Simple rules of internet safety

Nobody can ensure you that your network and computer is 100% safe even though you have installed the most advanced and updated firewall, antivirus software or even with the assistance of some hardware/electronic gadgets. As a user, you need to have some fundamental knowledge to minimize the risk of your private information being stolen and to make sure that your networking system is safe to use.

If you are not an IT technical personnel, perhaps the following rules can assist you: -

• Do not use simple information such as your son’s name, your birthday, etc for your password. Use more complicated passwords. You can use the combination of small and big capital letter; add in special character such as $, %, &, etc.
  

• Do not simply click on any links that appears on the email received. Don’t reveal your private and personal information to any company if required via email.

• Do not place confidential printouts on your working desk. Keep them properly as the information might reveal some sensitive data. Lock your PC or set a password on the screen server if you leave your desk.

• Sometime you might receive some email from friends or relatives requesting you to forward some information. Be careful as this email might be a trap and carries spam. To verify the information, you can go to websites such as www.snopes.com to check.

• Do not simply open any attachment provided you 100% know the sender and the attachment’s content.

• Make sure your antivirus software’s scanning machine is running all the time. Do not simply switch off your scanning machine.

• Do not simply install software even though it is free. A lot of software that is free for downloading from the internet always carries virus or spam.

• Seek help from your MIS people if you are having any difficulty.

Guidelines to prevent computer-related stress injuries

Many guidelines have been published about computer-related stress injuries. This page summarizes some of my favorite suggestions.

1. Stretch while seated at your desk in order to prevent some injuries.
2. The target field (the size and point on the screen that you look at) should be set so that it can be seen conveniently without shifting or tilting your your head. You should be able to see the top of the target field. An adjustable monitor stand may help. Your head should face in a straight, neutral position - not facing either upward or downward.
3. Exercise while at your desk. Drop your head gently forward. Slowly rotate it clockwise and counterclockwise. Blink frequently to moisten your eyes so that they feel less tired. You may need to use use eye drops to moisten them still more if you stare at the screen too long.
4. Stare at a distant object from time to time. You may want to look out the window at a fixed object and then look at something else nearby, like your phone. Keep shifting your point of vision.
5. Adjust your chair so that your neck is always straight while facing the screen. Don’t hold the phone between your neck and shoulder. If you use the phone a great deal, buy a telephone headset.
6. Use your right hand to hold on to the seat of your chair. Move your head forward, and then turn and lean to your left. You will feel a stretch from the neck to the top of the shoulder blade. Keep stretching for fifteen seconds. Reverse - do it with your left hand and lean to the right.
7. If you feel that your shoulders are beginning to be rounded after an extended period of time in the same position, correct it by sitting up with a straight back.
8. Slowly move your shoulders up and down. Let your arms hang down next to you, and then rotate your shoulders clockwise and counter-clockwise.
9. Adjust the height of your keyboard and chair so that your arms and elbows are close to your body, and so that your elbow is at a right angle.
10. Raise your right arm as if to throw an object. Keep stretching back a bit further. Gradually straighten your arm at the elbow. Your arm will then be behind and next to you. Slowly turn your palm upward. Gradually extend your fingers until you feel your muscles stretching at your forearm and wrist. Do it again, this time with your left arm.
11. Straighten your back. Your arms should be next to you with your elbows bent at a 90-degree angle. Make fists with both hands. Rotate your elbows forward, but keep your fists in front of your waist. Straighten your elbows. Stretch your arms back behind your body. You’ll feel your forearm and wrist muscles stretching.
12. Your wrists should remain straight as you type. Adjust your keyboard shelf or seat so that they do not go up or down. You may want to put down your keyboard’s little folding “feet”. You may want to consider a foam wrist pad for support if your arms get tired from too much typing.
13. Look for a comfortable mouse. There are special mouses (yes, that’s the plural form for a computer mouse) for lefties and righties, and for small or large hands.
14. Hold both hands in a clapping position. Use the palm of one hand to press back the wrist and fingers of the other hand. After three seconds, rest and then repeat this stretch for your other hand. Do this procedure five times for each hand.
15. Keep your fingernails short, so that you don’t have to use the pads of your fingers. Your fingers should be relaxed and slightly curved when typing.
16. While keeping your wrists straight, stretch the fingers of both hands apart as widely as you can for three seconds. Relax. Do it again and again, for a total of five times.
17. Sit straight. Keep your supplies handy so that you don’t have to stretch for them.
18. This exercise and the following one may be dangerous for those who suffer from back problems: Touch your shoulders with your fingertips while sitting at the edge of your chair. Gradually twist and stretch right to left.
19. Lock the fingers of your hands together behind your head. Slowly tilt and stretch your body from side to side.
20. Your lap and your feet should rest comfortably. They should be parallel to the floor. Either adjust your seat or use a footrest with a nonslip surface. Be sure there is enough room under your desk to stretch your legs.
21. Take frequent but short walks. Handle small errands in the office yourself, as an excuse to get up and walk around. It’s best to get up every twenty to thirty minutes, and you should never sit in the same position for more than 2 hours. From time to time, take a fast-paced walk around the neighborhood. Unless your neighborhood is even more dangerous than the effects of repetitive stress injuries.

