Windows Tools, Help & Guides

Windows Guides reader littlelooloo asked the following:

I had a question about this worm that is supposed to wreak havoc on computers tomorrow… the news said most security programs have it taken care of.  I just wanted to get your opinion/confirmation if that’s really the case or should I download a patch from Microsoft?

If you are concerned about the Conficker (a.k.a. downandup) worm, possibly scheduled to wreak havoc tomorrow, April 1, 2009, you can download a cleanup tool from ESET. You can also apply a patch from Microsoft

From the Sophos blog:

It’s quite possible that Conficker will not do anything significant on April 1st. Certainly it won’t be “deadly” and your computers won’t melt. :-)

The fact of the matter is that Conficker is not set to activate a specific payload on that date. Rather, on April 1st Conficker will begin to attempt to contact the 50,000-a-day potential call-home web servers from which it may receive updates.

But it’s just as likely that Conficker will receive instructions to do something on March 28th, or April 2nd, or April 14th as it will on April 1st. The emphasis by some media outlets on April 1st is really unfortunate.

What we can say with certainty is that people should keep their protection up-to-date, ensure that they have firewalls and security patches in place, have a proper policy in place regarding USB usage and passwords. In addition it wouldn’t do any harm – if you suspect you may be infected by Conficker – to run a Conficker removal tool such as the free one from Sophos.

Download the ESET Cleanup Tool

Download the Patch from Microsoft

Are you bored and do you want to play pranks on your friends? Get a few minutes with their PC and have some fun while you watch them try to figure out what’s going on. UPDATE: I thought I would bring this up again for April Fools. Do you have any to add to the list?

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Here’s a quick program to help you prank your friends tomorrow: the Ultimate Virus!

What Does it Do?

I’ll let this screenshot tour I just prepared do the talking. Try to get your friend to run through the whole process and tell them that turning off their computer is not a good idea :)

Just download the file and after executing the exe, you’ll see something similar to the following:

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Every month we take a look around some of the most interesting windows-related web sites. We collect the best free stuff and write tips to help you get more out of Windows. Below you’ll find wallpapers, icon packs, fonts, screensavers, and freeware we’ve found over the last 30 days. We’ve also put together our most popular windows guides.

Enjoy the overview of stuff you shouldn’t have missed in March 2009

Have you joined the world’s geekiest social network yet??

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The Cities of Earth Screensaver displays the earth rotating. As the earth rotates, it highlights cities and gives you basic information about that city–it’s a great way to learn where cities are and a little about them.

Download Cities of Earth Screensaver

I just went through a bunch of my old OS discs and extracted the boot sounds; I want to share them with you. Some of these sounds really take me back. Do you have any you want to share? Here is what I have so far:

Thanks to Hunky Dork and Harry who contributed some more audio clips.

Boot/Logon Sounds

	Windows 3.1
	Windows 95
	Windows 98
	Windows NT
	Windows 2000 (Thanks Harry)
	Windows XP (Thanks Hunky Dork & Hary)
	Windows Vista (”Longhorn Beta”)
	Windows Vista (Thanks Harry)
	Sega Dreamcast
	Apple II C
	Mac II

To get a blog on MyWindowsPC.com, do the following:

1. Sign up at mywindowspc.com (the social network for nerds)
2. Be one of the first two hundred (200) to make 20 friends

Once 200 people have made 20+ friends, you’ll be contacted with simple setup information.

Your blog and updates will be posted, in real time, to the main feed on mywindowspc.com, which means free exposure for you!

Bonus:

The 200 winners will also get an @mywindowspc.com email address with 7GB+ of storage!

A couple of weeks ago, I gave out 40 @mintywhite.com email addresses. Over 150 people tried to get one and there were a lot left disappointed. To make up for this, I’m giving away 200 @mywindowspc.com email addresses with 7+GB of storage.

To get an email address, do the following:

1. Sign up at mywindowspc.com (the social network for nerds)
2. Be one of the first two hundred to make 20 friends

Once 200 people have made 20+ friends, you’ll be contacted with simple setup information (you can route email in an out of your current inbox.)

Bonus:

Those of the 200 winners, who choose, will also get a completely free blog on mywindowspc / [your blog name]

Don’t you wish you could say… “I was the first person on MySpace/Facebook” etc… then you could tell everyone “you copied me… I’m the king/queen.”

Introducing the newest and geekiest social network on plant earth: My Windows PC.

There, you can show off your PC, create groups, get to know others, make friends and get in contact with them, and more!

BONUS:

The first 200 members who have 20 or more friends get a free @mywindowspc.com email address (7GB of storage) and blog hosted on mywindowspc.com/ [your blog name]*

EXTRA BONUS:

The top 6 popular members (Popular under members on the main page) on April 12th 5pm MDT will also win a $50 license for ESET Smart Security (Thanks to www.windowstalk.org.)

I’m not kidding… sign up today: http://mywindowspc.com/register

I look forward to seeing you there! Add me as a friend.

*Once all 200 members have won, you will receive instructions to get your email address and blog.

There are so many fonts out there – but it seems you have to pay for all the good ones. Put your credit card away and enjoy these free fonts. Available to you are many more sets – linked below.

Check out more font collections on Mintywhite.com

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