup speed.

Now we can shine some light on a technology that can take your PC as it is, and can extend its performance abilities.  Keep in mind we still recommend that you enhance your performance through regular clean up and maintenance.

The basics of the technology involve being able to cache data to a device.  In this case, the device is a USB flash drive.  You can also use CompactFlash and SD cards.  How it works is that data is temporarily stored on the flash drive so that it can be retrieved faster than using the internal hard drive and available memory (RAM or “Random Access Memory”).  Flash memory, such as a USB drive or SSD (Solid State Drive), benefit from faster seek times than standard magnetic hard disk drives.  The only limitation is that USB flash drives will wear out in time.  By some estimates^[1] this won’t be for approximately 10 years.

Here’s How To:

You can begin by using a USB flash card that has at least 1 gigabyte (GB) of available space.  For best results, use a flash drive or flash memory card with at least double the amount of available space as the amount of memory (RAM) in your computer.^[2]

To enable or disable ReadyBoost:

Windows displays the recommended space to use for optimal performance.  If there isn’t enough space for ReadyBoost, a message is displayed telling you to free some space on the device.

The Benefits:

Our CompuClever team members have used ReadyBoost on a few systems that were so slow we faced having to replace them.  We noted significant gains in performance of these computers.  For systems that have only 2 or 4 GBs of RAM, the performance gains are significant.

We researched test results for ReadyBoost and found a very good site.  Here is a list of improvements as well as situations where there are no performance gains.

When enabling ReadyBoost on a system with low amounts of RAM, you can experience:

This same site states:

Ejecting Flash Drives:

It is good practice to eject flash drives that are in use.  This means closing windows and applications using the device and then using the Safely Remove Hardware icon.  In doing so, you eliminate the risk of losing data or experiencing data corruption – especially when files are being transferred.

To properly eject a drive:
Use the Safely Remove Hardware icon and eject your device before pulling it out of the USB port.
You can also locate the drive in the Computer window (Windows / File Explorer) right-click it, and select Eject.  Windows will tell you when it’s safe to remove the device thereby eliminating any chances of data corruption.

The exception:

In our research we found that:

In fact, you can leave your ReadyBoost enabled drive inserted in the port and shutdown your system.  In this way, when you start up your PC you can also enhance startup time performance.

Summary:

There are few disadvantages to this free technology.  You need to dedicate a USB port for your drive (using a USB hub is possible but not preferred).  Also, your flash drive will eventually need to be replaced… but before that happens you’ll likely have purchased a new system entirely.  Cost is not really a factor though.  Flash memory drives are fairly inexpensive and certainly not as much as installing new hardware or buying a new system altogether.

Given all this, we strongly feel that ReadyBoost can extend the life of older PCs that are lacking the necessary RAM and are not able to keep up in a fast computing world.  We hope you enjoy the benefits as we have.

We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post Speed up Your PC with ReadyBoost appeared first on CompuClever.

Ashley Madison

Let’s start off with the details of the Ashley Madison attack which are now more available to the public – along with all the compromised data. The aftermath of this unprecendented privacy attack had even reached our own team at CompuClever.

CIA Director – John Brennan

We were surprised to hear of a recent hack to the email account of the CIA Director John Brennan.  It may not have been as well publicized, but it does come as being equally shocking.  Let’s use the same format to look more closely at the details.

Signs of a PC Attack

If you are suspicious that your PC has been acting “funny” or there are certain indicators which lead you to suspect it may have been tampered with – it could be it is displaying signs of a real malicious attack.  There are certain common traits that our CompuClever support team is very familiar with and that we have found in our research on this topic.  Here is our list.

1. Friends receive fake emails from you

If you open up your email “Spam” folder you are likely to see a lot of emails sent by friends and they likely have no idea the emails are being sent.  Likewise, your PC could be sending emails automatically to people in your address book.

Solution:  This was the first method of passing on viruses in the early days of computing.  These days it is more likely that only some emails are sent to a subset of your email addresses.  It could be that the emails and contact information was stolen from social media sites and has nothing to do with your computer.  To be on the safe side it is best to run an AV scan and check for unwanted items installed on your PC.

