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Almost all viruses come from the internet. They cannot be spontaneously created on your computer. Instead, they are created by people around the world and then sent through the internet to infect your PC.

Today there are more viruses than ever. New, updated versions of malware are being released every day, which makes being prepared and cautious all the more important.

The type of browser that you use to surf the internet (like Chrome, Internet Explorer, or Firefox) will have an impact on the level of protection you receive. However, the ‘big 3’ browsers are all relatively equal in terms of security, and it’s more important to have an updated browser than a specific type.

With viruses changing every day, browser companies are responding to malware threats as often and as much as they can by pushing out regular security updates. Most browsers will come with their own pop-up blocking software which can be very useful in preventing the spread of viruses.

While pop-up windows are designed to look enticing, they’re often sources of spyware and other malicious programs. If you do end up clicking on a pop-up advertisement, prepare to be disappointed.

Unfortunately, some pop-up windows are difficult to close. If pressing ‘Escape’ doesn’t work, then you can try Windows shortcuts like Alt+F4 or Ctr+W to manually close the pop-up. If neither of those two shortcuts work, then try using Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open the Windows Task Manager and exit out of the pop-up by ending the process. This is useful if the pop-up advertisement is particularly persistent.

Some websites will infect your computer even when you just view the page. Fortunately, more recent versions of Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome will often block users from visiting these types of pages. Always beware of what kind of information you are entering on a web page, as even the most trustworthy-looking website could be involved in a complex phishing scheme. Never enter your credit card number of Social Security Number over an unprotected connection with a website (always be sure https is in front of your URL instead of just http. Websites that are committed to protecting your security will also have a lock icon displayed in the bottom right corner of the page or near the address bar.

However, Iran has announced it has produced a program that can fight off the problematic virus. Since Iran was the country most hard-hit by Flame, this is a very important development.

Iran’s cyber warfare efforts have been in the news a lot lately. Last year, the strange Stuxnet virus wreaked havoc in Iran’s nuclear system, and the perfect timing of that virus led many to point fingers at Israel and the United States.

Nevertheless, the development of antivirus software like this is incredibly good news for Iran – and for the rest of the world. Since Flame has the ability to monitor and record everything you do on your computer, including the ability to use your webcam and microphone, it had frightening implications on global PC security. The Flame virus is currently concentrated in the Middle East, although reports of infected computers in the rest of the world are growing.

With the announcement of a Flame antivirus solution earlier today, Iran once again blamed Israel and the United States for launching the virus into their systems. Interestingly enough, Israel didn’t exactly deny launching the virus, instead claiming that it’s “reasonable that whoever sees the Iranian threat as significant would use various measures, including this, to hurt it.”

Regardless of where you stand on international politics, let’s hope for everybody’s sake that the Flame antivirus is as effective as Iran claims. If it’s not, then the PC security world has a lot more work to do.

What does McAfee mean by ‘completely unprotected’? Well, basically it means that these computers have no antivirus software or anti-malware applications of any kind installed on their computer. They don’t even use free programs to detect malware, nor do they have active internet scanning technology installed. In some cases, McAfee found that users had simply let antivirus software become out of date, or did not renew their subscriptions after the expiry date.

McAfee’s study was conducted by analyzing nearly 28 million voluntary computer users from 24 different countries.

Unfortunately for Americans, the United States is in the top 5 least protected countries in the world, where almost 1 in 5 computer users browse the internet unprotected.

Why are people still leaving their computers unprotected? In an age where viruses are becoming more and more dangerous, browsing the web without antivirus software is like running onto a shooting range in a T-Shirt: it’s just a bad idea. People who don’t use antivirus software have a much higher chance of having their identities stolen, for example.

Meanwhile, new viruses like Flame have the ability to record audio conversations using your computer’s hardware, and Flame can even take pictures from your webcam. When you combine these frightening viruses with the lack of protection, most people have to ask, “What on Earth are you thinking?”

McAfee’s study also produced other surprising results:

-83% of global PC users have at least basic security protection

-Singapore’s PCs are the least likely to be protected, with about 22% of users having no security software installed

-Spain’s PCs are the most likely to be protected, with about 84% of users having PC security software installed

-Approximately half the users who didn’t have effective PC security software installed had out-of-date or expired antivirus software installed on their computers

-Nearly 27% of users said they wouldn’t be able to replace their files if lost. Even more surprising is the fact that consumers valued the data on their computers at over $10,000, which is a significant loss to take if your computer’s hard drive ever fails.

Check out the full report at Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch

The most notable change in the next version of Windows 8 is the updated boot screen. There is also support for multiple monitors, advanced wallpapers, Metro apps, and all sorts of other goodies.

Oh, and despite initial reports that Windows 8 was phasing out the Aero Glass interface, there appears to be an option to enable it. This is a welcome change for many users, as the new, opaque menu system appeared to be a return to the earlier days of Windows.

