Different security software have different capabilities and you can never be absolutely sure that if one software has cleared it then the file is clean. It is always suggested that you must scan the file with multiple security suites to increase the chances of being sure that the file is actually clean.

VirusTotal – Online File Scan Tool for Checking, Scanning for Malware and Virus

VirusTotal is a free online application, which allos you to upload any file upto 20 MB of size and it will scan file for any virus or malware infection with more than 40 popular security software. The list of these software include almost all of the most popular names in the industry today. And if the file comes clean in the test, you can be reasonably sure that the scanned file is actually clean from virus and malware infections.

The entire process of scanning file for malware and virus takes less than a minute and we suggest utilizing this application for all files about which you have slightest of doubt of being infected. The results are slightly complicated to interpret for an average computer user, but if even a few of the security software flag the file is infected, it is enough to say clear of the file.

Not only files uploaded from your computer, VirusTotal also allows you to check or scan any web page for possible virus or malware infections. You just have to enter the URL of the web page, and it wills can for possible malware infections.

Please be advised that like all other security software tools, VirusTotal is also prone to errors and may raise some false positives.

And if you are one of them, who really care about your online privacy issues, then you must give a serious thought about using VPN service to access the Internet. If you are new to them, then the starting point can be a free online VPN, some of which have already been reviewed in this series of posts.

CyberGhost – The Free Online VPN for your private and anonymous browsing

Cyberghost is yet another free online VPN service, which allows you to remain online without revealing your identity. CyberGhost VPN replaces the externally visible IP address, which users have received from their provider when they dial up to connect to the Internet, with a CyberGhost VPN IP address. The CyberGhost user shares this IP address with a number of other users. This procedure ensures that the CyberGhost VPN IP address should not be assigned to one particular CyberGhost VPN user.

Communication between the CyberGhost VPN user’s computer and the anonymization servers is also particularly well protected to prevent any eavesdropping on data transfers. This protection is set up in 2 steps when establishing the connection. 1024-bit SSL encryption is used when establishing the connection. In this case, a 128-bit AES key is negotiated, which is unique for each connection. The actual communication takes place via this AES key.

You just have to download a client from their website and start using this free online VPN service straightaway.  However, please keep in mind that free version of CyberGhost VPN will work for only six hours at a time or 1GB of downloads at a time, whichever comes first. You get disconnected after that, although you can then relaunch it again

However, look for the speed of browsing. I have always been skeptical about using some of the free online VPN services, because they have drastically reduced my surfing speed. Please check it out yourself before making a final decision.

Here is a quick video.

[Download CyberGhost Client]

With this, you can easily watch the data that is being passed back and forth from your computer and other computers on the internet or network. This is accomplished by reading the raw TCP/IP packets that are processed by your network adapter and displaying them in a user friendly fashion.

Monitoring of your network traffic can have multiple uses. For instance, it will tell you exactly what data is being transferred to and fro from your own computer, thus letting you know if there are any unknown and unwanted connections. This may let you discover some hidden spyware, keylogger or other backdoor infection, which may have been compromising your PC Security.

Or, if you are a network administrator, you can watch the traffic being transferred from the other computers in the network. This will help you to identify the security threats posed by vulnerabilities present in other computers. Further it may allow you to exercise greater control over what should be accessible to the other computers in the network.

[Download IP Traffic Spy]

If you are an expert computer user, you may find a solution to these problems, but many computer users, which are not-so-geek, find it difficult to and search on how to fix common computer errors and problems.

Microsoft Fix It – A Tools Set for Fixing Computer Errors

If you are not aware, let me introduce you to Microsoft Fix It. It is a set of small scripts and tools, which can be run by an average-joe to fix many of the common computer errors. The best part is once installed, it will automatically scan your computer for possible errors and problems and offer to solve them automatically.

Fix it Center finds and fixes many common PC and device problems automatically. It also helps prevent new problems by proactively checking for known issues and installing updates. Fix it Center helps to consolidate the many steps of diagnosing and repairing a problem into an automated tool that does the work for you.

The available fixes vary depending on your operating system and are presented with easy to understand description and step-by-step wizards. Fix it Center can fix issues with file and folder management, Internet Explorer crashes, Firewall problems and much more.

While the problems and errors in your computer are being identified and resolved, you can create on online account for yourself, where the problems and their solutions applied on all your computers will be saved for future reference. You can easily check them out at a later date or give references to somebody else.

Expert computer users may not find it highly useful, but it is a great set of utilities for an average-skilled computer user.

[Download Microsoft Fix It Center]

One easy way is to use the cloud computing services, which host your data on their servers and allow you to access it through Internet from anywhere in the world and from any device.

