Computers can now be found in almost every home, in fact many homes have more than one. However, just because you own a computer or two, doesn’t mean that you are computer savvy. Don’t feel bad, many people aren’t.

One of the most common problems or complaints that people have is that their computer has started to run slowly. Fortunately, by following a few simple tips, there is a good chance that you can have your computer up and running a top speed within a matter of minutes.

Here are 3 common occurrences that will slow down your computer, and that you can fix even if you less about computers than anyone else on your block.

1.Cluttered Registry

A cluttered registry will slow down your computer faster than anything else because it overloads your computer with registry files that are no longer important but still taking up valuable space. Registry files are critical to your computer as they hold all of your information regarding preferences and settings. To this end, every time you add software or hardware to your computer, additional files are added. When you remove software or hardware, these registry files will remain on you computer.

The easiest way to solve this problem is to use software that is designed to clean your registry. We like to recommend JV16 Free Registry Cleaner as our cleaner of choice. This software simply scans your computer and removes any registry files that are no longer used. By getting rid of these files, you will immediately notice that your computer is running much faster.

2.Spyware

Spyware continues to get a lot of attention and for good reason. Spyware refers to programs that are designed to be purposely malicious and they attach themselves to your computer. This allows other people to monitor what you do online.

Spyware seems unavoidable to many people, however quality anti-virus software can prevent Spyware from attacking your computer in the first place. If you already have spyware on your computer, anti-virus software will scan your computer and remove all spyware and other viruses immediately. Almost every anti-virus program can also be set to scan your computer once a week, to ensure continued protection and remove spyware.

You may be wondering why additional spyware may be found on your computer after the scan. The answer is simple. Anti-virus software checks for and prevents damage created by all known viruses and spyware. This software will automatically update when new viruses and spyware is discovered. There is always a chance that spyware could find its way into your computer before the anti-virus software has been made aware of it. Fortunately, weekly scans will take care of this issue quickly. We recommend using on-demand scanners in addition to your normal scanner.

3.Overbearing Desktops

Many people fill up their computers desktop with tons of shortcuts and fancy backgrounds. All of this takes up precious memory and space on your computer. This tends to be more noticeable on older machines. However, by shutting off your background and keeping your shortcuts to a minimum, you could see a big increase in your computers speed.

Everyone wants a fast computer. By keeping these 3 tips in mind, you will be able to keep your computer running quickly and efficiently.

PDF stands for Portable Document Format, originally a file format used for print publishing as a tool for proofing print jobs. Today, it has become the standard for sharing print-ready documents via the Internet. PDF is now accepted as an open standard, and is widely supported by several software vendors (Adobe, FoxIt, Microsoft).

Several characteristics of a PDF make it a great choice for sharing or publishing documents over the Internet.

1. Retain Original Formatting
PDF allows the original presentation and formatting of any document to remain exactly as its original author intended it to look, including images, fonts, and layout.

2. Security
With PDF documents, you have full control over users’ ability to open, print, copy,modify, or share documents. You can selectively enable or disable these actions for each document according to your preferences.

Note: It’s not completely impossible to break the security permissions applied to PDF documents. There are several softwares available to remove certain security limitations. However, it’s a risk most business users are willing to take after reviewing on case per case basis.

3. Easy to Create
Because PDF has become an open standard, many software vendors support the format.You don’t necessarily need Adobe’s Acrobat software to create PDF documents. Many plug-ins for Microsoft Office, print drivers, or online conversion services are available free.

Free PDF Conversion
1) Office 2007: PDF conversion built in.
2) Office 2003: PrimoPDF
3) Online Service: Scribd

4. File Size Compression
PDF file sizes can be shrunk to suit the needs of target users. PDF documents can be packaged and compressed while retaining the original quality, or can be down-sampled and compressed to dramatically reduce file size, making it quick to download over the web.

5. Powerful and Flexible
You can add interactive elements including form fields, hyperlinks,electronic signatures, and multimedia such as sounds and videos to your PDF documents. Although these features are also available with other formats,they are not as easy to package and share as PDF.

So consider switching to PDF when you want to share or publish documents over the Internet. If you need assistance, let us know – we can help.