To see a full list of the screenshots released for Windows 8, check out this thread on PC Beta. It’s in Chinese, but there are plenty of images for you to check out.

With Windows 8 coming out this fall, these new screenshots make it look like Microsoft is increasingly refining its clear, clean-looking interface. Hopefully, official news about the next Windows 8 release will be announced early next week.

Here are just a few reasons why having a registry cleaner is so important:

Your computer has too many programs to keep track of

One of the easiest ways to speed up your PC is to uninstall all the extra programs you have collected over the years. However, once those programs are uninstalled, they aren’t really permanently deleted from your PC. Instead, in order to permanently clean them from your hard drive, you need to perform a registry cleaner scan. A registry cleaner seeks out old program extensions and deletes them from your system, making your PC as fast and healthy as possible.

Computers slow down

If you’ve noticed your computer has slowed down since you bought it, then you’re not alone. In fact, even the best computers in the world will inevitably slow down if no maintenance is performed. To maintain a high level of performance throughout the lifespan of your PC, you need to frequently scan it with all sorts of different programs, and one of those programs is a registry cleaner. It deletes old useless files and optimizes all of your important ones in order to keep up your computer’s fast performance.

Viruses and malware

As you probably know, viruses infect your system by exploiting security holes. These security holes are found all over your computer, but many of them occur as a result of registry errors. Problems in the registry have a chain reaction effect across the rest of your computer. One misplaced line of code can bring a computer to its knees, or at the very least make it susceptible to dangerous forms of malware and spyware. If you want to protect your identity and keep your computer safe, then you need to clean your registry on a regular basis. Having an antivirus program isn’t always enough!

Easy for anybody to use

Registry cleaners are one of the most basic forms of software to use. If you can click your mouse on a button, then you can easily use a registry cleaner. Most registry cleaners don’t even require you to change settings around or to configure it in any way. Instead, all you need to do is install a program like PC Cleaner Pro and click on the ‘scan’ button. It’s that easy.

Conclusion

For all of these reasons, both tech geeks and tech newbies love to use registry cleaners. As part of the larger package of PC Cleaner Pro, the registry cleaner is an extremely valuable tool, and it’s one of many reasons why our program is such a great addition to your computer.

Sources claim that Facebook has been nosing around Silicon Valley for mobile hardware experts and has hired several ex-Apple employees. These employees worked on either the iPhone or the iPad and clearly know how to attract tech-savvy consumers to new electronics.

A Facebook smartphone isn’t a new rumor. Last year, various tech websites reported that Facebook had contacted HTC to build a smartphone that revolved around Facebook and its users. The project was reportedly code-named Buffy. Websites like DigiTimes still claim that a Facebook HTC phone is due out later this year.

Since Facebook smartphones have been rumored since 2010, it’s important to take all of these new rumors with a large grain of salt. Since few details of the project have been released, who knows how much development has been done on the Facebook phone – if any at all. When a Facebook representative was asked about the project, he declined to comment by saying “We don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”

It’s interesting to note that Facebook’s smartphone rumors come soon after Google officially being a hardware company. Earlier this week, Google announced that they had acquired Motorola Mobility.

Are you sick and tired of Facebook? Or can you not get enough of it? Let us know in the comments what you think of the possibility of a Facebook phone!

A massive cyberwar is underway between hackers and PC security experts. At stake? The safety and security of millions of PC users. The virus in question is called Flame, and it’s one of the most dangerous viruses in the world today. It’s ranked right behind the Stuxnet virus (which caused major problems for Iran’s nuclear program) and a virus called Duqu (and yes, Duqu was named after the infamous Star Wars villain).

Flame is said to contain 100 times as much code as a traditional data-stealing virus. This makes it difficult to detect and remove, giving computer security firms nightmares. In fact, the virus is becoming such a serious problem that the United Nations has called upon PC security firms to collaborate on solving the problem. The United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union was established to promote research and cooperation in communications technology.

It’s easy to see the Flame virus as being a Middle Eastern problem, but it’s more than just that. Flame exploits a hole that can be found in every Windows operating system and is spread through various security loopholes. While the attack is currently concentrated in the Middle East, various computers around North America have been infected. After all, viruses know no nationality, and it’s easy to spread malware problems to anybody over the internet.

The Flame virus highlights the importance of protecting your computer in today’s dangerous day and age. There are simply too many viruses on the internet, and if one does happen to infect your system, there is no shortage of damage that could be done. You could have your identity stolen or face a lawsuit for uploading illegal files that you never actually uploaded.

In that sense, you shouldn’t immediately go complain to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) when something goes wrong with your internet. Instead, it could be any number of problems that have developed on your computer.

For example, your internet connection could be affected by the amount of clutter on your hard drive. Since every internet browser saves enormous amounts of data to your PC every time you use it, your hard drive’s slow access times could be hindering your internet connection. PC Cleaner Pro takes a look at all the files your internet browser has saved over the years and deletes any that you no longer need. This can free up anywhere from 1GB to 20GB of space on your hard drive, and it’s not uncommon to see a large internet speed boost after deleting these temporary internet files.

