If you want to extract the most out of your system and stay secure while having it running like it did on the very first day, then you should try to keep it pretty much in the same state. I don’t want to say you are forbidden to install new programs and play around, just keep it clean and virus-free if you want to speed up your PC. Before you ask me “how to”, I’ll stop you – wait a while and just let me share my experience with you!

Another aspect of the problem is to keep your Windows PC up-to-date with everything — starting with browsers, drivers and the operating system itself. As long as you are performing the maintenance regularly you will never be too much behind, so the operation can’t transform into a nuisance.

First of all you should try to have your Windows running smoothly, and the easiest way to achieve that is to install not all the updates it recommends. Some of them are automatic, some will require your consensus, but as long as you have a genuine copy you shouldn’t worry too much about them.

In fact, you don’t have to do anything more than allow Windows download the required updates from time to time and the benefits are multiple. They range from faster speed in running various applications and processes to increased safety against harmful malware.

How to Keep Your Windows Operating System Up to Date and Patched

If you think you are behind with the updates, got to the All programs in the start menu and select Windows Update and you will be guided to the Help and Support Center where you can ‘get Microsoft Update‘. Decide between custom and express, with the first being the recommended option and install all updates.

Once this is dealt with, you should make sure that the internet browser you are using is the latest in its family. Usually you are being prompted when an update is available and downloading it is the right thing to do. You will benefit from new features and enhanced security and speed up computer!

Have a tip, trick, or must-have application for updating your Windows computer or keeping it secure? Let’s hear about it in the comments.

Author Bio: This is a guest article written by Dedee Heather, who likes writing about PC Security and Optimization tips and writes as a guest author for TechChunks.com.

This is according to a report for Netmarketsharing, which shows Windows XP use is still double that of Windows Vista and 7 combined. Although the number of XP desktops is slowly declining, this still group represents 62% of the user base while Windows 7 and Vista retain about 15% each.

If you use a computer for anything other than gaming or to see how many hertz you can squeeze the last drop out of the latest Intel CPU, you know the pain of change. Change means uncertainty, and the one thing people want from a device their business or personal communications rely on is certainty. A lot of big businesses do not want to incur the cost of upgrading all their PC’s at one time and are slowing upgrading the PC’s to Windows 7 as they are decommissioning/replacing older PC’s.

On another hand, as of Oct 1st 2010, Dell and HP are no longer selling computers with the Windows XP downgrade option. (As per my HP and Dell vendors emails to our IT department, yes I’m in the IT department), which also means you will start seeing IT departments forced to start using Windows 7 in their networks. So these figures could quickly change.

The sales of Windows 7 were great, however for it to surpass Windows XP as the most widespread operating system, it will still be another 2-4 years as the older computers get replaced.

XP is light, basic and quick. I use all my old copies in place of Linux for testing or when setting up basic/general purpose PCs for those that have zero interest in gaming. XP still makes sense for a lot of people doing business work as an OS that meets most needs and can often be gotten for free from an old PC or someone who’s upgraded.

As a nerd, Windows 7 is a modern, attractive and capable OS but people still uses Windows XP on their systems because, even if its not pretty it still gets the job done.

XP is actually a victim of it’s own circumstance. Microsoft kept XP around for five years before introducing Vista. But when Vista floundered, XP gained strength, making it all the way to Service Pack 3. And now Microsoft seems to be struggling to convince its XP users to upgrade to Windows 7 and thus save some lost revenue!

This is not the first time Windows 7 was found with some security holes but according to the company, the issue also only exists if users have the Aero theme installed. By using Windows 7 Basic or Windows Classic themes, the path malcode could take is switched off.

The bug would most likely make most machines reboot its affected system according to a blog post by Jerry Bryant, Microsoft spokesman. This kind of malware may also open a door for more attacks (Backdoor attacks) when it is silently installed into your system but attackers need to bypass memory randomization protections to break in.

The malicious bug can give hackers the power to exploit its victim. What it does is it will trick the victim into viewing an image file on a website or email. The driver will then emulate the Windows XP display driver for interactions with earlier graphics engines.

A spokesman said that Microsoft is working on a security update for affected versions of Windows, although the company suspects that making workable hacks using cdd.dll is unlikely.Microsoft is working on a security update for affected versions of Windows, although the company suspects that making workable hacks using cdd.dll is unlikely. In the meantime, users experiencing this attack can prevent it by disabling the Windows Aero Theme. Change it to Basic theme or Turn it off on Windows Control Panel, Appearance and Personalization.

“By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard drive partition.”

Apparently people decided to call this “God Mode in Win 7” because to enable this “trick” you make a folder called GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} and double-click on it.  Now you can see… the control panel.  With a slightly different view than you normally see it in.

So first off, why is this completely silly?  Well, the text “GodMode” has nothing to do with making the trick work.  You can call the folder “EvilMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}” and now you’ve discovered the magical “EvilMode” feature hidden in Windows!

Well, not really.  What you’ve actually discovered are two things:

First, you’ve discovered a documented feature of the shell whereby filesystem folders can be easily made into namespace junctions, as described here on MSDN. Basically, any folder named <DisplayName>.<CLSID> will show up with just the <DisplayName> portion visible in Explorer, and navigating into the folder will take you to the namespace root defined by the <CLSID> portion of the name.  This isn’t a user feature, it’s a developer feature.

