While the idea behind this is sound enough, in reality it can get a bit annoying after a while and will cause you to spend more time doing simple things than you would otherwise take.

To turn off this feature go into the Control Panel and then go into User Accounts and Family Safety followed by User Accounts. Here you will see the option to Turn User Account Control On or Off. A click here take you to the place where ticking or unticking the box will change the settings.

The official Microsoft advice is not to take turn off the User Account Control, but there are some parts of it you can deactivate without fear. For example, you can stop it blacking out your screen before it does some tasks. This is an option on Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions and you do it in the following way.

Go into group policy by choosing Start then Run then gpedit.msc. Now you need to go to Computer Configuration followed by Windows Setting and then Security Settings followed by Local Policies and then Security Options. Here you can look for the policy called User Account Control: Switch to the secure desktop when prompting for elevation. If you put this to disabled then you will get rid of the rather annoying black out feature.

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This is a feature which is available on Windows Vista and Windows 7, and while it won’t give you all the benefits of a memory upgrade in aspects such as gaming speed it is still a clever and pretty inexpensive way to read information a lot quicker than straight from the hard drive.

The ReadyBoost feature works by speeding up access to data by caching it on the USB drive, and it is encrypted so that if you lose the flash device no one can find out the information on it.

You can find flash drives which are ReadyBoost compatible pretty easily online, and a good tip is to look for one which matches as closely as possible the amount of RAM which your computer has. After you plug it into your USB port you will be asked whether you prefer to use the device as a ReadyBoost driver or as an external memory drive. Choose the ReadyBoost option. After this is done your computer will suggest the amount of memory to be used in order to give you the best performance. Click on ok if you are happy with this suggestion and it will start working without you doing anything else.

As mentioned earlier, this isn’t going to give you the same effect as adding more memory to your PC, but for the cost a USB flash drive it is a pretty good investment which will give you a noticeable improvement with no hassle.

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These are the three main reasons why a lot of people have already switched to the Google Chrome browser. Chrome was launched in 2008 and has cemented its position as the third most popular browser behind Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. However, it has been steadily been gaining market share and recently passed the 10% share milestone. It has also been voted as being the most user friendly of the browsers currently on offer and seems certain to continue its climb in the popularity stakes.

The reputation of Chrome as arguably the safest browser around is in part based on the blacklists for phishing and malware which are constantly updated by Google and which let users know when they are entering a potentially dangerous site. There is also the fact that malware is stopped from doing any damage by the fact that each tab is individually separated and malware on one tab cannot find the information on another.

The speed which Chrome operates at is another of its big selling points, and it has repeatedly beaten the competition in speed tests. The interface is simple and rather basic, adding to the feel that it has been designed for speed and functionality rather than looks. You get just back and forward buttons, refresh and cancel and menu as standard.  The tab control is one of the main aspects of the browser, and these are highly useful ways of controlling and administering your browsing.

A recent change to the browser has also been designed to make it easier for businesses to use by letting system administrators oversee the process of updating and installing the software onto their computers.

There are versions of Chrome available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux and it is well worth looking at if you fancy changing your browser and want to find the best one around.

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The main reason for doing this is to keep your machine working effectively and safely. Having old drivers is one sure way to have problems with system crashes, slow running applications and issues with other vital aspects of your computer’s performance.

The first step towards keeping your system as up to date and protected as possible is by using Window Update. There are really two ways to do this:

Automatic updates. You can set your PC to automatically scan for updates and then download them onto your system. This is the recommended way of doing it as there is no risk of the task being forgotten or carried out the wrong way. The way to set this up is to go into the control panel and then “automatic updates”. Here you can choose the option which best suits you.

Manual updates. This alternative way lets you add a more personalised touch to your updating. You need to go to the start menu then “all programs” followed by “window update”. This will then lead you through the whole process and give you the option of doing a standard update or picking the individual elements which you want to bring up to date.

With either of these processes you can very quickly and simply get the updates done, although the second one will be a little bit more time consuming and is really recommended for someone who knows what specifically they want to update on their PC.

The one drawback with this system is that no matter which way you do it the updates won’t update all of your hardware drivers, so while it is an essential step in your ongoing maintenance checks it is far from being the only one.

