Microsoft released Internet Explorer 9 to the world last month to much fanfare and millions of downloads. However, the rollout was only done through direct downloads for users.

However, not each and every user has upgraded to the latest browser from Microsoft and they do have a way to get it out; through Automatic Updates. Microsoft has confirmed that they are now rolling out Internet Explorer 9 to all Windows 7 users through the automatic update channel.

The update will be rolled out as an important update to all users. It is not clear yet whether users have to upgrade to it compulsorily or not. I am unable to confirm this since I have already upgraded to IE9 but will do so shortly on another PC. The update will be a part of the regular updates rolled out by Microsoft.

If you haven’t used Internet Explorer 9 yet, you should definitely upgrade to it and check out our Ultimate List of tips and trick for IE9.

If you haven’t already, you need to fix your Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 machines to protect you against a recently discovered flaw. It’s called the HCP Flaw.

Is it dangerous? Yes, all you have to do is view a specially coded page on the net, and your control over your PC can be stolen right out from under you.

Here’s what the problem is. A flaw in the Windows Help and Support Center (helpctr.exe) was discovered recently, and shortly after that, the information telling people how to take advantage of it was also published. It’s good when Windows flaws are reported, but it’s very bad when the information on how to use those flaws is also broadcast. You can bet that there are some black hats out there already infecting PCs with this new flaw.

There is a fix out from Microsoft. Go to this page and click on the Fixbutton to download the fix (KB2219475).

This fixisn’t a real solution. It disables the Help and Support Center in Windows, but if you are like me, you never use it anyway. Some time after Microsoft offers a real update to solve this problem, I’ll go back and re-enable the help center.

People running running Windows 7, Vista, 2000 or Server 2008 are safe from this bug. The affected operating systems are:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, when used with:
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition (32-bit x86)
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for Itanium-Based Systems
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, when used with:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3, when used with:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Here’s a good place to find more information on the HCP Flaw if you need it.

Many thanks to Terry’s Computer Tips for this tip.

Today on the Genuine Windows Blog, it was announced that Windows 7 will get an update to it’s “Windows Activation Technologies” (WAT). So what is WAT? This feature set was developed to detect if a copy of Windows 7 is “genuine“,  properly activated and has a valid license. In plain English, they want to find out if you have a pirated or cracked copy of Windows 7.

The new WAT update will detect over 70 “known and potentially dangerous activation exploits“. It may be true that many PCs that have been activated using a crack or hack are infected or at risk of infection. However, Microsoft is plainly stating that this update is mainly for the protection of the users. I have a feeling that there are lots of users who don’t want this protection.

According to the post, this Windows 7 update is “voluntary” and it doesn’t have to be installed. I have to take this statement as the truth, however, I’ve seen plenty of times when I had no choice but to accept updates. Have you ever shut down your PC and then discovered that it’s gone into an automatic update before it shuts down? Who has a choice when this happens?

I’m keeping my hopes up, but I would guess that we are going to see lots of problems stemming from this new update. In the past, any time a change has been made to Windows activations, even legitimate copies of Windows suddenly stop working, or start displaying warnings.

Be sure to post a comment below if you see the new update or experience a problem because of it.

The other day while I was playing around with an older program, I clicked on the built-in help feature and I received this message from Microsoft:

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn’t included in this version of Windows …

I went to the recommended site at Microsoft, and there they explained the following:

Microsoft stopped including the 32-bit Help file viewer in Windows releases beginning with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.

Isn’t that just sweet? Arghhhh!

Fortunately, they still offer you the chance to download and install the old help file viewer, which is named WinHlp32.exe.

Even if you haven’t gotten this helpfulmessage yet, you probably will at some time in the future. You can save yourself some time later and install the old help viewer now.

Here is the download for Vista, and here is the download for Windows 7. You’ll have to jump through Microsoft’s Genuine Validation hoop before you can get to the real download. Other than that, it acts like any other Windows Update.

If you need more help installing the old help, let me know with a comment below or email me.

Most of the times any Windows update you apply to your computer requires you to restart your PC. I definitely get quite fed up with the frequent nags to restart the PC. Previously I had written a tip on how to disable restarts after Windows update.

