Snap your mouse!
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

One of the more annoying things about dialog boxes when you need to confirm or click OK, is the fact there's no way of knowing exactly where, on your desktop, that the dialog with the "OK" "Cancel" buttons is going to appear. Sometimes it appears in the middle of your screen; sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes at the top and sometimes at the bottom. Guessing where the dialog box will appear is a game Windows users have been playing for a long time. This isn't so bad when you only have one dialog box to confirm or cancel. But what about those times when you're dealing with multiple dialog boxes in rapid succession? You're going to be all over your screen clicking OK or Cancel.

But did you know you can make your mouse snap to the default button on the dialog box automatically - no matter where on your screen it decides to appear? You can and here's how to do it!

To train, err I mean configure the mouse pointer in Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, to land on the default button in the dialog box, so you can easily select "OK" without even moving your mouse.

Windows XP - Click on Start \ Control Panel and click on Mouse to open the Mouse properties. Select the Pointer Options tab, then select the check box next to "Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box". Click OK to save the setting and close the mouse property window.

Windows Vista/Windows 7- Open the Control Panel by clicking on the Start button in Vista or Windows 7, and type mouse in the search box, then click on Mouse in the search results to open the Mouse properties. Select the Pointer Options tab, then select the check box next to "Automatically move pointer to the default button in a dialog box". Click OK to save the setting and close the mouse property window.

Nothing's better than a snapping mouse - except maybe a snapping turtle...or a snapping spouse :)

Test your computer's security software
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 all versions

All of you should, by now, have security software installed - which means updated antivirus and antispyware programs. And most of you have never seen a warning from your security software other than many those "tracking cookies" which really aren't a threat at all. So how do you set off the alarms to see if everything is working correctly? You can run soft of a fire drill by installing PC Security Test (1.5MB download, freeware, Windows XP, Vista, Seven - 32bit and 64bit) that's what you can do.

Before you run off to download and run this software program, we want to advise those of you who use Microsoft Security Essentials that you'll not get a warning about the "Eicar" virus. The reason why you won't is because Eicar is well-known virus simulation that has been around for years. MSE's engine recognizes that it's not really a virus and issues no  warning. If you're using other antivirus software, you may get a warning. If you do that is not proof that the other antivirus is better than MSE or that MSE is "smarter". It's simply the difference in definitions and should not be construed to mean anything else.

So a word from the developer and then we'll set you free to download this small freeware program so you can see how your computer's security software measures up.

"PC Security Test is a free program for Windows that checks computer security against viruses, spyware and hackers. With a few mouse clicks, users can easily control the efficiency of their protection software (anti-virus programs, spyware scanners and firewalls). PC Security Test simulates virus, spyware and hacking attacks and monitors the responses of your protection software. Don't worry, no real viruses are involved ! After the tests are complete, PC Securtiy (sic) computes a security index and provides tips on improving PC security."

You can read more about and/or download PC Security Test (Freeware) from this link. Remember any warnings you get while running the test are not threats - they are simulations. Also keep in mind that some threats shown by this program are worst-case. In other words, you're not likely to encounter some of these threats. So don't panic - common sense, remember?

A Windows tweaking tool that's a really great tool for learning more about Windows
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7

Once in a while we'll feature a Windows tweaker program because we know some of you like to play around with them - and sometimes we do too. Some tweakers are powerful programs that can change some important Windows settings and make serious changes to the Windows registry. All this can be good or bad. Some tweaks are best used by advanced users, because if you don't know what you're doing you can, at worst, make some unwanted changes to your Windows system. So we're often reluctant to recommend a really powerful tweaker like this one. We don't like getting letters from people that say - "I downloaded that program and now my computer has nothing but Chinese text ....".

X-Setup Pro is an extremely powerful Windows tweaker that enables you to make over 1,900  changes to settings that are usually hidden deeply in  configuration-files and the registry with just a click. You can use it on Windows XP, Vista, or Seven (32 or 64 bit). It's fairly easy to use and has a friendly user interface. You can make changes to almost every aspect of your computer. X-Setup Pro is one of the most powerful and comprehensive tweakers available - which means it is also one you need to use with caution.

X-Setup Pro sold for $14.95 when it was still being sold. But alas, like so many other small Web companies, the folks who built their hopes and dreams on their programming skills have closed up shop. But they've been kind enough to allow everyone to use X-Setup free. This means two things: You can get X-Setup free and it's no longer being developed. If you download and install X-Setup you'll  notice some features are a bit dated. For instance, you'll see settings changes for Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 - but not for 9. But don't let that stop you - there are still over a thousand setting changes you can make with X-Setup. It's still one of the most powerful tweakers you an install.

