View Programs & Files Loaded After Windows Boot with After Boot File Viewer

We are sure you would have noticed that machine with freshly Installed Windows boots faster than the one which has Windows running for past six months to year. The reason for this is as you start installing programs and applications many of the files are added to Windows boot process to load at startu and this is what causes the slowdown in Windows boot process.
If you can control & remove those unnecessary files and programs added to Windows startup then you can reduce the windows boot time significantly but unfortunately Windows doesn’t provide any way to let us know which programs are loaded in startup. To solve this problem here is free utility After Boot File viewer.

As the name suggest this utility lets you to view the programs that load after PC boots.  This utility can also become handy in case when you are suspicious about virus or malware infection. The utility can be run any time once your Windows is booted.

After Boot Files Viewer

Download After Boot File Viewer.

Read More

View Windows 7 Startup Program List with Startup Discoverer

Windows 7 has several ways to start applications & programs automatically commonly referred as startup locations. A tight control over startup programs can save you from viruses & malicious programs. Manually keeping check of windows 7 startup locations could be cumbersome task and many don’t know all Windows 7 startup locations.

Here is nifty app Startup Discoverer which can retrieve list of programs added into startup locations of Windows 7. You can view program list based on startup category like machine runs, user runs etc.

Startup Discoverer

The main interface has 19 categories that you can click on to get the auto start programs list for each category. Blue category label means that there are auto programs in this category, black label means empty category.
Click on Show All Runs to view full list of Startup Programs.

It is also possible to save a list as a text file and to print the a list to the default printer.
Download Startup Discoverer to get Windows 7 Startup List.

Read More

Speedup Windows 7 Startup with My Startup Delayer

Windows exhibits typical characteristics of system slow down, slow startup and frequent crashes as the time passes after fresh installation of Windows operating system. Though Microsoft has significantly improved the booting time from Vista to Windows 7 but there is no control over the applications which adds entry to startup process list in order to auto start with every Windows boot.
This could be very frustrating, especially when you want to quickly go online for some reason and patiently waiting for your System to startup. Not any more, My Startup Delayer is here to rescue you. As the name suggests, this is small application designed to help in removing or delaying the applications which auto starts with Windows there by increasing overall Windows boot time.
My Startup Delayer has simple user interface and multiple options to adjust delay of application launch on startup as per your need. It also offers option to either delay or completely disable selected application from Windows Startup.
My Startup Delayer is portable app, so it doesn’t need any installation. Simply download and run My Startup Delayer. You will notice that when you run this app, it provides you the list of all the application currently added into Windows Startup process list.


Right clicking on any entry and you will be provided with an option to Delay, Disabled or set Normal. You can also check the current status of any exe present in startup.

The executable set as delayed will be highlighted in yellow bar.

You can also define the delay options such as seconds to wait before launching delayed executable or seconds to wait before launching every executable etc. This will help you to prevent system becoming unresponsive during startup.

Please note that if you plan to remove My Start Delayer then you must revert back all the delayed executable to normal.
You may like to check out below articles,
View Windows 7 Startup Program List
View Programs loaded after Windows Boot
Optimize and Speed Windows 7
Download My Startup Delayer
Download My Startup Delayer.

Read More

My 2012 Review Of PC Tools Antivirus Free v9

The latest in my series of reviews of free 2012 antivirus programs is for PC Tools Antivirus Free v9.

The Good:

• 1. Fair detection rates
• 2. Nice clean interface
• 3. Low memory usage during scans

The Bad:

• 1. Took a long time to install
• 2. Very high CPU usage during a full scan
• 3. -

If you are looking for a good free antivirus program should you consider PC Tools Antivirus Free v9, the company’s new program for 2012?
Lets find out…


Installation and first impression
The first thing that surprised me with this antivirus program was it’s size. The download was some 140 MB in size and it did take some time before I was in a position to run the program.
One thing you may want to look out for during the installation is the toolbar installation prompt. On the whole I hate toolbars and typically am wary of installing them. You may have differing views. In either case, you will be prompted to choose whether to install the PC Tools Defender Toolbar:

Once installed, however, I have to say that the new graphical user interface is very good looking indeed. The blue, white and green colour scheme works very well and the way the features are laid out make this a very simple and intuitive program to use.

