Free PC Helpline | FREE Live Computer Help

November 21st, 2009

Got a Computer Problem?….. Let me fix it for FREE!

Welcome to Free-PCHelp.com – Featuring a 100% Free Live Tech Support Chat, where you can chat to a Tech live and get him to solve your computer problems for free!

We can assist you to with :

• Virus Removal
• Spyware Removal
• Windows Crashes
• Internet issues
• Printer Issues
• Connecting  new hardware
• Software Issues
• General PC problems

All information is confidential and this is a 100% legit service

This site is run by an IT Tech with 20+ years experience, and I enjoy helping people with their IT problems.

So,  if you have got an IT issue, please ask away.

If we are off-line, simply click on the link above to  ask your question.

We answer all questions within 24 hours!

So, spread the word and let  Free-PCHelp.com fix you problems.

Regards
Stephen Tracey
Webmaster
Free-PCHelp.com

Tags: advice, computer, computer help, computer support, computers, email, free, free live pc chat, freepc-help, hardware, help, information, links, live computer chat, Live computer help, live pc help, pc, pchelp, software, spyware, Spyware Removal, support, technical, troubleshooting, Virus, Virus Removal, Windows Crashes
Posted in Live computer help | Comments (8)

How to make Windows boot up faster

February 8th, 2010

Don’t you just love sitting there every morning watching the Windows logo as you are waiting for your PC to boot up? This has to be one of the most annoying issues with Windows and as a tech, one of the most common questions people ask me is…. “How can I make my computer start up faster!”.

Well today I am going to show you how to fix  slow boot up problem!

One on the main reasons why  windows does take so long to boot up is due to the windows registry. You see all programs that are installed in you PC have entries in you registry. When a software package is uninstalled or it also gets removed from the registry. However, if the entry in not successfully removed or I’d the registry entry becomes damaged or invalid, this will cause your PC to boot up slower as windows is trying to find or access these invalid or missing entries.

The easy solution is to install and run a  free registry cleanup software application over your PC.This will “weed out” or remove these missing or invalid registry entries, so windows won’t go looking for them during bootup,resulting in a faster windows boot up process!

There are many free windows registry cleaners around, but  I recommend

“Glary Registry Repair“ and “Tweak Now Powerpack“. These are both found on CNET Download.com.

If you are after a simple registry repair and optimiser then Glary Registry Repair is the one to use.
It is easy to download and install, has a simple interface and features simple “Scan” and “Repair” buttons, which do the trick.

If you are after the ultimate on free registry repair and optimization then Tweek Now Powerpack is the one to choose.
It has many features to help optimise your PC including Quick Tuneup, Disk Cleaner,Registry Defragmentation and a Start up manager.

The are both 100% free software applications, and to get the best performance from your PC, you should run them on a monthly basis.

So download and run either of these utilities now,  get windows to boot faster today.

Note : If you want to improve your computers performance even further,  please click here read my previous article  on how to make your computer run faster

If you have any comments or feedback you would like to share, please let us know.

Happy Computing

Regards

Steve

Tags: boot, faster, How to make Windows boot up faster, load, quicker, up, windows
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

Top 3 Free Firewall Software Programs 2010

February 7th, 2010

So stay safe and happy computing

The Internet unfortunately is  full of scammers and hackers trying to either steal or gain access to your personal information stored on your PC. eg. bank acounts details, paypal login details etc.

To help prevent this from happening to you, every computer should have a firewall installed on it.I always recommend you should have a minimum of Anti-virus,Anti-spyware and Firewall running on every PC, especially if you do any type of financial transactions online.

So here is my list of my Top 3 Free Firewall applications  :

1. Zonealarm - This has been my number one choice as a free firewall application for the past 7 years . This is a very efficient and effective firewall application that has many of the features that exist in the full paid versions of it’s competitors. It is easy to install and configure and it has a simple to use inferace.It has automatic updates and a “don’t ask me again” feature, so it doesn’t keep asking you to allow or deny access to application that is trying to access the internet. It had reports that show both inbound and outgoing attempts to breach your firewall. All in all, this a great application this I highly recommend as a free firewall application.

