This really has helped my machine run quite a bit faster though.

Question though... you mentioned after checking your processes at after rebooting that if we have any more than 40 processes running we should look into slimming down. I'm starting out at 80. I know this is a bit generic of a question, but where is agood place to start looking?

Very nice!

Hmm
I just checked on of mine PC's as well
38
I have either not a clue where to start yet :s

Edit : Ahh nevermind, I know how I got there . Solved it

well, for one winrar is not free whereas 7-zip is open-source and 7-zip does everything winrar does and more.
Winrar was the best there was a few years ago but i believe 7-zip is way superior now.

7zip is free as in beer and as in speech. Where as winrar is only free as in every time you go get a beer, there is guy asking you if you want to pay for the beer when you don't have to.

funkyworms,
You changed the page file size, but didn't really specify the reason. What is the benefit for doing this?

I agree with iSTRONG completely about 7zip over winrar. I believe though that 7zip connot create .rar archives, only extract from them.

That's true. You can create .7z archives tho which are superior to .rar & also create .zip archives for you n00b friends who haven't got 7-zip yet.

Great post, thanks.

I just moved from windows live messenger to pidgin and am very happy that I did. good work, and ty.

Start a new thread and post both DDS logs.

Great post, thank you very much!

This
XP was released at a time when 128 - 256mb computers were the norm so many of them had to access the PF a lot. This is no longer true. Any XP computer with 2gb of RAM will rarely, if ever, touch the PF.

XP defaults to a PF of 1.5x-2.5x the size of the amount of physical RAM. This is just ridiculously big and wasteful. I reduce its size simply to free up HD space.

I don't remove it completely because some programs will throw errors if they don't detect a PF.

Part 6 - How to use Windows Defender. How to post logs with DDS and HijackThis.

Note: Vista does run more processes than XP. I do not expect that anyone will achieve 22 processes in Vista.

The steps should go like this.

1. Open Msconfig and make sure your computer is set to normal start-up. Reboot
2a. (For 32-bit Users) Run DDS.scr and post both logs.
2b. (For 64-bit Users) Post your standard HijackThis log and your HijackThis Uninstall Log.
3. Uninstall unused programs.
4. Disable Programs from starting up within the program if possible.
5. Use Windows Defender to disable startup programs.
6. Disable Windows Defender.

Note: The video quality is going to be crappy until youtube finishes the processing so you may want to wait before you watch so it will be available in HD.

Note for Kerowo: I'd like to be able to edit the OP. I don't know if this is possible for non-mods. If not, plz to be adding this to the OP.

Also, if anyone wants to verify that their OTR encryption is working in Pidgin, feel free to send me a message on the various chat networks.

AIM: funkyworms
Yahoo: funkyworms
MSN: funkyworms <AT> live.com
XMPP: funkyworms <AT> gmail.com

Yea I added u via ur msn account

good to know, will make the switch. any way to disable the occasional pop ups it delivers?

I may do this, and I might also inquire with you (proper english maybe?) about the Thunderbird enigmal email encryption sometime. I actually send pokerstars support an email asking if they can support encrypted and digitally signed emails, they said yes they could and I asked if I would need their public key and they said they forwarded it to the proper department, and they never got back to me. That was at least two weeks ago.

If at all possible, I'd really like to have all email communications with pokerstars encrypted and signed. I just haven't had the chance yet to learn the ins and outs of it all.

I believe Lirva posted a way to do this with Comodo.

Talking about the Avira update nag screen?

Tried using Comodo to quarantine the file that produces that screen, but every time you'd update Avira it would redownload that file and it would just execute again.

Did come across a method that does work though.
http://www.elitekiller.com/files/dis...ntivir_nag.htm

ty to Solid_p for that link.
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...8&postcount=12

Awesome thread OP tyvm just two questions,

I have Microsoft.NET Framework 1.1 2.0 3.0 and 3.5 all installed. Can i delete any of these or are they all necessary? ( im using XP if that matters )

Also how do i change the task bar back to blue they grey does not look too good with the coral skin.

I've replicated this as much as possible for Vista, and it seems much better + faster. TYVM.

Finally had a chance to watch the videos. Very well done sir.

What screen recorder were you using? Camstudio?

I can has contribute to this great thread?

On the subject of securing your computer, I want to show people a great way to add extra security by using Comodo firewall. Comodo firewall is freeware, though not open source. (probably best that way)

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/


My general recommendations for setting up Comodo when you first install it:


install without the AV, install without Safe Surf and other toolbars. Uncheck those options during installation.

Once installed, add your safe program files to Defense + safe files.

Comodo>Defense +>my own safe files>add>browse files>my computer>local disc C:>program files>drag and drop program files from the left to the safe files area on the right>make sure "add subfiles and folders" is checked>OK

Add things like Anti virus, poker applications, media players, programs that you use and know are safe.

When installing new software, you'll get an alert. Select "treat this application as installer or updater" and click yes to enter installation mode. Stay in this mode until you're finished installing the software. Then revert back to your previous mode.

Keep Firewall and Defense + on safe mode.

If you use Comodo (or any other 3rd party firewall) make sure Windows firewall is turned OFF.