To get your computer running the way it should and completely remove any performance or security issues it is important that you use a comprehensive tool such as Driver Commander, which checks the versions of all of your drivers and updates them all at the push of a button.

The main problem is that most computer users are unaware of how to update their drivers, and a lot of the time they aren’t even aware that what they are using isn’t the current model. Because there are few visible signals that you are using an out of date driver – no smoke rising from the machine or alarm bells flashing – it is probably something which you would never really think about checking on your own.

However, if you are having recurrent problems with your machine then there is a pretty good chance that old drivers have something to do with it. The three main problems with not keeping your drivers up to date are listed below.

1. Stability. Whether you use your computer for work purposes or simply for fun and entertainment there are few things more annoying than having your computer crash or freeze on you while you are in the middle of something. This was actually happening a lot to a friend of mine who was just about to buy a new PC when I managed to save him some money by updating his drivers instead, which solved the problem (if you are reading this Graeme you still owe me one for that). Even if you think your computer is in its last days you should spend a bit of time doing things such as cleaning it up and updating its drivers to see if it can maybe be saved.

2. Speed. A lot of us accept this as simply being because “computers slow down over time”. If your PC us now running more slowly than when you first started using it then you shouldn’t just accept this as being inevitable. There are several very good reasons why this could be happening and one of the main ones is the use of out of date drivers. It is also one of the easiest to fix if you use a tool which automatically scans your system and then updates any drivers which are old and slowing down your machine.

3. Safety. This is especially important if you are going to be using the internet, as old drivers are a common reason for people’s security being vulnerable and their PC being susceptible to attack by hackers and viruses. Even if you use a good antivirus program you still your drivers to be working as they should be.

Other signs of an old driver can be poor sound or video quality, problems connecting to the internet and not being able to connect to your printer. These and other annoying issues can be sorted out by using something simple, effective and user friendly such as the highly recommended Driver Commander product.

It is a program which is compatible with Windows NT / 2000 / XP / Vista and 7 and lets you keep your PC working the way it should do with no hassle. Many computer owners continue to use a PC with out of date drivers – usually because they don’t know how to update them manually – and this program lets them do a 30 second scan to find and then immediately and automatically update anything which is old and potentially dangerous.

When you are looking for a maintenance program like this then there are really three main points to look for:

Speed. No one wants to have a clean up or update program running for hours on their computer, and one that takes a long time usually ends up getting cancelled and never run again.

Ease of use. Not every PC user is a technical expert, and in fact many have no idea what their drivers actually do and whether they are up to date or not. This is perfectly fine, and just as I don’t feel ashamed at not knowing exactly how my car works you shouldn’t be overly bothered about not knowing the ins and out of your computer. However, this does mean that you should spend a little more time looking for software which is simple to use and isn’t going to hit you with technical info and lots of strange code. This Driver Commander software we are looking at works with the push of a single and then works away in the background doing its stuff.

Results. Of course, it is no use having a simple to use and lightning fast piece of software if it doesn’t actually do anything. Your drivers are far too important for them to be left out of date or, even worse, for them to be incorrectly updated. You really need something which is going to find anything which is not right and quickly put it the way it should be. A good control of your drivers should give you a faster PC, less crashes and a much more stable and secure system.

In order to get the benefits of this program you simply have to install it and then run the scan. You first of all need to click on the on screen “instant scan” button. You will then be prompted through a very simple and quick installation process.

With the program installed on your PC you simply need to open it up and choose the “scan” button. Driver Commander will then carry out the scan without you doing anything else. The results will automatically pop up when it is done and you can carry on with other tasks during the short period it takes to do its work.

From my own tests and from the other positive reviews which it has gained Driver Commander is a really sound choice which meets those three points I mentioned above and which will let you control your computer’s drivers without even thinking about it.

It can be very difficult to spot the arrival of this kind of nasty program on your computer because as well as those sites which Google found it can also get into your computer through a Trojan horse program. This involves you receiving something which appears innocuous, such as a normal looking file, plug in or software, but which actually contains the bug hidden within it. In fact, you can even receive the Trojan horse without having accepted any kind of document, as some hackers make use of gaps in users’ security to get their malware on board.