2.Comodo Internet Security - Comodo has also had a long history of providing a superior quality firewall applications for zero cost. In theirlatest version they have taken this one step futher and have combined their award winning firewall and their antivirus application into a single package. Thus, users now have a complete access to a powerful “Internet Security” software for $0 dollars. The install is straight forward and simple and the new desktop interface is easy to navigate and use.Overall I would recommend this a  free complete internet security package.

3.Online Armor Firewall & A-squared Spyware Package - Emsi Software, the makes of this software have done a great job of combining their popular free anti malware application with a well engineered firewall application.It is easy to install and features a slick looking interface with easy to navigate buttons. On top of keeping your PC safe from inbound and outbound  firewall attacks, it also features a “Mail Sheild”which scans your emails for any possible malware threats. The firewall behaves as expected and features a remember option so it does not keep asking you to allow or deny access past your firewall.

As usual all of these free firewall applications are available for download at CNET Download.com.

So if you don’t already have a firewall running, please make the time to download and install a firewall application for your PC today.

Don’t let yourself be the next victim you read about in the news, who’s  bank account was hacked into, simply becasue you didn’t have a firewall installed.

For a complete list of the best free anti-virus applications, please click here to read my review.

If you have any feedback or would like to share your experiences with free firewall software, please drop us a line.

So stay safe and happy computing

Regards

Steve

Tags: applications, firewall, free, inbound, malicious, outbound, software, top, top 3, Virus
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

Top 5 free antivirus software applications 2010

February 6th, 2010

Help my computer is infected with a virus !

I wish I had $1 for every time I heard one of my customers say that.

Computer viruses and spyware are unfortunately one downside of being part of the global Internet community.

The best way to avoid or at least minimise the chances of your PC getting a virus , is to install some anti virus software.

Here is my list of the top 5 free antivirus  and antispyware software packages available.

1. AVG free - this is my number one choice for Free anti virus software. It is simple to download and install . The program has a easy to use interface which  enables you to perform a virus scan with ease.By default it is configured to perform a daily virus scan which I recommend all Internet users should do.It has daily automatic updates to ensure it knows to scan for the latest virus or worm that has been released on the Internet. Overall it is simply a great well designed antivirus application that I  been personally using for the past 8 years without any major issues.

2. Avira  Free Antivirus – This is my second choice in the free antivirus stakes. It also is easy to download and install. It has a nice interface and includes automatic daily scheduled virus updates and scans. The simple user interface makes scanning easy if you need to do a manual virus scan. One annoying g feature is after every update it displays a sales pop up page asking you to register it. Other than this irritation, it is a great software package which I highly recommend.

3. Avast Free Antivirus – This is my third choice. With version 5.0 they have updated the interface into a slick looking easy to navigate software tool. It features a super fast real-time antivirus and antispyware scanning engine. The developers have made this version a more “light-weight” program, meaning that it uses less of your PC’s system resources. When you download it you can run it for up to 60 days, and then you need to register your free version. Overall I like this new version and the nice professional interface from a software vendor with a long history in the Anti-Virus market.

4.PC Tools ThreatFire Free – This is my 4th choice. PC tools have a very good name in Internet security products, and this free Antivirus software package is no exception. It features a nice , simple to navigate user interface and has the usual automatic updates, real-time scanning of virus and spyware. This software tool is somewhat different from more traditional antivirus software packages in that it takes a more pro-active approach to virus threat detection. Threatfire pro-actively  scans for  suspected virus activity before the virus actually strikes or infects the PC. This is a very cool feature for a antivirus program and it does this without using much of the PC’s resources. Overall, it is as good pick if you want to take a more proactive approach to virus and spyware detection

5. Panda Cloud Free Antivirus – This is my 5th choice. Panda Cloud is a relatively new software product and it designed to run mainly of Windows Netbooks and the so called “thin client” PC’s. Due to the growing popularity of netbook style laptops a free antivirus product like this is very much needed. The main problem with running traditional antivirus software on netbooks, is that due to their limited CPU and hardware performance , they can at times run a bit “sluggish”.This is where Panda Cloud comes into its own.Although it lacks some of the features of other antivirus programs, it is a good choice for the new generation on Windows Netbooks.

