How to remove autorun malware

I'm having a problem with one of our PC. When I try to open (double click) local C drive, I got a warning that Windows cannot find: 

""RECYCLER\S-8-9-94-100022539-100013076-100012326-629 6.com make sure you typed the name correctly,and then try again. to search for a file, click the start button, and then click search.""

This warning appears only on drive c/d/e etc..., when I try to open the drive it just won't open. However when i right click on the drive and select explore then the drive will open. Its probably a Malware or something? I hope somebody can help me on this. Many thanks.....

Sounds familiar. Well then your computer is infected with autorun virus. To remove it go to www.download.com and download a small utility called Autorun Eater. The moment you finish installing, the programme will start and will detect this virus. It will you give an option to remove it. Just do it and thats it.

This programme will remain in your system tray. It will take up very little memory which you can see under billy.exe.

How to Check your Antivirus Protection

Many a time we wonder if our antivirus is providing realtime protection to our computer.

To test your installation, copy the following line
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*

open Notepad and paste this line.

Now try saving this file as EICAR.COM

The file size will be 68 or 70 bytes. As soon as you click save, your antivirus should catch this file as virus and deleve/quarantine it or atleast warn you about it. It it does, that means your antivirus is providing you with realtime protection.

If it does not. Then scan the directory in which you have saved this file.
Your antivirus if catches it, then it means your antivirus is working, though it may not be providing realtime protection in all conditions.
If your antivirus does not catch this file, then UNINSTALL that piece of garbage called antivirus,and get your money back from the vendor.

The antivirus industry, through the European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research, has adopted this standard to facilitate this need. Note that this file is NOT A VIRUS. Delete the file when you have finished testing your installation to avoid alarming unsuspecting users.

NOTES - The file is simply a text file of either 68 or 70 bytes that is a legitimate executable file called a COM file that can run by Microsoft operating systems and some work-alikes, including OS/2. When executed, will print "EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!" and stop. The test string was specifically engineered to consist of ASCII human-readable characters, easily created using a standard computer keyboard. It makes use of self-modifying code to work around technical issues that this constraint makes on the execution of the test string.

How to Speed up your uTorrent downloads

If you want to download anything from P2P networks, the best torrent client to use is uTorrent. It's heavy on features, and light on size, and its free.

Use the right port
This is a very a very important one. Using the right port number can increase the number of PCs that can connect to you, and thus speed up downloads. It's best to choose a port in the range- 49152-65535.
In uTorrent, go to Options -> Preferences -> Connection and enter in number from the above range, and save your changes.

To check if the port is forwarded properly, go to Options -> Speed Guide and click on the button “Test if port is forwarded properly”.

This will launch the uTorrent port checker webpage that will tell you if the port is open or not.

If the port is forwarded properly, then fine, but if it's not, then you need to do these:-

1. Open the Windows firewall from the control panel, and uncheck the "Don't allow exceptions". You don't have to bother about this if you don't use Windows' firewall. Or if you use a third party firewall, make sure that uTorrent is allowed proper net access.

2. Configure the router to forward the port automatically. There are many tutorials that deal with port forwarding on the net (and this forum itself) so search for them.

Set the proper upload limit

To find out the right number for this, visit Speedtest.net and conduct a speed test. Make sure that there are no applications running in the background which are connecting to the net. Conduct the test a few times and take the average upload speed. Click here and enter the value you got. Change the value in the drop down box to "kilobits". Click on calculate. In the table that appears below, note the value next to "Kilobytes". Multiply this value by 0.8 and you have your magic number. In uTorrent, go to Preferences -> Connection and enter in the new number for the Maximum Upload rate. Leave your download rate at “0? (maximum). Ok my personal experience is that set this upload limit to 15 kbps for Home 500 connection.

Change the bittorrent settings

In Options -> Preferences -> BitTorrent you’ll need to make some recommended modifications. Change the settings to make the dialog box look like this.

Enable encryption

In Options -> Preferences -> Advanced you’ll need to make a few adjustments, as well. Scroll down to where it says “net.max_halfopen” and change this from 8 to 50. (If you’re on a dialup Internet connection, don’t do this). Now, scroll up to “bt.connect_speed” and change the value from 20 to 50. Last, go to “diskio.flush_files” and be sure this is set to true. Click Apply and OK to save the changes.

After making these changes, you'll need to restart uTorrent. You'll notice that the speeds have increased substantially (unless you've done some of these tweaks before).

On my BSNL Home 500 connection (256 kbps- 2mbps), I am getting speeds up to 250 kbps and max up to 280 kbps. I can't get speeds above this because of my connection limit.
One byte is made of 8 bits. So when I am getting a speed of 250 kbps it is 250,000 x 8 = 2 Mbps which is the max my connection allows.

How to make Desktop icons transparent

If you have a shadow on your desktop icons and you don’t like it, then you can make your desktop icons transparent and remove this ugly shadow.
For this follow these steps
1. Right click on my computer icons and select Properties. In that select Advance Tab and click the Setting button in Performance heading.

Click visual effect tab in the Performance dialog.

1. Check the box titled “Use drop shadows for icon labels on the desktop”.1. Click ‘Apply’ and then click ‘OK’.
Its DONE.

How to Change the Product Key of Windows XP

I don’t want to know why you want to change the Windows XP product key. But if you do,
There are several ways to do so. Some of them are given below.

Note: You should create System Restore Point before proceeding. If something goes wrong, no need to worry, just restore your system.

To change your Windows XP product key, please follow the steps below:
Click Start, and then click Run.
1. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.

2. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents

3. In the right pane, right-click OOBETimer, and then click Modify.

4. Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate Windows.

5. Click Start, and then click Run.

6. In the Open box, type the following command, and then click OK.

%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

7. Click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next.

8. Click Change Product key.

9. Type the new product key in the New key boxes, and then click Update.If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later, and then restart the computer.

(When Windows reboots, your next step will depend on which Windows XP version you are using. If you have XP Home or Professional, you’ll be prompted to reactivate your copy of Windows through the normal activation process. If you have XP Corporate, no activation is required and your machine should have a valid product ID. You can verify this by running the %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a command again. When the wizard loads this time, you should see a message indicating that your copy of Windows has already been activated.)
10. Repeat steps 6 and 7 to verify that Windows is activated. You receive the following message:
Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit.

11. Click OK.

There are many softwares available which change the product key for Windows. You can google you way to download these.

Windows XP Product Key Modifier
The magical Jellybean Key Finder