Disk Cleanup Freeze?

It’s a very common problem that many newbies almost always ignore to correct; that when you try to the Disk Cleanup tool, it may stop responding and you may receive the following message:

Disk Cleanup is calculating how much space you will be able to free on (C:).
This may take a few minutes to complete.
Scanning: Compress old files

This problem happens when there is an incorrect entry in the registry that is used by the Disk Cleanup utility to locate compressed files. In my view, I’ve noticed it happening to clean formatted computers as well, so I would suppose that the problem in the registry too is probably a faulty of M$ programming.

But here is a good little trick to follow if this happens to you:

1. Create a registry file by “right clicking” on the desktop > New > Text Document.
2. Name it anything you want with .reg extension. For example: diskcleanup.reg
3. Right click this file > Edit.
4. Type in the following code, then save and close:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VolumeCaches\Compress old files]

That’s it! It should have done it. Try running the Disk Cleanup now and see if it is any faster than before.

How to remove Winzip123 or Bar311

Here's how to remove it:

Step 1: run the task manager or simply press CTRL+ALT+DEL

Step 2: End the following process:

password_viewer.exe or bar311.exe or photos.zip.exe

Step 3: The Virus have an entry in the registry, we should modify the entry in order to delete the virus. We will use regedit, Click on START then RUN then type regedit... *if regedit is disabled click here to solve...

Step 4: Now that regedit is popout, we will start to modify. Go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\

WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon

Step 5: In the userinit entry right click and modify

you will notice the value, userinit.exe,bar311.exe

remove the ,bar311.exe. "DO NOT DELETE userinit.exe"

Step 6: Go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\ CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

delete the ff. entries

"Hidden"=dword:00000001

"HideFileExt"=dword:00000000

"ShowSuperHidden"=dword:00000001

Step 7: Go to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Command Processor

in the autorun entry,

delete "c:\Windows\pc-off.bat" or delete the autorun key

Step 8: Now we will remove the autorun.inf, heres how...

Open a notepad then paste this codes

@echo off

c:

attrib autorun.inf -h -r -s

del autorun.inf -h -r -s

d:

attrib autorun.inf -h -r -s

del autorun.inf -h -r -s

del /a /f c:\Windows\bar311.exe

del /a /f c:\Windows\password_viewer.exe

del /a /f c:\Windows\photos.zip.exe del /a /f c:\Windows\pc-off.bat

Save the file as removezip.bat then run, this will remove the virus

Manual and Clean Uninstall Oracle for Windows

If you facing problems trying to uninstall Oracle from your Windows workstation, or unable to uninstall Oracle installations cleanly and properly, the following steps may be used to uninstall all Oracle products currently install on the workstation:

1. Uninstall all Oracle components using the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI).
2. Delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/ORACLE key which contains registry entries for all Oracle products by using regedit.
3. Delete any references to Oracle services/components in the following registry location: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/. Looks for key entries that starts with “Ora” which are obviously related to Oracle.
4. Reboot the workstation.
5. Delete the ORACLE_BASE directory. (i.e C:\Oracle)
6. Delete the C:\Program Files\Oracle directory.
7. Empty the temp directory.
8. Empty the recycle bin.
   

Warning: Editing registry may cause problems to your PC.