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A fool-proof Internet Security is always desirable, but actually speaking, it is never achievable. Howsoever smart Internet Security Tools you use, you can never be confident about the your security, because every day, newer vulnerabilities are discovered and exploits are developed.

In general, I have made it a practice to rely on one dependable Internet Security Tool for the Real Time protection, and I occasionally use some online Malware Scanners to scan my system. It is always safer to take a second opinion a dependable tool, because none of the tool is perfect, and can never be perfect. It is a constantly evolving system. Better security tools and being developed and with them malware artists are developing more lethal and smart malware.

There are many great Online File Scanners for Malware and Virus. The merits and demerits of using a Free Online Malware Scanner are…

Merits:

• Fast and Easy to use : Generally speaking, these online scanners are lean and thin, and so fast and easy.
• Always up to date: You do not have to worry about updating them regularly. They are always up-to-date with latest threat signatures and  definitions.

Demerits:

• Less Options and Features: They generally lack the options and features provided by their full licensed versions.
• No Malware Removal: Generally these scanners just provide the scanning, but do not remove the malware.

6 Great Free Online Malware and Virus Scanners

• Panda NanoScan
• McAfee FreeScan
• Symantec Security Check
• Trend Micro’s HouseCall
• ESET Online Scanner
• Kaspersky

Ever since I have started learning more and more about Windows Performance and Windows Security, I am finding that most of the online threats can be avoided by some basic precautions and Windows Privacy / Security settings. Extensive features and options are available in our Operating System, which we either ignore either because we do not know about them, or we treat it as a hassle.

For instance, Windows Processes. There are so many Windows Processes running in the background that most of us seldom care to think about them. But a look at the running Windows Processes reveals a lot about the current behavior of your PC. If you are careful, then it can tell a lot.

But there is a small utility, which can help you a great deal here. Welcome to XP-AntiSpy.

This utility is developed and supported by Chris individually. Xp-AntiSpy is a little utility that lets you disable some built-in update and authentication ‘features’ in WindowsXP. In fact, it does much than simply controlling / disabling Windows Processes and tasks. It makes Windows more transparent and controllable. You get to know, what is running in the background, and allows you to control them from one place and that too in in simple, understandable language.

For example, there’s a service running in the background which is called ‘Automatic Updates’. I don’t know what this service transfers from my machine to other machines on the Internet, especially the MS ones. So I play it safe and disable such functions. If you like, you can even disable these functions manually, by going through the System and checking or un-checking some checkboxes. This will take you approximately half an hour. But why waste time when a little neat utility can do the same in 1 minute? This utility was successfully tested by lots of users, and was found to disable all the known ‘Suspicious’ Functions in Windows XP. It’s customizable, but comes up with the Default settings, which are recommended.

And the best part is, this utility is totally FREE.

We all know how useful are Hotkeys, also known as KeyBoard shortcuts if you want to speed up your work on PC.

A keyboard shortcut (or accelerator key, shortcut key, hot key, key binding, keybinding, key combo, etc.) is a key or set of keys that performs a predefined function. These functions can often be done via some other, more indirect mechanism, such as using a menu, typing a longer command, and/or using a pointing device. By reducing such sequences to a few keystrokes, this can often save the user time, hence “shortcut”.

We use many hotkeys like CTRL+C, CTRL+V etc., but most of us use only a limited set of hotkeys. We do not use many of them, because we want to avoid the hassles of remembering them. And more often than not, these shortcut keys are not globally available for all programs we use on our system.

If it is possible to easily define shortcut keys, then the life would be a little simpler.

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How to define Hotkeys KeyBoard of your own

I am sure there must be many ways to define hotkeys, but I have just found a freeware utility, which can define hotkeys like a breeze.

Welcome to HotKeyMan.

Ever wanted to setup personal shortcuts for often used tasks to be globally available in all open programs? With this small freeware program you can do just that. It is easy to set up the program for your personal needs. A simple guide will help you setup the initial hotkey settings the first time the program is started. After that, the hotkeys can be used all over Windows. You can define hotkeys to manipulate window state, close a running application, open a document, save screen capture to file, exit Windows or send keystrokes to the active window.

Use it to believe it. You sure will love this neat way to define hotkeys.

