Dennis Faas

After submitting yesterday's review of RegistryBooster , there has been a flood of comments from readers. Infopackets Reader Denise N. writes: " I have been a long time fan of your pages and advice, and like you, have been enjoying Registry Mechanic ... for some while. My question is will Registry Booster be OK to run on the same machine as Registry Mechanic -- or to put it simply, will the two programmes clash with each other? I would really appreciate an early reply and thanks again for your terrific advice which I pass on to friends who have an open mind! Thanks. " Similarly, David L. wrote ... (view more)

If you know me personally, then you might say that I'm a creature of habit. The clothes in my closet all look similar (except they're different colors); my entire house is painted the same color, and on the weekends, I go to the same local pub to ... meet up with the same friends -- week in, and week out. So you might say I live a simple life, and things are pretty habitual. Well, the same can be said about the type of software I choose to review and recommend to our readers. I typically look for stuff that does what it says, is competitive in the marketplace, and adds value to the overall PC ... (view more)

If you have Windows XP, 2000, Server 2003, 95, 98, or NT, beware! Symantec has identified a new Trojan Horse aimed at snatching credit card details. Once the Trojan has made its way onto your system (via an infected email, for example), The ... Windows-reactivation Trojan, known as "Trojan.Kardphisher," appears as a message from Microsoft with the headline "Microsoft Piracy Control." It tells the user that their current copy of Windows has been activated by another user and must be reactivated before it can be used again. It gives the user two options: reactivate Windows over the Internet ... (view more)

I've got some *very* exciting news to share today! The folks over at Ashampoo sent me a friendly email today to announce that the beta version of Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 -- their flagship, simple-to-use, feature rich CD / DVD recording program -- ... has now been released! Well, that may not sound too exciting, but read on -- because you won't want to miss this one! Ashampoo: Deal of the Century In order to celebrate the release of their flagship product, the company is offering an extremely generous discount of over 25% off Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 -- but only if you order Burning Studio 7 by ... (view more)

G.Ho.St G.ho.st is a free Virtual Computer (VC) that runs in any Internet browser and acts like a regular PC. But unlike your PC, your VC (including your data and apps) are accessible from any browser in the world and are always backed up, ... up-to-date and secured. http://g.ho.st/ Startup Delayer Speed up your computer's startup process! When Windows loads its Startup file, it attempts to load every program in there at the same time. Therefore if you have quite a lot of programs starting when Windows starts, each program will try and grab CPU time so that it can load. If each program tries to ... (view more)

I've got some *very* exciting news to share today! The folks over at Ashampoo sent me a friendly email today to announce that the beta version of Ashampoo Burning Studio 7 -- their flagship, simple-to-use, feature rich CD / DVD recording program -- ... is near completion. The final version will be available May 7th, 2007. Well, that may not sound too exciting, but read on -- because you won't want to miss this one! Ashampoo: Deal of the Century In order to celebrate the release of their flagship product, the company is offering a massive and extremely generous discount of over 50% off Ashampoo ... (view more)

If you've been subscribed to Infopackets for any length of time, you've undoubtedly seen a program called "SpeedUpMyPC" recommended in our email newsletters. Judging by name, one might think that SpeedUpMyPC is just another run-of-the-mill system ... optimizer -- but don't click away just yet, because this may be one of the most demystifying articles you'll ever read. ;-) Allow me to elaborate. Back in 2003, I reviewed SpeedUpMyPC 1.0 when it debuted: and it impressed the pants off me -- not just because of the results, but also because it's such a unique product. But I wasn't the only one to ... (view more)

It's a fact: a clean install of Windows is *always* preferable to upgrading a new version over top of a previous Windows installation. Why is this so? The answer is three words: The Windows Registry. For example: when you install and uninstall ... programs to a Windows PC, things get added to the Registry -- the 'heart' of the Windows Operating System. The Registry is a complex database that keeps track of installed programs, program preferences, user data, operating system settings, and the like. However, over time, some programs may not install or uninstall properly, and the Registry becomes ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Patrick L. writes: " Dear Dennis, I love your articles! I was just wondering: many sites out there, including eBay members are selling copies or 'cracked' software. Some use 'kegen' programs to generate software keys in order to ... unlock software. I always purchase new software and from the company itself -- example: Adobe, Corel, etc. However, my friends want to purchase keygens and cracked software so they do not pay full retail. So my question is, aside from viruses or such, can programs like keygen and such be harmful to your computer? " My response: The short-and-sweet ... (view more)

Do you use Norton Security or an "all-in-1" solution to protect your PC? You might not want to after you read this: Infopackets Reader Mike L. writes: " Dear Dennis, My problem is that I'm a relatively naive computer user and have -- for some time ... now -- depended on Norton's 'all in one' security package (firewall / anti-virus / anti-spam) to blanket my PC from Internet nasties. A friend told me that Norton tends to configure a PC to best meet their own specifications, and that this causes periodic corruptions. Can you point me to information about the best way for a less than ... (view more)