How to Back Up a Hard Drive

It's important to back up your critical files on at least a weekly basis. The following explains how to install and run Microsoft's built-in Backup utility in Windows XP.

Step 1 :
Insert your Windows XP CD into the drive and double click it when it pops up on your desktop.

Step 2 :
In Windows Explorer, double-click the ValueAdd folder, then Msft, and then Ntbackup.

Step 3 :
Double-click Ntbackup.msi to install the Backup utility.

Step 4 :
Click Backup to run Microsoft's Backup program.


How to Run the Backup Utility

Step 1 :
Click Start, point to All Programs, point to Accessories, point to SystemTools, and then click Backup to start the wizard.

Step 2 :
Click “Next” to skip past the opening page, choose Back up files and settings from the second page, and then click Next.

Step 3 :
Decide whether you want to back up everything or just certain things.

Step 5 :
Set a schedule for regular backups.

Courtesy: ehow

How to remove Virus from USB Drives

One of the ways by which a virus can infect your PC is through USB/Pen drives. Common viruses such as ’Ravmon’ , ‘New Folder.exe’, ‘Orkut is banned’ etc are spreading through USB drives. Most anti virus programs are unable to detect them and even if they do, in most cases they are unable to delete the file, only quarantine it. Here are the things which you can do if you want to remove such viruses from your USB drives

Whenever you plug a USB drive in your system, a window will appear similar to the one shown below

This will display a list of the files in the pen drive. Check whether the following files are there or not

Autorun.inf
Ravmon.exe
New Folder.exe
svchost.exe
or any other exe file which may be suspicious.

If any of the above files are there, then probably the USB drive is infected. In command prompt type attrib -r -a -s -h *.* and press enter. This will remove the Read Only, Archive, System and hidden file attribute from all the files. Now just delete the files using the command del filename. example del Ravmon.exe. Delete all the files that are suspicious. To be on a safer side, just scan the USB drive with an anti virus program to check whether it is free of virus or not. Now remove the drive and plug it again. In most of the cases, the real culprit turns out to be the “Autorun.inf” file which mostly gets executed when someone clicks Ok in the dialog window which appears above. Thus the infections can spread


Security Tip
Disable the Autoplay feature of USB drives. If you disable the Autoplay feature of USB drives, then there are lesser chances of the virus spreading. A tool which can perform such a function is Tweak UI. Download it from here install it.


Run the program. Now you can disable the Autoplay feature of the removable drives as shown above. By following the above steps, you can keep your USB drives clean. If there are any other methods which you use, then share it with me through comments.

How to Remove NewFolder.exe Virus

NewFolder.exe is one of the most irritating virus that you will ever come across. It mainly infects through thePen Drive and once it does, it will create exe files resembling the name of all your folders. If your folder has name “docs”, it will create the file ‘Docs.exe’ and similar files for all your folders. In the worst case, it can even disable your task manger, Folder Options, RegEdit etc.
It will have names like NewFolder.exe or regsvr.exe. Luckily, its removal tools are available . Download it from here. I tried the download tool and it was successfully able to remove the NewFolder.exe virus from my computer and even the USB drive. After you download the ComboFix.exe, run it in safe mode. Some antivirus may detect the removal tool as a virus but it is perfectly safe. ComboFix will run for around 5-10 minutes, it will also create a restore point and might restart the computer if needed. Keep your USB drive connected to Computer if that is also infected. After ComboFix has finished executing, you will see the list of files, it has removed. In most cases, the virus should be gone from the PC along with the USB drive.


1. Delete the Autorun.inf and other suspicious exe files from your pen drive using the other post available here in our blog.
2. Open Windows Task Scheduler or go to Control Panel –>Scheduled tasks and remove any suspicious task
3. Click on Start –> run and type –> ‘msconfig’. In the startup tab, find entries like “NewFolder.exe” or “regsvr.exe” and uncheck them.
4. Open Task Manager. In the processes tab, delete any process with the name of NewFolder.exe or regsvr.exe
5. Open Registry by typing ‘Regedit’ in the Run command box. Please take a backup of the registry before proceeding. Now search for “regsvr.exe” and “Newfolder.exe” . If you find any entries, delete them. Please delete the entries having the exact name as “regsvr.exe” and not anything else. If that is appended with other entries, delete its occurrence only and not the whole thing.
6. Restart the Computer
I hope this solves your problem.

