A mouse is undeniably one of the essential tools because as you are reading this, you are clicking and scrolling up and down. If you use a computer (duh!), chances are you depend a lot on a mouse; this is 100% true 20 years ago, maybe 80% true 5 years ago and certainly less than 50% true these day. Reason is devices like trackpads and touch-sensitive tools are taking over the role. However, designers will probably still stick with mouse because they are the more efficient companion when it comes their work such as Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

5 years from now, if you revisited this post, you may find your right hand on a bottle of coke and this post is merely reminding you of a peripheral device you used to use – a mouse. Today’s post celebrate a showcase of unusual, creative and funny mice ever created while it is still at the safe line before extinction! Full list after jump.

USB Penguin Mouse
Penguin mouse is one of the animal theme mouse for computer. If you like these cute animals, you can buy this cute mouse for your kids.

Gold Brain Computer Mouse
This blinged brainy mouse is apt for the geeky folks who don’t mind playing with some jazzy stuff too. Maybe brain mouse will activate ideas in your brain.

Another Keypad Mouse
Sanwa NT-MA2 is the name of this computer mouse / keypad combo. It’s available in white or black. The price has been set to 40 Euros.

Aircraft Computer Mouse with LED Lights
The aircraft mouse is avaliable for all folks how loves futuristic thought or for Star Wars fans. Mouse is available in black or white and features two buttons, a scroll wheel and LED lights in red and blue.

Diamante USB Mouse
This computer mouse features two buttons and a scroll wheel, and it is studded with dazzling white, fake diamonds. Perfect gift for girls.

Zero Mouse
The revolutionary design of the Zero Mouse combines state of the art design and lightweight materials.

Mus2 computer mouse
Mus2 cordless optical two-button mouse not only controls the cursor on the screen, but looks like one, too. Despite this unusual shape, Mus2 fits well into the hand and doesn’t cause any discomfort.

MLB Baseball Cap Mouse
Baseball fans will love using this MLB ball cap computer mouse. With over 15 Major League Baseball logo designs to choose from, this optical 2-button mouse is a fun and unique way to display your team loyalty while you work.

Body Mouse
Body Mouse was designed by the famous designer Chris Lomak. It does not look like a professional mouse, but funny enough for gift.

Wireless Mouse – Camaro Black
Road Mice appeals to computer users who love cars. Car enthusiasts love these replica automobiles that work as fully-functional computer mice. Road Mice have smooth lines, realistic details, glossy finish and working LED headlights.

The man’s body mouse
Modern optical mouse that looks like real human body. I think men will not use a mouse like that, but some women could use them.

Optical Ferrari Car Mouse
Car 3D optical mouse looks like real Ferrari sports car that will appeal to all racing fans. LED lights in car running lights looks fancy.

Cyborg R.A.T. Gaming Mice
Perhaps the mouse is not comfortable because of the futuristic shapes and form looks, but it will fit in each gamer room.

Optical Mouse Skype Hands-free PC Speakerphone
With professional compatible earphone to protect your privacy,the Skype Mouses that has all the cool features is perfect for personal use, gifts.

Eclipse touchmouse
Featuring elegant and sophisticated brushed-aluminum finish, the eclipse touchmouse sports an advanced feature set and streamlined ergonomics. Designed for home, office or on the go, the touchmouse delivers both style and quality.

Saitek Obsidian 1000 dpi Wireless Rechargeable Optical Mouse
The ultimate rechargeable wireless mouse has an optical sensor for high speed, ultra accurate tracking and groundbreaking design with outstanding ergonomics and highly tactile materials.

Wireless Ergonomic Computer Mouse
Optical mouse has laser pointer and ergonomic design that even slightly not looks like a normal mouse. Works from up to 15 feet away from your computer.

Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse
Designed by Blizzard and SteelSeries specifically for World of Warcraft, The World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse provides remarkable benefits to all World of Warcraft gamers, regardless of level or play style.

Portable Finger Hand Held 4D Usb Mini Trackball Mouse
Looking for something a bit different in a mouse? This new mouse from Brando might be up your alley. The two dimensions and buttons are simply controlled by fingers.

Crystal computer mouse
Lady beetle crystal mouse has very gorgeous style that is the best choice for fashion ladies and men.

