Microsoft Anti-Spyware Beta Although still in its beta version, Microsoft have done a good job with this software and for moment at least it is available for free download. Unfortunately, it will only work with Windows XP, 2000 or 2003 Server along with Internet Explorer 6. The software is easy to install, has an automated update feature, scheduling and also comes with some useful advanced tools such as Hijacker removal and a start-up editor. Typically of Microsoft, Hijacker removal tool resets your settings to Microsoft preferred settings i.e. MSN as your home page, MSN search as your preferred search engine and Internet Explorer as your browser but lets not be churlish. The software does a good job of seeking out both Spyware and Adware and will painlessly remove them.

Spybot Search and Destroy 1.3

Spybot is another free program and will work with all versions of windows and also does an excellent job of finding both Spyware and Adware on your hard drive. Free updates are available for download. We advise users to read through on-line tutorial provided. This gives good guidance as to using program but also is quite educational for those new to Spyware and Adware.

Lavasoft Ad-Aware Personal SE

Ad-Aware comes in both a free version (Personal SE) and a Pro version. It is well thought of in computer circles and seems to be a little quicker at scanning hard drives than both Microsoft Anti-Spyware and Spybot. Not all of programs that Ad-Aware finds are malicious in nature and it provides a grading structure of any likely threats that it finds.

In practice, it is probably wise to to use two of above programs to make sure that you have covered all possibilities. We would strongly advise that you make scanning of your hard drive for both Spyware and Adware part of your routine PC maintenance. The impact of either on PC performance can be quite marked and as build-up of this type of software on your hard drive usually occurs over a period of time the loss of performance is not always immediately apparent.

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At DOS command prompt you can type "print" followed by name of a document and a printed copy will be generated. But don't expect fancy fonts or formatting. Although command line interface can be very powerful for some tasks, for other tasks it is very crude.

When you first start your computer, it has no software loaded. You could say your computer is "brain dead". It doesn't even know how to use hard disk drive to load operating system.

The BIOS is non-volatile memory built into computers motherboard. Non-volatile means that instructions in memory are not lost when you turn power off.

When you first start your computer, it is hard-wired to start reading first instruction in BIOS. The BIOS is not usually all in a single chip. As BIOS starts, it looks for other parts of BIOS that reside in chips on expansion cards. From these instructions, it learns how to check itself out (Power-on Self Test) and how to locate and load operating system. The computer "BOOTS" (pulls itself up by its bootstraps).

The last thing BIOS does is locate drive containing operating system and begin loading operating system. Because hard disk has vastly more storage capacity than a BIOS chip, operating system software can be large and powerful. As operating system loads, it begins loading device drivers and configuring hardware.

In early days, BIOS programs where stored in ROM (read only memory). Todays computers usually store BIOS programs in a type of memory, called "Flash memory" that can be rewritten. This allows you to reprogram BIOS to fix bugs, or to update it. For example, You might download a BIOS update program from Web and run it from a floppy disk.

The important thing to understand is that your computer has layers of software. You should understand where each layer resides in path from user to hardware. You should now understand that when you dial out with your web browser, request is passed to operating system, which passes it to modem driver, which communicates with a BIOS on modem. That BIOS is program that actually works electronics of your modem.

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