Symptoms of Computer Virus

Viruses and Spyware are pretty much the worst hassles to deal with when it comes to computers. A small price, for revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, businesses and day to day tasks making things a lot more efficient and productive. However, this one issue has proved to cost companies and individuals a fortune every year.

1. Computer Performance Degrades

If you notice your computer performing degrade with time, it is probably a virus issue, as viruses accumulate they drain CPU resources and tie up your usual tasks resulting in your computer running a lot slower. If it’s been a low performing computer ever since you remember though I think it’s time for a hardware upgrade.

2. Takes forever to startup

If you notice your computer taking forever to startup without any significant modifications to your system (installing a CPU heavy application like an antivirus is a significant modification) it’s probably because your malware are starting up too. One way to check this is to open Start > Run > “Msconfig”>Startup and check the applications on startup, if you notice anything you don’t recognize in the list, it could be malware, however you can’t be too sure as it could be a third party process of a trusted installed application.

3. Toolbars and Tray Icons out of nowhere

This could be either a virus or spyware, usually malware toolbars installed are usually spyware, installed into the browser to track user browsing habits and information. Tray icons, which is again malware (as it was installed without the user’s consent) could be viruses or spyware, they could be harmless, meant to drain your computer off its resources or spyware to track your usage again.

4. Your computer is infected!

This is another common form of tricking the user to install a malicious software tool. Usually, a malicious script is installed into your system or hijacks your browser (another form of spyware) and continually prompts the user that the computer is infected and needs to be scanned for issues, users who are tricked by this message, install the apparent anti malware tool which in itself is a virus.

5. Your browser keeps crashing and/or you get a new home page

This is a definite case of spyware, where the browser is hijacked and results in your browser crashing and your home page being modified to a malicious website as well.

6. You can’t access your task manager

This is typical of a virus, the virus while creating a background process to exploit the victim’s computer, disables the task manager as well via a registry key so that the running virus process cannot be ended. This can be fixed using Disk Heal if the virus is no longer active.

7. You can’t access your folder options or the preferences are read only.

The Folder Options (My Computer > Tools > Folder Options) controls numerous functions on the windows operating system. One of the main functions controlled is whether files given the ‘hidden’ or ‘system’ attribute should be displayed in your file explorer/My Computer. Viruses usually sit somewhere in the hard disk with these attributes appended to them to prevent the user finding them, therefore it also disables the Folder Options or makes its preferences ‘read only’ where when preferences are changed and applied, you’ll notice them revert to the previous settings right away. This can be fixed using Disk Heal if the virus is no longer active.

8. You can’t access the Windows Registry Editor

The windows registry editor (Start > Run > “Regedit” ) is your system’s ‘headquarters’. This is where most of your operating system and application software preferences are stored. Viruses after penetrating into a system, usually disable the registry editor to prevent system administrators manually reverting settings like the previous two points. This can be fixed using Disk Heal if the virus is no longer active.

9. Your CPU Usage is 100% all the time.

Open the task manager (Ctrl + Alt + Del / Ctrl + Shift + Esc). If it’s disabled, you have your answer, you have a virus (unless you are not the admin of the computer and the administrator has disabled this feature). If you notice the CPU usage is 100%, arrange the processes by by CPU usage and check the process taking up the bulk, if it has a weird name (you should be able to figure or else leave a comment below) chances are it’s a virus.

10. Autorun.inf in your local or external drive

Take the letters of the active drives in your computer now, replace it in the letter field in the following location and open it in the My Computer address bar: “[letter]:/autorun.inf”, if it opens a notepad file with a reference to an EXE or any unidentified file it is probably another sign of a virus, unless that drive has a designated autorun program on startup however this is unlikely on local or even external hard drives unless manually done.

So there you have it, these are 10 of the most popular ways to know if your computer is infected by a virus, of course there are plenty of other symptoms to determine if your computer is infected and also the above factors may not necessarily mean you could be infected, but if you find more than a couple of the above familiar maybe, you should be looking to switch to a better antivirus and antispyware or get a new one if you don’t use them.