Tortoise-shaped optical usb mouse
Tortoise shaped optical mouse could be first PC mouse for your kids. The design is simple, but it is very similar to real turtle, which children will enjoy.

Dolphin computer mouse
Similar to turtle mouse, it is very cute and ideal gift for a kids or you an use in your office to make fun.

Golf 3D USB Optical Computer Mouse
If you favorite game is golf, this mouse is for you, but only at home do not confuse Pc mouse with a real ball and dont take it to the game.

Wowpen Joy Vertical computer Mouse
Ergonomically designed for both right and left hand use with Bluetooth enabled computer. This compact and ambidextrous Bluetooth desktop mouse is only designed to work with Bluetooth-enabled computer systems, thus eliminating the need for a separate receiver dongle.

Creative golf mouse
Here is one more golf mouse, but this time with this PC mouse comes all playground with holes that will decorate your office.

Handshoe Mouse
Also called The Horse, HandshoeMouse uses the 800 dpi optical standard and practically solves the problem of muscle fatigue encountered among business and creative professionals. Hippus compared a traditional computer mouse electromyogram with the HandshoeMouse measurements.

A Steampunk Mouse
A steampunk mouse is crafted out of wood and brass and bone. Daniel Pon how create this awesome mouse, has carved the Paradox Mouse in LEDs with extra peripherals like a mouse skull, spine and shoulder blades.

Jelly Click Mouse
Very unusual PC mouse designed by Bongkun Shin, Heungkyo Seo, Jiwoong Hwang and Wooteik Lim. They created concept Jelly Click mouse. All the electronic circuits were on a small flexible board and the body itself is made of soft plastic.

Sliced Mouse
What was the idea of creating this mouse, I do not know, but it looks unusual, although not useful. The only plus is when mouse is damaged to get access to the chips.

Memory Mouse
Memory Mouse has such a compact form, controlled by only four fingers. This design will lessen the contact surface to provide hygienic condition and also make your bag lighter than ever.

Optical Super Slim Mouse
Optical Super Slim Mouse is a wireless, optical mouse with an incredibly slim profile. At only 10mm at the highest point, it almost feels like you’re using nothing at all – just a bunch of people pawing at their desks.

Bendy M 3 Dimensional Mouse
Kim Hye-shin perceives a single strip that can be bent into the infinite-sign-shape, with only the necessary features on it. Bendy M may be a good enough design if your focus is more on the keyboard and use a mouse just as a pointer.

G-Spot Mouse
This mouse is designed by Andy Kurovets and it is called the “G-Spot”. This mouse has a secret spot. When you find it, to your favorite place on the computer it’s connected to you will go.

Wooden Mice
Wooden mice designed by Alest Rukov is maded from types of wood cultivated specifically for industrial use, safe for the environment to manufacture and to use. All wooden components made from a single piece of solid wood.

Jupiter, Escher and Deco mouse
This is trilogy of celestial orbs – three different products – the Jupiter mouse, Escher mouse, and the Deco mouse. Thes mouses are not cheap. Each of them costs about 150%.

An Alien Mouse
UK designer Mizanur Rehman came with a vibrant concept mouse that is described as “Alien Mouse”. Staying true to the name, the Alien Mouse is designed to mould to the user’s hand and thereby prevent RSI and reduce stress.

Wireless Building Block Mouse
Wireless building block mouse is inspired by the same building blocks we couldn’t get enough of as kids. Complete with a right and left click button and a scroll wheel, this mouse will make those boring tasks at work seem fun.

The Computer-Mouse Star
Computer-Mouse Star wouldn’t be in the least bit awkward to use or even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Well for those committed to their love for stars, this mouse would be a cute accessory to your computer.

Mario Brothers Mice
Dot Design 2 Super Mario Brothers computer mice from Banpresto features popular bitmap characters from the popular game series. The mice come in two designs, one featuring Mario, and the other featuring a familiar Star shape.

eVouse Mouse Concept
This awesome and futuristic mouse has a v-shaped unique design with metallic look with a futuristic green light that illuminates on every movement, it has got action buttons just like the ordinary mouse and has got a scroll.

Grenade Mouse
The mouse is actually made out of an old grenade casing, so it gives a slightly more authentic feel. This socking mouse must be the ultimate gamers mouse especially for those playing war of attrition online games.