2. Unwanted browser toolbars

This is a common sign of malware exploitation.  You are likely experiencing several toolbars on your web browser that were not there previously.  Unless you recognize the vendor or know how it got there – you need to take action.

Solution:  Remove unwanted toolbars and, if required, reset your browser to the original settings.

3. Frequent random popups

This is both common and annoying! What you experience is browser popups from websites.  There are websites that can be hijacked or are illegitimate and they can override the mechanisms in place to prevent popups.

Solution:  Get rid of any toolbars that are recently added (see item #2 above) and recently installed items that are unfamiliar to you (as above in item #1). For more information, read our previous coverage about foistware and how to remove them.

4. Fake AV (antivirus) messages

This is similar to the previous item.  The chances are if you are seeing warning messages, you are likely infected.  In all likelihood malware has taken advantage of an unpatched application such as Java software or an Adobe program.  The scam includes a fake scan of your system identifying lots of viruses that are not really there.  If you follow the directions you can be taken to a well-designed site which accepts your financial payment information.  This scam also results in their gaining full control of your system.

Solution:  Save any information and close any applications that you can and then power down your PC.  You can disconnect from any wireless source by turning off your Wi-Fi router (or open in Safe mode if you are familiar with this), and then remove any items that have recently been installed (as above in item #1).  Connect to the Internet again if it feels safe to do so and then run a full AV scan.

5. Booby trap website

This is where you click a link (such as the ones that come up after a web search), and the link takes you to a site you were not expecting.  In some cases a message pops up on your screen and displays a warning that you have a virus.  Next, a voice comes on your speakers saying you need to call the phone number provided right away or your system will be infected.  You are unable to turn off these warnings even when closing the browser.

Solution:  Turn down your speakers or mute them.  Press the following keys in sequence: Ctrl + Shift + Esc.  Your Task Manager will appear and you can select the items in the list and click the button “End Task”.  If you can’t find the item on that list open the “Processes” tab and examine the CPU column.  Select items that are showing CPU activity and do not appear to be part of the system functions, and then select “End Process”.

6. Online passwords change

If you experience an online password or passwords having changed it could be that you have been hacked or the site has been hacked.  We covered this scenario in the CIA Director hack.  The term for this is a phishing scam.  Confidential information was obtained through illegitimate means.  The hacker then changes the logon information (such as the password), and then can proceed to steal finances or make transactions.  In some cases the hacker can pretend to be you using your information in an attempt to gain finances from friends or acquaintances.

Solution:  Notify the online service to report the compromised account.  If friends or acquaintances are involved, notify all your contacts and warn them to not fall victim to the scam.  If you used the same login information on other sites or financial institutions, change the credentials right away.

7. Unexpected software installs

We have in past articles referred to PUPs – Potentially Unwanted Programs and how they appear on your PC without apparent provocation.  You may have read also how we strongly recommend that you read software licenses and un-select any items that may appear during installation of a legitimate application.  In many cases these items appear after you have installed a program you want but the installation was a bundled software package.

Solution:  As stated in item #1 above, locate the item or items and uninstall.

8. Your mouse moves by itself

Yikes!  You have been hacked.  Sometime a mouse can jump on the screen to a different section but if it appears it is making selections as though being operated from an invisible user – you have been hacked.  This often can be seen when your system is idle for a long period of time and hackers will attempt to access your finances or perform various malicious actions for financial gain or to further cripple your system.

Solution:  If you can take a video of the event this will help when attempting to recover any losses.  If they are accessing your financial accounts power off your system or turn off the WiFi router.  You’ll need to use an unaffected PC and change all your account credentials / passwords to any financial transaction sites.   Next, report the attack and contact professionals.  You may need to completely restore your PC (see item #9).

9. Certain functions are disabled and can’t be restarted

Another common sign that is a clear indication that your system is compromised is having certain functions disabled – especially your AV application or Windows Task Manager.  If you do not know how these were disabled and suspect they were tampered with you need to take action immediately.

