Internet Explorer 8 SmartScreen Filter

Internet Explorer 8 in particular has some new security 

functions integrated into its service, trying to make up for the 

lack of security in its previous versions. Granted, it is not a 

perfect system as I will explain in more detail later, but at 

least they are making an effort. Right? Right.

SmartScreen Filter

           SmartScreen Filter is one of the new safety features 

found in the 8th iteration of this popular browser. It isn’t 

complicated to use, in fact, it requires zero effort on your 

part. 

Smart Screen checks the websites that you visit against a 

constantly updated list of known phishing and malware sites 

reported by other users. Software that you download is also 

checked against a similar list of malicious software sites.

For instance, if you find an unsavory site in your inter-web 

travels, the following warning message will greet you. It will 

then be advised that you should travel to another, safer site.

This is the first problem I had with the system, maybe it was 

just me, but I had to borrow the above image from 

Microsoft’s Official site because no matter how hard I tried to 

 find an especially dangerous site, Internet Explorer never 

stopped me.

I suspect that this is because they rely on users to report 

unsafe data, rather than trolling the web on their own. Either 

way, it was not very reassuring. But some protection is better 

than none I suppose.

The other aspect of SmartScreen is more subtle, simply  

highlighting the domain name of the website in order to 

better spot misleading addresses meant to trick you into 

entering personal data on copycat websites, also known as 

phishing (ie: banking, email, etc).

Like here, www.microsoft.com is darker than the rest of 

the address to bring attention to it.

Furthermore, if you need to toggle SmartScreen Filter off or 

 on, it can be accessed from the Settings menu in Internet 

Explorer 8. Observe.

 

InPrivate Browsing and Filtering

      I love features like this one. InPrivate Browsing allows 

you to protect your private information while browsing on 

public computers. Information such as your browsing history, 

 form data, cookies, temporary Internet files, as well as 

usernames and passwords will not be saved in any capacity 

during your time on the web. As someone that uses public 

computers at my University, I find this feature quite valuable.

You can either select InPrivate Browsing at the default New 

Tab window or by selecting it in the settings menu as shown 

below.

Websites sometimes provide ads, content, images, and 

analytics from third-parties that they are unaffiliated with. In 

these cases, InPrivate Filtering steps in to protect you 

from those that would wish to do you harm by stalking your 

 internet activities and stealing your information.

 A word to the wise: InPrivate Filtering is not on by default, 

 and like InPrivate Browsing, it must be activated on a per 

session basis. This can again be done by accessing the Safety 

menu within the Settings dropdown.

And that is that. Now you know how Internet Explorer 8 
protects you from all the baddies

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Creating Your Very Own Custom Section

Step 1: Send your browser to the Google News homepage, 

specifically the Custom section directory. Notice that the 

generic categories are listed on the left-hand side.

Step 2: Find the Add a section button (shown below) in 

the top right-corner, under the search bar, and give it a click 

to continue on your journey.

 

Step 3: You must then click on Create a custom section 

to begin the process of creating your very own Custom News 

Section.

Step 4: Here is where you get to the meat of the guide.

 You are asked to give your news section a title, I chose Lunar 

Landings as I planned to create a section that contained only 

news stories about landing on the moon.

Then you must specify keywords to define your chosen topic, 

these are listed under Search terms and separated by a 

comma. A nice inclusion is the automatically updated list of 

articles that appears to the right of the creation window. With 

each new keyword, the list is updated to reflect the changes. 

It makes it a whole lot easier to ensure that you are achieving 

 your desired effect.

You then must choose a language edition and there is also the 

choice of specifying a source location if you only want news 

 articles from a specific area.

Once you have made all of your choices, hit Create.

Note: If you would like to share your custom news section 

with others, put a check mark beside Publish this section 

to the directory. Your news section will then become 

available to the public.

Step 5: Your new category will no appear in your Google 

News homepage. As you can see, my custom news section 

titled Lunar Landings now appears in my list of categories. 

 Mission accomplished.

If you make a really great custom section, share it with us in 

the comments section.

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How to Run Old Versions Of S/W in Win 7 Using Program Compatibility Mode

Running Software in Program Compatibility Mode

 I am going to walkthrough how to make older software run 

after an OS update, say Vista to 7 or XP to Vista.

Step 1: If you find that one of your programs is not working 

properly, right click on it and select Troubleshoot 

Compatibility.

Step 2: Your next step should always be to try the 

recommended settings suggested by Windows.

Step 3: You can then begin a test run of the program using 

the recommended settings and see if it is fixed or not.

Step 4: If it worked, you have the option to save the settings 

so that they will apply every time that you launch it.

Step 5: If it didn’t, do not give up yet. You can also try to fix 

it on your own!

Selecting No, try again using different settings will 

bring up the manual troubleshooting menu, where you can 

input your own experiences with your troubled program.

You can also start with manual options at the beginning of 

 troubleshooting by choosing Troubleshoot Program at 

the first menu.

Step 6: Now you have the chance to specify the problems 

that you notice when trying to run the program.