Bling’d Out Mouse for Girls
This bling’d out mouse designed for the ladies is “embellished” with silver and crystal accents and will go a long way toward patching up any rocky relationship.

Gold Bullion Wireless Mouse
The gold bullion wireless mouse just may be the perfect gift, especially if you are worried about government deficits. Gold Bullion has standard left and right click mouse buttons, a scroll wheel and it will work with your PC or Mac.

Ghost Mouse
This Scream inspired ghost face mouse features 3 mouse buttons, a scroll wheel, and a resolution of 800 dpi. that will provide you with high precision control. If you want it, you can get it for only about 35$.

Smitrix Swiftpoint Triped Mouse
The Smitrix Swiftpoint Triped mouse was specially designed for tablet PCs and multi-touch tabletop surfaces and it’s eliminating the pen. Why Triped mouse? Becouse it is a mouse, a touchpad and also a digitizer pen.

Perific Wireless Dual Mouse
Perific Mouse is a revolutionary new type of ergonomic computer mouse. It is a wireless pointing device which can be used in a variety of ways, both on and off the desk in the air.

Hybrid Monster Naga Mouse
The Razer Naga Mouse, is GamesCom’s first MMO mouse, and features cool capabilities if slaying online bad monsters is your thing.The mouse has been optimised with an extra 12 buttons which are customisable to keyboard settings on the computer.

Creative Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse
The Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse was designed with every last detail scrutinized by the world’s top FPS gamer, Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel. The Creative Fatal1ty 2020 mouse has a 6.4 megapixel sensor in its base to pick up the smallest twitch.

Orbita Mouse
The ergonomic Orbita Mouse is a USB wireless rotating round mouse designed to enhance navigation in a wide range of Mac and PC applications.

Makeup Mouse
Here is the latest mouse, designed for the well groomed secretary. The cunningly hidden features include a mirror and make-up brush. Mark II now also stores Chanel No. 5 perfume and a Lipstick.

Want More?

More creative and unusual computer peripherals, devices and gadgets, or check out our entire collection.

• Unusual Flash Drives
• Unusual USB products
• Computer casings Part I, Part II
• Computer keyboards you’ve never seen before

(bellefoong)

View full post on hongkiat.com

Barack Obama gets asked a computer science question by Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Please read this before you message me! People keep messaging me the same question so I will post the answer here: This program is from MIT and it’s called “Assist Sketch Understanding System and Operation”. You can’t buy it or download it. This is a program that uses physics to allow you to draw objects and have them interact with each other. It’s hard to explain. You need to see it to understand.

Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, is a computer consulting firm that services small to medium sized businesses as well as the technically challenged homeowner.

Our staff has a wide range of computer and technology experience. Our team of professionals is dedicated to providing a total solution for businesses and homeowners. We specialize in on site computer service, computer virus repair, data storage solution, computer technical support, and offer a wide array of other services.

When you are experiencing computer problems, the time and money lost in productivity grows by the minute. Give us a call if you are having technology troubles and let us get you back up and running …often within hours.

Running a computer consulting company is done with the goal to improve a business over the Internet as a result of the application and use of the most adequate computer technology practices out there.

As such the objective of IT consulting firms is to set up a marketing plan for initiation into the online website solution of a business. This marketing plan includes such activities as identifying the market situation, the threats and opportunities, marketing objectives, marketing goals, and controls for tracking effectiveness.

Together these elements of the marketing plan, when correctly identified and initiated into the website solution, can provide great results in the overall success of a business over the Internet. There are a number of benefits that an IT consulting firm can enjoy from getting aid from a computer consulting business and the marketing plans which they are able to write. These benefits include:

lists the ultimate goals to work towards can function as a chart to success gives effective instructions for the operation of an online business solution acts as a reminder for what has been agreed upon can be used for reflection for analysis of achievements or failures occurring after a specific period of time

Even a small business IT consulting firm is able to help your business fulfill the following objectives through the development of an effective data backup solution as placed on the Internet:

Introduce your company and new products to the global market Extend or regain the market for existing products Enter into new business territories Boost sales by attracting more potential clients through Internet visibility and accessibility Gain long-term contracts with customers who are likely to stick around Use the Internet as a cost-effective tool for marketing and company promotion Refine your company image and products by going online Enhance the purchasing options and delivery of products with ecommerce solutions for online website shopping