All of the above can be download from CNET Download.com

If you have any comments of feedback on any of the these or other free antivirus programs, please drop me  a line.

Regards

Steve

Tags: 5, anti-virus, antispyware, free, top, Top 5 free antivirus
Posted in How to Articles, Spyware Removal, Virus Removal | Comments (2)

How to remove the conflictor virus

February 5th, 2010

The conflictor virus  is a very nasty computer virus that has infected million’s of PC’s world wide. Also know as the Downadup virus or confiker virus is can result in increased windows account lockouts,Windows defender and Windows Automatic updates being disabled. The method to remove the conflictor virus or confliker virus as it is also incorrectly spelled is to do the following :

1. Download and install the Microsoft Update MS08-067 from the Microsoft website.

2. Download and install the free “W32.Downadup Removal Tool”  from the Symantec Website.

Also please keep you antivirus software and Windows update up to date,unless the confiker virus will return back to your PC.

Regards

Steve

Tags: confiker, confiker virus, conflictor, conflictor virus, How to remove the conflictor virus, remove, Virus
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

How to do a Free Online Virus Scan

February 4th, 2010

Hi All,

Do you think you may have a virus or spyware infection?

If so then you can remove it by downloading and running an antivirus software scan using a range of free antivirus software applications.
An alternative to download a free antivirus package, is to use a free online virus scanner.
One of the most popular free online virus scanners is Trend Micro Housecall.

To do a free online antivirus scan :

1. Simply visit CNET Download.com and search for “Trend Housecall”.
2. Click the Try now button and click Download Housecall 32 bit
3. After the small download is finished click on the “HousecallLauncher” to install the antivirus software
4. The program will then download the latest updates of the Free Housecall software
5. After this has  finished you can run a complete virus and spyware scan on your PC to remove any virus and spyware infections.

There are other free online virus scanners on the market, but I like this one primarily because as a PC Tech I have used this companies products for several years and the software does a great job of removing viruses etc.

When you are finished with the software, you can easily remove it from your PC via Start->Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs.

If you are interested in how to remove a computer virus please view my previous post

Please share your experiences with this or other online virus scanners

Regards

Steve

Tags: free, Free online Antivirus scanner, online, online.virus, scan, Virus
Posted in How to Articles, Spyware Removal, Virus Removal | Comments (0)

How to download YouTube Videos or movie clips

February 2nd, 2010

Hi All,

Have you every wanted to download a video clip from YouTube, so you can watch it over and over again or share it with a friend who does not have a PC or has a very slow internet connection?

If so then you need to download a free piece of software I came across in my travels, as one of my customers wanted to do download a video clip and burn it to  a DVD.

The software is simply called “YouTube Downloader”, and does exactly what that name suggests, it enables you to download any video clip and either play it from your PC, convert it to other formats including  to your iPhone or iPod.

You can download it from CNET Download .com.
Since discovering this I have downloaded lots of self help tutorials on lots of difference subjects from YouTube.

Have you already tried this or do you use another free downloader?
Let me know, so we can share it with other readers.
Regards

Steve

Tags: download, download video for free, how, movie clips, to, Videos, YouTube
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

How to backup your computers files, photos and emails automatically

February 2nd, 2010

Hi All,

Hands up who has lost important documents, tax records or pictures on their PC as a result of a Windows crash or a hard drive crash? If you have, its a terrible feeling (yes I have been there also)  

Backups  – You know they are important, but you just never get around to doing them. We all leave very busy lives these days and we all either simply forget or are just to plain busy to do a regular back every week!

So, it was with great pleasure that I came across a fantastic piece of free automated backup software called Syncback.
With Synback, you simply install it and you can schedule it to perform automatic backups every day/week/month.

It has a simple interface which is easy to setup and install. You can simply tell it which files and folders to backup, and then tell it where to back up (External hard drive, USB Flash Drive, CD-Rom drive etc) and how often and that’s it.

It is literally a set and forget program. And  you have the reassurance that if the worst every happens, you will have a back of all your important files.