The next step in the process is the one where you need to try and stop the fake antivirus program in its tracks. You will at some point be presented with an unusual message on your computer; usually advising that a virus has been detected, or that part of the system has been disabled or possibly even making your PC appear to crash.

At this point you should be aware that legitimate, honest antivirus firms do not work in this way and that you should not accept any of the offers that pop up offering to solve your problem if you buy their software. Basically, the people who messed up your PC are now offering to fix it for you.

The best way to either protect yourself from fake antivirus programs, or to remove them once your computer is infected, is to use a good antivirus program from one of the big name firms as well as an anti spyware program (Windows Defender if free and can be download from their site, while it is automatically included in Windows Vista machines). You should also be very careful about clicking on pop up messages. If you see a message which tells you that your computer has a virus, or some other sort of strange message, then you should immediately run your antivirus program, to see if it can detect an infection.

Professional anti virus software really helps protect your PC against these kinds of attacks. We recommend using AVG Anti Virus 2011. Many of our readers are currently using this program to protect their PC’s against harmful attacks.

This is where the new Google Instant Previews features is going to come in handy. What you need to do is make a search on Google and then, once the list of results comes up, roll your mouse icon over the little magnifying glass which you will see next to each page. This gives you a reduced size image of the site in question, to let you decide very quickly if it is what you were looking for or not.

Google’s official site says that users have expressed a level of satisfaction which is 5% higher when using the Instant Preview feature.  While this isn’t a huge increase the results have to be viewed in the light of this being a fairly small enhancement on a search engine process which a lot of people are already very happy with.

The kind of thing that you might find this new tool useful for are listed below: To recognise a page you were in before. It is pretty common to find a page, read some of the information and then not be able to find the same site again. With the Google Instant Preview feature you can very quickly scan the suggested pages on your keyword search and find the one which you are interested in.

To find a specific type of item. When you are carrying out a project you might not be looking just for a site on the subject; you might need some pictures or a bar chart or a map. If you scroll through the possible sites then you can work out which ones have the information and the format you are looking for.

To find the most relevant page. When you put in quite a long search you often get back recommendations for pages which contain all the keywords but are about something completely different. For instance, if you type “Where to buy shoes in Brazil”, you get lots of sites talking about Brazilian shoes or people’s stories about how they once bought a pair of high heels in Rio. It isn’t always clear which site, if any, will actually answer your question in the manner you want it to do. This means that getting a preview of the pages will let you judge whether to enter in one or not. The text you searched for is highlighted on the preview screen, making it easier to find if the exact phrase appear in the same sequence or split up throughout the site.

Google Instant Previews has not yet been rolled out at as a standard feature and if you want a preview of the previews (so to speak) then you can request if from this link: http://www.google.com/landing/instantpreviews/

Here we will look at a few of the best ways to get some speed back into your PC:

1. Free up some more space on your hard drive. This process helps you get rid of things such as temporary Internet files, temporary Windows files, System Restore information which you haven’t used and programs you have installed but no longer use among its. You can access this tool through Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Cleanup. Once you are in it just choose the disk you want to clean up and then follow the on screen instructions, making sure to only delete the things you are sure you no longer want.

2. Defragment the disk. This is a Windows tool which bundles together files which have been fragmented over time, to save you space on the hard drive. You enter through Start / All Programs / Accessories / System Tools / Disk Defragmenter.

3. Fix any errors on the disk. You should close all your files and then enter in My Computer and then right click on the disk you want to check and choose ‘properties’, followed by ‘tools’ and ‘check now’. Chose the second option – scan and attempt recovery – then click start.

4. Avoid virus and spyware infections. This kind of malware can often seriously slow down your program, as well as compromise your personal data, and installing and running a good antivirus program will help you combat this.

5. Manually remove programs you no longer need. Go into My Computer and then ‘add/remove programs’ and click on any you don’t want anymore.

6. Make Windows work faster without looking so good. Go to the Control Panel and then System. Here you go into ‘advanced’ and then ‘performance’ / ‘settings’ and choose the option that says “adjust for best performance”.