Archive for the ‘Software’ Category
About Norton Anti-Virus
With the many types of anti-virus software, it is helpful to read a brief description of what the different types do and how they can be beneficial to you and your computer.
Norton Anti-virus
Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus software is perhaps the world’s most trusted antivirus solution. It is available for both Windows PC’s, and Macintosh (Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh – S.A.M). Norton AntiVirus is a very reliable and easy-to-use anti-virus product. It’s the best anti-virus product for catching viruses in downloaded files and E-mail. Norton AntiVirus is also more expensive than McAfee VirusScan although not by much, and the added abilities of Norton can easily make up the difference.
Norton AntiVirus includes many tools that can be run in the background, including watching for suspicious PC activity and automatically checking downloaded files for viruses. Norton AntiVirus is also automatically configured to handle E-mail virus scanning for email messages coming into your computer, as well as those you send. This process automatically scans and cleans both incoming and outgoing email, stopping viruses from infecting your computer or spreading to others. It removes viruses automatically, without interrupting your work and prevents infections during real-time online chats, and also detects viruses in instant-message attachments. Because so many viruses and internet worms are now spread using email and Instant Message Systems, this is extremely valuable and necessary protection.
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A Tale of Two Regeds: Registry editors
Tech support tells me to type ‘regedt32′ as opposed to ‘regedit’ to access the registry from the command line (Start > Run). I question the use of ‘regedt32,’ but he says to do it anyway. Whenever I use the registry editor, I recall this incident and never look up the tale of the two regs… until now.
Regedt32.exe is an alternative registry editor available with Windows NT/2000 with features of its own. Regedt32.exe does not support importing and exporting registration entries (.reg) files. Regedit has limitations of its own as quoted here:
“You cannot set the security for registry keys. You cannot view, edit, or search the value data types <>REG_EXPAND_SZ and <>REG_MULTI_SZ. If you try to view a <>REG_EXPAND_SZ value, Regedit.exe displays it as a binary data type. If you try to edit either of these data types, Regedit.exe saves it as <>REG_SZ, and the data type no longer performs its intended function. You cannot save or restore keys as hive files.”
Research indicates regedit has:
- a better search tool
- bookmarking of subkeys
- opens to last edited subtree, export and import capabilities
- all keys are visible from a window similar to Windows Explorer
Regedt32 (pre-WinXP) can:
- run in read-only mode
- allows you to edit values longer than 256 characters (who wants to do that???)
- displays subtrees in their own windows
- modify access permissions to subtrees, keys, and subkeys
In WinXP and Server 2003, the two have been replaced by a new version of regedit that has features from both. Try typing ‘regedit’ and ‘regedt32′ to see what happens. They’re the same. To prove it, while in ‘regedit,’ select ‘edit’ and you’ll see ‘permissions.’ This is a feature that was only available in the old ‘regedt32′ and not ‘regedit.’
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A Review of Medical Billing Software Products
Medical billing software reviews are one of the easiest ways to find out important facts regarding the function and use of certain types of medical billing software, as well as their limitations.
One software package that regularly garners superlative reviews is Lytec medical billing software. Computer experts and users alike agree that Lytec software has many positives, including a clear interface and a simple approach to the medical billing process. The Lytec software suite tracks claims management, patient billing, insurance, and scheduling in a single package. The result is a workspace with a seamless quality in which a group of diverse functions, from electronic medical records to healthcare forms, behave in an integrated and coherent way.
A busy medical practice of any size can be a volatile environment, and a system that breaks down under heavy use is a real liability in this business. Lytec medical software is secure, auditable and completely expandable to your specific needs. More importantly it’s simple enough to configure yourself.
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A Perfectly Clean Uninstall
Uninstalling a Windows application leaves multiple traces such as abandoned registry keys, configuration files and shared libraries that are no longer used by any application. When you are looking for a perfect solution to your problem, you are typically downloading and testing dozens of different applications distributed on the try-before-you-buy basis. After you complete your search, you’ll decide on just one application, and will want to remove the other products you’ve tested. But do you realize how much garbage they leave behind even after being ‘completely’ uninstalled?
If you install a comprehensive suite created by a big-name company, you’re getting the best quality software that surely knows how to behave and how to clean up after itself, right? Wrong! Many if not all products leave behind them multiple traces that are more than likely to make your computer behave odd, or even lead to problems that are impossible to predict and hard to resolve.
Want examples? How about a firewall that forgets to remove a system-level driver that filters IP packets? After uninstalling the product, the driver just sits there, doing nothing except slowing down the performance of your PC. Try another one of those firewalls and stack an extra system-level driver on top, and you’ll get connectivity problems that are very hard to resolve if you’re not an experienced system administrator.
Did you use any tools to make backups of your CDs and DVDs? There’s a bunch of tools on the market that shamelessly leave behind the drivers they use to access the disks directly, and, let’s nail it, circumvent their copy protection. Each of these drivers slows down access to optical disks and makes reads and writes less stable. You might get many coasters just because of these extra links in the driver chain.
Simple utilities created by small companies and independent software vendors are very likely to leave traces behind in many places on your computer. Being time-limited by their definition, they try to hide information about their installation date and usage in obscure places, making it deliberately difficult to trace and clean up. There’s nothing wrong with protecting intellectual property, but what if you test a bunch of applications, and decide on a single app to do the job? Do you really have to bring all the garbage in house in order to buy just one tool?
If you start thinking that the only way to keep your computer clean is by not installing anything on it, think again! There’s a great solution to these kind of problems made by ChemTable. Reg Organizer helps you clean sweep your computer and keeps it in pristine clean condition by removing any traces left behind after you uninstall a product.
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