This article was prepared and written by Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is i...@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This article was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC

Ellie Rountree visits the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. www.computerhistory.org This episode was created in collaboration with Intel! www.intel.com

Funny Pranks – Computer Scare Prank! More funny videos and pranks at www.funnyd00ds.com A simple change of the windows startup sound and cranking up the volume knob turns into a funny scary prank. Background Music “Scheming Weasel Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons “Attribution 3.0″ creativecommons.org

As the computer repair center for Oakland, Wayne and Macomb Counties, Concise maintains a client list that resembles the “who’s who” in the Michigan small business community.  They are good, and they are growing out of their digs in Bloomfield Hills.

One of the reasons that Concise is so well respected in their industry is because they take the time to explain and teach at the same time.  Let’s face it, the information highway has its own language today.  Computer techies have always had a vernacular that tended to exclude the rest of the non-techie world.  Making things worse for us non-techies today, is the next layer of computer- speak: abbreviations of all the words that we had no clue about from the beginning.

The staff at Concise will now lead the pc tech support field by offering a series of articles with those definitions of words from the computer tech support world.  This is the first offering in what Concise hopes will be a long series of definitions from the computer tech speaker.

HONEYPOT

Wikipedia defines a HONEYPOT in computer speak, as a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract unauthorized attempts to obtain use of information systems.

A HONEYPOT consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network. But, the Honeypot is actually an isolated and unprotected deadend which appears to a hacker as valuable information.

Simply put, a HONEYPOT is a seductive decoy.  It lures the attacker into a harmless area of your system where it could be isolated, detected, and hopefully discovered by cyber police.

Another use of the Honeypot is to isolate spam.  Spammers abuse vulnerable resources such as open mail relays.  Some system administrators have created honeypot programs that masquerade as these decoy resources to discover spammer activity. There are several capabilities that honeypots provide to the administrators and the existence of such seductive bait systems makes abuse more difficult or risky for the spammer. Honeypots can be a powerful countermeasure to abuse from those who rely on very high volume abuse (e.g., spammers).  These honeypots can reveal the apparent IP address of the abuse and provide bulk spam capture (which enables operators to determine spammer’s URLs and response mechanisms).

HONEYNETS

Two or more honeypots on a network form a HONEYNET. Typically, a HONEYNET is used for monitoring a larger and/or more diverse network in which one honeypot may not be sufficient. Honeynets and honeypots are usually implemented as parts of a larger computer trouble shooting system. A HONEYFARM is a centralized collection of honeypots and analysis tools.

The next visit from a Concise Computer Consulting technician should go smoother.  And, when the topic turns to setting up a Honeyfarm for your small business’s computer system, you will immediately understand that you are not about to purchase a bunch of bee hives.

Concise Computer Consulting services the small and medium sized business community as well as residential homeowners.  Concise offers every kind of on site computer service:  laptop repair service, online pc repair, pc tech support and computer trouble shooting. Concise also offers Remote access configuration, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Web site design, Server Administration, and Preventive maintenance in the metropolitan Detroit area.  In addition, Concise diagnoses, installs, and manages both wired and wireless Local Area Networks, and even resells computers, laptops, and servers for Dell and IBM.

When you are experiencing computer problems, the time and money lost in productivity grows by the minute. Give us a call if you are having technology troubles and let us get you back up and running …often within hours.

Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is i...@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This Article was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC.

As the computer repair center for Oakland, Wayne and Macomb Counties, Concise maintains a client list that resembles the “who’s who” in the Michigan small business community.  They are good, and they are growing out of their digs in Bloomfield Hills.

One of the reasons that Concise is so well respected in their industry is because they take the time to explain and teach at the same time.  Let’s face it, the information highway has its own language today.  Computer techies have always had a vernacular that tended to exclude the rest of the non-techie world.  Making things worse for us non-techies today, is the next layer of computer- speak: abbreviations of all the words that we had no clue about from the beginning.

The staff at Concise will now lead the pc tech support field by offering a series of articles with those definitions of words from the computer tech support world.  This is the first offering in what Concise hopes will be a long series of definitions from the computer tech speaker.