But if you are a little bit concerned about the privacy issues and do not want to share your private files, folders and othersensitive information with a third party server, then you can turn your desktop itself into a cloud server. It is super easy and lets you access all the data stored on your home desktop from anywhere. You can even share your files and folders with anybody else by just sending a web URL.

All this is easily possible with Tonido.

Tonido – A New Way to Share Files, Folders, Images, Music from Desktop PC to Remote Devices

Tonido is a software and service that once installed on any computer (Windows, Linux or Mac), can make files and media in that computer available anywhere through a web browser or from mobile phones (iPhone, Android or Blackberry).

It is a new way to share your files, media and other information with anyone around the world without having to upload to third-party sites first.

Tonido is easy to setup and does not require any network or router configuration to work.

Here are the steps on how to activate Tonido to share files, folders, images, music from desktop PC to remote devices.

There are several network watching and monitoring tools available in the market, some are free while others are paid. Many of these tools are complex to use and have a definite learning curve before you can effectively use these network analyzing tools to their fullest potential.

If you are on the look out of a free network analyzing tool, which is also easy to use and administer, then you can consider trying Axence NetTools.

Axence NetTools, A Great Set of Network Watching and Analyzing Tools

NetTools is free and comprehensive set of host monitoring, network scanning, security and administration tools, all with a highly intuitive user interface. The best part is lies in its intuitive user interface, which allows even an amateur network administrator to perform the complex tasks rather easily.

And the best part is that it is , a freeware application, which you can download from the link given at the end of this article.

Features of Axence NetTools, The Network Monitoring Tools

Axence NetTools is set of tools include the following network monitoring tools.

• NetWatch: Monitors the availability of several hosts and their response times. You can set several thresholds so that NetTools will notify you by e-mail, message or sound in case of host not responding or slower connection.
• WinTools: Lists exhaustive system information from Windows computers: running processes & services, registry, event log, disk, memory & CPU information, and much more.
• NetStat: Displays all the inbound and outbound connections to your computer and lists all open ports.
• Local info: Displays several tables with important information about your local configuration: network statistics for TCP/UDP and ICMP, IP address table, ARP table, IP routing table, and network adapter info.
• Network scanner: Would you like to find all the nodes in a network (including remote networks)? No problem. Just enter the IP range to check and you will quickly get a list of nodes and the services running on them. This tool also discovers some Trojans and spyware.
• Service & port scanner: Allows you to check for all open ports and running services (HTTP, POP3, MS SQL, Oracle and 50 other).
• TCP/IP workshop: Provides you with the ability to establish low-level TCP and UDP connections to troubleshoot and test different networking services.
• SNMP Browser: A full SNMP browser, so easy you can use it even if you don’t know a thing about SNMP.
• Other tools: Fast traceroute shows information about every host on the route, its response time, and packets lost (full trace within 1 second). Lookup is like nslookup, but it shows you all DNS and WHOIS records at once. Bandwidth tool will measure network performance. NetCheck - with this tool you can check the quality of network hardware in your LAN.

[Download Axence NetTools]

All this happens without user intervention and your device is ready to be used with your computer.

But often we find that the device drivers are updated by the manufacturers in due course of time. It has also been seen that in some cases, the device drivers bundled with the standard operating system are of generic type and fail to provide the full functionality to the device. In such a case you may need to search for the device driver or go to the manufacturer site to locate and download the correct device driver for your hardware.

It is easier said than done.

If you have ever tried to search for a device driver, then you must be knowing how difficult it sometimes becomes to search for the device driver on the Internet. And even if you are lucky and able to locate the exact website where from you can download the driver, you may find that there are many options for the same device depending upon the exact configuration of your computer and you may have a hard time to choose the correct option.

What’s The Solution – How to Scan Your Hardware and Get Latest Driver Update

Luckily there are some practical solutions. Here is a tiny software called Device Doctor, which can be freely downloaded and installed on your computer. Once installed, it makes a list of all the hardware devices attached and installed in your computer and quickly makes a list of those, whose drivers are not correctly installed or which require an update to their drivers.

Just choose the list of devices, and it will download and install the correct drivers for your hardware devices. Simple.

P.S.: Please make sure to create a system restore point before making any changes, so that you are in a position to revert back the changes made by the software to your computer in case something goes wrong.

[Download Device Doctor]

In case you want to bypass Windows Admin Passwords as you have forgotten the Administrator, it sometimes becomes very difficult to regain the access. But there are some specialized password recovery tools which can help you out.