To download it simply go to CNET download.com and do a search for Syncback.

Do you have any horror stories of  loosing all your data? or how you did loose you data and luckily you had a backup?

Please leave a comment or feedback.
Regards

Steve

Tags: backup, computer, free backup, free backup software, how, How to backup you pc, pc, software, to
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

How to speed up your PC

January 30th, 2010

Hi All,

In todays post I am going to talk about how to speed up a pc, if you notice it is starting to run slow or freezing or lockingup

One of the most simplest ways to get your PC running back to its normal self, is to limit the number of applications that are set to run on start up.
One of the main reasons why PC run slow, as there are too many programs set to run on startup, and if any of these programs runs slows or does not respond, it makes your entire PC ruin slow.

By following the below steps,  you will see an improvement in the performance of your PC.

1. Click  Start Run and type “MSCONFIG” and press enter
2. Click on the startup tab and click “Disable All”
3. Scroll down the “Startup Item” column  and check the boxes that correspond to the names of your Internet Security,Anti Virus and firewall software.
4. Then continue scrolling through the list and check anything else that is “essential” to run on your Windows Start up.
5. Then click on “Apply”, “Close” and “Restart buttons when they appear.
6. When your PC reboots tick the “Don’t show this message again…”  message box which appears.

Done!

You PC will now run faster than it did before as less programs are in your startup. Thus you computer will not lockup or keep freezing as much.

This is completely safe procedure and you can still access all of your programs via the usual way of Start->All Programs.

If this does not help, then the next step is to run a Windows System File Scan.
The Windows System File Checker (SFC for short) scans all protected PC system files &  replaces the corrupted  files with the right ones, thus resulting in your PC running quicker.

To do this complete the following :

1. Insert your original Windows CD into the PC
2. Click  Start Run and type “sfc /scannow” and press enter
3. A “Windows File Protection” dialog box will appear, with a message advising “Please wait while….”
4. This process may take several minutes and at the end of this you should see an improvement in your systems performance.  :)

Any comments or feedback?

Happy Computing

Regards

Steve

Tags: freezing, how, How to make your PC run faster, how to speed up a pc, msconfig, pc, pc running very slow, slow, slow ccomputer, slow PC, speed, speed up pc, to, up
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (2)

How to fix windows problems yourself with boot cd

January 23rd, 2010

Hi All,

Just a quick post today as I have been really busy doing PC repairs and software development.

I am currently working on building a bootable cd that enables people to fix windows by themselves.
So if you are are having problems with your PC (Windows won’t boot,virus,spy ware etc) you can simply boot up your pc via this fix it disk and select the appropriate menu option to fix your problem with your PC.

I will keep you posted on the progress of this CD and make it available from this website when it is completed (beta testers wanted!)

Also I am currently recruiting IT savvy people who can offer the live free pc help chat option on the right hand side of he screen.I have been just to busy to “man” it.. so if you know of any IT people (male or female) who is interesting in a pc help desk job please contact me …and yes it is a paying job

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Steve

Tags: fix windows problems, How to fix windows problems yourself, How to fix windows problems yourself with boot cd
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

2010 the year ahead

January 8th, 2010

Hi All,

I am personally looking forward to the IT year ahead.For all you scifi geeks(like me) when I think of 2010 I always think of the 1980’s movie 2010: The year we made contact!
Anyway, this year looks to being some now innovations in IT and internet.Firstly, Google have just launched there Nexus One..
Also, Apple will release there iSlate  which they are hoping will be just a popular are the iPhone…. time will tell..

Tags: 2010 the year ahead, iSlate, Nexus One
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

How to do a Windows System Restore

January 8th, 2010

Happy New Year 2010 everybody!

In todays post I am going to show you how to do a windows system restore.

With Windows XP and Vista your PC may start to freeze up or lock up on a regular basis. If this occurs after you have recently installed a software application, simply uninstall this application to see if your PC starts behaviing normally and there are no more lockups are freezing.

If the freezing still occurs, then a quick way to resolve this issue is try a system restore. To do a system restore complete the following steps.