Solution:  You will need to restore your system to a previous working condition.  Start by examining your system using the methods described above.  Next…

10. Your bank account is missing money

Hackers will steal large sums of money if they have your financial credentials.  Typically this involves transferring funds to a foreign exchange or bank.  This could mean that you have been the victim of a phishing scam or that your PC has been sabotaged.

Solution:  In most cases financial institutions will replace stolen funds and will work to stop the transaction before the damage is done.  There have been some cases where the courts rule in favor of the bank if negligence is proven on the part of the customer.  Contact your financial institution immediately and perform an AV scan of your system.  In terms of prevention, make sure your financial institution sends you alerts in the event of suspicious activities or if certain transactions thresholds are exceeded. We strongly recommend that you acquire a qualified antivirus solution that provides you with adequate protection for online banking.

11. Online purchases are made by a hacker

This involves having the perpetrator hijack an online account, making a purchase, and shipping the purchased item(s) to a select destination.  This can involve ordering many items of merchandise at one time when you still have sufficient funds to cover the purchases.

Solution:  You need to change your logon credentials and determine how they were compromised in the first place.  The previous solutions above can be considered.  Fortunately, credit card companies deal with fraudulent transactions much better than in previous years.  We recommend reporting the crime as pointed out above in item #8 and scanning your system for evidence of infection.

Antivirus Solutions

Let’s face it, being 100% on top of potential malware attacks all the time is not achievable.  Having the right tools in place takes most of the burden off.  AV security tools are a necessary part of our PC reality.  This year we are pleased to have entered this arena with what we know to be a top contender – CompuClever AntiVirus PLUS. It is capable of monitoring the behaviour of PC processes in real-time and it detects suspicious activities.

Many AV applications need to face the ongoing challenge of dealing with new malware exploits – especially those that are less than 24 hours old.  In order to do this, heuristics are utilized.

In Summary

We have covered a great deal of PC attack scenarios.  It is our hope that you do not experience any of these.  If you do see the warning signs, we encourage you to take the necessary actions as described here.  Keep in mind that there are agencies and professionals that can assist you when the chips are down.  For our CompuClever customers we have a well qualified team of support technicians that are available.  Visit our Support Center at: https://www.compuclever.com/support/

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

The post Signs of a PC Attack appeared first on CompuClever.

>> 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.

The post Windows 10 and Antivirus appeared first on CompuClever.

We’re going to start off with some information on clutter and how to assess how much free space you may have on your PC. Keep in mind that you may have plenty of free space and still have plenty of clutter on your PC. Assessing the situation can help in determining how your PC is performing and how well it responds to some clean up!

Clutter – Time to Clean

By “cleaning” we are not talking about throwing away things that may have some importance. We are referring to removing what can be considered clutter and organizing files we want to keep. By doing so we can not only improve the performance of the PC but make our lives a lot easier in terms of accessing the files and data we need.

Step 1: Assess

Assess space needs – how much free space do you have remaining. Most of us take pictures and movie files on our cameras and download them to our computer. These add up over time and need to be stored in a safe place (or at least duplicated to your external hard drive in the event you do have sufficient space).

To assess the file space needs you can do the following:

For most computers there is typically a large amount of storage for your files and you may have a lot of free space available. If you still feel that it has been a while since you have removed unwanted files and, maybe, you feel that your PC is a bit sluggish in some ways.

If your feel any of this applies to you and you want to take advantage of a clean PC system, we highly recommended removing clutter from your PC.

Step 2: Backup

Begin by backing up and organizing files (media files especially) that need to be put on to an external hard drive. This article deals with removal – permanent removal – of unwanted items. The key is “unwanted”. We strongly recommend that you make a copy of all files that are important to you. The price of external hard drives makes this a no-brainer and hard drives available these days are often more space than what the average person needs – some are now terabyte in size (1,000 GBs). The added advantage of having a good backup and storage strategy is that you are working toward optimizing free space on your PC.