The second thing you’ve discovered is the “All Tasks” folder.  This is a special shell folder which is used as the source of the “Control Panel” search results seen in the Start menu.  This folder was not designed to be browsed to directly, as the normal Control Panel folder (accessible via Start -> Control Panel) contains all the same items but with a custom view designed to be easier to navigate.  The “All Tasks” folder has no custom view, so you just see the standard Explorer list view and little else.

The existence of this folder and its CLSID are implementation details and should not be relied upon by anybody for any purpose. God Mode?  Not really.

Update! Here is “The ultimate ‘God Mode’ list: 39 secret Windows 7 shortcuts” as published on ZDNet.com

It’s time to get rid of the unused data – The Disk Clean Up Wizard
In this process the wizard identifies the unwanted, unused data which are safe to delete. The steps to be followed are as follows:

- Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk Cleanup. If several drives are available, you might be prompted to specify which drive you want to clean.

- When Disk Cleanup has calculated how much space you can free, in the Disk Cleanup for dialog box, scroll through the content of the Files to delete list.

- Clear the check boxes for files that you don’t want to delete, and then click OK.

[For more options, such as cleaning up System Restore and Shadow copy files, under Description, click Clean up system files, then click the More Options tab.]

- When prompted to confirm that you want to delete the specified files, click Yes.

After a few minutes, the process completes and the Disk Cleanup dialog box closes, leaving your computer cleaner and performing better.

Be Clean and systematic – Disk Defragment
There is an indicator which shows the time of running Disk Defragment. The indicator glows in the cases given below:

- You add a large number of files.

- Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.

- You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

The steps to be followed are:

- Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, click System Tools and then click Disk Defragmenter.

- In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, click the drives that you want to defragment, and then click the Analyze button. After the disk is analyzed, a dialog box appears, letting you know whether you should defragment the analyzed drives.

- To defragment the selected drive or drives, click the Defragment disk button. In the Current status area, under the Progress column, you can monitor the process as it happens. After the defragmentation is complete, Disk Defragmenter displays the results.

- To display detailed information about the defragmented disk or partition, click View Report.

- To close the View Report dialog box, click Close.

- You can also schedule the Disk Defragmenter to run automatically, and your computer might be set up this way by default.

- To close the Disk Defragmenter utility, click the Close button on the title bar of the window.

Errors! Check’em with Error Checking Utility
1. Close all open files.

2. Click Start, and then click My Computer.

3. In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.

4. In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.

5. Click the Check Now button.

6. In the Check Disk dialog box select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

7. If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Learn all about ReadyBoost
If you’re using Windows 7, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use nonvolatile flash memory — like a USB flash drive or a memory card — to improve performance without having to add memory.

Hope this little tutorial helped you in speeding up your Windows powered computer. Let us hear your experince.

Microsoft also claimed that Windows Vista infection was 61.9% less than Windows XP. What they didn’t say was the market share of Windows XP was 70.5% and Windows Vista is 19%.

Sophos’ Chester Wisniewski, said engineers loaded a full version of Microsoft’s recently launched operating system, and configured it to follow system defaults for UAC (User Account Control) without installing an anti-virus package.

Ten samples of net nasties that arrived in the SophosLab security feed were tested to, as Wisniewski put it “see how well the newer, more secure version of Windows and UAC held up”.

“Unfortunately, despite Microsoft’s claims, Windows 7 disappointed just like earlier versions of Windows,” he wrote.

“The good news is that, of the freshest 10 samples that arrived, two would not operate correctly under Windows 7.”

Microsoft’s Security Intelligence Report released this week said the infection rate of a Windows Vista machine running Service Pack was 61.9% less than on an up-to-date Windows XP computer.

But only around one in five Windows users are using the new operating system or Vista.

“With millions of hosts still infected with Conficker, ZBot and Bredo, it is obvious a lot of unprotected machines are still out there, and it is no surprise that most of those are XP.”

“But let’s not get complacent,” he said, “Microsoft seems to be saying that Vista is the least ugly baby in its family. You can be sure the next report will highlight its even less ugly younger sibling, Windows 7.

“Windows 7 is no cure for the virus blues, so be sure to bring your protection when you boot up.”

In a monthly update sent to users of its software, Microsoft released 13 security bulletins, or patches, to address 34 vulnerabilities it identified across its Windows, Internet Explorer, Silverlight, Office and other products.

It said six of the patches were high priority and should be deployed immediately. The patches — which update software to write over glitches — are designed to protect users from hackers or malicious software downloaded from the Internet.

Several of the patches affect Windows 7, the software maker’s new operating system, which will be officially unveiled next week, but has been widely used in test versions.

Such an early sign of security issues on Windows 7 is potentially worrisome for Microsoft, which is hoping its new operating system will erase bad feelings among many customers who bought the predecessor, Vista.

A Microsoft spokesperson could not immediately say whether the company had identified further security problems with Windows 7. The company generally does not disclose such problems until it has patches available.

The vulnerabilities in Windows 7, including the risk of having a PC taken over by a hacker, were serious flaws, but to be expected, according to Dave Marcus, senior researcher at software security firm McAfee Inc.

“As long as human beings are writing code there are always going to be vulnerabilities,” he said.

Tuesday’s update included the largest number of patches to be issued on a single day by Microsoft.

Corporate users will need to test the patches before they deploy them to make sure they do not cause machines to crash because of compatibility issues with existing software.

(Reuters)