1. Click Start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools->System Restore
2. Click “Restore my Computer to an earlier time” and NEXT
3. Using the Calendar you can select a date and restore point of when you system was stable. eg last week or last month
4. Click a date in bold from the calendar and select a restore point on the right hand side
5. Click Next and Next again to start the restore process
6. This will take several and when the process is completed a window will advise if the system restore was successful or not
7. If it was successful, your PC is now functioning normally, and there will be no more frustrations of the PC freezing or locking up

The great thing about system restore is that you don’t loose any documents that you have created and it is a very quick way of fixing a PC stability issue.

Happy Computing

Tags: fix PC stability, how to do a windows system restore, how to fix pc freezing, how to system restore
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

how to test your internet speed

November 28th, 2009

Hi All,
People often say to me that there internet is running slow.
The best free place to test your broadband speed is at www.speedtest.net.
So if your internet speed is running slow or you simply want to test your speed, simple type this web address in your web browser and wait for the website to load up.
The website automatically detects your current location, and you click one of test points (triangles).
Then the speed test will begin (download and upload speeds).After the tests are finished, your internet speed test results are displayed.
If your speed tests are too slow, then give your internet provider a call and ask them why?
Regards
Steve

Tags: how, internet, speed, test, to, your
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (0)

How to fix windows when it does not boot up

November 25th, 2009

What to do when Windows does not boot up.

When Windows does not bootup correctly, simply do the following :

1. Turn the PC on and press F8 during bootup
2. Choose “The last know good configuration” and windows should boot up normally.
3. If it still does not boot up then reboot the PC from the Windows CD
4. Then choose “Recovery console”  and select option “1″ when prompted
5. Then type “chkdsk /p” and press the enter key
6. Windows will then scan and attempt to fix your windows file system .
7. After it is complete, reboot your PC and windows should boot up normally.
8. If this does not solve the issue, then you have some serious windows issues
9. You will need to seek the advice of a PC Tech

Any comments  for questions, please ask

Regards

Steve

Tags: bootup problems, fix windows, How to fix windows when it does not boot up
Posted in How to Articles | Comments (1)

How to remove spyware

November 21st, 2009

Hi All,

is Malware Anti-bytes.It does a great job and you cannot complain about the price tag $0

Done. All spyware infections are now removed.

Today’s topic is about how to remove spyware

As a on-site computer technician, I  get a lot of work out of people who’s PC are infected with spyware or adware. The amount of spyware infections found on peoples PC varies, but thankfully spyware is usually very simple to remove. In the past I have used Spybot and Ad-aware to remove spyware on infected PC’s, but in recent times the only tool I ever use is Malwarebytes Anti-malware. It does a great job and you cannot complain about the price tag $0

Please complete the following steps to remove spyware from your PC :

1. Turn on your PC and press F8 during startup.
2. When the windows bootup menu appears, select the option “Safe mode with Networking” and press enter.
3. Please wait whilst the PC boots up into safe mode(which will take several minutes)
4. When windows displays a message advising you are in safe mode, click ok.
5. Open your favourite internet browser and type www.download.com into the address bar and press enter.
6. Once the website has opened, click on the Malwarebytes Anti-malware link and then click on the download link.
7. After the file has finished downloading, double click on the downloaded file to launch the installer.
8. When the installation is complete, you will see the Malware Anti-bytes icon on the desktop.
9. To run the scan, click on the icon to start the scan and click on the “Perform Quick Scan” button.
10. After the scan is finished, ensure all spyware infections are checked and click on the “Remove All”  button
11. Shutdown the PC and restart Windows normally , and repeat steps 9->10 again.

Done. All spyware infections are now removed.

This completes this blog post on how to remove spyware.
Please feel free to provide feedback or comments.

Regards

Steve

Tags: adware, How to remove spyware, spyware
Posted in How to Articles, Spyware Removal | Comments (3)

how to remove a computer virus

November 20th, 2009

As a computer technician I often get called out to fix people’s home computers problems.The majority of these issues are either virus or spyware related issues.
When I arrive at the customers house I usually find one of the two scenarios has occurred.

1. The customer does not have any anti-virus software installed at all!
2. The customer does have anti-virus software installed, but it is out of date.

