You'd think that they would have tested this

Despite the promise of an April 29 download release for Windows XP SP3, Microsoft said Tuesday that a "compatibility issue" has forced the software giant to postpone the release.

"In the last few days, we have uncovered a compatibility issue between Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS) and Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1)," a Microsoft spokesperson said in an e-mail.

Microsoft Dynamics RMS is a retail chain management solution for small and midsize customers.

In the interim, Microsoft will put filtering in place shortly to prevent Windows Update from offering both service packs to systems running Microsoft Dynamics RMS, the spokesperson said.

"Once filtering is in place, we expect to release Windows XP SP3 to Windows Update and Download Center," she said.

Microsoft warned Dynamics RMS customers not to install either service pack, and asked that Dynamics RMS customers running Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1 to contact customer support for more information.

"The fix is currently in testing and will be available as soon as that process is complete," Microsoft said.

Chris Keroack, Microsoft's release manager for XP SP3 wrote in an April 21 blog post that the company was "in the final stages of preparing for release to the Web (i.e. you!) on April 29th, via Windows Update and the Microsoft Download Center."

The update is supposed to include online documentation for Windows XP SP3, such as Microsoft Knowledge Base articles and the Microsoft TechNet Windows XP TechCenter, Keroack wrote.

Automatic updates were expected to roll out by June 10.

Service Pack 3 adds several networking and security improvements, and compatibility with Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 security credential providers. It also incorporates features previously available individually as separate updates, such as Microsoft Windows Imaging Component (WIC), Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 3.0, and Wi-Fi Protected Access 2.

Get the rest of this story on pcmag.com.

Free Counter

Install Clean Copy of Windows from Upgrade Disk

It is entirely possible to install a clean copy of Windows from an Windows Upgrade disk. In this blog I will step you through installing a fresh copy of Windows ME Upgrade. What you will require is a formatted hard drive, a copy of Windows Upgrade and your upgrade compliance - in this case I am using Windows 95.

Different versions of Windows will only upgrade from certain other versions of Windows. i.e. Windows XP Pro can be upgraded from Windows NT 4.0 but XP Home can not, be sure to check.

Anyway,

Insert Floppy Disk and start PC, at this prompt select Start computer with CD-ROM support, on you boot disk it might not be option No.1 but it will be there somewhere.

At the prompt type setup, make sure you have you Windows disk in the CD driver

At this point it will ask you to confirm you have a Qualifying Product, insert your Windows 95 disk ( or whatever you have that Qualifies)

Browse to it and press OK

Continue on with installing your fresh copy of Windows

It really is that simple. It is basically the same procedure with all copies of Windows with the exception of Vista.

Anyway I hope that you have found this helpful, please feel free to post a comment either way.

Host Wordpress Blog on Ubuntu Server

Install Ubuntu LAMP Server

I will assume that if you are trying this you have installed Linux before or are at least comfortable enough with the install process of different OS's

After reboot you will come to command prompt

Login in with Username and Password

Enable use of the 'root' account by typing: sudo passwd root

Login as 'root' by typing: su

Edit the sources list

To edit the sources.list you type: nano /etc/apt/sources.list

Comment out (#) the CD and uncomment all others - F2 to save

To update the source list you type: apt-get update

Updating System

To upgrade your system type: apt-get upgrade

Once all that is completed it is time to install a graphical desktop, this is done by typing the following:

apt-get install gdm gnome-applets gnome-control-center gnome-icon-theme gnome-menus gnome-panel gnome-session gnome-terminal menu metacity nautilus synaptic x-window-system-core firefox mysql-admin gedit

Once all packages are downloaded and installed you will be back at the command prompt.

To start the desktop type: startx

Configure 'Root' Login

Click on System / Quit / Restart.

When Ubuntu restarts log on with 'normal' user account.

