What is Bit Rot?

Imagine if you will a library filled with over a million books. In the inventory are a mix of old and new books. Now a majority of the books are read more often than others. Some only get read occasionally. Others still have sadly been forgotten and have reached a point where decay had already started or set in. Imagine as well that when some of these books are removed from the shelves they leave behind small bit and pieces or whole pages.

Windows operating systems are like book libraries. In fact, they had what as Dynamic Link Libraries or DLL's. Whenever you click on something or open a program, these libraries are called to perform the sequence of activities to complete the task or function you want. Say, clicking on an icon on the desktop will start the program and the Windows operating system files that help that program do it's work. Now over time, if not properly maintained, neglected files will cause your computer to slow down. A few would be links to uninstalled programs, unused DLL files left over from uninstalled programs and duplicate files. Much like a real libraries, anthing unused just wastes precious space and makes it harder to find the books you really need. And just like real libraries, any left over material will eventually build up and cause further waste of space.

These broken and unused extra files eventually snowball and can cause everything from slow system performance to system lock ups. It's like the gunk building up on your drain, really. In computing, this is what's known as Bit Rot. So how do you prevent Bit Rot. You need to clean your DLL's and get rid of any unused files left over from installing, uninstalling, updating. You'll also need to clean up temporary files for stuff you won't need anymore. Fortunately, there are a lot of tools out there that can help. One tool that I use is CCleaner.

It has a Cleaner that will scan for and get rid of temporary files that are unnecessarily taking up space:

It's got a Registry Cleaner that automatically detects and cleans unused DLL's, files, shorcuts and help files:

It has tools to thoroughly uninstall programs, clean up startup items and securely wipe hard drives:

You can even run CCleaner to clear out your recycle bin automatically:

If that isnt enough for you, then maybe you need a swiss army knife kind of solution, a toolkit that will have it all in one small package. WinZip System Utilities might be the thing you're looking for.

WinZip System Utilities has got Registry Optimizers that scans for and cleans registry errors, and organizes your registry for better faster performance. It's got Disk Cleaners & Optimizers that frees up disk space, defrags your hard disk and checks your hard drives for file system and disk errors. It's got a Memory Optimizer, a Driver Updater and a Game Optimizer to tweak your Windows settings to peak performance for the use you intend it for. It's got Security & Privacy Tools to help you clean hidden privacy-exposing traces, ermanently delete confidential data so that it cannot be retrieved. It's got a built in Encryptor to protect your personal files from unauthorized access. It's got Backup & Recovery Tools that allow you to recover accidently deleted data, automatically backup your important files and restore from saved backups. It even has a duplicate file remover. And to top it all off, all of what I just said can be scheduled to run regularly and automatically.

It's easy to use, it can do all the work for you when you want it to. I don't think there's a sweeter deal out there right now.  So go on over to WinZip's site and run a free scan to try it out.

Top 5 Free Windows Apps I Can't Do Without

USB Guardian - it does one simple thing really well. It stops self-executing files on USB drives you connect to your computer. Most viruses and trojans bypass anti-virus programs by being faster. Auto.inf and .exe files launch faster than your anti-virus can say 'Gotcha!'. USB Guardian stops any executables, giving your anti-virus precious millisecconds to react and can. It's not fool-proof, but together with fast proactive anti-virus software it's a potent line of defense. Download USB Guardian from: http://www.usb-guardian.com/downloads/usb-guardian-setup.exe

7-Zip - not all zippers are created equal. This free and open source tool gives me 2 extra features that other zip software will ask me to pay for -- self-extracting zipped volumes and password protection. You will have to zip using the 7-Zip format, but if you create a self-extracting folder it turns into an .exe file instead of the default .7z. That means recipients don't have to have 7-Zip installed in their computer. I've already shared large photo packages with family using public services like Sendspace without fear for privacy because I can set a difficult password on it too. If you do it the same way, just remember to get them a password in a safe way like through SMS. Start using it today by downloading the latest version from: http://www.7-zip.org/

ImgBurn - free and one of the most reliable burning software I have used, this one has all the features that  I need. I use it mostly to burn images files to disc, create data backups, the reverse. I mean create images of discs and copying data discs, that is. It doesn't suffer from the bloat of some other burning software and it's lightweight. It comes with a few extras that I need, like verify mode and reading information off blank discs. That's useful when your scouting for reliable media -- yes, Taiyo Yuden DVD-R's are still the best! Try out ImgBurn and let me know how it goes for you. Get it here: http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download

TeraCopy - Need to speed up your file copying from drive to drive? This is the app for you! So named because it was created to maximize copying speeds for large files, TeraCopy just maxes out whatever available speed there is on your drives. It has made copying large folders a breeze for me. Very useful indeed for that Terabyte of data you've been itching to move from a friend's PC to your portable drive [Seagate FreeAgent, anyone?] ;-) So hurry up and download it already, it's free for home use: http://www.codesector.com/download.php

VLC (VideoLAN Client) - originally intended for streaming media to other computers in the same network, VLC is just as capable as a media player. I like to call it 'codec-agnostic'. Well, not really. But it will play practically anything you throw at it. Mostly because it already includes most codecs in it's plumbing. No more codec hell. Don't let the traffic cone throw you off. This is one very capable media player. Certainly the best media player that I've used in the past 10 years. Go download it now at: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Use OpenDNS to Protect Yourself

In a recent poll Paypal, the IRS and Facebook have been ranked the most phished sites. Clearly, scammers are out to get us and our valuable personal data and financial information. One way to protect your self is to use a service that screens out phishing sites. OpenDNS is one option and the good news is it is free!

