Since the end of school, I’ve had a full time job. Needless to say, i’ve been making a lot of money, and I havent had much to spend it on, so I decided to go ahead and finish building my Windows Home Server.

I already had the case… which I bought about a year ago with the hopes of building a media centre pc, that didnt go over to well. After I scrapped that I decided I would build a WHS system for our home network. Since all I had was a case, (you can check it out here, its the silver one) I needed to buy everything else.

Here is my parts list:

Motherboard: Gigabyte MA74GM-S2

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ (About 2.9GHZ)

Memory: OCZ SLi 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHZ (2x1024MB)

PSU: 585W No name silver box (Orion I think)

Hard Drives:

• 1 x Seagate ST3500320AS (500 GB)
• 1 x Seagate ST3500410AS (500 GB)
• 1x Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 (1 TB)

And of course the OS is Windows Home Server with Power Pack 1.

The build went very smoothly, the motherboard is labeled perfectly. There were no problems with attaching the case leds, power switch or reset switch. The motherboard has 6 SATA connectors which is perfect right now. I have plans on adding another 1-2 TB hard drives later on.

I decided to go with AMD because of the price point. I picked up the processor and motherboard for $200 combined, which I think is a very good deal for a 2.9ghz dual core processor, and for a motherboard that has very few complaints.

Integrating it into our existing network was also a breeze. I decided to keep it wired, and connected it to our router. Right now we only have a G network, but will soon be upgraded to N by the end of the week. After a couple days of doing the nightly backups, a speed increase is definately in the works. Transfering 700GBs of Movies/Pictures and home video isnt a speedy operation on a wireless G network.

Well, thats my little home server adventure thus far. I’ll leave you with some screen shots.

Why would you want to remove spyware from your computer? Well there are a whole load of reasons as to why you could, but I am going to tell you why you should remove spyware.

You buy a new computer to upgrade, to get a faster processor or just a faster computer, a computer that probably cost you a lot of your hard earned money. Now let’s say it starts to slow down. A lot. What could do this? Spyware will do this. If this isn’t enough to make you go download or run your anti spyware application then I don’t know what will. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of people want to get something that will stop spyware in its tracks. One solution is to find an application that offers superior spyware protection, bundled with real time antivirus.

The best of the best in the computer application world are the applications that do real time scanning. What this means in simple English is that when a connection is being made between your computer and another over the internet, a certain program scans it, recognizes it and deems it acceptable or unacceptable. It makes its decision on the connection according to that company’s database of acceptable and unacceptable connections.

A lot of antivirus applications operate this way. They run in the background, often only displaying a small icon in your system try, beside your clock. The next generations of antivirus applications are coming bundled with spyware protection.

A lot of developers are coming to their senses about the current issue on spyware. It is becoming as big a problem as viruses these days. Many people actually consider spyware a virus. I personally consider it a wimpier, sadder attempt at making a virus.
Read the rest of this entry »

Free Spyware Removal is growing by heaps and bounds every year. The amount of free spyware removal tools grows every day, literally.

The hardest thing to do is to find a free spyware removal tool that actually does everything it is supposed to, and works perfectly fine. Most spyware removal tools claim to do a lot of things but until you actually get spyware and test out the program, you cannot be certain, or sure about the performance of the application.

The best place to start is a website that provides a free download service.

Let’s start with CNET Download.com. In my eyes, this is the big daddy of all download websites. I have personally used this website hundreds of times, but to find an application, and to read reviews and comments on programs. Since Antivirus, Spyware Removal and Firewalls are all very important, they have their own section, click the link on the left side of the page to go to Antivirus, Firewall, & Spyware. While you are there, check out the top featured application, they usually are very trustworthy and very effective. I then narrow it down by going to Spyware Removers, and sorting it by showing only the Free applications. Then, to make it easier on your part, sort it by most downloaded at the top. Read the rest of this entry »

Your best friend on your computer should be your spyware remover. This friend will save you many hours of frustration. I can attest to that. I have a lot of experience with spyware removers and all the different kinds of techniques to block and stop spyware from taking over your computer.

If you do a simple Google search for spyware remover you will notice that there are hundreds… even thousands of different choices to choose from. Well you are reading this because you want some insight into the best spyware remover. I have done a lot of research for myself, and so should everyone else.

There are many different routes you can take when deciding on which program you want and if it comes with what you are looking for in a spyware remover. Some applications are free, which usually means they come with the basic features and offer a quick fix solution. You can then opt to pay for a spyware remover.

If you are going to go this route, please research the company and application before you purchase. Just Google the name of the application and look for product reviews on websites. This will give you a better understanding of the application and the conditions it should be used under. Some spyware removers that you pay for are meant for a corporate setting, and some are meant for a home setting.