Here's a twist. We're not recommending this program simply as a tweaker. We're recommending it as a Windows learning tool. Almost every settings change you can make is accompanied by a complete description of what that change does and how a certain part of Windows works. This program is worth downloading even if you never use it to make a single settings change. If all you do is read the information that accompanies each potential settings change - you'll learn a great deal about Windows.

If you're interested in getting one of the most powerful Windows tweakers available or if you're just interested in learning more about the Windows you use every day you should download X-Setup Pro. At one time you would have paid $14.95 for this program, but now you it's free. You can download the program from here and register it with the free registration key posted on the download page - or if you forgot to copy the key, use the key below:

XSA092-11TA9R-8K12YT

Wait! Before you do anything else - Reboot!
Windows all versions

Whether you're using Windows 98 or Windows Seven one thing remains constant: If you're having problems with your Windows computer, no matter what they are, the first thing you should try is rebooting. Whether you're having problems with installing a program, running a program, opening a folder, opening a file, or your computer is running like Granny Gertrude in a senior potato sack race, rebooting is the first thing you should try.

Why? Because, you might spend hours trying to figure out what is wrong and never find a thing. Before you waste time looking through tips, tricks or Googling for the answer, you might find that rebooting will fix whatever ails your computer.

Rebooting flushes your memory cache, reloads all Windows system files and gives your computer a fresh start. Everything's reloaded, memory is cleared, and that, my friends, can make a world of difference.

So before you waste hours of time trying to figure out a problem, save your time and the frustration of trying to find a solution to a problem that may be solved by something as simple as restarting your computer. We've learned this lesson the hard way, many times. We've wasted time looking for solutions to problems that seemed to disappear after we rebooted. And, often, in the frustration of the moment, when you're computer seems destined for oblivion, simply restarting it might take care of whatever was wrong. Of course, if it the problem keeps recurring, even after you restart your computer, you're going to have to dig down and find the source of the problem and fix it. But save all that work for later. The first step in troubleshooting is rebooting.

What is an ISP
All computer users

An ISP is an Internet Service Provider. In today’s world, there aren’t many pure ISPs left – most are huge media companies like Time Warner, Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T. An ISP is supposed to provide you with Internet access and email. That’s what you’re paying an ISP to provide. Just like you pay the gas company to provide you with natural gas, or the electric company to provide you with electricity, you pay your ISP to provide you with Internet access.

Somehow, somewhere, ISPs decided that besides providing you with Internet access and email service they'd also provide a censoring service – to protect you from spam. In doing so, many ISPs filter incoming mail using not-so-sophisticated software which many times ends up throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Yes, we agree that spam is a problem, but a bigger problem is losing that one important email – an order confirmation, a software registration key, an email from a long-lost friend, an email from your bank or credit card company, our even our InfoAve Premium newsletter.

There’s been a great shift in our society from one of taking care of one’s own responsibilities to allowing others to do everything for us. Of course when you stop taking care of the things you should be responsible for and allow another to do it for you, you give up something very important – control. Allowing your ISP to delete email addressed to you – even if it is spam – is to give your ISP control over what email you’ll receive. Considering that no spam filter even comes close to being 100% accurate (most are well below 80%) giving control to your ISP means you’re going to miss some – maybe many – important emails.

Sure it’s a hassle to deal with spam – there’s a lot of it. But it doesn’t take more than a few minutes to delete spam. It can take you hours – even days to track down a good email that was deleted by your ISP as spam. It will require writing emails to the sender, your ISP and waiting for answers. And even worse, when an important email has been sent to you and you weren’t expecting it - you had no idea it was coming. If your ISP deletes it, you’ll never see it - and you'll never look for it because you never even knew it existed. If you order something online and you don’t get a confirming email, don’t assume the merchant didn’t send it. If you order a software program online that requires a registration key to be sent to you via email, don’t assume the vendor didn’t send it. If you subscribe to a newsletter like InfoAve Premium, and you don’t get it on Friday, don’t assume we didn’t send it. If you’re one of the millions of people whose ISP uses spam filtering, your first assumption should be that your ISP deleted it -- as spam.

And if you write to your ISP and they tell you that they don’t delete email or don’t use spam filtering, take it with a grain of salt. We have dozens of copies of letters from ISPs to customers in which the ISP lied to their customers.

ISPs have no legal right to delete any email addressed to you – but they do. They claim there is so much spam they need to filter email to save money or to save server resources. But that’s just another lie. It takes more server resources to run spam filters and to delete spam than to just send the spam to the addressee. So why do they do it then? Because there’s a certain segment of the population that sees spam filtering as a service. It’s no more a service than if the U. S. Postal Service started tossing mail addressed to you because it looked like junk mail. Not many people would stand for the USPS trashing their mail because the post office considered it junk. But somehow people think that ISP’s are doing them a favor by tossing emails they THINK are spam.

If you think your ISP is doing you a favor by deleting spam for you, think again. If your ISP uses spam filtering there is a 100% chance you’re not getting all of your good email because no spam filter is even close to 100% effective. When you stop taking personal responsibility for things you should be responsible for, and you allow someone disinterested third-party to do it for you, you aren’t always going to be happy with the result.

As ISPs get  bigger and more and more powerful, there may come a day when ISPs will decide to provide additional “services” which will scan your downloads for you, or “rate” the Web sites you visit for you to "protect you" by preventing you from seeing a site that they deem dangerous. There may come a day when ISPs monitor your connection and prevent you from downloading songs or movies because they are trying to “protect” you from getting into trouble for piracy. And all these things are things ISPs are very capable of doing  right now– and may well do if people continue to want and allow others to make decisions for them. More and more we see people who think having big brother watching out for them is a good idea.

But all this is nothing new – it’s been done before – it’s been done a lot. It’s called censorship. Censorship is always sold to the citizenry as a good thing. It’s always sold as a way to protect people from what someone else deems inappropriate or dangerous for them. And guess what? It never has worked and it will never work.

ISPs will continue to sell customers on the advantages of spam filtering - calling it a "service". They’ll continue to filter mail and toss good emails out with the bad. And the only reason so many do it today is because people let them do it. And the more you let someone do things for you the more they will want to do.

Isn’t it time you stood up and took responsibility for your own email and stop letting ISPs control what email you receive and what email you don’t? If you allow you ISP to censor email addressed to you we will guarantee you that you will never get 100% of the good email you want – and you’ll still get some spam.

You’re paying your ISP to provide you with the best connection to the Internet possible and email service – and that’s it. You’re not paying them to delete email or to make choices for you. It’s time that ISPs got out of the censorship business and started taking care of the service for which you’re paying them.

Give it some thought.

Here's a little-known way to speed up your Windows boot time
Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 (all versions; 32bit and 64bit)

Every Windows user, whether they're using XP, Vista or Windows 7, wants to speed up boot time. So, over the years, we've offered many tips and tricks and featured many programs that can help you reduce the amount of time it takes Windows to boot. Probably none of them is more important than reducing the number of programs that start with Windows. And we've told you many times to cut down on the number of programs you allow to start with Windows - so we'll assume you've already done that :-)

But there is another tip we've never featured. It's not a very well-known tip, but it can help you reduce the amount of time it takes for your version of Windows to start up.

Windows keeps a list of all the recent items you've opened. And since we all open a lot of things, over time the list can become very large. Every time you boot, Windows checks that list during boot. So if that list is huge, it takes Windows longer to check it and Windows takes longer to start up. (You should also know, if you leave that list intact, anyone who uses your computer can see what you've opened. Right? Right! We're just sayin'...)

Here are simple instructions for clearing the list of recently opened items. It's different for each version of Windows..

Windows XP

Windows XP has a section of the Start menu you can see called “My Recent Documents”. This section displays the last 15 documents that you've opened. But the real number of recently opened documents that XP keeps can be much larger than the 15 items you can see. Here's how to clear that list and hopefully improve your Windows boot time:

1. Click the Start button
2. Click Run
3. Type “recent” into the box (no quotes please) and then click OK.
4. When the folder has opened, you can delete all or some of the items in that list.

Windows Vista and Windows 7

In Vista, the start menu no longer displays recent documents. In Windows 7, recently used items show in Jumplists.

Here's how to view and clean that list in Vista:

1. Click the Start button
2. Enter shell:recent into the Start Search box (notice there are no spaces between shell:recent )
3. In the list that appears, click on shell:recent
4. When the folder opens, delete any (or all) items you wish.