Step 3: Deal With the Junk:

There are files that get onto your computer without us even knowing how they got there. Here’s how they likely got there:

These unwanted items build up from regular day-to-day activities.  The result of too many junk files and unnecessary programs is that these items take up disk space and can use available memory thereby resulting in PC slowdown and unexpected behaviours.  Maybe the real question though is: how do you best remove these especially when considering that it is a task that you need to do periodically – it’s not a one-time fix.

Use the Right Tool

We are looking at simplifying the process by using automated tools that do the job quickly and efficiently.  PC Clean Maestro is designed to clean and remove unwanted items such as recycle bin items, temporary Internet download files, items in the Windows Temp folder, and other cache and system files.  All of these items and more can be scanned and cleaned.  After performing a quick scan a complete summary is provided and the total size of the junk items is tallied up.  In some cases, this can add up to gigabytes of “junk” and can account for 5 -10% of your disk capacity.

With PC Clean Maestro (the free functionality of PC Clean Maestro) you can remove junk files and uninstall programs so as to free up space.  By doing so you clear up PC clutter which can bog down the system and lead to poor system performance.  Some best practices are provided so that your experience can be simplified and more trouble-free.

The Instructions: There are three areas of cleaning that can take place using the Clean Tool.  We are staying focused on the free aspects of PC Clean Maestro.  The following instructions detail how to remove Junk files from your PC.

1. First you need to open the program.  The window will appear as seen here:
2. Select items to clean.  We are going to focus on Junk items only so clear the checkboxes for Personal Security and Privacy.  You can then review and select any of the items in the Junk section (Installer Files, Log Files, Temp Files, etc.).
   Note: You can refer to the help file for instructions on how to display all the individual items that are categorized.  You can also get information on the three state check box system.
3. Initiate the scan using the “Start” button.
4. Review and Clean.  A summary of the scan is displayed including the number of detected items found in each category, the size that can be reclaimed, and a “Details” link.  The link will provide the complete list of items found and the location of each item.  You can clear any selected items before moving on to the next step.
5. Clean.  Click the “Clean” button to permanently delete these junk items.

Best Practices:

Create an automated schedule.  Use the Options button in the Main window and select the Clean Scan Schedule.  From here you can configure when you want an automated scheduled scan to run.

In Summary – Lean & Clean:

We’ve covered the basics of cleaning your PC and we’ve introduced one aspect of PC Clean Maestro.  It’s also great to know that anyone can use all the functionality presented here for free.  There are many other features relating to security and privacy that are available for registered users and we will provide steps and tips on how to use these in our articles.

We hope this article has helped gain some insight and offered you some effective strategies on cleaning your PC.  We will continue to provide story lines like this that benefit all of us and we will describe them in a manner that is within reach of everyday computer users.  If you have some ideas of topics you would like us to cover, email us at: newsletter@compuclever.com

The post Spring PC Cleaning appeared first on CompuClever.

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.
• Spindle: holds the platter in place.
• Platter: one or more disks (aluminum, glass, or ceramic) that stores the data.  These are coated with a magnetic media and platters rotate at various rotations per minute based on the model of the Hard Disk Drive.

Another critical component is the Disk Controller which contains the necessary instructions for the drive.

Here’s How It Works: Data is transferred to and from the HDD and interpreted by the Disk Controller which acts like the conductor as it instructs the hard drive in terms of what to do and how the internal components needs to function.  When you instruct your PC to read or write data, the operating system examines the hard drives’ File Allocation Table (FAT) to examine the available space and location.  Once the space is identified, the Disk Controller gives instruction to the Read/Write Actuator Arm and to align the Read/Write Head.  Files are often spread out in different areas and the Read/Write Head needs to travel to each location to access the required data.

In this process, the data is stored magnetically like how a cassette tape works.  In fact, both use the same recording techniques.  The magnetic medium can be erased and re-written easily.  If your PC needs data it would read the magnetic polarities on the platter.  One side is a “0” and the other a “1” – this is referred to as binary data.  Unlike cassette tapes, the Read/Write Head never touches the disk and consumer PC platters typically spin at 7,200 rpm; a speed of up to 3,000 inches per second.  Also, much more information can be read to a disk in much smaller space than cassettes.  Both speed and precision account for the ability to record so much data in such small magnetic domains.