Source: whoismadhur

How to delete a virus without an anti-virus program

Have you ever wanted to try removing or deleting viruses that are in your computer without spending lots of money on a decent Anti-Virus? If yes is in ur answer then read up how to do it in 7 easy steps.

Step1:
Click on "START". Click on "RUN" and type "REGEDIT".

Step2:
Now you will see "registry editor" opened in a new window. In registry editor select -> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.

Step3:
Now under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" select--->"SOFTWARE"--->"Mcft"--->"WINDOWS"--->"CurrentVerison"--->"RUN".

Step4:
Now on the right side select"RavTimeXP"Right click on "RavTimeXP" and delete it.Close REGISTRY EDITOR and restart your computer.

Step5:
Click on START--->SEARCH--->"FOR FILES OR FOLDERS".Search box will open with current setting.Now click on search(searching for .exe), after searching is finished you will see the results.

Step6 :
Now here you have to delete the icons like folders and size 60KB or a little more than 60 KB or little less than 60 KB, and the file type will be "APPLICATION".Now delete them all.(Note, Remember to double click, otherwise you will have to restart and start from step 1)

Step7 :
Now Empty Recycle Bin. And you are done.

Warning :
1. Do not use this unless you completely understand how.
2. I recommend backing up any important files and documents before beginning the process of deletion.
3. Use at own risk. Just because it works for me, doesn't mean it will work for you

Courtesy : ehow

How Internet Cookies Work

Valid definition of a cookie: A cookie is a piece of text that a Web server can store on a user's hard disk. Cookies allow a Web site to store information on a user's machine and later retrieve it. The pieces of information are stored as name-value pairs.
Cookies are programs that Web sites put on your hard disk. They sit on your computer gathering information about you and everything you do on the Internet, and whenever the Web site wants to it can download all of the information the cookie has collected. [wrong]

Most Internet cookies are incredibly simple, but they are one of those things that have taken on a life of their own. Cookies started receiving tremendous media attention back in 2000 because of Internet privacy concerns, and the debate still rages.
On the other hand, cookies provide capabilities that make the Web much easier to navigate. The designers of almost every major site use them because they provide a better user experience and make it much easier to gather accurate information about the site's visitors.

The problem is, none of that information is correct. Cookies are not programs, and they cannot run like programs do. Therefore, they cannot gather any information on their own. Nor can they collect any personal information about you from your machine.

For example, a Web site might generate a unique ID number for each visitor and store the ID number on each user's machine using a cookie file.If you use Microsoft's Internet Explorer to browse the Web, you can see all of the cookies that are stored on your machine. The most common place for them to reside is in a directory calledc:\windows\cookies. When I look in that directory on my machine, I find 165 files. Each file is a text filethat contains name-value pairs, and there is one file for each Web site that has placed cookies on my machine.
For example, I have visited goto.com, and the site has placed a cookie on my machine. The cookie file for goto.com contains the following information:

UserID ---------> A9A3BECE0563982D ----------> www.goto.com/

Goto.com has stored on my machine a single name-value pair. The name of the pair is UserID, and the value is A9A3BECE0563982D. The first time I visited goto.com, the site assigned me a unique ID value and stored it on my machine.

The vast majority of sites store just one piece of information -- a user ID -- on your machine. But a site can store many name-value pairs if it wants to.
A name-value pair is simply a named piece of data. It is not a program, and it cannot "do" anything. A Web site can retrieve only the information that it has placed on your machine. It cannot retrieve information from other cookie files, nor any other information from your machine.

Source: Google