I’ve tried several antivirus and antispyware programs and concluded that Kaspersky andAd Aware are the best in the market. I’m currently another two similar products as well, await the reviews of them

Ipad Mini

The iPad Mini (stylized and marketed as iPad mini) is a mini tablet computer designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. It was announced on October 23, 2012, as the fifth major product in the iPad line and the first to feature a reduced screen size of 7.9 inches, in contrast to the standard 9.7 inches. It features similar internal specifications as the iPad 2, including its display resolution. It was released on November 2, 2012 in nearly all of Apple's markets.

 Black Ipad Mini

The iPad Mini shipped with iOS 6.0.1. It can act as a hotspot with some carriers, sharing its Internet connection over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or USB, and also access the App Store, a digital application distribution platform for iOS that is developed and maintained by Apple. The service allows users to browse and download applications from the iTunes Store that were developed with Xcode and the iOS SDK and were published through Apple. From the App Store, GarageBand, iMovie, iPhoto, and the iWork apps (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers) are available.

The iPad Mini comes with several pre-installed applications, including Siri, Safari, Mail, Photos, Video, Music, iTunes, App Store, Maps, Notes, Calendar, Game Center, Photo Booth, and Contacts. Like all iOS devices, the iPad can sync content and other data with a Mac or PC using iTunes, although iOS 5 and later can be managed and backed up with iCloud. Although the tablet is not designed to make telephone calls over a cellular network, users can use a headset or the built-in speaker and microphone and place phone calls over Wi-Fi or cellular using a VoIP application, such as Skype. The device has dictation, using the same voice recognition technology as the iPhone 4S. The user speaks and the iPad types what they say on the screen provided that the iPad is connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network. The device has an optional iBooks application, which displays books and other ePub-format content downloaded from the iBookstore. Several major book publishers including Penguin Books, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan have committed to publishing books for the device. Despite being a direct competitor to both the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook, both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble offer e-reader apps for the iPad.

Set Picture Password in Windows 8

Windows 8 introduce a new security feature, picture password. While you can continue to use a numeric combination as your password, you can enable the security feature if you have a touch enabled device and experience the new way of logging into your Windows 8 device.

1. Move your mouse cursor to the upper left corner to show the Search and Settings panel. Click on More PC Settings, and select Users.

2. Click on Create a Picture Password, Confirm with your local account or Windows Account password.

3. Click the Choose picture button. Select the picture you want to use. Note: these pictures are stored in the Pictures folder of your local account.

4. You can drag the picture an move it around to display the way you like, and click the Use this picture button. Draw three gestures and repeat to confirm. The three gestures are a combination of circles, straight lines and taps. You can repeat the process by clicking the Start Over button until you are satisfied with the gesture combination or until you are done correctly.

5. When you log in next time, you will be able to use either your standard password or the newly created picture password. You can easily remove the picture password from the User settings if you want to.

Notes:

If you use the picture password and you know you did something wrong, you can press the Start Over button and start again. If you don’t get the gestures right five times in a row, Windows 8 automatically switch back to the alphanumeric password option before you get frustrated. I haven’t noticed any logon delays due to repeating attempts with incorrect gestures.


With the alphanumeric password option, you are reminded with your password hit and the password reset option after the first attempt. After five attempts, you will have to wait for a long while (about 30 seconds or longer) before next attempt. This deliberate delay is a Windows security feature that is designed to prevent hackers from keeping guessing your user name and password.

Samsung Galaxy Camera

Galaxy Camera is a no-compromise hybrid device. It can shoot pictures just like any other camera and it can allow you browse internet and check your mail just like any other smartphone.

Build quality and hardware
Design is not a forte of Samsung's Android devices. Galaxy Camera, however, bucks the trend. We feel it is the best-designed Android device Samsung has made so far. The all-white body and the black lens look great. The camera has a minimalist design and has just three buttons - the shutter release buttons, power button and flash release button. The back of the device sports a huge- by the standard of cameras - 4.8-inch touchscreen. Like other cameras, this one has no navigation or settings buttons and photographers are expected to use the onscreen navigation to make changes. 