/copy and paste


One of the best things about Comodo is it's Defense +, which is a HIPS (Host intrusion prevention system)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host-ba...vention_system


Once you have Comodo installed, a very good thing to do to increase security is to add important system files and folders to Comodo's protected files. Once files and folders are added to the protected files, if any attempts are made to modify or access those files or folders, Comodo will generate an alert, giving you the option to allow or block the attempt. Done right, this can prevent a malware infection.

It will require the user to decide to block or allow the attempt when the alert is generated, and at first some might not know if the alert was produced from malicious or safe programs, but it's pretty easy to learn how to figure out if it's safe or not.

First of all, you'll want to add important system files/folders to the protected files.

Comodo>Defense +>My protected files





By default, there will be some files and folders already listed in there, but you need to add quite a few more. The trick is to know what malware often targets. system32 folder, temp folders, start menu, desktop, program files folder, are all often targeted by viruses and adware and general malware. So add them!



My protected files>add>browse>my computer>local disc C:>drag and drop files/folders from the left to the area on the right>apply>apply

Here's what you should add.

C:\Windows\system
C:\Windows\system32
C:\Windows\temp
C:\Documents and settings\User name\temp
C:\Documents and settings\User name\Desktop
C:\Documents and settings\User name\Application data
C:\Documents and settings\User name\Local settings\temp
C:\Documents and settings\User name\Local settings\application data
C:\Documents and settings\User name\Local settings\temporary internet files
C:\Documents and settings\All users\start menu
C:\Program files

Additionally, you can add things at your discretion like keypass databases, true crypt volumes, ... custom folders ... basically anything you wouldn't want to be accessed. But the main thing is to add those files and folders that are often targeted by malware.

Here's an example of an alert.

I opened notepad, wrote "blah blah blah" and tried to save as blahblahblah.txt to my desktop. I have my desktop added to Comodo's my protected files, so let's see what happens.



I get an alert from Comodo letting me know that something is trying to create a file or directory (folder) on my desktop. In this case, it's notepad, which I have added to Comodo's my own safe files, so it says it's safe. In addition to Comodo telling me it's safe (because it's added to my own safe files), I know it's safe because I'm using notepad myself and I created the .txt file and saved it to my desktop. Therefore, I can safely allow it.

You have to use a bit of common sense. If I was just browsing the web and some random web site and all of a sudden I got an alert saying eIj97oM.exe was about to be created on my desktop .... well, I'm not trying to save any files to my desktop right? I'm just browsing the internet. It's very likely malicious and I should block it.

Another example would be if you were uninstalling software and got an alert from Comodo saying ____ is attempting to create a file or directory at C:\Documents and settings\User name\temp

It's quite common for a file to be created temporarily in a temp folder when you uninstall software, so if you're uninstalling the software yourself then you know it's safe. (when you uninstall software and start getting alerts, you should treat the application as installer and enter installation mode to suppress the alerts, just as you would when installing software, but never mind that right now)

But what if you were just browsing the internet, any random web page, doing nothing else and all of a sudden you get an alert saying DinE7o53l.exe is about to be created in C:\Documents and settings\User name\temp? Well, you're just browsing the internet, doing nothing else amirite? It's very likely malicious. Look at the file name (malware is often named randomly or named like it's supposed to be an anti virus file or something) and the circumstance. Block the attempt and prevent infection.


Another thing you can do with Comodo (if you have time on your hands, because it's tedious as ****) is add IP addresses or a range of IP addresses to my blocked network zones. IP addresses or ranges of IP addresses in my blocked network zones cannot be connected to.

Here's an example. I'll use http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com which IP address is 204.232.160.145

I'm going to add that IP address to Comodo's my blocked network zones and then attempt to connect to the forums.

Comodo>firewall>common tasks>my blocked network zones





my blocked network zones>add>a new blocked address>a single IP address>204.232.160.145>apply>apply

Now let's try to connect to the forums.



great success!

But don't try this at home kids (with twoplustwo) You will make Sklansky and Beal VERY ANGRY!!!!

ZOMG CONNECT TO MAH FORUMS AND GET IN MAH BELLY



What practical purpose does this have? I'll show with just one example. (legitimate example. You obviously don't won't to prevent yourself from connecting to http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com amirite?)

I actually encourage you all to do this. When you visit web sites that use google-analytics, google (the devil, remember?) logs your IP address and stuff zomg!



First, I know their domain name (google-analytics.com) but not their IP address. So how can I get the IP address? Ping the domain.

Start>run>cmd>enter>ping google-analytics.com>enter

HA!



got your IP address you bastards! :P


Now I'll just enter it into Comodo's my blocked network zones and viola! No more connecty to google-analytics!





pwned


What other IP addresses can you add so you won't connect to? Whatever you want really. You can download IP block lists (which are normally used for file sharing) and you can find tons of IP addresses you might like to block so you never connect to (even if you try to!). Government, police, things like that, but also, probably the most practical: malicious web sites. If you can find a list of malicious domain names, ping them and get their IP addresses, add them to Comodo's my blocked network zones, you'll never EVER connect to those malicious web sites.


These are some of the great ways you can use Comodo firewall to increase your systems security.

Comodo is an excellent firewall, very powerful and configurable as you can see.

You need all of the .NET frameworks.

Right-click the desktop > properties > Themes > Windows XP.

Nope. I used BB Flashback Express. It's free (not open source). It doesn't require the legwork that's involved with Camstudio.