We think this is the easiest, least expensive way to successfully burn the downloaded Vista Recovery Disc image we wrote about yesterday.

Thanks to the freeware burning software, CDBurnerXP, you’ll be able to burn the Recovery disc in a few clicks.

Please consider donating to the developer(s) of CDBurnerXP to assist with further development. It really is a great software and is compatible with both XP and Vista operating systems. Here’s a quick description of the software from the developer:

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface. Everyone, even companies, can use it for free. It does not include adware or similar malicious components.

First, install the CDBurnerXP software with the default settings and then restart your computer. Once restarted, find the Vista Recovery Disc file (Vista_Recovery_Disc_x86.iso) you downloaded earlier and double-click on it. A CDBurnerXP prompt, similar to the picture below, should appear.

Insert your blank CD-R media and click on burn. You should have a successfully burned recovery disc when complete. Feel free to leave us a comment below if you think we overlooked an important fact in the process.

Image Source: Softpedia and CDBurnerXP

This weekend, one of our clients was shopping for a new personal computer and contacted us, frustrated about having to pay extra for the Vista recovery disc.

Yes, if you weren’t aware, PC manufacturers no longer provide customers a tangible OS recovery disc. Not surprisingly, Geek Squad wanted to charge her $70.00 to create one for her…lame.

This shows a complete disregard to the fact that you’re often paying over a thousand dollars of your hard earned cash. It’s probably not a big deal until you’re actually reading this post for help. We know it can be a frustrating ordeal when you need the original installation disc to repair your computer and you don’t have the disc.

Today, depending on the PC manufacturer, the set of recovery tools is often included on a separate area (partition) of the hard drive that can be accessed during computer startup (i.e. press F2, F12, etc). However, older machines may not have this feature, or you were instructed to create your own disc, which never happened. Either way, the disc is important because it contains computer repair features that can only be found on the disc.

According to NeoSmart, Microsoft has released a downloadable Vista recovery disc for users that don’t have access to the original. However, due to what we assume are bandwidth issues, NeoSmart only offers a torrent of the download, which may stand as a technical barrier to many in the “Do-It-Yourself” crowd. As a result, for those of you who don’t want to learn about torrents, we’ve decided to help out the community by releasing a mirror of the download.

We’ll keep it up as long as our allotted bandwidth can support it being hosted here. Please say thanks if the download helps you out. Need help burning the recovery disc? Please see our Burn Vista Recovery Disc tutorial for instructions on how to use the free burning software, CDBurnerXP, to successfully burn the disc image (iso).

Technology is at the forefront of our daily lives. Whether it be a cell phone, laptop, or GPS unit we have become accustomed to having access to information quickly. In business, access to your data at any time of day can be the difference between a lost sale and a bonus. Having always-on access to your data on the go can give you the edge you need in this competitive market.

Recently, I was in a meeting regarding our company’s service performance. The client threw a zinger at me and requested statistical information regarding his website. At first, I panicked, knowing that I didn’t have the information in my presentation. I think he noticed and was prepared to use my lack of preparation as an example. Before he had a chance, I accessed my office computer with remote desktop software to access the data he needed. He was impressed and the meeting ended successfully.

Remote desktop software, like LogMeIn and GoToMyPC, enable users to access their desktop computers when away from home or the office. You have access fast, always-on, and secure access to your desktop computer anytime of day. Many of our readers may be more familiar with GoToMyPC by Citrix due to their amount of marketing and length of time in the market. However, GoToMyPC charges a monthly fee that may not be feasible for every user.

As a result, our technicians often recommend the Free alternative, LogMeIn Free. The LogMeIn software solution is installed on every machine you want to access remotely. Once installed, it places an icon in the bottom right corner of your computer to signify the software was installed successfully. When the software is running, you can access that computer remotely through the LogMeIn website. You’ll have to install a browser plugin the first time you connect but after that you should be good to go. LogMeIn Free is fairly basic and doesn’t provide advanced options such as remote printing or secure file transfer. For those features, you’ll need to upgrade to their pro version (which we highly recommend).

In addition, they recently launched an iPhone application ($30.00) that provides the flexibility to connect when a laptop isn’t available. Either way, in our opinion, you can’t go wrong with the LogMeIn product line. It may save you in your next meeting.