I’ve experimented with and buried many RAM optimizng applications and all of them were sick enough to not-optimize-the-RAM. I don’t know if it’s my 1GB DDR2 RAM that sucks or should i blame it on the code. Whatever the case may be, i am happy with using the RAM freeing option available in the Windows XP itself. I have tested this option on many computers and work like a charm on all. The best part is that it’s stable!

Q. Why do you need to free up the RAM?

A. To optimize the performance of your PC RAM that has been reduced by fragmentation of the applications and games you’ve been using. It also helps you decide whether you actually need to upgrade you RAM or not.

Note: If you restart your computer,obviously, the RAM is automatically freed.

Most of the users are not aware that instead of depending and downloading the RAM freeing apps, they can use the feature straight away from their computer without downloading anything.

Here is the way:

1. Make a new shortcut from the right click menu,
   
2. Type the location of the item as: ” %windir%\system32\rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks ” (without the quotes),
3. Type the name of the shortcut (any name so that you can easily recognize it),
4. Test it by double clicking on the new shortcut,
5. And there you go, your quick RAM optimizer is at your service!

Tuning your PC from this,

To this!

Leta face it. Windows XP is far the only best thing that Microsoft could do till now. Windows Vista is pure BS. Only the Future Man(an imaginary character created by me who often travels in time) is aware of how well will Windows 7 do.

A good thing is that a lot tweaking tips for Win XP are available on the web which has made easy for all to squeeze out the every bit of the performance from this MS product. A very old, safe and effective tweak is to turn of the useless services which helps improving the boot/shutdown time and it also improves the overall browsing speed. Here is the list of services that can be safely ditched from running in the background. TheElderGeek has shared this wonderful list to sort out the crappy services:

AdobeLM Service: Not all computers have this service, still it is useless, just disable it if you have it.

Alerter: Disable this one if you are not on a network because you will not receive alerts.

Application Management: Set this to manual.

Automatic Updates: Disable it if you don’t require auto updating and patching of Windows. It is pretty useless if you use auto-patcher by NeoWin to update your Windows OS. Thus, you will save bandwidth.

ClipBook: Disable this if you are not on a network, since you don’t need to share anything.

Computer Browser: Disable this too if you are not on a network, as you don’t need to browse and monitor connected computers.

Cryptographic Services: Set this to manual if you are not sure you need it.

Distributed Transaction Service: Set this to manual.

DNS Client: Set this to manual if you are not on a network.

Error Reporting Service: Disable this useless service for reporting errors to Microsoft, because they will hardly even reply to you for any error you get. Also saves lots of bandwidth.

Fast User Switching Compatibility: Disable it if you have only a single user on your computer, or if you do not use fast user switching feature much. That is, if you completely log-off and then allow other users to use your computer, then you do not need this. Note that this service is completely useless for low memory computers.

FTP Publishing: Disable this if you do not use FTP.

Help and Support: Set it to manual or turn it off if you do not use the help feature often. You can turn it on again when you want help.

HTTP SSL: Set it to manual.

Human Interface Device Access: Turn it off if you do not use hot-keys or remote systems on your computer; if you use them sometimes, it is better turn it to manual.

IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service: Set this to manual to save memory and time. Do not turn it off if you have a CD writer or a DVD writer attached to your computer.

Indexing Service: Turn it off, it uses lots of CPU. If you are an avid searcher, like a maniac, on your computer, leave it on since it will help you. If you know where your files are and do not use search that often, then disable it for your good.

InstallDriver Table Manager: Disable it, it does no harm in doing so.

IPSEC Services: Set this to manual.

Windows Messenger: Disable this if you are not on a network, it uses too much memory and it is a hog. Also, it does no good and sometimes it is likely to become a security threat.

MS Software Shadow Copy Provider: Set this to manual.

Net Logon: Disable if you are not on a network.

NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing: Disable this if you do not use Remote Desktop feature; in my opinion, it is a pretty useless feature.

Network Provisioning Service: Disable this, iti s useless if you are not on a network.

NT LM Security Support Provider: Disable this, its useless too.

NVIDIA Display Driver Service: If you do not use the features of nVidia Desktop, this service must be disabled; it is a big hog of memory.

Office Source Engine: Disable it if you have a MS Office CD handy always, its helpful if your installation goes corrupt.

Portable Media Serial Number Service: Set it to manual if you connect portable media to your computer, otherwise disable it.

Print Spooler: Disable it if you don’t have a printer.

Protected Storage: Disable it if you don’t allow strangers to sit on your encrypted storage computer.