The features on offer in this antivirus program are functional but quite limited and you’ll see an Upgrade link at the bottom of the screen. The paid for version (review coming soon) is much better in my opinion but this free version certainly does a job.
Conclusion
In use I found PC Tools Antivirus Free v9 to be very good at finding questionable files, such as adware and tracking cookies. When it came to the most important items to detect – malware – it certainly didn’t get a 100% detection rate against the sample list that I used. Thats not to say that it gave a disaterous result but it certainly didn’t do quite as well as the other free antivirus programs I’ve looked at thus far.

Of bigger concern to me was the resource usage.
On the plus side, this antivirus program never required a huge amount of memory. Even during a full scan I never saw more than half a gig of RAM being used by the entire system.
CPU usage, however, was an entirely different matter…
As you can see in the screenshot above, the central processing unit was kept very busy indeed during a full scan with usage typically above 80% for pretty well the entire operation.
To conclude then, I wouldn’t choose this program for myself as I’m always busy on my computer and multitasking whilst running a scan (yes, I know they can be scheduled but I like to turn my computer off when not being used) was a virtual impossibility. PC Tools Antivirus Free 2012 v9 isn’t the worst free antivirus program I’ve looked at but I believe there are better choices available this year.
Check out my other reviews of 2012 free antivirus programs.

Read More

The Top 10 Free Antivirus Programs 2012

As summer 2011 comes around the security vendors cast their eyes to the following year and start releasing the paid for versions of their antivirus programs. For most people I would definitely recommend handing over a few dollars to get a good level of protection but, for some people, that may not be necessary.



With that in mind it is time once again for me to look at what free antivirus protection is available.
Over the next couple of months I will be writing some new reviews for what I believe are the top 10 free antivirus programs you can get in 2012 without parting with your cash. I’ll be looking at programs from the usual suspects, including -

• AVG
• Avira
• Avast!
• Comodo
• and, assuming no fingers have just fallen off, 6 others.

Check back soon to read each review as I add it and to see if you agree with the choices I make and the commentary I write.

Top 10 Free Antivirus Programs 2012

1. AVG Anti-Virus Free 2012
Its quick, its free, its low on system resources. Well worth checking out.
2. Microsoft Security Essentials
Capped CPU usage and its free. Might not be well suited to business users though.
3. Avira Free Antivirus 2012
Quick, accurate and good detection rates.
4. Pc Tools Antivirus Free v9
Easy to use but high CPU usage may be an issue.
5. Avast! Free Antivirus 6
Offers the lowest memory and CPU usage I’ve seen yet.

Read More

Review Of Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus

Today’s 2012 antivirus review features the latest offering from Webroot; Webroot Secure Anywhere.

Key Benefits:

• Quick scans
• Offers a sandbox mode
• Happily works in conjunction with other security products

There is a growing trend with antivirus programs these days and that is to combine traditional databases full of virus definitions with cloud technology which provides a quicker response to new threats. Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus bucks the trend somewhat by dispensing with the database model completely.
This of course offers some advantages, namely that most of the ‘work’ performed by the program is not reliant on your PC. Therefore, hourly/daily updates are not required as all the pertinent information is stored and frequently updated on Webroot’s own servers.

System Requirements
The minimum system requirements are as follows:

• Windows XP (32 bit and 64 bit) SP2 or later / Vista (32 bit and 64 bit) SP1 or SP2 respectively / 7 (32 bit and 64 bit) SP1
• 128 MB of RAM
• 10 MB of hard drive space
• Pentium / Celeron / K7 / Athlon / Duron or compatible processor

As you can see, this antivirus program should run on many older computers as well as more modern ones too.

Installation and first impression
the first thing I noted about Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus is that it is very quick. Very quick indeed. The program installed in seconds and then launched into a full scan. This again was very fast, taking less than 2 minutes!
When installation and the first scan have completed you will be presented with the screen shown above. You’ll note that the interface is very clean and uncluttered, making this an easy program for beginners to get to grips with.

Features
As a standalone antivirus product Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus was never going to be as feature packed as an internet security suite and that is quite evident when you start looking around the Settings area. Beyond the sandbox, which allows you to run suspicious programs in a protected environment, there is nothing much here that you won’t find in any other antivirus program on the market today.
You can see pretty much what is on offer in the screenshot below:

Effectiveness
This is a good antivirus program that does a fine job of detecting and blocking viruses as well as spyware, worms, etc. It’s key selling point, to my mind, is it’s ability to run on older machines and without using much in the way of memory or CPU.

