5 Best Anti-Virus for Windows 7

1. BitDefender

BitDefender Antivirus 2010 offers the most trustable security and protection among all antivirus software out there and that is why it is rated # 1 antivirus by most of the sites.

BitDefender Antivirus 2010 offers rock-solid security, simple usability, effective use of resources, and a valuable price tag, BitDefender Antivirus 2010 adds some additional features that continue to improve overall PC performance and protection and peace of mind, without upsetting your PC performance or paycheck.

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2. Norton Antivirus

Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus 2010 and Norton 360 Version 3.0 are two security solutions. It is scheduled on Microsoft’s list of most compatible software solutions for Windows 7.

Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton AntiVirus 2010 have been specifically designed to support Windows 7. Those with Norton AntiVirus 2009 would receive automatic upgrade to Norton Antivirus 2010.

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3. Kaspersky Antivirus

This anti-virus isn’t freeware, its about 60 dollars, but there is a 30 day free trial after downloading the client.

Kaspersky AV is a mixed box:
1. Even after all the updates Kaspersky AntiVirus still lacks some valuable features compared to the other anti-viruses.
2. The new version has removed it best feature, the Safe Run program sandbox, where you can use the anti-virus even in Safe Mode.
3. On the other hand it has added a better anti-virus engine, which runs at blazing speed compared to the free edition anti-viruses.
4. A new feature allow customers to send their PC’s scans for analysis for better protection. However, this costs an extra $20.

Would recommend using the trial and seeing whether you like it before committing to this anti-virus.But you can also activate it using KEYS.

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4. McAfee

McAfee Total Protection provides full Suite of products for Windows 7. For those already using Windows 7 Beta with McAfee will receive an upgrade to MTP 3.11 for Security Center, Virus Scan and Personal Firewall.

One of the oldest security software providers, McAfee combines the best of anti-virus, firewall, and intrusion prevention technology.

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5. AVG

AVG is one of the most widely used anti-virus solution that works perfectly under Windows 7. AVG offers comprehensive protection against malicious threats.

AVG is a light-weight but effective antivirus offers protection against viruses, worms and trojans, spyware, adware and identity-theft.

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How to Reset Window Password

Forgot your administrator password? Don't panic, it happens to some other people too, and you have found the solution! The following instructions will show you step-by-step how to reset your local Windows password. This only works for local user accounts, however, not domain accounts.The password recovery tool from this page is written by Petter Nordahl-Hagen, and the original information, as well as the downloadable tool, can be found from his website. According to the author, this tool should work for Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista. 
WARNING! Users who have EFS encrypted files on the Windows XP or Vista computers will loose access to the EFS encrypted files after recovery of your password!

Use this trick at your own risks

The tool to reset your password can be downloaded here. 

I. Download the bootdisk:

1. Download the bootdisk, which includes the password recovery tool here. The file contains the ISO CD image.

Unzip (extract) the ISO file and burn it to a CD. Note that this is an ISO file, you must burn it to CD as an ISO image, not as a "data" file. If you're not sure how, see this article. Also, the image is bootable, you need to burn the image to a CD using the image burning feature; do not extract the contents of the ISO and burn them to the CD, you'll end up with a CD that can't boot! 


II. Understanding the process:

• You'll use the bootdisk created from the above steps to bootup your computer, which you want to reset your administrator password.
• You'll be asked for things like: which drive is the boot drive, which path to the SAM file, etc.. but don't worry, details will be provided.
• Once you have selected an account to reset the password, you'll need to type in a new password; however, it is highly recommended to use a BLANK password at this point, then you can change your password later in Windows.
• Follow the prompts to the end. You'll need to save the changes at the end!

III. OK! Enough talking. Here are the steps:

1. Startup your computer with the bootdisk created above. You should see a welcome screen following with a prompt:
   

    boot:
   

2. Just wait, the bootup process will continute automatically. Then you should see a screen similar to this:
   

    =========================================================
    . Step ONE: Select disk where the Windows installation is
    =========================================================
    ....
    NT partitions found:
     1 :   /dev/sda1    4001MB  Boot
     2 :   /dev/sda5    2148MB
    
    Please select partition by number or
    a = show all partitions, d = automatically load new disk drivers
    m = manually load new disk drivers
    l = relist NTFS/FAT partitions, q = quit
    Select: [1]
   

3. Notice the last line "Select: [1]" which shows the [1] as default selection because the tool detected the bootup partition is [1]. This might be different on your own machine, so you should review the list shown under "NT partitions found:". The partition with the word "Boot" should be selected.
   
4. Hit Enter once you confirm the selection. You should see a similar screen as follows:
   

    =========================================================
    . Step TWO: Select PATH and registry files
    =========================================================
    ....
    What is the path to the registry directory? (relative to windows disk)
    [windows/system32/config] :
   

5. Notice the last line "[windows/system32/config]" which shows the default path. This was also detected by the tool. If the path is correct, hit Enter, or if you wish to enter a different path, enter it now then hit Enter.
   Here are the paths for different versions of Windows:
   - Windows NT 3.51: winnt35/system32/config
   - Windows NT 4 and Windows 2000: winnt/system32/config
   - Windows XP/2003 (and often Windows 2000 upgraded from Windows 98 or earlier): windows/system32/config
   
6. Once you hit "Enter", you should see the next screen similar to the following:
   

    -r--------    1 0        0          262144 Jan 12 18:01 SAM
    -r--------    1 0        0          262144 Jan 12 18:01 SECURITY
    -r--------    1 0        0          262144 Jan 12 18:01 default
    -r--------    1 0        0         8912896 Jan 12 18:01 software
    -r--------    1 0        0         2359296 Jan 12 18:01 system
    dr-x------    1 0        0            4096 Sep  8 11:37 systemprofile
    -r--------    1 0        0          262144 Sep  8 11:53 userdiff
   