Another element of internet optimization is your Windows settings. By configuring certain parts of the Windows operating system, PC Cleaner Pro can enhance your computer’s internet speed. Some of these settings are basic tweaks, while others go deep within your hard drive to identify areas that could be improved. Even the most experienced PC users haven’t heard of many of these settings, but they can have an astounding impact on the performance of your computer’s internet.

The final step in PC Cleaner Pro’s internet optimization feature is its ability to seek out dangerous malware on your PC. Since malware and viruses are the leading cause of computer slowdowns, you can fix more than just your internet by performing a scan today. As you might know, certain forms of malware are constantly uploading dangerous files to the internet. They could be sharing your personal information with advertising agencies or hackers, or they could simply be hijacking your internet connection to upload illegal files on the internet without getting in trouble themselves.

For all of these reasons, it’s important to run an internet optimization scan with PC Cleaner Pro today. If you want to unlock faster download speeds and increase the overall performance of your computer, then you can’t go wrong with PC Cleaner Pro.

After all, we could all use a faster internet connection, right?

If you don’t want to pay for a pricey memory upgrade – or worry about installing extra RAM sticks into your system – then there is an easy way to speed up your PC. By using PC Cleaner Pro’s innovative memory optimization application, you can easily reclaim your PC from the clutches of old age and make it run like its brand new again.

However, when buying memory optimization software like PC Cleaner Pro, it’s important to remember that RAM cannot necessarily be ‘optimized’. From the day you buy it, RAM is in its most optimized state. And, it doesn’t really degrade as you use your PC over time. For that reason, many PC software programs that promise to ‘optimize your RAM’ are being dishonest.

This is why PC Cleaner Pro is different. Instead of optimizing RAM on your PC, it optimizes other parts of your memory. You may have heard of something called the Windows Page File. The Page File works in conjunction with your PC’s RAM supply to ensure that your computer continues to work smoothly.

Since the Page File is located on your computer’s hard drive, it can’t be accessed as quickly as RAM. This means that your computer will only draw upon your Page File during special circumstances – like if you’re running several resource-intensive programs. Of course, even when running smaller programs, your computer may have to borrow resources from the Page File occasionally, and a good mixture of Page File and RAM usage can lead to a healthy, optimized PC.

The important thing to know about the Page File is that it CAN be optimized. Since its located on your computer’s hard drive, it is susceptible to all of the normal conditions of hard drive wear and tear. While Windows generally keeps the Page File’s components stored together on the hard drive, portions of it can still become defragmented over time.

More importantly, the size of your Page File can be easily adjusted. And for most computer users, it can be safely increased to optimize your computer’s speed. Increasing the size of your Page File can be difficult for the average user, but it’s easy for a program like PC Cleaner Pro. By scanning your computer’s most important settings, it can optimize the memory in your Page File and leave your memory working faster than ever before.

So what did we learn today? Well, programs that promise to optimize your computer’s RAM are rarely telling the truth. And, because PC Cleaner Pro promises to optimize your computer’s memory, as opposed to its RAM, the program is able to fulfill on its promises during every single scan.

If you’re ready to reclaim your PC’s performance and restore its speed back to the point it was at when you bought it, then PC Cleaner Pro is the most important program you will ever buy.

Well, PC Cleaner Pro takes a multi-pronged approach to computer problems. Instead of focusing on just one aspect of your computer’s problems, it takes a step back and looks holistically at why your computer is acting a certain way. This makes its error reporting extremely accurate and leads to phenomenal results for anybody who downloads our program.

One of the most important ways in which PC Cleaner Pro tackles computer problems is through the Windows Registry. Whether you’ve heard of it or not, the Windows Registry contains some of the most important information your PC. It handles configuration data and other important program information. And, most critically, it also handles files relating to your Windows operating system.

In that sense, a single error in the Windows Registry can have a cascading effect across the rest of your system. One misplaced line of code in the Windows’ operating system files can lead to serious issues with every program on your PC. You may start to notice random error messages pop up when you try to perform basic tasks.

One of the most common types of error messages experienced from registry cleaner damage is the “XYZ program was looking for XYZ but it cannot be found”. Error messages like this often stem from a program’s inability to track a certain file within the registry. Ultimately, the program may still work, but seeing this error every time you start up an application can be annoying, to say the least.

Registry problems also impact your PC’s security, as viruses and malware can hide themselves deep within the system. Or, at the very least, registry errors will open up flaws in your system’s security that hackers can exploit.

Ultimately, for all of the reasons listed above, it has never been more important to download the right registry cleaner. It’s how PC Cleaner Pro 2012 fixes many common errors on its users’ computers, and it can help restore your computer to its best possible level of performance.

Why not download a registry cleaner and an all-in-one PC protection tool with a single click? Check out your free download of PC Cleaner Pro today!