HONEYPOT

Wikipedia defines a HONEYPOT in computer speak, as a trap set to detect, deflect, or in some manner counteract unauthorized attempts to obtain use of information systems.

A HONEYPOT consists of a computer, data, or a network site that appears to be part of a network. But, the Honeypot is actually an isolated and unprotected deadend which appears to a hacker as valuable information.

Simply put, a HONEYPOT is a seductive decoy.  It lures the attacker into a harmless area of your system where it could be isolated, detected, and hopefully discovered by cyber police.

Another use of the Honeypot is to isolate spam.  Spammers abuse vulnerable resources such as open mail relays.  Some system administrators have created honeypot programs that masquerade as these decoy resources to discover spammer activity. There are several capabilities that honeypots provide to the administrators and the existence of such seductive bait systems makes abuse more difficult or risky for the spammer. Honeypots can be a powerful countermeasure to abuse from those who rely on very high volume abuse (e.g., spammers).  These honeypots can reveal the apparent IP address of the abuse and provide bulk spam capture (which enables operators to determine spammer’s URLs and response mechanisms).

HONEYNETS

Two or more honeypots on a network form a HONEYNET. Typically, a HONEYNET is used for monitoring a larger and/or more diverse network in which one honeypot may not be sufficient. Honeynets and honeypots are usually implemented as parts of a larger computer trouble shooting system. A HONEYFARM is a centralized collection of honeypots and analysis tools.

The next visit from a Concise Computer Consulting technician should go smoother.  And, when the topic turns to setting up a Honeyfarm for your small business’s computer system, you will immediately understand that you are not about to purchase a bunch of bee hives.

Concise Computer Consulting services the small and medium sized business community as well as residential homeowners.  Concise offers every kind of on site computer service:  laptop repair service, online pc repair, pc tech support and computer trouble shooting. Concise also offers Remote access configuration, Virtual Private Networks (VPN), Web site design, Server Administration, and Preventive maintenance in the metropolitan Detroit area.  In addition, Concise diagnoses, installs, and manages both wired and wireless Local Area Networks, and even resells computers, laptops, and servers for Dell and IBM.

When you are experiencing computer problems, the time and money lost in productivity grows by the minute. Give us a call if you are having technology troubles and let us get you back up and running …often within hours.

Jeff Atto of Concise Computer Consulting, LLC, located at 2150 Franklin Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI.  Please contact us for any question about your home computer or laptop.  248-745-8255

My email address is i...@concisePC.com and our website is http://www.concisePC.com

This press release was submitted by Right Now Marketing Group, LLC.

With all of the resources available to you, you may well ask yourself, “Why do I need a computer expert to maintain my computer?” The short answer is, you don’t. Just like you don’t need a technician to fix your car, repair your furnace, or do any other maintenance or repairs. If you have the knowledge and the time, you can easily repair and maintain your own computer.

But be warned, there are several potential “gotchas” involved in maintaining your own computer. If you decide to repair your own automobile, a company won’t sell you a carburetor what will break your car. Unfortunately, that’s not true of computer maintenance. There are many programs out there that either don’t do what they purport to do, perform unnecessary functions, or are just plain dangerous to install. It’s up to you, the computer maintenance technician, to determine what programs you can safely use in what manner.

In this article, we’ll discuss some of the programs out there and what the do-it-yourselfer needs to watch out for.

Registry Cleaners Websites such as Finally Fast.com and Double My Speed.com have been promoting themselves heavily of late. These (and other) sites offer products to download and install that purport to improve your computer’s performance. These programs are mostly registry cleaners. The Windows registry is simply a database that the operating system uses to store everything it needs to know to run as per your specifications. In addition, it’s available to any other program to write their information in there as well. Since Windows 95, the registry has been the recommended repository for user preferences, settings, and any other variables a program has to remember.

Over time the Windows registry will become cluttered with unneeded information, most frequently caused by uninstallation programs not removing all of the data they should. The concept of a registry cleaner is that it will detect and remove these orphan settings, frequently improving computer performance.

The problem with registry cleaners is that they will often incorrectly detect a setting as unneeded and delete it, causing problems with either installed programs or the Windows operating system itself. Registry cleaners are good, but you should never blindly take their advice as to what to delete. You should always review each entry to verify that it can be deleted safely.

