1. Partition your hard disk to add a Swap/Temp partition. This is common setup for Linux systems. The logic is that this Swap partition will be configure to put all temporary Windows files. To do that, you need administrator priviledges. The steps are mentioned for Windows XP, but should be similar for Windows 7.Open Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Computer Management. Open Disk Management under the Storage.You should see the list of partitions here. Given that hard drives are usually 160GB or more, 320GB becoming common, manufacturers have a tendency to partition into two equal partition. Let’s take the case of a 320GB hard disk, being partitioned as C: 160 GB and D: 160GB.

   

   Since the first partition holds windows, and is huge(!), fragmentation is bound to happen in the long run, because Windows writes and erases 2 types of files: the Swap file and Temporary Files. So delete the D partition (backup your data to C first). Then right click on the C partition and resize it. Put it to a maximum of 100GB if possible.

   Then create another partition of 10GB only, formatting in FAT32 system, give it the letter T: for Temp. FAT32 is faster than the current NTFS for smaller partitions (under 11GB). Then create your additional partitions as desired. It is important that this is the 2nd partition because of the speed factor. Because of the way hard drives are read, C is always faster than D, which is faster than E etc. So by now you should have say, 4 partitions: System-Recovery, C:, T: and D: If you have a system recovery partition, do not delete it!

   If you have already used your PC for a while, it might not be possible to resize the first partition or sometimes, delete the second partition without losing data. In this case, you can still follow the next step

2. Once you have your T: Swap partition, it is time to configure Windows to save temporary files there. Press the Windows Key + Break on your keyboard to bring up System Properties. Or, right click on My Computer and click Properties. Open the Advanced Tab, click Environment Properties.
   

   You will see 2 lists, one above and one below. There are entries for TMP and TEMP on both. Double click to edit them and enter your new Swap partition’s location e.g. T:\ or T:\Temp instead of a folder under your windows installation. Press OK to validate.

3. Now the first part is done. Next move your Swap file to the new partition. Still under System Properties > Advanced, click on Settings under Performance. Select the Advanced Tab > Virtual Memory > Change.Now set No paging file for all partitions, except the Swap, where Custom Size is to be selected. Preferably put the same value for the minimum and maximum size for speed. This way Windows can allocate all the space as one big chunk (low fragmentation chances).
   
   

   The total Virtual Memory + your actual RAM (Physical Memory) should usually not exceed 3GB under Windows XP or 4Gb under Windows 7. Unless you know you’ll use more than that, keep the total to under 3GB, i.e. if you have 1GB memory and know that you are not doing big big photoshop work – just browsing and office work, putting 1.5GB virtual memory is more than enough. Validate and you’re done.

4. Next are the programs that open when you boot Windows, these might include essential utilities (e.g. antivirus, NVidia control panel) and some bloat (meaning software that you never use but are still running in background). Press the Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog. Type msconfig and press Enter. Under the Start Up tab, uncheck the undesired software.Note that you should not disable things that you are not sure, e.g. applications under the Windows directory. Validate and restart your PC. Once you get back into Windows, you will be warned of some message saying that you’re not running normally. Uncheck the checkbox and continue.
5. Next is to check that all your drivers have been installed. Press Windows Key + Break to open System Properties. Look for Device Manager under Hardware. If there is any exclamation mark, look for the corresponding CD, or ask your reseller/manufacturer for help about installing the driver for that. I have seen some local resellers not installing graphics card drivers (display adapter). Although this might not be noticeable to some people using LCD screens, it does cause a health hazard to CRT screens since the refresh rate will be set to 60Hz.Refresh rate is important with CRT screens: they should be at least 75Hz, 85Hz is good, or it’ll tire your eyes out quickly. Another impact of a properly installed display adapter driver, is faster redrawing of the screen, noticeable especially when you scroll down a webpage, or watch a video.
6. Go install a good free antivirus e.g. Avast, AVG
7. Get a proper firewall e.g. Comodo Internet Security. This is as important as an antivirus.
8. Install Firefox 3.6, Opera 10.6 or another browser apart from Internet Explorer and make it become the default browser (you’ll be asked to do that the first time you run them). Internet Explorer, even IE8, remains slower than Firefox, Opera, Chrome and Safari. Which one you use among these, is up to you, as long is you don’t touch Internet Explorer 6! Not to mention that IE6 is a huge security hazard. Stay away!

Among other things, include the latest version of Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader, but some people can do without them. I know that I might have sounded quite technical. Just remember that Google is your friend

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• Bulletproof Security
  Bulletproof Security creates a more secure .htaccess that prevents XSS attacks.
• WP-Scanner
  Scans files and detects suspicious portions of scripts.

There is also an online scanner, that’s running free scan for the moment. Worth a try:

https://www.sitesecuritymonitor.com

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The first thing you will notice if you have such usb-spreading-viruses (they come in different flavours e.g. ckvo, amvo…) is that when you double-click on a drive in My Computer (yes, Linux and MacOS users are safe.. so far). If the drive opens in a new window, it means you have the virus! So rule number 1: Always use the folder tree view to select a drive in My Computer. Why, because when you double click on a drive, it executes a windows file called autorun.inf on that drive. That file can execute any file specified in that drive. It’s like you’re literally opening the door to anyone knocking! Or you might want to turn off Autorun on your computer.

Next thing is to prevent that virus from spreading if ever the above happened by accident. To do this, rule number 2, you need a proper Firewall. I use Comodo Personal Firewall and it’s really efficient – doesn’t slow down your computer, and tells you every time suspicious programs attempt to write to disk or to use the internet (you’d even catch key-loggers).

Your antivirus might not necessarily be able to detect these issues, e.g. I have used Norton/Symantec and McAfee Viruscan. They gave me such a headache, especially by using 200MB+ memory, deleting my whole mailbox and preventing me from running Thinstall applications… Rule number 3 have a good anvirus: the bests I have found are Avast Home and AVG Free. Free and efficient and fast.

Common sources for this virus in Mauritius are the many schools, some universities and some offices where adequate measures have not been taken. Also the internet, when you browse underground sites especially using Internet Explorer. So rule number 4, do not use Internet Explorer 6.

Now what if you already have these viruses, how to remove them? That’s the big hurdle. There are steps that you can find many sites, if you search  ’removing ckvo.’ I’ll write another post for that soon…

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Click here for the video on Future of Cloud Computing by Simon Wardley

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Then came Windows 7 Beta 1. My hopes were up again. It sounded like Windows 98 (Windows 7) had come for Windows 95 (Vista), or Windows XP SP2 over original XP… It’s FAST was my first impression… and many of the small annoying features of Vista were not gone (they got corrected)… It’s a joy to see lower memory consumption than Vista! And it’s quick to free memory when you close programs. Microsoft did do a lot of work… (Well, the Linux community too did a lot these few months). One thing is clear though, Mac OS X still has the best interface!

So there was the same Aero theme on Windows 7, more (new) services, Documents is back to “My Documents” but guess what I saw in About… Version 6.1… Windows 7 is verison 6.1? That confirms that it’s like the second edition of Vista! That was to be expected! It always happened with Windows since version 3. The first one is new, and Microsoft then refines the product across releases to make a stable and performing version…

But it’s still a Beta Windows 7. The final versions have always been better than beta versions (remember Win 2k, XP, 98, Vista…). I’ll continue using the beta, put a lot of applications and see what it gives or gives up.

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