The holiday season has finally arrived. This time of year is wonderful and special for everyone – it’s the time to be with your family and friends, have fun, give and receive presents, and even make dreams come true! And of course it’s the time of Christmas sales.

We at Auslogics are also having a Christmas sale and we offer you a 25% discount on Auslogics BoostSpeed 4.5 and Auslogics Antivirus! Getting your discount is easy – all you need to do is enter the discount code CHRISTMAS2009 when purchasing. Hurry up – this offer ends on the 1st of January 2010!

Speed Up and Protect Your Computer

Computer security, speed, and performance are the top three concerns of every user. Everybody knows how easily computers get infected with viruses and spyware, and how quickly they become sluggish and even start freezing up. Our team understands how important it is to have a secure, fast, and efficient computer – that’s why we’ve developed Auslogics Antivirus and Auslogics BoostSpeed.

Auslogics Antivirus is one of the most comprehensive antiviruses available on the market. Reliable and feature-packed, it will protect you from viruses, trojans, spyware, identity theft, and other known and unknown threats. It can also operate in Safe Mode to remove resilient viruses. Auslogics Antivirus has lots of customization options and can run in two special modes – Laptop Mode and Game Mode. Like all Auslogics’ products it’s fast, very easy to use, doesn’t affect computer performance, and has sleek Windows 7-style user interface.

Auslogics BoostSpeed is a comprehensive system maintenance tool. It will ensure your computer is fast and optimized for best performance, protect your privacy by erasing traces of Internet activity, wiping free disk space, and erasing files beyond restoration. It will also advise you on which Windows services are safe to disable and will let you easily apply dozens of useful tweaks that will make your computer run fast and smooth.

And now you have the chance to get one or both of these products with a 25% discount if you buy them before the 1st of January 2010! Click here to get Auslogics BoostSpeed 4.5 and here to get Auslogics Antivirus. Don’t forget to enter the discount code CHRISTMAS2009.

Happy holidays!

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 we have some exciting news – the all new Disk Defrag 3 is out of beta. Auslogics Disk Defrag is not just a simple defrag utility – now it’s a fully featured disk optimizer. The new version has features that beat paid analogs, has new Windows 7-style user interface, and is even faster than before. And it remains absolutely FREE.

What’s New?

1. Free Space Consolidation

Simple defragmentation only defrags files and not free disk space. This means that free space is scattered all over the disk. When new files are created, Windows fills those small free space fragments in. The more fragmented the free space is, the more fragmented new files will be. Disk Defrag 3 consolidates free space into a large contiguous block, so that there are no “holes”. This technology effectively prevents file fragmentation and speeds up disk access.

2. System Files Smart Placement

Quite often Windows system files get placed all over the disk and end up mixed with other files. As a result Windows takes longer to access them. Disk Defrag 3 arranges system files by defragmenting and moving them to the faster part of the disk. This improves overall computer performance and makes your system run smoother.

3. Keeping the MFT Reserved Zone Clear

NTFS file system reserves about 12.5% of disk space for the MFT records (a place where information about every file and directory is stored). However, when the rest of the disk space is getting low, the MFT Reserved Zone is used to store regular files. This may lead to MFT fragmentation, which will force HDD heads to move more and slow down data access. Disk Defrag 3 moves regular files from the MFT Reserved Zone to the rest of the disk space, allowing NTFS to allocate contiguous space for the MFT records and prevent its fragmentation.

4. List of Fragmented Files

Auslogics Disk Defrag 3 creates a list of all fragmented files after performing disk analysis. Selecting any file from the list will highlight its clusters’ location on the fragmentation map. Selected files can be easily defragmented or added to the ignore list.

Other features include options to integrate Disk Defrag into Windows Explorer context menu, run autodefragmentation when system goes idle, and minimize the application into the system tray.

You can find out more and download the new Auslogics Disk Defrag here. There is also a portable version of Disk Defrag that can be downloaded here.

We are happy to present you the new Auslogics Disk Defrag 3^beta! We call it “new” because Disk Defrag 3^beta is not just a defragmenter but a fully featured disk optimizer. We’ve supplied it with advanced techniques of disk optimization that only paid analogs have. With Disk Defrag 3^beta you can replace regular data files from the MFT Reserved Zone, consolidate free space and optimize system files placement. Let’s have a closer look at how these optimization techniques may affect your PC performance.

System files smart placement

Commonly used by Windows, system files may be scattered all over the disk and intermixed with data files. Disk Defrag 3^beta arranges system files by defragmenting and moving them to the faster part of the disk.  This minimizes the time needed for HDD to access system files and improves overall computer performance.

Free space consolidation

It is not a secret that a simple defragmentation leaves the free space on the disk highly fragmented. It means that there are many free space «holes» all over the disk. Windows fills in those free spaces with newly created or extended files. The more fragmented the free space is, the more fragmented new files will be.

Disk Defrag 3^beta merges all those free space «holes» into a large contiguous block during optimization process. This allows the file system to create new files without fragmentation. As a result, free space consolidation dramatically reduces further disk fragmentation.