Then do some research on the company. You should do a Whois search on the domain, see how long it has been registered, if it was registered within a year, I would continue to do some research, and find out if they are a reputable company. If the domain has been registered for a couple years, and if they have a few professional reviews, it should be safe to buy their software.
Read the rest of this entry »

With more and more spyware popping up everywhere and in all sorts of forms, the general public has had to battle against it somehow. This is what I call the Anti Spyware Revolution. In this day and age, most homes have a computer. Some homes have more than three computers! Now with all of those computers, it gives the people who create spyware, a large number of computers to infect. If you are oblivious to spyware, you will not be a happy surfer.

Most people have no clue how to spot spyware, or recognize the symptoms. I will go over some symptoms that you might have on your computer when you are infected.

1. Biggest symptom is by far pop up advertisements. You’re trying to finish up your essay or you’re writing the last bit of your business proposal and all of the sudden… Party Poker pops up. Who opened this you might think. Your worst nightmare did, and it’ll do that 200 more times in the next few hours.

2. Slooooww computer. If you notice your computer booting up rather sluggishly, then you probably have some sort of spyware. It could also be you just have a lot of applications starting up at the initial boot up, but it will most likely be the fact that you have spyware. If you are me, it is anti spyware applications loading up. Read the rest of this entry »

Everyone has some sort of routine they follow, for most people it includes getting up, and getting ready to go to work. Some people also have a routine that they follow when they sit down on their computer. Mine goes something like login, check email, reply to emails, read some news sites, check out 2-3 forums, reply to threads, personal messages, then scan to remove spyware.

Even though it is usually the last step in my virtual routine, it is by far the most important. Well, maybe after checking my email. No matter where it is in my routine, it is still important.

I usually let people know about my routine, and the usual response to my spyware removal habits are “you have too much time on your hands” or “I don’t even know how to do that”. These responses really surprise me because it is so easy to remove spyware. On another note, it does not take long and can run in the background of your computer.
Read the rest of this entry »

While there are always new spyware viruses popping up every day, there are also companies and programs popping up every day to counteract all the new spyware. These companies are always developing new techniques to try and stop the spyware infection. These spyware removal techniques include things like remove, or block the spyware from even seeing your computer.

There are tons of free spyware removal tools; a couple that come to mind immediately are Ad-Aware by Lavasoft. This program comes in a lot of different languages, and comes in either a paid version or free version. Recently they have released a 2007 version with a highly updated search engine and a new design. This is one of the best spyware applications out there. Lavasoft releases an update to their search definitions almost daily it seems. Every time I open up the application, they have an update to download.

Next on my imaginary list, is Spybot S&D. Spyboy Search & Destroy is also one of the pioneers of the industry. They are proud to be a completely free application, and they also release updates to their search definitions. They don’t release them as often as Ad-Aware, but this is definitely something you should add to your Spyware Removal arsenal. Read the rest of this entry »

Bang & Olufsen knows as well as anybody that you can’t (usually) compete only on design and quality these days, people want functionality, and the much rumored, newly official BeoSound 5 is just such a monster. The unit is controlled by the BeoSound 5 controller, a rather large “remote” with a 10.4-inch XGA LCD and an aluminum scroll wheel. On the back end there’s a 500GB BeoControl 5 music server running Windows XP Embedded with internet connectivity and patent pending intelligent playlist creation. Naturally there are outputs and inputs galore, and it’s not just for audio: the box pumps out DVI-I and HDMI, and can play back plenty of video formats. Oh, but then there’s the price. B&O isn’t budging on this front, with a £3,500 tag (about $5,262 US) for when this hits in March 2009.

[Via Engadget]

K dont mind my shitty title. I thought it was unique! Someone has managed to turn a harddrive into a turn table input machine. The guy even includes a how-to on how you can do it yourself!

Check out the video below. Read the rest of this entry »

Spyware is generally known as something really terrible. Whenever someone mentions it, you shudder, hoping that your computer isn’t infected with the illusive spyware everyone always talks about. Spyware is usually something that advertises ads on your computer; generally the ads come up randomly and frequently.

Spyware can also be in the form of information collecting. This means that when the spyware is planted into your computer, it collects information about your surfing habits, the programs you use, even what you type. It can be scary thinking that something could be in your computer, recording all of this and sending it to someone you don’t even know.

Companies that make spyware usually don’t care about anyone else other than themselves. They use the spyware to exploit advertising networks. There are many advertising networks that pay people to show their ads, a spyware engineer could make a certain spyware to show that networks ads, generating quite a lot of money. Read the rest of this entry »