This article is part of Mysticgeek’s Realm, a How-To Geek blog focused on cyber geekery. it’s possible for you to also use it to control what applications run at startup. We can make other adjustments from here as well. Uncheck the box for “use real-time protection”. This can be especially helpful on a laptop, where every little bit of tweaking helps battery life. If you have automatic updates set you won’t need to worry about updating the protection database....

This is a guest article by Ghaus Iftikhar Nakodari fromAddictiveTips. The main updated features of this software are: And it changes the looks of the below mentioned features. During the installation, it is possible to choose specific objects to be installed. Note: Before launching the installation you must restore Windows XP original state/dll (Without any shell packs).

This article is part of Mysticgeek’s Realm, a How-To Geek blog dedicated to cyber geekery. One of the easiest set it and forget it Anti-Spyware utilities is JavaCools SpywareBlaster. On the next screen you will be prompted about updates. After successful installation you will see Protection Status on the user interface. From here you could enable protection forInternet ExplorerandFirefox. What I like to do is get all of the updates first before enabling the protection....

I wrote that article over a year ago and since then Spybot has only gotten better. When you initially install Spybot Search & Destroy the basic mode is enabled by default. We need to pull up the advanced mode, so hit Mode and select Advanced Mode. Click Yes to the warning message that appears. Now you will notice a lot more options, Tools, and controls. Here is where we can access some cool features available in Spybot....

Luckily if you are using Ubuntu they made it incredibly easy to reset your password. Then choose “Drop to root shell prompt” from this menu. This should give you a root shell prompt. At this point the system should boot up very quickly to a command prompt. You could always hardware reset instead, but ensure to use the sync command first. And now you should be able to login without any issues....

Note: This method works the same for XP, Vista, and Windows 7. You should be able to right-choose the desktop and see that the item is removed. This doesn’t seem to work for Windows 7, but the registry hack above will work perfectly fine.

This lightweight tool integrates with Explorer and even has a plugin for Outlook to scan email attachments. The only thing to verify is that the Microsoft Outlook component is checked if you are using Outlook. The ClamWin Preferences accessed from (Tools \ Preferences) is where the user controls how the utility operates. In this example I am setting the frequency and time of day ClamWin checks for virus database updates....

Have you ever wondered how to remove the “NVIDIA Control Panel” item from the desktop context menu? If so, you probably didn’t realize that it’s trivially easy to remove. Note: verify to launch ShellExView by right-clicking and choosing Run as Administrator if you are using Vista. Find “DesktopContextClass” with the description “NVIDIA Display Properties Extension”, and smack the Disable button.

Once you are done, nudge the Save or Apply buttons. Of course, if you want to enable this feature, you’d just check the box. Naturally, if you wanted to turn on the feature, you would check the box instead.

I find this to be helpful because I can choose to only look in my user folder. you could also right-hit anything and choose to delete it right from the DriveSpacio window. The Folders tab gives a great in-depth look at what folders are hogging space. Another benefit of using this system is that there’s a portable version that doesn’t require any installation. Very useful for adding to your portable USB flash toolkit....

It looks like my PC can use some tweaking for sure. The power management tool is very easy to configure. Plus it is always fun to compare stats with other users and actually see youre making a difference! According to their website this project actually started in November 2006. This does not mean the project is dead, however. Better late than never!

How many times have you wanted to only print out a portion of the data on an Excel spreadsheet? With the spreadsheet open highlight the rows and / or columns you want to print out. Next, press the Print Layout Tab on the Ribbon. In the Page Setup section click Print Area and then Set Print Area. This will show a perforated outline around the selected rows and columns. Now just hit the Quick Print or go to the Office Button and Print....

One of the programs available on Joost isGI JOE. Wow does it bring back childhood memories! By just hovering the mouse pointer over the screen you’re free to access different Joost menus. you could play, pause, forward, and rewind programs. With such a selection of television programs the unfortunate reality is having to deal with commercials. I have seen full 15 second product ads between programs and also during the program as a commercial break....