This time go to System / Administration / Login Window

Select Security tab and check the 'Allow Local System Administrator Login'

Log out and log back in as 'root'

Create a database in mysql

Open a terminal (Applications / Accessories / Terminal) and type: mysqladmin -u root password ‘password’

To open mysql type: mysql -u root -p

Create a database for WordPress

Type: mysql> CREATE DATABASE wordpress;

Followed by: mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON wordpress.* TO 'root'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'password here' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Confirm changes by typing: mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

That's it for mysql so type: mysql> quit;

Download and configure Wordpress

Now fire up firefox and browse to 'localhost' – you should see something like;

Index of /

Name Last modified Size Description

apache2-default/ 20-Nov-2004 15:16

Browse to wordpress and download the latest tar.gz and save to wherever you want.

Open up a terminal at that location and type: tar -xvzf wordpress-2.2.1.tar.gz -C /var/www/

Open up your browser and type: localhost/wordpress – you should see a web interface for wordpress.

We have to configure our database for wordpress. Browse to /var/www/wordpress/ there is a file there called wp-config-sample.php, right click on this and open with text editor. It should look like the following;

<?php

// ** MySQL settings ** //

define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere'); // The name of the database

define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere'); // Your MySQL username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere'); // ...and password

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost'); // 99% chance you won't need to change

Enter your details and 'save as' wp-config.php in the same directory.

Open firefox and type: localhost/wordpress you should now be able to complete the installation of wordpress. Remember to note down the password as it is only presented once, this can be changed from within the wordpress interface.

Access Blog from Internet

You should now be up and running. The only thing left is to have web access to your blog. To do this you need to set up DNS forwarding.

Head over to DynaDNS and sign up for a free account. It is best to use a legitimate email account as they will email you to confirm that you want to continue with service.

Now log into your account and go to 'My Services', then under “Host Level Services' click on 'Add Host Service' and then “Add Dyamic DNS Host'. Choose from the list for a domain.

Now head over to your firewall/router, address should be 192.168.0.1 and log in. Look for the DNS service and enter the required details. Every time your ISP changes your IP address it lets DynDNS know about it.

You should now be able to browse to your wordpress blog at the host and domain name you specified.

Once this is done you can log out of the 'root' account, then is no need to log back into Ubuntu, just let it sit at the logon screen. You can do all your blogging from your web browser.

Thats it.

I hope that this has been helpful, if you feel that I have left something out or that this is helpful please leave comments.

Installation Guide - Windows 98 / 98SE / ME

Installation

The big thing before starting any Windows installation is to plan, know what you are doing. Read this blog in full. Back up your data.

I have written this guide using Windows ME, however it is equally valid for Windows 98/98SE. The order of things may change slightly but thats about it.

Some Windows disks will not boot from the CD therefore you must boot from the floppy. If you don't have a boot disk you can download one from here.

Insert floppy disk and CD into your PC and start the machine. At the prompt select 'Start computer with CD-ROM support' and press 'Enter'.

At the command prompt type 'format c:', press 'Enter' and 'y' to format. Let it do its thing and then enter a name for your drive, I would call it 'WinME', 'Win98, or 'Win98SE'.

After the formatting has completed type 'setup', press 'Enter' and once Scandisk finishes press 'x' to start installation.

Click 'Next' when prompted, accept the Agreement, enter your Product Key and click 'Next' three times.

Now enter your Name and Company Name then click 'Next' twice. If you know what the name of your Workgroup is enter that information here, if not just type 'MSHOME' then click 'Next'. Select your Country and click 'Next', select your Time Zone and click 'Next'.

Finally remove the floppy disk, click on 'Cancel' and then 'Finish'.

Let Windows do its thing until it restarts and asks you for a password, enter a password and then press 'Enter' and then re-enter your password. Be sure to enter a reasonably strong password but something you can remember.

Now you will have to install any needed drivers for your system, video card, sound card etc. I will have to leave this up to you!

Systems

Updates

Microsoft Updates

You would be surprised how many people are running their Windows machines totally unpatched.

Go to Start/Programs and click on Windows Update.

Set it to update automatically, download and install all updates. You just have to keep Windows fully patched!