Keeping the MFT Reserved Zone Clear

Any NTFS drive is divided into two main zones: MFT and the rest of the disk. MFT (Master File Table) is a place where information about every file and directory is stored. In order to keep MFT records contiguous, Windows reserves about 12.5% of the disk volume for them. This reserved disk space is called “MFT Reserved Zone”.

Normally, NTFS prevents writing data other than MFT records to the MFT Reserved Zone. However, when the rest of the disk space is getting low, the MFT Reserved Zone will be used for storing regular files. This may lead to MFT fragmentation.

Since MFT fragmentation degrades hard drive performance by increasing the number of reads required for some files, it is important to keep the MFT Reserved Zone clear of regular files. Disk Defrag 3^beta moves regular data files from the MFT Reserved Zone into the rest of the disk space. This allows NTFS to allocate contiguous space for the MFT and thus to prevent its fragmentation.

Other improvements include a significantly increased defragmentation speed and a redesigned user interface. Navigating through Disk Defrag 3^beta is now even more simple and intuitive.  For instance, we’ve added a handy auto-defrag icon to easily customize and control an automatic defragmentation mode.  Another useful feature I’d like to mention is an ability of Disk Defrag 3^beta to list all the fragmented files after performing disk analysis. You can select one or several of them to see their clusters’ location on the disk.

And we have more good news for our users – with all the improvements we’ve made, Disk Defrag 3^beta still remains absolutely FREE!

You can download the new Disk Defrag 3^beta here.

Today we are very happy to inform you that we’ve released a new version of Auslogics BoostSpeed. We’ve made it more efficient, more stable, it now looks better, and has a lot of exciting new features.

BoostSpeed 4.5 includes a brand new utility – Auslogics Duplicate File Finder. With the help of this tool Windows users will be able to recover gigabytes of space taken up by unnecessary duplicates. Apart from using up hard disk space, having too many duplicate files can make computers run slower. Deleting them will help speed up disk defragmentation, Windows search, and anti-virus scans.

BoostSpeed 4.5 also includes the latest version of a popular and award-winning Auslogics Disk Defrag, which has a lot to offer. Users can now brighten up disk defragmentation by applying different defragmentation map colour themes. In addition to that, the program can auto defrag disks in the background, can be integrated into Windows Explorer, minimized into system tray, and defragment all disks at once.

Apart from that, the new version of Auslogics BoostSpeed has a significantly improved interface, works faster, repairs more errors, and has a lot of great new tweaks and advanced options. All this ensures that both novice and experienced users are comfortable when using it.

BoostSpeed is not just an optimizer – it’s a complete system maintenance tool. It will ensure your computer is fast and optimized for best performance, protect your privacy by erasing traces of Internet activity, wiping free disk space, and erasing files beyond restoration. It will also advise you on which Windows services are safe to disable and will let you easily apply dozens of useful tweaks that will make your computing experience more productive and enjoyable.

Download a free fully functional 15-day trial version here.

The full version costs $39.95 USD.  Auslogics BoostSpeed 4.5 supports Windows 7/Vista/2008/XP/2003, 32-bit and 64-bit and dual-core CPU.

It’s not a secret that hard disks are the slowest part of a computer. That’s  because they have moving parts, unlike RAM and CPU.  Fragmentation can significantly slow down a hard drive, since it forces the reading head to move more. As a result your computer becomes slower and you even might start experiencing freeze-ups and system crashes. That’s why it’s very important to keep the disks defragmented.

Auslogics Disk Defrag is a free tool to fight disk fragmentation. It doesn’t need to analyze the disk first, which makes it one of the fastest disk defragmenting tools available today. The program has a clear interface and is very easy to use.

Fragmentation is caused by creating and deleting files and folders, installing new software, and downloading files from the Internet. Computers do not necessarily save an entire file or folder in a single space on a disk; they’re saved in the first available space. After a large portion of a disk has been used, most of the subsequent files and folders are saved in pieces across the volume.

Disk Defrag Options

Apart from basic disk defragmentation, Disk Defrag has an option to defrag single file or folder, lets you schedule defragmentation, and offers command line support.

Command line options allow users to defragment multiple disks, specify how much CPU should be used for defragmentation, and generate detailed HTML logs.  A comprehensive list of error codes is provided, so that system administrators can use the program in their automation scripts.

Home users may find that they are more comfortable with the feature-rich built-in scheduler available in the program settings. The scheduler lets you specify when automatic defragmentation should be performed, which disks to defragment, and if a detailed report should be created.

Auslogics Disk Defrag received awards from reputable websites like CNet, Majorgeeks, and Tucows, and lots of positive user reviews. It is available as a separate free tool or as part of Auslogics BoostSpeed – an award-winning computer optimization suite.

Computers are like pets  – they need care to keep them healthy, responsive, and fast. In this post I’m going to share with you some tips that will help keep your computer in top shape. If you want to improve your computer’s speed and performance – read on.

1. If your computer suddenly becomes really slow and starts acting up, the first thing you need to do is scan it for viruses and spyware, because in most cases they are the culprit. There are great free anti-virus and anti-spyware programs, just go to download.com and do a search. Remember to download only programs that got lots of positive user reviews.