Many students, small time professionals, models, photographers, WAHM require to make their online portfolios of their work to display their skills. Many of them do not have the time, skill or money to develop a full-fledged website to showcase their skills and they are on the look out for a simple and FREE portfolio maker for it.

WeeFolio is a service, which answers your query of How to make a portfolio that is simple, easy, quick, and most importantly, FREE. This online portfolio maker is only for the total beginners. If you are on the look out for a feature rich solution or if you need to display a large catalog, then off-course this will not suit you.

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SignUp is just a one minute process. You just have to have an email address and that’s it. No confirmation email to click. And you can then add list upto 10 of your creations to your online portfolio.

But remember, the service is still in its BETA and yet to be officially launched.

Why you need a Software Update Scan

Today’s PCs are loaded with lots of softwares, which require regular updating them with the latest release provided by the developer of that software application. This software updating is also important to keep you safe from the potential software vulnerabilities and threats. Programs such as anti-virus, personal firewall, and anti-spyware are great for protection, but they do not protect you from software vulnerabilities, for which you have to do a software update scan and update your programs.

But you never know, which software is now old and has a latest release available for download.

How to do a Software Update Scan

There are lots of tools available on Internet for this purpose, some free and some paid. Secunia PSI is one such FREE software update scanning tool, which helps you secure your computer from software vulnerabilities. This great web tool, also searches for the software, which have now gone dead, and lets you decide whether you want to keep it or remove it.

Overall a nice useful and FREE webtool.

Which is the most popular web tool for web page designing.

The answer is easy Adobe’s Dreamweaver and Microsoft’s FrontPage will definitely rule the roost. There have been a plenty of other applications also, but not very promising.

Recently, a new Mozilla based web authoring tool KompoZer has been released, which is free heir to the Mozilla Composer legacy and updated for today’s technology.

If you used Internet way back in 2003, you would remember that Mozilla used to ship the Mozilla Application Suite, which comprised of a browser, email/news client, IRC chat client, and HTML page editor. Later on, the first three components were started to get shipped as individual applications in the form of Firefox, Thunderbird, and ChatZilla. However the last component was sort of discontinued. The same platform has been used for KompeZer. It is available for download for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

For the creation of a web page in Kompozer, you don’t have to delve deep into coding etc. Web page creation is just like writing a word document; simple text inputting, copy paste, insert images and you are through. It also has a built-in FTP client and a CSS editor.

Overall, a nice free web page creator for novices.

How many times it had happened that a person has got a PC problem and the expert is away at some remote location. First person is trying to explain the problem on phone, but not able to explain every detail, and wishes that it would have been better if he was able to share the screens live and the expert could have seen the action live, in front of his eyes.No issues, there are not one, but many applications for screen sharing.

These are all free, and besides rectifying the PC problems remotely, they can be used for collaborative working on with your friends and colleagues. They can also be used, if you want to access files on your PC from a remote location.

So, here we go,

Screen-Sharing and Remote-Collaboration Web tools

1. CrossLoop: Full functionality, simple and clean user interface and fast. I like it. Somewhere I read that it has been included in the best 10 downloads of the year, probably by CNET, (Update courtesy Techblissonline.com: PCWorld)

2. Mikogo: It uses industry-leading 256-AES end-to-end encryption and so is secure. It can be used by upto 10 persons simultaneously. Designed nicely, with a very user friendly platform.

3. TeamViewer: Full featured application. Many modes, the initiator can decide the level of sharing, whether full access or part. Data transfer is encrypted and secure.

4. Yuuguu: A useful application, for both Mac and Windows, and offers full functionalities of screen sharing, collaborative working and also remote access. It also has a chat functionality, which you can use while you are giving or taking help from somebody else. What’s more, it allows you to keep a record of all the conversation.

5. Unyte Lyte: A relatively simple web tool, which doesn’t offer any remote control feature. But a nice advantage is that you can itegrate it into your Skype client.

Besides, these screen sharing tools, there are other web tools also which give you remote access.

1. SoonR: It extends the remote access facility to your mobile also.

2. FolderShare: It supports both Windows and Mac. It si a free utility from Microsoft and with it you can share files upto 2GB in size. It has also been mentioned here.