    Select which part of registry to load, use predefined choices
    or list the files with space as delimiter
    1 - Password reset [sam system security]
    2 - RecoveryConsole parameters [software]
    q - quit - return to previous
    [1]
   

7. Hit "Enter" with the default option selected "[1]". Then ...:
   

    =========================================================
    . Step THREE: Password or registry edit
    =========================================================
    Loaded hives:   
   
      1 - Edit user data and passwords
      2 - Syskey status & change
      3 - RecoveryConsole settings
       - - -
      9 - Registry editor, now with full write support!
      q - Quit (you will be asked if there is something to save)
   
    What to do? [1] -> 1
   

8. Hit "Enter" with the default option selected "[1]". Then ...:
   

    ===== chntpw Edit User Info & Passwords ====
   
    RID: 01f4, Username: <Administrator>
    RID: 01f5, Username: <Guest>, *disabled or locked*
    RID: 03e8, Username: <HelpAssistant>, *disabled or locked*
    RID: 03eb, Username: <pnh>, *disabled or locked*
    RID: 03ea, Username: <SUPPORT_388945a0>, *disabled or locked*
   
    Select: ! - quit, . - list users, 0x<RID> - User with RID (hex)
    or simply enter the username to change: [Administrator]
   

9. Hit "Enter" with the default option selected "[Administrator]", or select another user account. Here you can enter the full user account surrounded by < and >, CASE-SENSITIVE, or enter the RID number (i.e. 0x1f4). Assuming you select the Administrator account, you should see the following screen:
   

    RID     : 0500 [01f4]
    Username: Administrator
    fullname: 
    comment : Built-in account for administering the computer/domain
    homedir : 
   
    Account bits: 0x0210 =
    [ ] Disabled        | [ ] Homedir req.    | [ ] Passwd not req. | 
    [ ] Temp. duplicate | [X] Normal account  | [ ] NMS account     | 
    [ ] Domain trust ac | [ ] Wks trust act.  | [ ] Srv trust act   | 
    [X] Pwd don't expir | [ ] Auto lockout    | [ ] (unknown 0x08)  | 
    [ ] (unknown 0x10)  | [ ] (unknown 0x20)  | [ ] (unknown 0x40)  | 
   
    Failed login count: 0, while max tries is: 0
    Total  login count: 3
   
    * = blank the password (This may work better than setting a new password!)
    Enter nothing to leave it unchanged
    Please enter new password: *
   

10. At the prompt "Please enter new password", Enter the * for a blank password (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!) then press Enter
    

     Please enter new password: *
     Blanking password!
    
     Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n] y
    

11. At the prompt, type in "y", then press Enter. Note that the default option is "n".
    

     Do you really wish to change it? (y/n) [n] y
     Changed!
    
     Select: ! - quit, . - list users, 0x - User with RID (hex)
     or simply enter the username to change: [Administrator] !
    

12. Enter the "!" to go back to the main menu. Then select "q" at the following menu to quit:
    

     <>========<> chntpw Main Interactive Menu <>========<>
    
     Loaded hives:   
    
       1 - Edit user data and passwords
       2 - Syskey status & change
       3 - RecoveryConsole settings
        - - -
       9 - Registry editor, now with full write support!
       q - Quit (you will be asked if there is something to save)
    
     What to do? [1] -> q
    

13. A prompt to save changes displays, enter "y" to save:
    

     =========================================================
     . Step FOUR: Writing back changes
     =========================================================
     About to write file(s) back! Do it? [n] : y
    

14. The changes are saved! You should see the following screen, press Enter, and reboot your computer.
    

     Writing  sam
    
     ***** EDIT COMPLETE *****
    
     You can try again if it somehow failed, or you selected wrong
     New run? [n] : n

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Windows 7 Tips: How to improve windows 7 performance

Windows 7 is a dream operating system that is extremely efficient and user friendly at the same time. There is nothing negative that can be said about the operating system and it is indisputably the best operating system that has been launched by Microsoft till date. To add to the efficiency of the operating system here are top 5 ways to improve windows 7 performance. The steps are simple and at the same time they produce results that are clearly unbelievable. These little tweaks are sure to leave you amazed and your Windows 7 based system will work    like never before.

Disable system sounds

System sounds are another performance sucking factor, most of these sounds go unheard as the speakers of the system are off mostly, but as they have been enabled in the system settings, they affect the same. To turn off system sounds click on the Start menu and then key in mmsys.cpl and then press Enter. Now you can disable all the unwanted sounds.

Monitor the display settings of the system

The display effects also affect the performance as they use part of the processor and thus there has to be a check on the settings of the display. To do this, you need to go to the Control Panel and type “Visual” in the search bar that is present. “Adjust the appearance and performance of Windows” will appear, click on it and make the necessary settings and then click OK.

Delete excess fonts

To delete excess fonts from the system, you need to go to the control panel and click on the “Appearance and Personalization” option, fonts will be displayed. Delete all of them.

Removal of startup programs from the system

Removal of startup programs is necessary as most of these programs adversely the efficiency of the system. To remove the startup programs you need to go to their settings and uncheck the option that enables the program to start as soon as the computer is switched on.

Check the heat factor of the system

The heat factor is a physical factor but it is also contributes to poor performance of the system. The system must be placed in a cool environment and the humidity and other related conditions must be taken care of. Overheating of the system would lead to the PC crashing.

Read:

• How to Make your Windows XP Genuine

How to Hide Files or Folders in Window

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