Part Two

In my previous post I’ve used Auslogics Antivirus as an example to show you some basic ways to configure your antivirus software for maximum performance. Today I’m going to tell you how to fine-tune Auslogics Antivirus, so that it becomes even faster and lighter on system resources.

1. Tune-up Real-time Protection

All antiviruses offer real-time protection. This means that everything that happens on your computer is monitored and analysed by your antivirus. But keep in mind that your computer performs thousands of operations every second and there is nothing suspicious about most of them. Basically, there is no need for your antivirus to scan everything all the time. So why not disable functions that are not needed.

First of all let’s configure real-time protection so that it doesn’t scan everything. To do that:

1. Open Auslogics Antivirus
2. Click on the Antivirus tab and then go to the Shield tab
3. 
4. Click on the Custom Level button. This will open the Real Time Protection Settings window.
5. 
6. Select the Scan Programs radio button. This way the antivirus will stop monitoring safe files, like text documents.
7. Now select Do not scan files greater than… Specify 10240 in the field that will appear. This way your antivirus won’t monitor files larger than 10MB. Viruses are small files, so it doesn’t make any sense to check large files, e.g movies or songs, for infections.

Some people also disable network shares and http traffic scans, but I don’t recommend it, because most infections come from the Internet and local networks.

2. Schedule Scans

Pretty much all antiviruses have an option to schedule scans. Most of the time this option is already enabled. By default scans are scheduled for midnight, which isn’t very useful, because most people’s computers are switched off. If that’s the case with your antivirus settings, then you miss out on daily antivirus scans and jeopardise your computer security.

The solution is simple – re-schedule daily scans:

1. Open the main window and go to Antivirus
2. Go to the Virus Scan tab and double-click Deep System Scan
3. 
4. Go to Scheduler and specify the time when you want to run daily system scans. I usually have a break between 3pm and 4pm, so I scheduled scans for that time slot.
5. 
6. Now go to Overview and enable the Minimize to tray option. This way the antivirus won’t annoy you while performing scans.

3. Use Game and Laptop Modes

Auslogics Antivirus has a unique feature called Game Mode. So, if you’re a gamer, enable this option. Here’s how:

1. Open Auslogics Antivirus main window
2. Go to the Game/Laptop Mode tab and select Automatic Game Mode is enabled
3. 
4. Don’t forget to tick the Enter game mode when in full screen checkbox

Now Auslogics Antivirus will be gentle on system resources whenever you start playing a game or watching a movie.

If you are a laptop user and your laptop runs on battery quite often, make sure Laptop Mode is enabled. You can check that by opening the Game/Laptop Mode tab.

Now your antivirus software is configured for best performance without jeopardising PC protection. Its real-time protection only checks files that could be infected, so that it doesn’t waste system resources, and scheduled daily scans will ensure that your computer stays healthy. And anyway, now you know where all the settings are, so you can keep tweaking and optimizing your antivirus.

If you still don’t have any antivirus software installed, you can download Auslogics Antivirus here. Other good antiviruses can be found here.

Part One

This day and age it’s absolutely crucial to have good antivirus software installed on your computer to protect your operating system and your personal data. Developers offer us dozens of solutions, all of which have extensive functionality and loads of features and options. Sounds good, doesn’t it? But there are a couple of drawbacks -  most antiviruses are pretty heavy on system resources when using default settings and not very easy to configure to fit your particular needs. As a result, a lot of people get so frustrated, that they either disable or uninstall their security software. Then they catch numerous infections and have to deal with the consequences.

Luckily, there is a better solution. Most antiviruses allow you to configure them to your liking. In this post I’m going to describe the best ways to configure and optimize Auslogics Antivirus, but you can use my advice to configure pretty much any antivirus software.

1. Choose Advanced User Interface Mode

First of all you’ll need to switch the user interface to Advanced mode. That way all customization options will become available. To choose Advanced mode:

1. Find Auslogics Antivirus tray icon (red triangle) and right-click on it
2. Go to Basic Setting
3. Find and select Advanced Mode
4. 
5. Click Apply and click OK

2. Disable Unneeded Components

Like a lot of other programs, Auslogics Antivirus protects your computer from nearly all possible security threats.  It monitors all system components and all ways malware uses to get installed onto your PC. This boosts your protection levels, but also slows down your computer. The solution is to decide which antivirus components you need and disable the rest.

For example, if you only use web based email from known providers (like Gmail), you can safely disable email scans, because all attachments get scanned anyway. Most anti-viruses use a special service to scan emails, so disabling those scans will help you free up RAM.

Here’s how you can disable email scans in Auslogics Antivirus:

1. Open Auslogics Antivirus
2. Go to the Shield tab and click on the Custom Level button
3. 
4. Then uncheck the relevant checkboxes
5. 
6. Click OK

If you don’t use any IM programs, then it will make sense to disable antiphishing protection for Yahoo and Live messengers. Just go to the main program window and uncheck the relevant checkboxes. You can also disable antiphishing for browsers that you’ve got installed, but never use (I almost never use IE).

However, if you use IM programs a lot, it’s best to ensure that they are well protected – it’s way too easy to get infected through such programs. And what’s worse, you will never suspect a thing. You might get infected through a file sent to you by a friend or a relative, if their computer is already infected.

To ensure that your IMs are protected:

1. Open Auslogics Antivirus and click on the Shield tab
2. Click on the Custom Level button
3. Check the Scan Files sent/received over IM checkbox

If you are really concerned about your chat privacy, you might want to enable encryption. To do that, click on the Encryption tab on the left hand side and make sure encryption is enabled.

Anyway, back to optimizing your antivirus.

3. Exclude Safe Folders

I’m sure that you have folders with photos, music, and movies saved on your hard drive. Most of them will have either a lot of files, or pretty large files (or both).  If your antivirus software scans these folders every time it performs a routine scan, it must be taking ages to complete.

Well, let me tell you that it’s highly unlikely to get a virus into one of those folders. And even if you do, you are bound to notice it immediately. So why not add them to the exclusions list and speed up scans? Just be sensible and don’t exclude too many folders.

Here’s how it’s done:

1. Open the program and click on the Antivirus tab on the left hand side
   
2. Then click on the Exclusions tab
3. Make sure that exclusions are enabled
4. Click on the “+” sign
5. 
6. Select Do not scan files or folders and click Next
7. Select files and folders you don’t want to be scanned and click Next
   
8. 
9. Now select when not to scan those files and folders – on the right hand side select On-demand, On-access, or Both
10. Click Next

I have more tips to share with you, but I think that’s enough for one post. Look out for Part 2.

TBC

Today more and more people use their computers for pretty much everything – from communicating with friends and family to online shopping, investing and banking.This all makes life a lot easier, yet at the same time we open ourselves up to hackers, crackers and various scams.

Online Fraud

These days, stories of online fraud, identity theft and phishing scams appear on the news so often that many of us don’t pay attention anymore. And that is a big mistake. The Association for Payment Clearing Services revealed that in 2007 banking losses due to online fraud totalled

£22.6 million. And there were 20,682 reported phishing incidents in the UK in the first half of 2008 alone. Bear in mind that many people choose not to report the crime.

Bank officials urge their customers to be wary of online scams, such as suspicious emails claiming to be from the bank, and to use only a fully protected PC with regularly updated anti-virus software and enabled firewall. These measures are effective, but are not enough. There are dangers where caution and even a regularly updated anti-virus can’t help.

Auslogics BoostSpeed at http://www.auslogics.com is not only a computer performance optimization suite, it also includes a number of very useful security applications. It offers advanced protection where anti-virus software can’t help.

Track Eraser

Every time you visit a website or open a file, a record is created on your computer. If someone gets access to this information, they can find out a lot about you – your browsing preferences, which online stores you use, and maybe even something that can jeopardise your reputation or finances. Auslogics Track Eraser protects your privacy by removing all the tracks and history from your computer. Run it on a regular basis to not leave any sensitive information behind.

File Shredder and Disk Wiper

Another danger is deleted files. Simply deleting them doesn’t make them go for good. They are only “forgotten” by your system, but in fact remain somewhere on your hard drive. It’s quite easy to “undelete” them and for them to be used in ways you probably will not be happy to  find out about. But if you delete a file, a folder or the Recycle Bin contents with File Shredder, you can be sure that they will be impossible to recover.

Auslogics Disk Wiper works in a very similar way. It also ensures that files cannot be recovered. While File Shredder deletes files and folders, Disk Wiper literally clean-wipes your hard disk free space. Deleting files and erasing traces of them in such a way makes it nearly impossible for hackers to get hold of any sensitive information that they can use to commit fraud or steal your identity.

PC Security

You may wonder how hackers can access your computer. Actually, it’s easier than you think. Windows XP and newer versions include services that make it possible  to access your computer remotely and bombard you with spam. Of course, these services were not designed for this purpose, but criminals find them pretty useful. These services are called Remote Registry and Messaging Service. Using Auslogics PC Security helps check whether your firewall is enabled, anti-virus is up to date and your system patched. But most importantly, it disables Remote Registry and Messaging Service, thus protecting you from possible attacks.

No one leaves their house with the front door left wide open. And nobody walks around with their bank account number printed on their T-shirt either. But when it comes to computer security, people are often too careless. The more attention you pay to computer security, the less chance you will be the next online fraud victim.

Download Auslogics BoostSpeed from http://www.auslogics.com.