And keep in mind there are freeware applications that do an excellent job of cleaning your Windows registry. Ccleaner is the one recommended by The Computer Psychic. (Go to Google and search for ccleaner.)

Anti-Malware Applications Malware (spyware and virus) cleanup and prevention is one of the most important aspects of computer maintenance. If you catch a virus on your system, you leave yourself open to all sorts of mischief – including having files deleted, getting your address book scammed and spam e-mails being sent in your name, and even having your credit card and banking information stolen! Spyware can be just as bad – it typically “watches” what you do on your computer, down to even logging keystrokes, and thus stealing your passwords. In addition to these problems, spyware and viruses are often poorly written, causing performance problems in your system.

There are dozens of applications on the market that claim to remove malware from your system. And many of them do a good job. But here’s the rub – many programs that present themselves as anti-virus or anti-spyware are, themselves, viruses and spyware! The Computer Psychic has seen all too many systems where the owner has – with the best of intentions – installed an anti-malware app into their system, only to see the floodgates opened; they find themselves with more popup ads and performance problems than they’ve ever seen before.

So how do you make sure you don’t install one of these #$%& programs? First of all, if you get a pop-up message telling you that your computer is infected with viruses and click here to download a virus cleaner, don’t do it! Without exception, these programs are scams. Downloading one of these apps will introduce your system to more viruses than you thought existed. In fact, when you see this window, you’ll be presented with an OK and Cancel button. Don’t click either one! If you click Cancel, it will still install a virus. Instead, click on the little X in the upper right-hand corner to close the window.

Secondly, if you use a search engine looking for anti-malware programs, be careful what links you follow. Malware creators will name their applications very similar to – or even exactly the same as – legitimate programs, hoping to confuse you into downloading theirs instead of the good one. For example, if you wanted to download Spybot Search and Destroy (an excellent anti-spyware program) and searched for it in Yahoo, the very first result you’ll find purports itself to be Spybot. Clicking their link takes you to a page that says it’s Spybot Search and Destroy, but is actually an application that acts as a gateway to allow viruses into your system.

So, again, you need to take the time to learn what is and what isn’t safe to install. The Computer Psychic has a very easy recommendation. Microsoft has a vested interest in keeping your computer malware-free. If they do a good job of preventing viruses from getting into your system, then that’s one less thing that Apple can beat them up over. Towards that end, in September of 2009, Microsoft released an excellent free anti-malware program named Microsoft Security Essentials (www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials). In the past, The Computer Psychic has recommended against all-in-one solutions, arguing that no one application can catch everything. But Microsoft Security Essentials is just that good. It does as good a job as – or better than – any other application, or combination of apps, in blocking any type of spyware or virus.

Startup Monitors While not as popular as the other system maintenance programs, proper use of a startup monitor can dramatically speed up your computer. A startup monitor will tell you just what programs, drivers and processes load when you start your computer.

When you boot up your computer, the operating system will also auto-start many other components – possibly a fax application, printer elements, video or mouse drivers, to name a few. These are good – they are essential for the proper operation of your computer. However, many applications add themselves to the auto-run settings for their own convenience – not yours.

For example, programs such as Adobe Reader and Microsoft Office will tell the operating system to pre-load some of their components as Windows starts up. This allows their software to open more quickly when needed. The downside of this is, even if you aren’t actively using their software, your computer is using memory running those components. Better to not pre-load those components; let the software take a second or two longer to load, and speed up your entire system.

Another popular use for the startup is for auto-update programs. These apps will periodically check the internet looking for updates. If one is found, the program will present you with a window telling you an update is available. Not only do these apps consume computer resources, they can be an annoyance.

In order to easily prevent unwanted software from running automatically, The Computer Psychic recommends a Microsoft application called AutoRuns (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx). Using Autoruns you can decide just what apps you want to run when starting your computer. Once again, though, don’t blindly turn of all apps. Make sure you know what you’re disabling.

Summary

As you can see, using the tools recommended in this article makes it quite possible for anyone to maintain their computer’s health. But as with anything technical, make sure you know what you’re doing before just tinkering away.

Designed and built a mini-ITX case entirely out of LEGO bricks. Here is a time lapse of the build process, just for fun More information and pictures at tfvlrue.wordpress.com Also check out my new Lego router! tfvlrue.wordpress.com (LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor or endorse this project or video)