In terms of camera specifications, the device has a typical configuration. It is neither special nor lacks anything. It has a 16 megapixel lens with a focal length of 4.1mm-86.1mm with an effective (35mm) focal length of 23mm-483mm, giving the device an optical zoom of 21X. At its lowest focal length the camera has the aperture of F2.8. It has 8GB internal storage that can be expanded through a micro SD card of up to 64GB. It has a pop-up flash and an ISO range of 100 to 3200.

But where Galaxy Camera leaves other shooters in dust is in its smart capabilities. The device is powered by a quad-core processor running at 1.4GHz speed. It has 1GB RAM and a variant of Mali 400 graphics chip. The camera runs on Android 4.1 aka Jelly Bean operating system and it almost all functions that an Android smartphone does. We say almost because you can't call or message someone over cellular network using Galaxy Camera. Though you can keep in touch with your friends using GTalk, Nimbuzz, Whatsapp or Facebook through this device. 

Samsung Galaxy Camera

Shoot and share
During our use we shot hundreds of images and tens of videos with the device and found the results to be satisfactory in most instances. Galaxy Camera uses a very simple interface and people who do not want to delve too deep in settings can also get some good images out of this device. There are just three modes - auto, smart auto where a user can select the kind of scene he wants, and the expert, which allows users to change aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed. Given the fact that the camera has no physical buttons to change settings on the fly, it is a device more suitable to people who like to shoot images on auto modes.

Thankfully, the performance in auto mode is fantastic. Under the favourable conditions - read good lighting - the camera produces images that are rich in colour, sharp and detailed. In terms of image quality it is easily up their among the best point and shoot cameras. The images do get a little soft at the extreme end of the telephoto lens (at 21X) but it is something all point and shoot cameras suffer from. On the other hand, the macro mode on the camera is fantastic, capturing the subject in great detail while giving a pleasantly shallow depth of field.

The presence of 21X zoom also makes the camera a very good shooter for portraits as the high zoom allow shooters to click pictures with shallow depth of field.

In low light conditions, the image quality takes a some beating, especially if you see them on a big computer screen. They lose details and have noise reduction that is too strong. Image quality is comparable to most point and shoot cameras but similarly priced mirror-less or hybrid cameras such as Nex-5 have better low-light performance. 

Galaxy Camera can shoot FullHD videos at 30 frames per second. The quality of videos is very good and focus is continuous. Movement due to hand shake is managed well. But if you move too fast or zoom in and out too quickly while shooting videos, the camera tends to lose focus for a second or two.

The area where Galaxy Camera really comes into its own is what you can do with it other than capturing the images.. You can edit images on the camera, you can apply special effects, you can geo-tag them with the help of GPS and you can upload them to Picasa, Dropbox or any other comparable cloud-storage service automatically.

There is just one downside to all this added functionality - battery life. When used purely as a camera, the device can shoot around 170 images and a few video clips before running out of battery charge. But if you put a 3G SIM into it, the battery life takes a massive dip. The devices can shoot around 100 to 120 images when used with 3G. Samsung is aware of the poor battery life of Galaxy Camera and is selling the device an additional battery in India.

Should you buy it?
Galaxy Camera is a unique device. And fun to use. It shoots very good images and decent videos. It has a very good zoom of 21X. It can be used as a functional smartphone. It is a smart camera that delivers on its promises.

But before you rush out to buy it, here is what we suggest. If you want a good, functional point and shoot camera and don't care about sharing images with friends and family members as soon as you have shot them, get a basic camera. It will cost half of what Galaxy Camera sells for. If you are after fantastic image quality, get a DSLR or a good mirrorless camera.

But if you want to have fun with images, Galaxy Camera should be on your shortlist. It does things that cameras are not supposed to do and does them well. Shoot, share and go crazy with the filters and Android apps - that is the premise of Galaxy Camera. As an added bonus you also get access to smartphone functions. If you can make use of the added functionality that Galaxy Camera offers, it is a superb deal even at an MRP of Rs 29,900.

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