In recent months and years the term “phishing” has become more and more popular. But you are probably wondering just what is it? In the simplest terms, phishing is an attempt by a third-party to defraud you by gaining access to your sensitive user data, credit card information, passwords, or any other sensitive data. Usually the attack will appear to be completely legitimate! This is why phishing is so scary. You have already been a victim of phishing but didn’t even realize it. The term phishing was first used over ten years ago and is a play on the words phreaking and fishing (phreaking is a term related to people who would experiment with phone lines and phone technology for experimental and even fraudulent uses). The bottom line is someone is phishing for your information!

You have probably gotten an email in the past few months from purporting to be from either eBay, PayPal, maybe even your bank telling you that they need to verify your information and to please follow this link to log in. The problem is that the fraudsters have exactly duplicated the appearance of the other website on their servers and are now waiting for you to login so they can gain access to your username and password! The result is that now a thief will have the ability to log into your REAL account and take your money, ruin your reputation, and even gain personal information that they can use to open new accounts and credit cards. It is the modern-age equivalent to purse-snatching!

This is a very real problem and something that you must face or it will end up hurting you! What can you do to prevent being a victim of phishing? Here are a few easy steps to take: Read on …

You know the feeling—you finally get that top notch PC and you feel like you are on top of the world. You turn it on for the first time and are amazed at the blazing fast speeds! You install applications with ease and are enjoying life on your computer. Before long you begin to notice that things begin to slow down a bit. After a few months you really begin to notice the computer to get sluggish and you start to get frustrated. Before you start going bald from all the hair you are pulling out let’s take a moment to look at possible solutions. You are more than likely a victim of registry problems.

Before we start to look at solutions to registry problems let’s first try to understand a little about what the registry is. For all intents and purposes the registry is the brain of your operating system. The registry is a directory that contains setting for all your hardware, software, operating system software, users, etc. The system registry was designed to replace an older way that Windows used where every program stored its own data in INI files all over the hard drive. The thing you really need to understand is that the registry is very important and when it gets bogged down with bad or useless entries it slows the entire computer system down.

There are several things that can cause your registry problems. These include viruses, spyware, installing and uninstalling of applications, even system crashes. Most of these problems are basically unavoidable, and not necessarily your fault. Here are a few steps you can take to dramatically improve the performance of your PC: Read on …

What is Windows Registry?

Most of you, in the field of computing, must be aware that Windows Registry is one of the hottest topics in the context of Windows optimization. Before moving on to discuss some of the problems related with Windows Registry and their potential solutions; let’s briefly explain the concept of Windows Registry for our novice readers.

To be precise, Windows Registry is a directory, or a repository, that houses the options and various settings for the OS; Windows (including 32 bit versions, 64 bit versions and Windows Mobile). Many people get suspicious about what exactly it stores? In one sentence; “Windows Registry stores all the information and settings for all OS software, non-OS software, hardware, user settings, preferences etc.” For example, settings for your internet, folders, networks, desktop etc are all contained in Windows Registry. They keep information regarding the start up of programs, the best way to run the programs and how to shut the programs.

Windows 95 was the first operating system, in the series of Microsoft OS, which incorporated the feature of Windows Registry. The purpose was to tidy up the abundance of per-program .INI files which had been used in order to store various configuration settings. However the introduction of Windows Registry has brought another problem. You may have noticed that a recently installed Windows runs much faster in comparison with a Windows that had been installed almost 6 months back. Can u guess why this is so? You will notice this even on two systems having same processor and memory specifications. The reason behind this is Windows Registry. Whenever you make any change in the settings or system policies or you install new programs or uninstall various programs from your system; all of these changes are properly logged and stored in the registry. This can lead to a slower PC performance which will be discussed later.

Problems Associated with Windows Registry

As mentioned earlier, the changes you make in the settings of your PC are stored in the System Registry. The registry even keeps track of the smallest change that you have made in your system; whether it is a change in the setting, an installation of software (Whether OS or Non-OS), un-installation of software; each and every activity, which leads to some change in your system, is logged into the System Registry. So where comes the problem? The problem arises when the size of these files (registry files) gets bigger and bigger as we do more changes in our system. As a result, our system’s performance decays and it reacts sluggishly. Whenever you delete any file or uninstall a program, a reference is kept for that deleted file or program in the Windows registry. This reference, which is of no use, is not deleted and when your System’s registry gets filled with these unwanted files, it makes your System lethargic.

Well, it doesn’t mean that you should stop making changes in your PC; you should do changes according to your interest. What you should take care of is to scan the registry in order to remove those files that are no longer required by your system. Read on …