However, if you want to do it the easy way, Postpone Restart is a handy utility, which can postpone restarts after a Windows update has finished. Postpone restart is a small tool but can be useful for those nagging times.

Postpone restarts works with Windows Vista and Windows 7, there is no support for Windows XP yet.

Download Postpone Restart

We always advised our readers to activate Automatic updates in Windows as it will allow you to keep your PC safe and secure with the latest patches Windows releases.

However one of the most annoying things about Windows Update is that it automatically restarts the PC after a certain time. It does provide you with an option to delay the reboot, but if you are not near the PC it will force restart and you may lose unsaved data and open applications.

In order to stop Windows Update from automatically restarting/rebooting your PC, follow the simple steps given below.

Note: You will have administrative privileges to perform the actions below. Also the steps below will only temporarily disable the automatic restart, it may still show you the restart dialog though.

How to Stop Windows Update from Automatically Restarting PC

Step 1: Press Windows + R key and type in cmd. Press enter and a new command prompt will open up.

Step 2: In the command window, just type in net stop windows updatewith the quotes. This should stop Windows from automatically restarting.

Additionally if you do not want to follow the steps above, you can also download a software called Leave me Alone which will allow you to disable automatic reboots without changing any additional settings.

Microsoft has released three unscheduled security updates for vulnerabilities found in Internet Explorer, Visual Studio active template libraries and Microsoft active template library.

These are unscheduled patches and should be applied immediately if you are using any of the above products.

These patches will be automatically pushed to Windows Update, if you want to learn more about them here are the Microsoft knowledgebase articles.

• KB972260 – MS09-034: Cumulative security update for Internet Explorer
• KB973882 – Microsoft Security Advisory: Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) could allow remote code execution
• KB969706 – MS09-035: Vulnerabilities in Visual Studio Active Template Libraries could allow remote code execution

You can learn more about the security updates and bulletins.

Email scamming has gone to a new level with people using different ways to scam innocent people. One such email doing the rounds these days is the Microsoft Critical Update Email. The email claims that Microsoft has released a critical update which should be downloaded in order to fix a critical security issue with Windows.

We urge our readers to not click on any links in the email as it is not a update but most probably a scamster trying to get users to install spyware or trojans which can compromise critical information such as bank accounts and password.

The email has been circulating recently and is not being caught by spam filters, if you receive any email for updating your Windows, mark it as spam without opening it.

Here is a snapshot of the email we received in our Inbox today. The link in the email  leads to a imposter site. Click on the image to enlarge it.

A couple of pointers for our readers

• Microsoft never sends out updates via email no matter how critical the update is, they will use the Automatic Update Service to push critical updates to the users.
• Always download windows updates from the official Microsoft Windows Update Site.

We urge our readers not to click on the links or download any software from unknown users. For a complete guide of staying safe on the Internet read our earlier post where had given detailed instructions on thwarting any attempt to compromise your PC.

Internet is a mine of information but with that information comes risks and vulnerabilities. Every time you connect to the Internet not only are you reading information but some small software may be stealthily sending information to hackers and spammers about your activities.

Well no famous person wrote that quote it was just me elaborating a point that every time you connect to the Internet you may be vulnerable even though you may be safely visiting your favorite email site or just browsing news from your favorite newspaper. It all boils down to who is watching you and how?

What are Spam Softwares and Trojan Horses?

Spam softwares and Trojan horses without Internet are useless (even some viruses that look to spread rather than destroy). The main aim of these softwares (they are softwares but malicious in nature because they do things which you never authorized them to do) is to collect personal information of any sort including surfing habits and going to the extremes of critical information like banking passwords and sending them to other servers so that they can send you ads or maybe loot your money.

How to Monitor these things?

To be quite frank it is quite hard to monitor what kind of Internet activity goes on in your PC. If you think that the only Internet activity that takes place on your PC is when you open a browser or a mail client then you are deeply wrong because softwares themselves can participate in several Internet activities without your knowledge.

If you really want to see the number of Internet connections made by various softwares simply follow these steps and you will be amazed at what goes on even when you are not actively using the Internet connection, of course the Internet connection has to be up and running.