Conclusion

I can think of nothing negative to say about this program but, equally, it just didn’t get me overly excited either. Thats not to say I wouldn’t recommend it though – its good at what it does, runs very well and is terrifically fast at scanning – it just, as you may have guessed by now, didn’t inspire me for some reason.
But if you want an easy to use program and quick scans then you may want to check it out for yourself…
Do you want to see what the other vendors are offering this year? If so, read my other 2012 Antivirus reviews.

Read More

Review Of Norton Internet Security 2012 | Download

I didn’t originally have any intention of looking at any Norton products as part of my 2012 antivirus and internet security reviews, mainly because I have not been impressed their products in the past.  However, I have had many requests from you guys to do just that so, by popular demand, here is my impression of Norton Internet Security 2012.

Key Benefits:

• Packed full of features
• Very good malware detection rates
• Accurate spam filter

If you buy Norton Internet Security 2012 then you will discover that the download is around 100 MB in size and, as the screenshot below implies, it installs quite quickly.


After installation you may need to restart your computer before you can get going.
System Requirements
Norton Internet Security 2012 has the following system requirements:

• Windows XP (32 bit) SP2 / Vista (32 bit and 64 bit) with SP1 / 7 (32bit and 64 bit)
• 300 Mhz Processor (Windows XP) / 1 Ghz Processor (Vista and 7)
• 256 MB or more of RAM
• 300 MB of hard drive space

Installation and first impression
When you run Norton Internet Security 2012 for the first time you will be see the interface above. As you can see, the program will need to be updated straight away if you wish to be fully protected. Luckily, that update is quite quick, taking less than a minute to install on my machine. Strangely, perhaps, a system restart was required after the update. Thats not something I’m used to these days as most security programs I look at will update and then continue running.

Other than that, all is good however. The interface is nice and easy to navigate. (Thanks to Symantec for choosing yellow text to go with their dark background as white text on black gives me headaches!)
Features
As I mentioned at the beginning, this program is packed full of useful features, some of which you can see below:

It goes without saying that you should expect many features if you are buying a full internet security suite but with Norton you really do get a lot for your money. Not only that but some of the extras really are quite good. For instance, the antispam component works very well indeed. It may seem strange that I am highlighting something like that but it is a component that other internet security suites often struggle with so it was nice to find antispam that just works.

Other features include:

• Antivirus
• Firewall
• Exploit Prevention
• Antispam
• Performance Monitoring
• Identity Protection
• Anti-Phishing
• Parental Controls

Effectiveness

When reviewing internet security programs I typically find that they perform most of the tasks listed above quite well indeed, though they often don’t excel in each and every one (antispam seeming to be the common achilles heel). Norton Internet Security, however, performs very well indeed in each and every area.
Malware detection and cleanup of the samples I used was very good indeed. And the program performs very well in independent tests too.
the firewall performs admirably too, stealthing ports and proving
very difficult
impossible to terminate using traditional attack methodologies.
Anti-phishing comes courtesy of a Norton toolbar which uses behavioural analysis as well as a database in order to protect you from even the newest of phishing sites. Again, this worked very well when I tested it.
Parental Control doesn’t come as standard with this internet security suite but is free nonetheless. You can access it via a button at the bottom of the interface and then configure it via your Norton account. You can easily set rules and access controls and the program even lets you print these out to share with your children so as to let them know what they can and cannot do.

The program comes with it’s own Perfomance Monitoring tool, as seen above. Comparing this with Windows’  Task Manager showed it’s reporting to be comparable in terms of CPU and Memory Usage. As you may be able to tell from the graph displayed, Norton Internet Security 2012 is not too heavy on either whilst a scan is in process. Additionally, this is a useful tool for determining if a particular program or service is causing you a problem.
Conclusion
As noted at the beginning, this program offers a very large range of useful features which all work very well indeed.
My opinion, based on my own testing, is that detection rates (the most important feature) are, perhaps, second only to BitDefender’s Total Security program.
This edition of Norton is, at the time of writing, one of the more expensive options on the market right now but probably offers the best overall value if you think you will take advantage of all the features that it offers.
Overall then, I have to say that my previously poor opinion of Norton products (formed many years ago) has been changed considerably. If you want an all round good security suite and value antispam features highly then this may well be the program you want for 2012.
You can download a trial here and see for yourself.
Do you want to see what the other vendors are offering this year? If so, read my other 2012 Internet Security reviews. The Best 10 Antivirus Programs 2012

Read More