Here’s a feast for technophiles — a daily buffet of commentary, tips, memorable moments in tech history, and more, from the experts you know and trust. Your favorite PC Magazine editors have contributed informative articles, researched and recommended products, vendors, and Web sites, and shared their favorite tech tips, all related to a different topic each week. Technically, it could be the best year of your life!

From the week of April 4, 2004

Privacy laws are evolving and changing almost daily, and many vary from place to place. And although many European countries consider surveillance by employers to be a human-rights violation, U.S. law currently allows such activity in most cases. New U.S. laws passed since the 9/11 attacks have also expanded the government’s powers to spy on you. For more information on this constantly changing field, see the Electronic Privacy Information Center at www.epic.org

A sampler platter of weekly topics

January 18 Windows: Burning CDs
February 15 E-mail: Spam
February 29 Digital Imaging: Improving Your Digital Images
March 7 Networking: Wired
March 14 Internet: Booking Travel Online
March 28 Games: Game Controllers
April 4 Security: Anti-Surveillance Techniques
April 11 Microsoft Office: Excel Tips
April 25 Windows: Registry Tweaks
May 2 Multimedia: MP3s and WMAs
July 18 PDAs: Going Solar
August 22 Building Your Own: PVR
November 14 Upgrading: OpticalDrives
Decemeber 12 Shopping Online: Finding the Best Gifts

What would make 2004 your best year, technically?

Here’s an idea. Pick up a copy of “PC Magazine’s Technology Almanac 2004″ and you’ll get a lot more than 52 weeks of technology trivia, dynamite downloads, and product reviews. You’ll also receive a free one-year subscription to the print edition of “PC Magazine”* – A $19.97 value

“PC Magazine’s Technology Almanac 2004″ is a feast for technophiles – a daily buffet of commentary, tips, memorable moments in tech history and more, from the experts you know and trust. All your favorite “PC Magazine” editors are here — Bill Machrone, Michael J. Miller, John C. Dvorak, and Bill Howard — with informative articles; researched and recommended products, vendors and Web sites; and their favorite tech tips, all related to a different topic each week. Technically, it could be the best year of your life

A sample pla tter of weekly topics:

January 18: Burning CDs

February 15: E-mail: Spam

February 29: Digital Imaging: Improving Your Digital Images

March 7: Networking: Wired

March 14: Internet: Booking Travel Online

March 28: Games: Game Controllers

April 4: Security: Anti-Surveillance Techniques

April 11: Microsoft Office: Excel Tips

April 25: Windows: Registry Tweaks

May 2: Multimedia: MP3s and WMAs

July 18: PDAs: Going Solar

August 22: Building Your Own: PVR

November 14: Upgrading: Optical Drives

December 12: Shopping Online: Finding the Best Gifts

The guy who brought it all together: BRIAN UNDERDAHL is the well-known, bestselling author of more than 65 books on a broad range of computer topics. He has appeared on “The Computer Chronicles” and several TechTV programs. Hisbooks have earned an Award of Merit from the Northern California Technical Communications Competition and a Referenceware Excellence Award. Brian courageously tackled the task of bringing together this year’s worth of information and spicing it up with his magic touch.

Keep in mind hard drives would not at all fail. But the fact is, they do, even if they are newer. Read on for some tips on how you can be warned and back up the valuable data on your computer before it is too not on time!

Necessary Things: Hard drive, Computer, Microsoft Windows

(1).Go to the hard drive manufacturer’s website and download their helpfulness.

(2).There is also SMART drives with this utility built into them. Make sure this is enabled. You can do this during the startup in the setup menu of most computers. This is controlled in the CMOS setup. You get into this by clicking ESC, F12 or other key (as prompted) when your computer first starts. Usually it appears in the black screen.

(3). Do not rely on this utility solely for hard drive failure information. It can give you a false sense of security. If your hard drive is older, consider replacing it. And always backup your data no matter what type of hard drive you have or its age.

(4). Even if your hard drive does not have a built-in warning device, you can download some software below that will analyze your hard drive.

instructions

(1). Consider using an external hard drive or flash drive in addition to your hard drive.

(2). you can typically hit F1 to continue but sooner or later your hard drive will fail.

(3). Always backup your data.

(1). Boot up in no time

Make your PC leap out of bed with these simple tips. Does it seem like the more time you spend with your Windows XP installation, the longer your PC takes to pull itself out of bed when booting up?

It’s not a sign of old age; it’s the ever-growing accumulation of detritus that various applications and hardware deposit on your hard drive when you install them. Whether these items are functional or completely useless, they all take time to load.

Here’s how to trim the bloat and reduce the time it takes your PC to get ready for action.