Step 7: The contents of the next window will depend on 

what options you chose in the previous dialogue. They are 

merely a line of more specific questions to help identify the 

exact problem that you are having.

For instance, if you chose The program worked in earlier 

versions of Windows but won’t install or run now  

then you will be greeted by the following message.

In this example, it shows a variety of different display 

problems you could be having.

Step 8: Once again, it is time to run the program and see if 

the settings have fixed the problem.

Step 9: If you still find yourself with a broken piece of 

software then you should send a generated problem report to 

Microsoft to make them aware of the problem.

 Manually Select Program Compatibility 

If you know what version of Windows that your program once worked in then you can skip all of the troubleshooting and just jump right into things.

Step 1: Right-click the program and choose Properties to 

open up another menu where you will select the 

Compatibility tab.

Step 2: Within the Compatibility tab, check the box beside  

Run this program in compatibility mode for:.

Step 3: From the drop-down list, choose the version of 

 Windows that your program worked best on. Click Apply, 

and the settings will be saved for the next time that you run 

the program.

Wrapping Up

If all of the above tools do not help, don’t forget that Google 

is your best friend. Sometimes a simple search in Google, 

 describing your problem, can lead to a forum, which leads to 

 a post, leading to another post, that all ends in a solution to 

your problem. Or, if you already know a good forum, try 

using  Blekko to customize your search results.

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Top 10 Free Software To Install On Your New Windows PC

Lets begin with the list.

1. EASEUS Partition Master

 

EASEUS partition manager is a nifty tool to create and 

manage disk partitions on Windows systems. Even if you 

created partitions during the setup process, and know how to  use the disk management console to create partitions, I’d 

recommend you download and keep this tool. That’s because 

it offers some amazing features like resize, merge or split 

partitions, convert FAT to NTFS, convert primary partition to 

logical and vice versa, and much more.

    The personal edition of the tool is free. It has professional 

and business editions too.

2. PC Decrapifier

 

Most of the branded laptops and desktops come bloated with 

proprietary (and useless) software which you should get rid of if you want your computer to function properly in the long 

 run. Hence the old and trusted PC Decrapifier becomes a 

 must-install software for new Windows computer owners to 

 weed out junk software and make space for better stuff. 

 Here’s our guide on cleaning up a new PC with PC 

Decrapifier.

 

3. Macrium Reflect or Windows Backup and Restore

 

We have previously talked about the importance of creating a 

system image and how to create it using the built-in Windows 

backup and restore center (you should also create a system 

repair disc). Now, this might not be available in all editions of 

Windows so I’d suggest a worthy, and more powerful 

alternative called Macrium Reflect. Use it to create an initial 

system image, and for other such tasks as you start using the 

computer.

 

4. Ninite

 

Ninite will cover the “how to install” part when installing new 

stuff on your PC. This all-in-one installer lets you pick 

software and install them at one go. And the choices of 

course are very diverse. Check out our previous guide on  

batch installing programs with Ninite.

 

5. Revo Uninstaller

 

Revo Uninstaller remains my tool of choice to clean uninstall 

applications and programs from my Windows PC. It’s far 

better than the default Add/Remove programs tool. A 

must-have software for sure. Check out our guide on using 

Revo Uninstaller to uninstall programs.

6. CCleaner

 

You didn’t think I’d give a miss to CCleaner in this list, did 

you? I am yet to find a better tool to perform a routine PC 

maintenance and get rid of temporary files and data. The tool 

is as amazing as it ever was. In fact, better, as it continues to 

be regularly updated. And as you’d have guessed, we wrote a  

 guide on using CCleaner too.

 

7. Microsoft Security Essentials

 

Microsoft Security Essentials might go down in history as one 

of the best free software released by this tech giant. This tool 

has given a number of antivirus vendors, especially those 

who provide full-fledged free versions, a run for their money. 

It can protect your PC from viruses, spyware and malware.

 

8. Dropbox or Syncback SE

 

The thing about data backup is that people tend to 

procrastinate on it, which ultimately ends up in a crisis 

situation when they have lost important data, and had no 

backup whatsoever. Hence an online backup tool like  

Dropbox, and an offline sync and backup tool like Syncback 

SE is included in this list of immediate installations for a new 

PC. Get either, or both of them. I use both – Dropbox for 

online backup and Syncback to keep my data synchronized 

with an external hard drive.

9. Recuva

 

Recuva is an excellent (and free) software to recover deleted 

 files. But why do we need it now? That’s because there’s a lot 

 of deleting and uninstalling happening with CCleaner, Revo 

Uninstaller, PC Decrapifier and all. If you suddenly delete 

something that you shouldn’t, and then want to recover it, 

you would have this tool to fall back on. Our tutorial on using 

Recuva will provide more information on using this tool.

 

10. VLC,Km Player and Chrome / Firefox

Lastly, but by no means the leastly (or least, whatever), we 

have our usual suspects – VLC media player and Chrome and 

/ or Firefox, which I am clubbing together in the same point. 

Oh, and you don’t need to install these separately because 

Ninite will take care of that. Just make sure that you tick 

their names in Ninite before you start off with the 

installation. And while you are at it, check out our posts on 

Chrome and  Firefox.