OpenDNS features phishing site filtering, warning you if a site you're going to is a scammer's site trying to get your information. Add to that, OpenDNS can also help speed up your browsing speed or filter out adult sites with parental controls.

Its easy to set-up. Here's how to do it in Windows 7:

1. On your taskbar, right-click network icon (the one that looks like a computer monitor) and click Open Network and Sharing Center:

2. In Network and Sharing Center, click on Change Adapter Settings on the left pane:

3. In the Network Connections window, right-click on the Local Area Connection and click Properties:

4. In the Local Area Network Properties window, choose Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and click Properties:

5. In the IPv4 window, check the option Use The Following DNS Server Address and type in 208.67.222.222 as your Preferred DNS Server and 208.67.220.220 as your Alternate DNS Server, then click the OK button to save the changes:

After doing the steps above, you're all set. Your computer will ask OpenDNS where it should go every time you type in a website address on your browser. Be careful out there!

Win 7 RC Expires March 1

I was just barely able to beat the deadline. I had reinstalled Windows 7 last night. If you had Windows 7 Beta or RC just like me your install will expire today and you'll have reduced functionality. Well technically it isn't 'expired' since you'll be able to use it until June, but it will shut down every two hours and it won't save any applications or data when it does. It's going to be a supreme bother that it won't be worth staying with it anyway.

It's best that you reinstall with the retail or OEM version. You can also try this great guide for upgrading to the final retail version on HowToGeek. You may notice the article says RTM instead of final version. Don't worry about that, RTM just means Released to Manufacturing, which in the PC industry means it's the final version that is released to big PC manufacturers just in time for the launch. It is almost similar to the retail version except for the customizations that manufacturers like Lenovo, Dell or HP include into their versions of the installer.

Back to the article on HowToGeek, it details how you can 'upgrade' your existing RC installation into the final version and at the same time preserving your settings and installed software. Note that since all RC and Beta versions were Ultimate, your retail or OEM version should be Windows 7 Ultimate for this to work. Bear in mind though that as with all work-arounds there are some instances it will not work. But that shouldn't discourage you from trying. You're going to do a full OSRI anyway, so why not try it and you may have shot at preserving all the stuff you already have in there.

As for me, I always do a full OSRI. I have my important data always saved or backed up in a separate partition. That way, any time I need to I can just reinstall Windows.

OSRI Weekend

For those unfamiliar with the term, OSRI is a acronym we use in my line of work. I means Operating System Re-Install. I know, I know. Geek language is just so darn rife with acronyms it sounds like an alphabet soup.

Well, this weekend I embark on a regular round of OSRI. I tend to do it every few months just to start anew. I guess this has been one of my longest runs. I haven't done an OSRI since August. I used to do it every three months or so. I've stayed too long probably because for the first time in many years I actually enjoyed Windows. Windows 7 was actually pleasant. I usually have my computer dual-booted and have been equally happy with Ubuntu 9.04. Even when 9.10 came around, I didn't feel I needed to upgrade. I guess it comes with age. When you get older, you tend to stick to what you like. No more listless multi-boot experiments.

This isn't a joke. Seriously. Just a few years back, I actually maintained 5 operating systems at any given time on my machine. I nominally had Windows 2000, Windows XP, Ubuntu, Mandrake (now called Mandriva) and Xandros. I dabbled on even more Live distributions, burned whatever caught my eye in Distrowatch.com. I had to give it up after going through the pain of having to maintain updates, security and otherwise, on 5 different operating systems. Add to that the fact that at the time, I only had dial-up. Heck, those were the days.

So this weekend I dive into another round of OSRI to rid my system of all the crud that got accumulated in the last 6 months. It's going to be a geeky weekend for me. I'm planning to install Windows 7 and Linux Mint 8. I've been meaning to install the latter from when it launched. Now I'm really going for it. My only problem now is the space on my hard drive. After almost a year, the Seagate 500 GB drive  I bought now has only 84.6 GB left of free space. I think I need to rethink my storage strategy. But for now, just installing will have to do.

Hiding/Restoring Win 7 Updates

Ever been faked by Win 7 into thinking important updates are in the offing only to find out that the only updates available are language packs you don't need? Here's a simple way to rid yourself of the notifications on unwanted optional updates and ensure you still get prompted for the important stuff:

1. Open up Windows Update and go to Optional Updates:

2. Right-click on the update you wish to hide and click Hide Update:

Real easy, eh? Should you choose to restore that update, the steps are equally easy.

1. Go back to the main Windows Update screen and click the Restore Update link:

2. Next tick the check boxes of the update you wish to restore and click the Restore button.

Hope this helps ;-)

Installing 'Missing' Windows Apps in Win 7

You might be looking for some applications on Windows 7, some
applications that were installed by default on Vista. These applications
are not installed by default on Win7:

* Windows Mail
* Windows Calendar
* Windows Messenger
* Windows Movie Maker
* Windows Photo Gallery

Well if that is the case, you still want to use the same applications
you've become cozy to, there is a way to get them. All you have to do is
to launch Windows Live and it will install the programs for you. Here's
how:

* Click the "Start button". Select "Programs". Select "Windows Live":
* Alternatively you can click on the "Start button" and just type
"Windows Live" on the Search box:
* Authorize the download:
* Once done, the installation starts and you'll be asked what
applications you want to install:
* After that, wait a few minutes. If you had chosen to install
everything it may take 10-20 minutes to install and download the
additional software: