PC Care: Anti-virus, Anti-malware

Is your pc running slowly?  It may be time to clean up your pc.  On our website, http://zroundtable.com/, we have posted a page for PC Care that has our latest tips for software (most can be downloaded for free at download.com), including:

• Anti-virus
• Anti-malware (such as spyware, adware)
• Registry cleaners

We list our favorite programs, such as a new entry on our list: Microsoft Security Essentials -- which has proven to be a good anti-virus program.  Below is an excerpt.  

Please let us know your favorite pc cleanup programs.  

Anti-Virus - these are currently our favorite free antivirus programs:

• Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) - with version 2, Microsoft has made MSE2 the leader in free antivirus programs.  We still like Avast as well, and we are testing both programs.
• Avast - a very good anti-virus program; we particularly like the boot scan, which has caught programs that load 
• AVG comes in at third-place but is still a good antivirus program.

Anti-Malware (cleans spyware, adware & tracking cookies from your pc)

• WinPatrol - a good program to prevent unwanted programs from jumping into your start-up programs, etc.
• Advanced System Care - this is a good general all-purpose cleaner.  Includes anti-malware, file clean-up, registry cleaner, defrag.  
• SuperAntiSpyware - our favorite cleaner, although it is over-exuberant cleaning cookies.  You may elect to allow known "good" cookies to remain on your system. 
• SpyBot Search & Destroy - a good malware cleaner as well.

Man vs. Computer (Computer to appear on Jeopardy on Feb 14)

A computer will be appearing on Jeopardy next week (Feb. 14th-16th). The interesting part is that the computer is programmed to understand "natural language." In a practice round, the computer beat two Jeopardy champions -- only underperforming in a children's book section.

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/02/10/man-vs-computer-a-gaming-history/?hpt=C2

Another interesting story on man vs. computers -- and the game of GO, which is historically difficult for computers to play... (also from the CNN article):

http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/5-computer-vs-human-game-matchups5.htm

Train Your Battery

Train Your Battery to Improve Battery Life

Training a new battery will increase battery retention and the number of life-cycles.  Below is information from Motorola that can be applied to all smartphones.  The way to train the battery is to fully charge it and drain the battery completely.

From Motorola:

• Turn off your smartphone and fully charge the battery
• Charge the battery for an additional TWO hours.
• Completely drain the battery
• Repeat the process once again

Conditioning is Good as Well

You should continue to exercise and "condition" your battery regularly (as shown above), perhaps every month or two.  Some people think doing this three days in a row will help "exercise" a battery back into shape if it isn't holding a charge well.