2. Test your RAM to ensure error-free performance. Failing memory can be the cause of numerous errors, and the worst part is that they may seem random. So, use the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool from time to time. Vista users can find it on their Windows installation disk and XP users will need to create a CD.

3. Just as it is a good idea to test RAM, it’s a must to check your hard drive regularly. To do that run Check Disk:

• Go to My Computer
• Find the disk you want to check, right-click on it and go to Properties
• In the Properties dialog  box click Tools
• Click Check Now
• Check both options in the dialog box that will appear and click Start
• Most likely you will get a message that Check Disk wants exclusive access to the disk and wants to start right after your reboot. Click OK
• Restart your computer

4. And last, but not least, always remember to clean your disks weekly, clean the Registry once a month, defrag your hard drive at least once a month, compact the Registry to keep it as small as possible, and keep your Windows and drivers up to date.

All this will help you keep your computer fast and stable. There is no need to wait for your PC to become infected with viruses and spyware, cluttered with junk, and show you the blue screen of death to start performing basic maintenance.

Cleaning the Windows Registry in an essential part of computer maintenance because having a clean Registry means having a fast and stable computer. A great way to get rid of Registry junk is to run Auslogics Registry Cleaner – a totally free Registry maintenance tool.

What is the Registry?

Windows Registry is a database that stores Microsoft Windows settings and options. It contains all the information for all hardware, operating system software, other software, and user settings – for example, all user profiles, the applications installed, the type of documents they create and so on.

Why Clean the Registry?

The Registry is one of the most vital and the most vulnerable to errors part of a computer. Programs access the Registry thousands of times per second and new registry entries are created whenever new software or hardware is installed. Most programs delete their entries when they are uninstalled, but some applications leave a lot of their registry keys behind. That’s how invalid entries mount up and the Registry becomes cluttered with unused and corrupted keys and references. As a result the system needs more time to access the Registry and find the entries it needs, which causes dramatic computer slow-downs.

Among other things that can lead to Registry problems are poorly written applications, incorrect program uninstalls, and bloated browser cache. All this can cause system errors, crashes, and failures. That’s why it’s extremely important to keep the Registry in top form by regularly cleaning all the junk and fixing all the errors that accumulate over time.

How to Clean the Registry?

Cleaning the Registry is now as simple as opening a Word document. All you have to do is launch Auslogics Registry Cleaner, select the categories to scan, scan the Registry for errors, and fix them. Of course you could do it the hard way and delete what you think is not needed manually, but that is really dangerous, because you can delete files that are needed by the system to boot and work properly.

Backup First!

Always backup your Registry before cleaning it. That way you will never have to worry about software accidentally deleting a valid entry. Use the Restore changes radio button in Auslogics Registry Cleaner to undo any changes made by the program. Also you can backup your Registry manually. Read this article to learn how to do it on an XP system.

Clean the Registry regularly – for example once a month – and your computer will run fast and stable.

Sydney, Australia – February 13, 2009 - Auslogics releases a new free Windows Registry maintenance tool – Auslogics Registry Cleaner – an essential utility to keep the Registry clean to ensure maximum PC performance. It will meticulously scan the Registry, find and remove invalid and obsolete entries, and fix various registry errors.

The Windows Registry is one of the most vital and the most vulnerable to errors part of a computer. Programs access the Registry thousands of times per second and new registry entries are created whenever new software or hardware is installed. Most programs delete their entries when they are uninstalled, but some applications leave a lot of their registry keys behind. That’s how invalid entries mount up and the Registry becomes cluttered with unused and corrupted keys and references. As a result the system needs more time to access the Registry and find the entries it needs, which causes dramatic computer slow-downs.

Among other things that can lead to Registry problems are poorly written applications, incorrect program uninstalls, and bloated browser cache. All this can cause system errors, crashes, and failures. That’s why it’s extremely important to keep the Registry in top form by regularly cleaning all the junk and fixing all the errors that accumulate over time.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner is designed for fast and safe Registry clean-up and optimization. First the program offers to choose categories to scan, then scans for registry errors, and then provides the list of errors to fix. Each problem comes with a detailed description.

Auslogics Registry Cleaner is very easy to use and has an intuitive user interface, which makes it ideal for novice users. Experienced users will be able to get the most out of the program by choosing the Advanced scan option.

Some registry cleaners can be dangerous and harm the computer because they often treat entries required by the system as invalid and delete them. This can lead to unpredictable results, make the system unstable or even unbootable. Auslogics Registry Cleaner is made in such a way that it finds only safe-to-delete items by default. In a highly unlikely event of any problems occurring, all changes can be undone by selecting the Restore changes radio button. This makes using Auslogics Registry Cleaner absolutely risk-free.

Registry Cleaner is available as a separate free tool or as part of our award-winning computer optimization suite -  Auslogics BoostSpeed.

About Auslogics

Auslogics Software Pty Ltd is a developer and publisher of premium computer optimization software. The company is storming the market with its flagship product, Auslogics BoostSpeed, which enhances computer productivity by keeping PCs running smooth and error-free. This lengthens the lifetime of computers and eliminates the need for constant hardware upgrades.

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More information:
http://auslogics.com/en/software/registry-cleaner