So, when they keep getting all sorts of virus warning and errors, and they can’t put up with it any more, they call a computer Tech aka me

When I arrive on-site at the clients house and take a first glance at their infected PC, I often have a look of concern, which then worries the customer, as they start thinking “Oh no, the tech has a worried look on his face, it may not be a 5 minute job, I better had go and see if I have enough money to cover his hourly rate for up to two hours worth of work  :)”.
I usually say to the customer, who at this time is usually standing behind me watching nervously ,to “leave me to it and I will call out when I am done.”
When the customer hears this, they often get a depressed look on their face and they trod off to the lounge room or kitchen.

Anyways, back to topic at hand, how to removal a computer virus. As the majority of my customers are home users,and they don’t have a large amount of money to spend (why do thing they called me, I only charge $50 per hour!), I often choose to install a free anti-virus scanner to remove the viruses.

In my experience, by best place to find superior free anti virus software is www.download.com. This website is great, because it shows both the user feedback and editors review of most software packages. In the past I have tried a variety of free anti virus software packages including, Clam, AVG, Avira, Avast and  PC Tools. Remember I am only mentioning free anti virus software, so packages like Norton,McAfee,Trend etc will not be referred to in this post.

Though trial and error and customer feedback, the two weapons of choice I use to removal a virus from computers are AVG or Avira.The other free packages are good, but in my humble opinion, I (as well as my paying  customers), I think they do a fine job as a free piece of software.

So lets get down to it… how do you get rid of that nasty virus that has infected your PC? Well assuming your PC is running stable enough, you need to follow these steps.

How to removal a computer virus :

1. Turn on you PC and start pressing the F8 key to boot to the windows menu
2. Then scroll to the option which says “Safe Mode with Networking” and press enter
3. When the PC has finished booting up (which can take some time), windows will advise you are in “Safe Mode”.
4. You should click “OK” to this message box, and then proceed to open up your favourite Internet Browser.
5. Once the browser is open you should type “www.download.com”  in the address bar and press enter
6. Once Download.com has loaded up, you will see on their homepage either AVG or Avira Free Antivirus software.
7. Click on AVG and click on the download link (noting which folder the software is being downloaded to)
8. Once the download is complete (depended on the speed of your internet connection), you need open or run the installation file that you downloaded.
9. Choose the default installation options and once installation is complete, you will see an AVG square icon on your desktop.
10. Double click on this icon to launch the AVG Command line scanner which will scan your PC for viruses
11. All detected virus infections will be either be “healed” or moved to AVG Virus Vault automatically.
12. Once this is completed, shutdown and reboot your PC normally and run the virus scan again just to be sure all virus issues are resolved.

Done. That was not so painful after all

Moving forward, always ensure you have an up-to-date antivirus software package installed on all of your PC and that it does daily virus scans.

For more information, please refer to the AVG help FAQ’s

This concludes the how to remove a virus blog.
Please feel free to comment or ask an question.

Regards

Steve

Tags: computer virus removal, computer virusl, delete virus, how to remove virus, remove virus
Posted in Virus Removal | Comments (0)

Welcome to Free PC Help

November 19th, 2009

Welcome to my Blog!
Let me introduce myself.
My name is Stephen Tracey and I am IT Technician with 20 years experience in the industry. In my day job I work as PC technician and a software developer.

I have always wanted to setup a website that offered free computer and internet help for everyone, and thus I have finally started this blog!  (After three years of procrastinating about doing it !)

This website is all about providing free tech support to people with computer or internet problems, and is mainly aimed towards  the beginner to intermediate computer user.

Anyways, basically I am offering my 20 years of IT knowledge and expertise for free. Why, you may ask? Simple, it is because I am a self confessed IT Geek and I have a passion for everything IT. (My kids always call me a Geek/Nerd)

So, please feel free to post as question or comment on my blog about anything to do with PC’s or the internet.

PS: I also plan to add a free live chat module, do users can solve their problems in real time… pretty cool eh?

Thanks for reading a little bit about me and my life

Regards
Steve

Tags: AboutMe, Free computer help
Posted in AboutMe | Comments (0)

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