• Press the hotkey Windows Key + R
• A new dialog will appear. In that type “cmd” without the quotes.
• One a new command window opens type in the command “netstat -ab” without the quotes

After following these steps you may see a lot of amount of text being shown, it’s not the Matrix but these are the active connections made by various softwares from your PC to other servers.

These things may be not easy to devour or understand that is why we will help you find softwares and advice you some precautions that will help you thwart attacks without you ever having any knowledge about them.

How to Avoid and Safeguard Your PC Against these Softwares?

There are quite a few things that happen without you paying attention and which is what many writers of these softwares tend to exploit. Here are few things that you should either completely avoid or pay keen attention to;

Avoid Accepting Attachments or Visiting Sites from Unknown Persons

Many a times the subject of the email may be so enticing that you may download any given attachments or click on any links in the email. This should be avoided at any cost.

The attachment you may download may be quite vulnerable or the link you may have visit may install some malicious softwares on your PC. The best precaution is to completely avoid clicking on links or downloading attachments from strangers.

Keep Your Windows Updated

The most basic protection you can have is by keeping your Windows updated all the time. Microsoft time and again releases critical security patches to address exploits in the operating system. You should regularly apply these patches as and when they are available, or else your system will be open to critical exploits.

The best way to keep your operating system updated is by setting the Windows Update to automatically download and install critical updates for your system. You can do this by visiting the Security Center in Control Panel and setting Windows Update as on.

Have A Good Anti-Virus Software and Anti-spyware software running Continuously

They say “precaution is better than cure” and that saying applies to your computer too. If you are using the Internet on your computer you should definitely have a anti-virus and anti-spyware detecting software on your system.

You do not need to spend tons of money to get a good anti-virus and anti-spyware monitoring software, there are quite a few free alternatives you can get.

AVG Anti-Virus 8 is a very good Anti-Virus software and it comes built in with a anti-spyware monitor. It also comes with a Email scanner to scan incoming and outgoing emails of desktop softwares and also has a web shield to protect you from web threats online.

There are other alternatives available too like;

• Avast
• Avira
• Comodo
• ThreatFire
• PC Tools

You can find many more such alternatives but the one’s listed here are the best of the lot.

Installing a good anti-virus and anti-spyware is not the only thing that will keep your PC protected, you will need to regularly keep the software updated to fight newer threats. Most of these softwares come with automatic update features which you should opt for.

Install a Good Firewall

A firewall is a dedicated appliance, or software running on a computer, which inspects network traffic passing through it, and denies or permits passage based on a set of rules.

Having a good firewall is equivalent to having a good secured door to your house.

The firewall software helps you monitor which processes are trying to connect to the Internet and lets you choose whether you should allow it to do so or not. Windows comes with a built in firewall which is good enough but quite basic in nature.

After installing a firewall you may see quite a few alerts asking for your permissions to allow access to a software, this may look annoying but once you have granted access to all the application you use to access the Internet you will not be asked again.

Again there are quite a few free firewall softwares which you can use to thwart unwanted Internet activities. My personal favorite is PC Tools Firewall Plus which is free and does the job better than the regular Windows firewall software.

You can also choose from other free firewall softwares;

• Comodo
• ZoneAlarm
• SensiveGuard
• R-Firewall

Cleanup Your PC regularly

Most of the viruses or Trojans usually are downloaded to your temporary Internet folder. It is recommended that you clean up your PC regularly by deleting temporary Internet files and cookies.

To save yourself some time and work you can download and use CCleaner one of the best tools clean up your Internet and other files.

It supports a most of the popular browsers like Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, Safari.

Most Important Use a Safe Browser

Having a safe browser is one of the most important things you should take care of while surfing the Internet.

If your browser is not safe you are more vulnerable to being attacked by phising and harmful sites which are ever ready to steal your confidential data.

I highly recommend you download and use Firefox which is one of the most safe browsers available today. Download Firefox now.

Summarizing

Following the above tips will definitely help you stay more safer on the Internet. In addition to following the above tips you should also run regular scans for your PC so that you can be protected from any new files that may have been infected.

If you have any other better things to add to this list please feel free to add it in your comments. This will help the readers more to help protect their PC from threats and unwanted softwares.

If you liked the tips and tricks here don’t hesitate to tell me about them through your comments.