AVG Anti-virus

If you do not have anti-virus you are asking for trouble. Download AVG Anti-virus Free Edition from here, install but choose 'NO' to restarting PC when it has completed.

If the AVG Control Panel doesn't start automatically go to Start/Programs/AVG 7.5/ AVG Control Center. On the left hand panel select 'Check for Updates', check the box 'Do not ask....' and select 'Internet'. Then select 'Update'.

Repeat process until no more updates are available, only restart if AVG prompts you to. Once done restart PC and check AVG Control Center for any more updates.

From the Control Center run a Full scan.

SpywareBlaster

We also need protection from spyware, I use SpywareBlaster, download from here. Install and run the program.

On the left hand panel select 'Updates' and then 'Check for Updates' on the main panel.

After updating has been completed select 'Protection' from the left panel and then 'Enable All Protection' from the main panel.

Spybot

While SpywareBlaster prevents known spyware from installing you need a program to remove any you may already have. Download and install Spybot from here.

Once you have Spybot installed - run the program, check the box not to see the warning again. Don't create registry back-up just click 'Next'.

Click on 'Search for Updates' and then 'Download All Available Updates'. Click on 'Immunize' on the left pane and then the Immunize green cross on the main pane.

Now to run a complete scan, do the 'Update' option, then 'Immunize' and then 'Search & Destroy'- 'Check For Problems'.

Remove everything it finds.

CCleaner

Windows collects a lot of useless crap for you, download and install CCleaner from here.

On the Install option page uncheck the following boxes 'Add CCleaner Yahoo!', 'Add Open CCleaner...', 'Add Run CCleaner...', 'Add Start Menu...'. Then click on 'Install'.

Run the program once installed.

On the main pane click on 'Advanced' and click 'OK' three times. Now down the right hand bottom corner select 'Run Cleaner'. Check 'Don't Show...' and select 'OK'.

After that in the left hand pane select 'Issues' and down the bottom in the middle select 'Scan for Issues'.

Once it has completed select 'Fix Selected Issues', click on 'No' to registry backup and finally 'Fix All Selected Issues' and the 'OK' Follow this procedure each time you run this program.

Diskeeper Lite

Basically as you use Windows it throws files all over your hard drive, to fix this you need to 'defrag' you hard drive. Windows comes with a defrag utility but it is useless on all versions except Vista.

Download Diskeeper Lite from here and install.

Select 'Yes' to a restart.

Run the program on restart. It may take a while to complete.

Maintenance Folder

Right click anywhere on the desktop and create a New Folder, call it 'Maintenance'.

Now drag the SpywareBlaster icon, the Spybot icon, the CCleaner icon and the Diskeeper icon into it.

Rename each icon as follows
SpywareBlaster = 1.SpywareBlaster

Spybot = 2.Spybot

CCleaner = 3.CCleaner

Diskeeper = 4.Diskeeper

This is now your Maintenance Folder; you should run each program one at a time. I strongly suggest doing this weekly.

Tweaks

Right click on the 'My Computer' icon on the desktop, select 'Properties' and the 'Performance' tab. Down at the bottom it has three items, select the first one 'File System', on the 'Hard Disk' click on where it says 'Desktop Computer' and change that to 'Network Server', then change the 'System Restore' from Max to Min. Click 'Apply' and then 'OK'.

Now click on the 'Virtual Memory' tab, check the 'Let me specify...' option. Enter a minimum and a maximum that is twice your amount of RAM. Click 'OK' and then 'Yes' and restart.

Applications

Zip Central

Used for extraction of files with .zip archives. Get it from Zip Central from here, download and install.

Open Office

If you don't have Microsoft Office a good alternative is Open Office. Download and install from here. Check the 'Custom Install' option, and choose to associate with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint Presentations.

FoxIt Reader (PDF Documents)

This is needed for opening PDF Documents. Download and install from here. Be sure to restart PC before opening any PDF's.

K-Lite Mega Codec Mega Pack

This will install all the codecs you could ever need and a really good media player - Media Player Classic I suggest using it for all videos. Download from here, choose version 1.70, this is the last version to work on ME.

When you go to open a video file right click on the file and select 'Open With..' and chose Media Player Classic

FlashGet

This is by far the best download manager I have ever used, download and install from here.

Firefox

Firefox is an alternative browser to Internet Explorer, it is strongly suggested that you use it. Download and install from here. With Firefox you can add all sorts of extension, these add extra functionally to the browser. I suggest the following extensions.

videodownloader, super drag and go, flashblock, pdf downloader, flashgot, fasterfox, adblock, ie tab.

CD BurnerXP Pro

The best freeware CD burning program. Download and install from here.

That's it for the applications.

All that's required now it is time to clean up a bit of the mess created by installing programs. I suggest creating System folder and a Media folder on your desktop. Drag the CD Burner icon and the AVG icon into the System folder. Drag the Windows Media Maker and the Windows Media Player icons into the Media folder. Delete the Setup MSN Internet and the FoxIt Reader icons.

Now down next to the Start button you can safely delete the FoxIt icon, the Windows Media Player icon and the Internet Explorer icon (after all you will be using Firefox anyway). Delete the Outlook Express icon if you are not going to use this for your emails. You're better off with a gmail account anyway. You can delete both icons from the desktop also if you are not going to use. You can them drag the divider across and regain some Toolbar real estate.

You can now do the same for the start menu. Double click on My Computer then the C Drive\Windows\Start Menu. This will show you all the folders in your start menu. Double click on the Programs folder. I think you can safely delete the following folders AVG, CD Burner, FlashGet, Mozilla Firefox, SpywareBlaster, ZipCentral. I would also delete the Diskeeper icon and Windows Media Player icon.

Finally drag the Maintenance, System and Media folders from your desktop into the Start Menu.

Now really finally Start/Run and type 'msconfig'. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything except the AVG items. Restart the PC. Every time you install a new program it will want to put icons everywhere, be aware of it and delete or move as required

Anyway run the Maintenance Folder you are done (and every week)

Windows - Up and running!!

Installation Guide - Windows XP

Installation

Windows XP should boot straight from you CD, if for any reason it doesn't you will need to adjust your BIOS to allow booting from CD. Refer to here instructions on how this is done.

Start machine and press any key to boot from CD if prompted. If you don't have an operation system installed it will automatically do this for you.

At the Windows XP Setup screen press ‘Enter’, read the agreement and press 'F8' to accept and continue. If it states you already have an operating system installed I suggest backing up all your data and formatting the drive and putting on a clean install of Windows.

Even if you have an upgrade disk you should never actually upgrade from one Windows install to another. You can install a clean copy of Windows from an upgrade disk, you just need the original disk from the previous copy of Windows.

Press 'D' to delete any partition you have and then 'L' to confirm this. Now press 'C' to create a partition and select the size you want. Press 'Enter' to set up XP on this partition. It will ask how you want the drive partitioned select the 'NTFS' option, don't do the quick one do the full option.

Windows will now copy files to your PC, this can take 10 minutes or so.

Windows will ask you for your Regional Setting and Language setting, choose what you need and click 'Next'.

Enter you Name and Organisation, click 'Next', enter your valid Windows XP key and press 'Next'.

Give your Computer a Name and enter an Administrator password, click 'Next'.

Enter Date and Time Zone, click 'Next'.

Select 'Typical settings', click 'Next', if your PC is on a network with other PC's select your Workgroup name and enter it here. Click 'Next'.

Let Windows do its thing until it restarts, you will see a screen Welcome to Microsoft Windows, click 'Next', 'Skip', 'Skip' select 'Not at this time' and 'Next'. Now configure you user account name and click 'Next' and 'Finish'.

Windows will now start, activate you copy of Windows so you can get the updates required. 

Now you will have to install any needed drivers for your system, video card, sound card etc. I will have to leave this up to you!

Systems

Service Pack 2

The first thing you will want to do is install Service Pack 2 if your install disk didn't have it already integrated. Go to here and download it. Run and install.

Windows Update

When PC restarts close the Security Center and head to Start/All Programs and select Windows Update. Along the top tab it gives you an option for Microsoft Update, click on this. Click on 'Start Now', 'Continue'  and select 'Install'.

If it asks you to install an 'ActiveX' control agree to this.

Once Microsoft Update is installed click on 'Check for Updates' and then 'Custom' when prompted.

After a while it will prompt you to 'Download and Install Now' select this. Once this is done let your PC reboot.

Head to Start/All Programs/Microsoft Update click 'Update Windows' and then 'Custom' when prompted. In the left hand pane click on 'Software, optional' and then 'Select All' in the main pane. Then do the same for 'Hardware'.

Above that it will say 'Review and install updates' click on this, then finally 'Install Updates'. This will download and install all updates. Once finished reboot and repeat this procedure until no updates remain.

Finally, down near the clock is the 'Security Center' open this and 'Turn on Automatic Updates'

AVG Anti-virus

If you do not have anti-virus you are asking for trouble. Download AVG Anti-virus Free Edition from here, install but choose 'NO' to restarting PC when it has completed.

If the AVG Control Panel doesn't start automatically go to Start/Programs/AVG 7.5/ AVG Control Center. On the left hand panel select 'Check for Updates', check the box 'Do not ask....' and select 'Internet'. Then select 'Update'.

Repeat process until no more updates are available, only restart if AVG prompts you to.

Once done restart PC and check AVG Control Center for any more updates.

From the Control Center run a Full scan. 

SpywareBlaster

We also need protection from spyware, I use SpywareBlaster, download from here. Install and run the program.

On the left hand panel select 'Updates' and then 'Check for Updates' on the main panel.

After updating has been completed select 'Protection' from the left panel and then 'Enable All Protection' from the main panel.

Spybot

While SpywareBlaster prevents known spyware from installing you need a program to remove any. Download and install Spybot from here.

Once you have Spybot installed - run the program, check the box not to see the warning again. Don't create registry back-up just click 'Next'.

Click on 'Search for Updates' and then 'Download All Available Updates'. Click on 'Immunize' on the left pane and then the Immunize green cross on the main pane.

Now to run a complete scan, do the 'Update' option, then 'Immunize' and then 'Search & Destroy'- 'Check For Problems'. Remove everything it finds.

CCleaner

Windows collects a lot of useless crap for you, download and install CCleaner from here.

On the Install option page uncheck the following boxes 'Add CCleaner Yahoo!', 'Add Open CCleaner...', 'Add Run CCleaner...', 'Add Start Menu...'. Then click on 'Install'.

Run the program once installed.

On the main pane click on 'Advanced' and click 'OK' four times. Now down the right hand bottom corner select 'Run Cleaner'. Check 'Don't Show...' and select 'OK'.

After that in the left hand pane select 'Issues' and down the bottom in the middle select 'Scan for Issues'. Once it has completed select 'Fix Selected Issues', click on 'No' to registry backup and finally 'Fix All Selected Issues' and the 'OK'

Follow this procedure each time you run this program. 

Diskeeper Lite

Basically as you use Windows it throws files all over your hard drive, to fix this you need to 'defrag' you hard drive. Windows comes with a defrag utility but it is useless on all versions except Vista. Download Diskeeper Lite from here and install. Select 'Yes' to a restart.

Run the program on restart. It may take a while to complete.

Maintenance Folder

Right click anywhere on the desktop and create a New Folder, call it ‘Maintenance’. Now drag the SpywareBlaster icon, the Spybot icon, the CCleaner icon and the Diskeeper icon into it. Rename each icon as follows 

SpywareBlaster = 1.SpywareBlaster

Spybot = 2.Spybot

CCleaner = 3.CCleaner

Diskeeper = 4.Diskeeper

This is now your Maintenance Folder, you should run each program one at a time. I strongly suggest doing this weekly. The first time you run Diskeeper it may take a while. 