Remote Desktop Help Session Manager: Disable it if you don’t use Remote Desktop feature for help and support from Microsoft which most probably is a “Yes”.

Remote Procedure Call Locator: Set it to manual.

Remote Registry: Serious security threat if turned on, disable it no matter what.

Removable Storage: Disable it if you don’t use removable storage drives, else turn it manual.

Routing and Remote Access: Set it to manual.

Secondary Logon: Useless feature for most, disable it or turn it manual.

Security Accounts Manager: Disable it, it’s pretty useless, unless you use NTFS Encryption.

Security Center: Damn useless and irritating feature. Disable it.

Server: Set it to manual or disable it if you are not on network.

Smart Card: Disable it if you don’t use smart cards on your computer.

SSDP Discovery Service: Disable it of not on network or don’t have UPnP devices on home networks.

Task Scheduler: Disable it if you don’t schedule tasks like defragmentation, error scans etc… and plan to do it your self instead.

TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper: Set it to manual if on network, otherwise disable it.

Telnet: Set it to manual if you use this feature, otherwise disable it, especially if you are home users.

Terminal Services: Since you aren’t using Remote Desktop etc… disable it for good.

Uninterrupted Power Supply: Disable it if you don’t have an UPS attached to the serial port of your computer.

Universal Plug and Play Device Host: Set it to manual.

User Privilege Service: Set it to manual.

Volume Shadow Copy: Disable it if you don’t backup using System Restore or Windows Backup.

Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS): Disable this if you have another firewall such as Norton or Zone Alarm installed, otherwise let it remain ON for better security.

Windows Image Acquisition (WIA) : If you don’t connect/use a camera/scanner with your computer, disable this service, else set it to manual.

Windows Media Connect: Disable this if you don’t use things such as an iPod etc… for your Windows Media Player.

Windows Media Connect (WMC) Helper: Disable this if you disabled the one above or if you don’t need help.

Windows Time: Disable if not on a synchronized network.

Wireless Zero Configuration: Disable if not on a wireless network.

WMI Performance Adapters: Disable it, useless service for basic usage.

Workstation: Disable if you aren’t on a network. Or simply, if you are a gamer, just shut this one.

Thats it! I guarantee you that your PC will perform a lot better if you’ve optmized the services correctly!

Yesterday, my friend brought a 160GB Portable HD drive to get some good stuff from my HD. I plugged it into the port and what caught my attention was that, in the usual autorun window, there was something very unusual i.e the ‘Open folder to view files’ was mention two times. I ran a quick scan with Avira on the portable drive and “unsurprisingly” it was infected with ‘TR/Crypt.XPACK.Gen’. Again, unsurprisingly, the antivirus failed to disinfect, remove and even quarantine the virus!

A long time ago my OS was infected with a similar Autorun virus and i was forced to find my own way to deal with it and it took me almost 15 minutes to kick it out of my PC, though a short time, it was a real pain in a$$ as the virus was just multiplying!

The way can you deal with such stubborn virus is that if the antivirus fails to fix them, you have to manually remove them so as to avoid the broing procedure of formatting the drives and re-installing the OS.

My solution to deal with Autorun viruses:

• First of all, NEVER rush toward exploring the portable partitions,

• If you find anything suspicious about the portable device, run a through antivirus scan and if still you are not satisfied, unhide all the folders and system files from the toolbar menu and check whether you see any stranger file hidden in the portable drive.

• Install the Unlocker app(Click here to download) (It helps to stop the active processes from using the drive/folder/file, thus making the drive/folder/file writable)

• Right click on the portable drive, click on Unlocker, and kill all the processes using the infected portable drives.

• If you are unable to unhide the folders, start the search window and set the options as ‘highlighted’ in the screen shot:

• After you’ve selected the correct options, hit the search tab (Remember to set the searcha path to your portable drives).

• If infected, you will find some suspicious hidden files like autorun.inf and others that are no supposed to be a part of the drive(beware, do not run the autorun file directly, it’s another way of getting your OS infected). Instead drag the .inf file in the notepad to check it’s contents.

• Now, leave the search results window as it is and run the file shredder tool(Click here to download)

• Go back to the search results window and drag all the stranger files including the ‘RECYCLER’ and ‘System Volume Information’ folder into the File Shredder window and hit the “Chop it away” button.

• This will remove the infection from the portable device and will save your OS from being infected.

• If your OS is also infected, follow the same steps but, in the this case the only difference will be that you will be dealing with your local drives (C: D: E: and so on).

Feel free to drop in a comment if you have any questions/suggestions.