(2).Tools for faster boot times

Before you get started with this project, we recommend that you have the following:

(1). A backup utility

(2). an auto run detection app

(3). A stopwatch

(3).Clock your PC’s boot up time

Although nothing in the following steps is particularly risky, Windows XP is unpredictable enough to warrant a nod to Murphy’s Law. So, before you do anything else, run a thorough virus check, and then create a safe place to go back to using Windows XP’s System Restore utility. (Right-click My Computer, then click Properties > System Restore.) For added protection, perform a full backup of your hard drive.

Using a stopwatch, you’ll time how long your start-up takes before you make any changes. But it’s not always obvious when the boot up sequence is complete, so first place a shortcut to the Notepad applet in the Windows Startup group as a point of reference. Now, each time you boot up, Windows will open a Notepad window on the desktop.

   1. Right-click the Start button and click Properties.

   2. On the Start Menu tab, click Classic Start Menu > Customize > Advanced.

   3. In the Start Menu folder, find the Notepad shortcut (in the Start Menu\Programs\Accessories folder) and drag it to the Startup folder under Programs.

If you time how long it takes for the window to appear before and after tweaks are made, you’ll know if you’ve accomplished anything. You can always remove the shortcut once you’ve completed your before-and-after timing comparison.

Exit Windows, then power off your machine. Wait a few seconds, turn the power back on again, and start timing. If the start-up sequence pauses for your username and password, stop the clock at the pause, then restart it after you’ve entered the information.

(4).See what’s automatically running

As your PC boots up, Windows looks in several locations for instructions on how to launch the various applications and processes that load at start-up. Depending on the program, the locations for these instructions vary.

Many are in the Registry, a hierarchical database of user, application, and hardware-device information. Others are in a Startup group folder, and a select few could be in your PC’s win.ini file. We’ll refer to these locations collectively as the Autorun group, because the items they contain run automatically every time Windows starts.

To see which ones are in the Registry, go to Start > Run, then type in regedit.exe to enter the Registry.Don’t alter just anything in the Registry! Changes to the Registry are irreversible and could cause serious damage to your PC. Even advanced users can run into trouble in a hurry if they’re not careful. The Run keys are the most important for finding Autorun programs. You’ll find them by drilling down to hkey_local_machine/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion. If you double-click the Run folder, you’ll see some items that load when you boot your PC.

You can examine the items in the Startup group folder by going to Start > All Programs > Startup. Finally, you can see if anything is in the win.ini file by selecting Start > Run, then typing win.ini. Look for anything listed on a RUN= or LOAD= line. It’s unlikely you’ll find anything there, but checking won’t hurt.

(5).Delete unwanted Auto run items

Use the powerful System Configuration Utility to easily (but not permanently) remove software from the boot procedure.

Now you can use Windows’ System Configuration Utility to trim the fat from the Registry Run keys and the Startup group.

   1. To start the utility, select Start > Run, then type msconfig.

   2. Select the Startup tab to show a list of items executed during boot up.

   3. To see the entire Command column, stretch it to the right. A scroll bar should now appear at the bottom of the window, enabling you to view more of the Location information.

   4. Scroll down the list to see if you recognize anything that shouldn’t be there. If so, all you have to do is clear its check box to remove the appropriate Registry command line or Startup group shortcut.

(6).Bust mysterious boot up apps

The Auto runs app displays a list of items that load during start-up. “Files not found” likely are remnants of uninstalled apps.

It’s not unusual for the System Configuration Utility’s Startup tab to display a Startup item with no name, making it next to impossible to determine whether it’s important. One way to find out is to disable that line by unshackling it.

If you’re running a safety utility such as Zone Alarm Security Suite, you may get a pop-up warning message that identifies the name of the item about to be changed. If so, just do a Google search on the name for more details?

If no alert appears, download the freeware app Auto runs to display a great deal of useful information about Auto run items on your system. Double-click any item on the list, and the utility opens the Registry Editor, highlighting the line linked with that item.

If that’s not enough info, right-click any highlighted Registry entry and select Google on the context menu to search the Web for more information about the tinted item.

(7).Clock your new boot up speed

Does it right, and this boot up screen may become a remote memory. Once you’ve identified the items that don’t need to be launched every time Windows starts use the structure pattern Utility’s Startup tab or the Auto runs utility to clear the check boxes next to the names of these items. Then restart your computer to get a subjective feel for any speed development. Run a few of your often used applications just to make sure all’s well. If you discover you’ve by chance disabled something vital, just use either utility to recheck the box next to that item.

When you’re done, do a cold reboot and time the total start-up sequence, ending when your Notepad window launches. Contrast your before-and-after results to see how much time you neat as of the series. Depending on what you were able to remove, the speed difference will choice from modest to major. Either way, you’ll have a little less “stuff” dragging down your system, and more memory will be freed up for your utilize.