PC Login Now is one such tool, which helps you to bypass Windows Admin Password. Mind that, it will not help you recover your old password, but instead will allow you to login into your Windows System without needing that Windows Admin Password.

It in fact is a bootable CD, which allows you to reset local administrator passwords and also other user accounts passwords. It also helps you change the security settings on the fly.

PCLoginNow is an easy-to-use tool to reset local administrator and other accounts passwords on Windows system. No need to reinstall the system. It resets Windows passwords and Windows security settings instantly. All version of Windows are completelysupported. It’s an incredible CD for Home users and Businesses. And most of all, it’s the most popular and safe solution for removing your Windows password until now.

Besides the abilities of resetting passwords, PCLoginNow can also help you maintain, change accounts policy setting and properties. You can easily upgrades an general account to administrator level,lock or unlock those accounts you don’t need anymore, And moreover, all of these are done without booting your tedious, time-comsuming Windows System.

All you have to do is to download the ISO file from their website and burn it on your CD. Change the BIOS settings so as to allow the computer to boot from the CD and use the settings in the program to login and change the Admin password settings.

[Download PC Login Now]

If you have never heard of Steganography, then let me tell you that it is an art to hide your sensitive data inside innocent looking files like simple images, audio or video files such that the hidden data can be retrieved by the recipient easily with the help of a decoding code.

A similar process is Cryptography. But in cryptography, then encrypted files raise suspicion in the minds of other people, who happen to access the hidden data during the process of transfer. And once the suspicion is raised, there are chances that they may try to break the encryption and ultimately get succeeded.

On the other hand, Steganography allows you to hide data without raising any flags. Only the desired recipient knows that some sort of sensitive information is hidden beneath the innocent looking media file. This is a useful way of secretly transferring data and information in some countries where encryption of data is not allowed.

OpenPuff – A freeware tool to Hide Data inside Image, Audio or Video Files

OpenPuff is a steganography and file marking tool that enables you to hide sensitive data inside images, audio files and videos. It supports 512bit key cryptography with SHA512 password extension as well as data scrambling, data whitening and creation of decoy data. Your sensitive data can even be chained across multiple files.In addition to hiding data, the program can also be used to apply a, invisible digital watermark to any of the supported file types, allowing you to prove ownership or verify file integrity.Despite the advanced features, OpenPuff is easy to use with a self-explaining interface.

Features of OpenPuff – The Freeware Steganography Tool to Hide Data

• Images support (BMP, JPG, PCX, PNG, TGA)
• Audio support (AIFF, MP3, NEXT/SUN, WAV)
• Video support (3GP, MP4, MPG, VOB)
• Flash-Adobe support (FLV, SWF, PDF)
• Windows Executable support (EXE, DLL)
• Multiple carriers chains (up to 256Mb hidden stream)
• Random per-block-cryptography (8 open-source algorhythms)
• Strong cryptography (512bit key, password hex extension)
• Data scrambling & Whitening
• Adaptive LSB & Bits selection level
• Multithread support (up to 64 cpus) = Faster processing
• Simplified interface
• Unzip program and help in the same directory
• Portable – no need to install

Here is a Youtube video, which explains some of the features and how to use this tool to hide data.

[Download OpenPuff - The Freeware tool to Hide Data]

Worry not. There is a help around.

SlimComputer, true to its name is a freeware utility made just for that purpose. The only difference is that it can performance equally good on an older PC as well to give you leaner and optimized computer system.

SlimComputer’s installer includes a fully portable installation for a USB drive, a nice touch since SlimComputer is great for helping out technophobic friends. You can also install the portable version from the program’s Settings, including a scheduler, updates, and logs.

To get the latest profiles on all the new software, SlimComputer uses an online data cloud. This cloud is community-sourced, which means that it evaluates programs based on hundreds of ratings, some by tech professionals and others by users who’ve used the programs and want to tell others about them. When SlimComputer assesses your PC, it actively streams data to the cloud, telling it exactly what sort of programs are installed. The cloud then streams back an optimization plan, customized to that computer.

What SlimComputer can Achieve for You

A Slim System – Get rid of the promo bulk that comes on a new PC.

• Applications – Remove unneeded, pre-installed software.
• Toolbars - Remove un-useful Toolbars that can slow browsing.
• Startup items – Remove unnecessary Startup items to boost speed.
• Shortcuts - Remove unwanted shortcuts that clutter your desktop.

Restore - Undo any changes done by SlimComputer with one click.
Optimizer - Tweak Startup & Windows services to boost performance.
Uninstaller - Remove software based on community-sourced ratings.
Windows Tools – Get the most useful management tools in one place

Great tool, for the best price…that is FREE.

[Download SlimComputer]