The Platter:  The data that is written onto the platter is stored in tracks and sectors.  A track is a concentric circle on the platter and a sector is a wedge, a pie-shaped section on the platter.  Where these two shapes intersect is a single section on a single track which is known as a “track sector”.  File systems, which work to organize these massive amounts of data, will organize groups of sectors into clusters.  These terms are useful to familiarize yourself with when looking at the process of fragmentation.

Fragmentation

Disk fragmentation is a condition which occurs when files are stored in scattered sections throughout the disk.  This occurs as a result of frequently creating, deleting, and modifying files.  The operating system uses what free space is available including those areas of the disk that become available when items are moved or deleted.  When files do not fit exactly they are broken into pieces; into non-contiguous clusters.  Working with large files and numerous files can exacerbate this condition.  One of the negative results of this is performance degradation.

How it happens:  Storing new data, deleting data, and making modifications to files are all normal day-to-day occurrences with PC use.  Disk fragmentation occurs over time as a result of these activities.  Here is an example.  You download a Word document from email.  It is stored in available free space on your disk.  Each time you make a change to the file and save the changes, the data is stored in a location different from the original.  Further revisions to the file are again stored in different locations.  Not only is the disk fragmented over time, so are the files that are modified in this way.  The PC has to search for these fragments in different places and as a result the computer performance is slower than what it could be if the files were stored in a sequential fashion.

In other cases one file may be written to the disk in numerous places of the disk as a result of the size of the file or the available space on the disk.  Also, groups of files that are needed to be read sequentially (audio/visual gaming media, resource files for an application, and more) are often stored in a non-contiguous or fragmented order. Over time even files that are stored in a contiguous fashion may become fragmented as some files are deleted or updates are made.  In these cases files that are unrelated are filled into the gaps that are created.  Many of the modern systems on the market today suffer less from fragmentation due to the size of the disk with respect to capacity.  If there is considerable free space available, fragmentation is less likely to be as severe.

Summary

Fragmentation occurs with regular PC use.  While some activities such as installing / uninstalling large applications and media files can result in more rapid fragmentation, gradual fragmentation can occur from online surfing and the use of office applications.

To learn how a performance degrades when a PC experiences fragmentation and be proactive with regular defragmentation that suites your computing day-to-day use, read the following articles:

• Defragmentation and Optimization
• How to defrag your hard drives

The post Hard Disk Drive Basics appeared first on CompuClever.

You can get lots of information on the subject of defragmentation in the following articles:

• Hard Drive Basics
• Defragmentation and Optimization

Best Practices

There are a few best practice recommendations to outline from the start.

Clean Up: Before you can organize, it is always best to do a quick clean up.  This is also true with your Hard Disk Drive (HDD).  If you stop to think about it, the defragment process works to organize scattered data caused from installing, modifying, and deleting files and software.  Before doing a defrag is the best time to do a quick removal of junk items including files in the recycle bin, temp files (unwanted items that are created as temporary storage), outdated cache items, log files, and more.  With even the free trial version of PC Clean Maestro you can do this quickly and easily.

Close Applications: It is best to close down any applications that are running.  Software programs can be a challenge for Defrag tools as files are altered or created through regular program operations (even ones that occur behind the scenes from a running application).

Give it Time: We recommend leaving the PC alone during the defrag process.  Not only will you experience poor system performance during this time (as the HDD is engaged in reorganizing data), but the act of changing files through the operations you make could be challenging for the defragmentation process as it has to deal with unexpected file and data revisions.  It is best to shut down all running programs and run the Defrag tool in a “down time” such as late evening or at night.  Having a Defrag scheduler is very handy in these cases and we will cover this at the end of this article.

Steps to Defrag

We have outlined four easy steps with screenshots to guide you easily through the defragmentation process.

1. Clean up unwanted “junk” files

As stated above, we highly recommend cleaning all unwanted files with the use of PC Clean Maestro.  The steps to take are easy – it involves scanning your PC, examining the list of detected items, and cleaning the items.