Tweaks

Go to Start and right click on My Computer icon, select ‘Properties’ and ‘System Restore’ from change from Max to Min. Click 'Apply' and then ‘OK’.

Then click on 'Automatic Updates' tan and confirm that 'Automatic' is checked.

And now the 'Advanced' tab, under 'Performance' click 'Settings'. This will open up a box with three tabs, under 'Visual Effects' check 'Custom' and then uncheck every box except the bottom three. Click 'Apply'.

Now on the 'Advanced' tab go down to 'Virtual memory' and click on 'Change'. Make sure that 'Custom size:' is checked and enter an 'Initial size (MB):' and and 'Maximum size (MB):' that is equal to twice your systems RAM and press 'Set', 'OK', 'OK' and 'OK' again. Now reboot.

There is another two programs I use to tweak a Windows XP box. They are XP-AntiSpy from here and XP Lite from here. I suggest you look into them and decide whether you want to use.

Applications

Zip Central

Used for extraction of files with .zip archives. Get it from Zip Central from here, download and install.

Open Office

If you don’t have Microsoft Office a good alternative is Open Office. Download and install from here. Check the ‘Custom Install’ option, and choose to associate with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint Presentations. 

FoxIt Reader (PDF Documents)

This is needed for opening PDF Documents. Download and install from here.  Be sure to restart PC before opening any PDF’s. 

K-Lite Mega Codec Mega Pack

This will install all the codecs you could ever need and a really good media player - Media Player Classic I suggest using it for all videos. Download from here.

When you go to open a video file right click on the file and select ‘Open With..’ and chose Media Player Classic 

FlashGet

This is by far the best download manager I have ever used, download and install from here. 

Firefox

Firefox is an alternative browser to Internet Explorer, it is strongly suggested that you use it. Download and install from here. With Firefox you can add all sorts of extension, these add extra functionally to the browser. I suggest the following extensions.

videodownloader, super drag and go, flashblock, pdf downloader, flashgot, fasterfox, adblock, ie tab. 

CD BurnerXP Pro

The best freeware CD burning program. Download and install from here. 

That's it for the applications.

All that's required now it is time to clean up a bit of the mess created by installing programs. I suggest creating System folder and a Media folder on your desktop. Drag the CD Burner icon and the AVG icon into the System folder. Drag  the Windows Media Player icons into the Media folder. Delete the FoxIt Reader icons. 

Now down next to the Start button you can safely delete the FoxIt icon, the Windows Media Player icon and the Internet Explorer icon (after all you will be using Firefox anyway). You can delete icons from the desktop also if you are not going to use. You can them drag the divider across and regain some Toolbar real estate. 

You can now do the same for the start menu. Double click on My Computer then the C Drive\Documents and Settings\%user%\Start Menu. This will show you all the folders in your start menu. Double click on the Programs folder. I think you can safely delete the following folders AVG, CD Burner, FlashGet, Mozilla Firefox, SpywareBlaster, ZipCentral. I would also delete the Diskeeper icon and Windows Media Player icon. 

Finally drag the Maintenance, System and Media folders from your desktop into the Start Menu. 

Now really finally Start/Run and type ‘msconfig’. Go to the Startup tab and uncheck everything except the AVG items. Restart the PC. Every time you install a new program it will want to put icons everywhere, be aware of it and delete or move as required 

Anyway run the Maintenance Folder you are done (and every week) 

Windows XP - Up and running!!

Secure and Optimise Windows - For Free

I get a lot of requests from friends for me to 'fix' their Windows PC's. What I explain to people is that Windows starts out small and then grows and gets clogged with all sorts of crap. Like a car it requires regular maintenance, and the more often you do it the quicker you PC will run.

MSCONFIG
The first thing I do is check out what is starting up with their PC, go to Start/Run and type 'msconfig', under the start up tab you will see a long list of programs that launch when Windows starts. Usually there is everything from printers to camera software to java update utilities.