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How to Completely Uninstall Programs on Mac with AppCleaner

        We Mac users have all had files that left some unwanted 

traces behind it. How do we make sure that the entire 

application gets deleted, thus ensuring we’re not wasting any 

space or resources on something unused? Enter AppCleaner, 

a simple and efficient application that gets the job done.

     AppCleaner is an application that simply requires you 

drag and drop an unwanted application into its dialog box. A 

new box will pop up, displaying a list of files that are being 

removed. Simply click Delete, and the application will be 

removed from the computer.

             That’s basically its primary function. AppCleaner also 

encourages cleaning by displaying Applications, Widgets, 

and Others tabs. Simply select an application, click Search, 

then click Delete.

        Widgets are those little gadgets you see in the 

 Dashboard. A lot of them get old, real fast. If you’re tired of 

one, you can conserve space by deleting it through 

AppCleaner.

             The Others tab includes certain plugins, such as Flash 

 Player and Quicktime. These could be useful to remove 

when you’re running out of space and desperately need 

everyKB.

You can choose to protect certain apps through AppCleaner. 

This ensures you won’t delete essential applications or ones 

that are launched right now.

AppCleaner also has a feature called SmartDelete, which 

automatically detects when an application is trashed and will 

delete related files. This is a useful feature to turn on, as it 

makes deleting files a lot more comprehensive.

If you’re looking to do some spring-cleaning with your Mac, 

give AppCleaner a try.

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SQL Server 2005 Installation

           An interactive set up program helps the setup of SQL

Server 2005. The steps have been designed to help the

Administrator select the requisite options along the way. The

setup screen automatically starts up as soon as the CD/DVD

is inserted into the drive. If it does not, the user can start the

setup process by browsing the contents of the CD/DVD and

double clicking the setup.exe.

The next screen informs the user that some of the required

components will be checked for and upgraded. Setup installs

some necessary components prior to beginning the SQL

Server installation and before any files are installed, the

System Consistency Checker verifies that there are no

problems that will prevent installation.

 



Note that .NET Framework 2.0, Microsoft SQL Native Client
and Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Setup support files have to
be installed. The finish button is to be clicked. Now the
Welcome screen appears.

The next step is the system configuration check. The report of
the check is displayed to the user. The success or failure of
the check is reported along with warnings if any.

 



Once the user clicks continue the installation begins.



The next step is to enter the registration information.
 The user enters his name, company name and the serial
number as it appears on the yellow sticker on the cover of the
DVD. The user then clicks on Next to continue.

 



Next the components to be installed have to be specified. The
user can chose to install all the components or some of the
components. Some of these components require further
configuration information and the user will be prompted to
enter such information if the components are selected. If the
SQL Server is being installed on a cluster, the user will be
required to enter cluster information.

 



On clicking Next, the Feature selection dialog box appears.
All the selected features are displayed.

 



On clicking next the user is prompted to select the instance
name. If he selects Default instance no name need be
specified. If he selects Named instance, he will have to
specify a name for the instance. Click Next to continue.

 



The user is now prompted to enter the details of the service
account which is to be used for login to the server. The local
or Domain user account can be selected. The security context
required to run the SQL server demands that a user account
be specified during installation. By default Windows
authentication mode is supported.

 



The Authentication mode dialog box appears. The user must specify the authentication mode. It can be Windows
authentication or Mixed mode. The user must assign a login
irrespective of the mode selected. He must enter the
password and confirm it before clicking next to continue.







The next dialog box is the Collation Settings dialog box. Collation settings define the sorting behaviour of the server.
SQL server collations are used for setting up compatibility with earlier versions of SQL Servers.

 



The Report server database setup dialog box which appears
requires the user to specify the instance of the SQL Server
which will host the report server database. Select Host in
current instance of SQL Server and specify the report server
database name and click next to continue.







The Next dialog box is the Report Server Delivery Settings
dialog box. The user has to specify the parameters required
for sending email reports. Click Next to continue if you do
not wish to enter any details here.





The Error Reporting dialog box appears prompting the user
that SQL server, its components and Analysis services will be
configured to send fatal service error reports to Microsoft or
a corporate error reporting server. The user can select the
check box and click next as this helps Microsoft in monitoring
its services and improving upon its software. Click Next to
continue.

 


The ready to install dialog box displays all the components
that are going to be installed on the system. To proceed with
the installation the user has to click on Next.

 


The setup progress bar is displayed. On completion of set up
the Next button will become enabled and the user has to click
on Next to proceed.






The next dialog box displays all the files that are being
configured. The user has to click on Next to continue.

 


The last dialog box displays the progress of the set up. All the
selected components being configured are displayed and
their status indicated. Click on Next to continue.

 





This takes the user to the final screen of the setup. The
system is required to be rebooted for the configuration to
take effect. The user is asked to click on finish to reboot the
system. The user is informed that any errors in set up are
recorded in the summary log for future reference. Click on
Finish to complete the process.






In the section that follows we shall see how this installation is
maintained.

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