1. Select the volume

You can select any and all volumes that are listed.  In the case that your hard drive has several distinct partitions, each one will be displayed here.  External drives and storage media devices (such as flash cards, USB sticks, external hard drives, etc.), are not included in the list of identified volumes.  In the case of Solid State Drives (SSD), – these are data storage devices that employ integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data in a persistent manner.  They are also characterized by not having any moving mechanical parts and can often be found in laptops – PC TuneUp Maestro does not differentiate these from other volumes.

Recommendation: Do not include an SSD to be fragmented.  These types of drives are not meant to be defragmented.  Defragmentation will cause wear as additional writes are made to the flash cells which have a limited cycle life.  Also, these drives experience very little fragmentation.

1. Scan for fragmentation

The first stage of defragmentation involves scanning the selected volume (or volumes) to assess the amount of fragmentation.  In this way you can make an informed choice of whether to go ahead with the defrag process.  When you are ready you can click the “Start” button.  While the scan is being performed you can see a visual representation of the data secotrs on your disk.  Each of these is assigned a color to identify it as empty, not fragmented, unmovable, fragmented, busy or reserved space.

When the scan is complete the results are displayed. The most important piece of information is the overall percentage of fragmentation.  If there are only a few percentages of fragmentation you can rest easy and run this process another time (in a few weeks for example).  If more defragmentation is identified you need to continue to the next step.  For a PC that has been in use a long time and has not been defragmented, you will likely experience considerable fragmentation.

One other point to mention… you need to examine how much free space is available.  There is a column in the summary table that displays this as well.  While many Defrag tools require 15% free space, PC TuneUp Maestro can get the job done with at least 3% free space.  If you have very little free space (less than 3%), you need to re-visit step 1.

1. Defrag – Quick and Full

You can now begin to defragment your HDD. You can click the “Defrag Now” button and the default action (Quick or Full Defrag) will initiate. Keep in mind that you can choose to perform a Quick or a Full Defrag and you can select which of these you want as the default action by using the drop down arrow (when you first run the program the default action is set to Full Defrag).

• Quick Defrag: You have the option of saving some time by performing a Quick Defrag – a good choice if there is a lot of available space, the percentage of fragmentation is low, and you do not have a lot of free “down” time and want to use your PC.When performing a Quick Defrag, PC TuneUp Maestro does not re-allocate free space on the volume in order to defrag items. The best example to visualize is having ten fragmented files and only three can be moved to areas where the free space already exists. It would be like having a picture puzzle and only moving joined pieces to free space rather than shuffling empty space to create larger free space.
• Full Defrag: This option is more thorough and will take more time. When performing a Full Defrag, PC TuneUp Maestro will re-allocate free space on the volume to get the job done. It would be like having a picture puzzle and efficiently organizing the free spaces so that all joined pieces can be moved to space that has been made available.The time this process takes depends on many factors including how defragmented the files are, how large the defragmented files are, and the number of files. Keep in mind the point made above: it is best to leave your PC alone during this process. You need to set aside some time for this to complete. If you want to perform the Full Defrag another time then cancel the procedure. Simply pick a time when you are away from the computer. You can even use the Disk Defrag Schedule to automate all of this.

Additional

1. Regular Defrag – Frequency: How often to defragment your PC is going to depend on how often you and your family use your PC and what kind of activities are performed. If there is a lot of time being spent on the PC with a lot of installation of software and downloading and editing of large files (such as multi-media files), you will need to examine the fragmentation levels on a regular basis – maybe every week or two weeks. If you notice that you need to do this on a regular basis and would prefer to have this run when your PC is on and you are not using it, we recommend using the Schedule tool.
2. Schedule / Automate: You can schedule PC TuneUp Maestro to run on a regular basis. There are several options you can set including which volume(s), what time of day, day of the week, and whether you would like to simply scan your PC to assess the defragmentation or you would like to have an automatic scan and defragmentation.

   

The post How Defrag Hard Drives to Speed Up Your PC appeared first on CompuClever.