 I would disable everything except anti-virus, firewall and spyware programs but be careful you may disable something you need. I figure most other stuff can get launched as you use it.

The fewer programs you have running the better your Windows will run.

Windows 95 and Windows 2000 do not have msconfig but you can download from here for these OS's

Microsoft Updates
You would be surprised how many people are running their Windows machines totally unpatched. Go to Start/Programs and click on Windows Update. If you get the option to install Microsoft Update do so, on older OS's you don't get this option.

Install the required software and set it to update automatically, download and install all updates. You just have to keep Windows fully patched!

AVG Anti-virus
If you do not have anti-virus you are asking for trouble. Download AVG Anti-virus Free Edition from here, install but choose 'NO' to restarting PC when it has completed.

If the AVG Control Panel doesn't start automatically go to Start/Programs/AVG 7.5/ AVG Control Center. On the left hand panel select 'Check for Updates', check the box 'Do not ask....' and select 'Internet'. Then select 'Update'.

Repeat process until no more updates are available, only restart if AVG prompts you to.
Once done restart PC and check AVG Control Center for any more updates.
From the Control Center run a Full scan.

SpywareBlaster
We also need protection from spyware, I use SpywareBlaster, download from here. Install and run the program.

On the left hand panel select 'Updates' and then 'Check for Updates' on the main panel.

After updating has been completed select 'Protection' from the left panel and then 'Enable All Protection' from the main panel.

Spybot
While SpywareBlaster prevents known spyware from installing you need a program to remove any you may already have. Download and install Spybot from here.

Once you have Spybot installed - run the program, check the box not to see the warning again. Don't create registry back-up just click 'Next'.

Click on 'Search for Updates' and then 'Download All Available Updates'. Click on 'Immunize' on the left pane and then the Immunize green cross on the main pane.

Now to run a complete scan, do the 'Update' option, then 'Immunize' and then 'Search & Destroy'- 'Check For Problems'. Remove everything it finds. Sometimes people have so much spyware I am surprised their PC's even run.

CCleaner
Windows collects a lot of useless crap for you, download and install CCleaner from here.

On the Install option page uncheck the following boxes 'Add CCleaner Yahoo!', 'Add Open CCleaner...', 'Add Run CCleaner...', 'Add Start Menu...'. Then click on 'Install'.
Run the program once installed. On the main pane click on 'Advanced' and click 'OK' three times. Now down the right hand bottom corner select 'Run Cleaner'. Check 'Don't Show...' and select 'OK'.

After that in the left hand pane select 'Issues' and down the bottom in the middle select 'Scan for Issues'. Once it has completed select 'Fix Selected Issues', click on 'No' to registry backup and finally 'Fix All Selected Issues' and the 'OK'
Follow this procedure each time you run this program.

Diskeeper Lite
Basically as you use Windows it throws files all over your hard drive, to fix this you need to 'defrag' you hard drive. Windows comes with a defrag utility but it is useless on all versions except Vista. Download Diskeeper Lite from here and install. Select 'Yes' to a restart.

Run the program on restart. It may take a while to complete.

ZoneAlarm
You will need to install a firewall, this will help prevent unauthorised access to you PC from the internet. Download and install from here. Depending on what version of Windows you are running you may need to look for an older version. Read the documentation on the page.

Firewalls can be tricky to use and are beyond the scope of this installation guide, I suggest reading the material available on their page.

Maintenance Folder
Right click anywhere on the desktop and create a New Folder, call it 'Maintenance'. Now drag the SpywareBlaster icon, the Spybot icon, the CCleaner icon and the Diskeeper icon into it. Rename each icon as follows

SpywareBlaster = 1.SpywareBlaster
Spybot = 2.Spybot
CCleaner = 3.CCleaner
Diskeeper = 4.Diskeeper
This is now your Maintenance Folder; you should run each program one at a time. I strongly suggest doing this weekly.

Anyway if you found this helpful or crap let me know by making a comment.

If you need anything clarified feel free to ask a question.