Are you a Windows Vista user? If so, have you run a defrag best price for cialis on your system lately? As you may remember, awhile back, I told you how to run a defrag with the Vista operating system and at that time, I failed to mention anything about the automatic defrag feature. So, I figured today would be as good a time as any to do so. As a Vista user, you may have run into a few of the functions that Microsoft has controlled for you, including the auto-defrag. I don't know about you, but I want my control back. Keep reading to find out how you can get it!

By default, the disk defrag feature in Vista is set up to defrag your system approximately every four times you restart your computer. It just starts on its own, no matter what you're working on or what you're doing on your computer at the time. As you can imagine, that slows your computer down quite a bit, let alone how annoying it becomes! So, if you'd like to speed your system back up by turning the auto-defrag feature off, here's how you can do it.

First, double click on the Computer icon on your desktop. Once there, right click on your C: drive and choose Properties. Next, hit the Tools tab and then select the option that says "Defragment Now." (I know that may sound like the opposite of what you should be doing, but stick with me. It will all work out in the end!) Lastly, uncheck the box that says "Run on a schedule." That will stop all the scheduled defrags from running and from here on out, you can run the defrag whenever it's convenient for you. Just don't forget to do it!

The new search capabilities in Windows Vista are certainly a significant step up from those in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. For once, you can actually find what you're looking for in a reasonable amount of time. By default, however, the new Vista search feature only indexes the partition where the operating system is installed, which is usually the C: drive. That's fine, unless you have a second partition or second hard drive you use to store your data files. In that case, you have to manually add the second hard drive to the search index. Luckily, it’s only a two step process!

Step 1: Turn On the Search Indexing for the Second Hard Drive/Partition

Double click on your My Computer adcirca vs cialis icon, right click on the drive and choose Properties. Then check the box that says “Index this drive for faster searching.” Finally, click OK.

For some strange reason, that doesn't actually add the drive to the index, so you have to perform one more step.

Step 2: Add the Drive to the Indexing Options

Go to Start, Control Panel and click on Indexing Options. In the dialogue box, you’ll see a list of current locations that are indexed by the Indexing service. Click on the Modify button and check off the second partition or hard drive you want indexed (for example, D:, E:, etc).

If you don't see the drive you're looking for, make sure you press the "Show all locations" button at the bottom of the window. You should then see all of the possible choices:

That’s it! Windows Vista will then begin indexing the new location and results from the extra drives will appear in your searches. Now, you can also add network drives to the Vista search index, as long as the drive is a mapped drive. Note that turning on the indexing in Vista is a great way to find files quickly and I would suggest keeping it on all the time. However, you may want to turn it off if your computer seems to be running slow.

Either way, this is an easy way to make your Vista searching even easier!

By Dennis O'Reilly

Several subscribers commented that the total amount of addressable RAM on 32-bit systems is 4GB, not 3GB. Reader K. Boriskin explains it this way:

• "The various versions [of Windows] reported 3GB because that's all that was available to the user. The rest is used internally for housekeeping, which certainly makes it supported. That has been fixed with [32-bit] Vista SP1, which now reports all installed memory up to 4GB.

  "See, for a start, [Microsoft Knowledge Base] article 946003."
  

Stuart's story was referring to the practical RAM limit — the amount of memory that's available for applications after the OS claims 1GB. But it's always a good idea to clarify the difference between this usable memory and the total memory that may be what is propecia installed on a motherboard.

Password-cracking utility sets off false alarms

It's understandable that such a program would trigger alerts from your antivirus application. Unfortunately, several readers begged off downloading the program as a result of such antivirus alerts. Brett Shand writes:

• "FYI, Cain & Abel is producing a hit with Avast AV for [the] Win32:Oliga Trojan. It's probably a false positive, and the forums have a reassuring reply from the coders that the program can be whitelisted. But I'm not game, especially for this type of software."
   

Few programs are indispensable. If your suspicions are raised about any application, leave it be. However, we're confident that the program Ryan recommended is safe to use and malware-free. In fact, that goes for all the products we review.

In a future Perimeter Scan column, Ryan will examine in greater detail the issue of antivirus false positives. Stay tuned!

By Stuart J. Johnston

As cool as this feature may appear, it's unlikely to be reason enough for the millions of XP users in the world to postpone their next system upgrade for more than a year. When you're ready for a 64-bit desktop PC, it's ready for you.

By Dennis O'Reilly As XP users continue to struggle while downloading and installing Service Pack 3, one reader succeeds by creating an SP3 installation CD. There's no guarantee this technique will work for you, but if you're determined to upgrade to SP3, this option may be worth a try.

More than one way to load a service pack

Slowly but surely, we're figuring out how to keep the last XP service pack from trashing our systems. This week's Top Story by Scott Dunn describes the biggest gotchas and offers tips for downloading and installing SP3, but reader Bob Bowen wrote in with a solution of his own.

• "Following a disastrous download and install by Microsoft Auto Updates of SP3 on my XP Home SP2 OS (which rendered my OS inoperable, requiring a raw format and complete reinstall), I downloaded an ISO image of SP3 … and burned my own CD of SP3 from it.

  "After disconnecting from the Internet and closing down all programs in my notification area, notably my Zone Alarm Pro Firewall, NOD32 AV, and antispyware applications, I ran the install CD, which installed SP3 flawlessly on my PC. That was three months ago, and I have had no problems whatever. In fact, the increased stability of my OS after installing SP3 was immediately noticeable. I suggest this as an excellent way to install XP SP3."
  

You'll find instructions on saving .iso files to CDs on the official Microsoft Windows XP site.

One says install XP SP3, the other says to wait

That's why it's so easy to understand the confusion of reader Terry Theresa, who noted that Susan Bradley's July 24 Patch Watch column (in our paid content) stated, "The time is right for Windows XP SP3 … maybe." Yet in last week's the cost of propecia Known Issues column, I recommended that XP users wait before installing the service pack.

• "[The column] written by Dennis O'Reilly recommending that the installation of SP3 be postponed is very untimely. It was only a few issues or so ago that we were told by Susan Bradley that SP3 is now safe for downloading. Whom to believe?

  "I think that one writer — and one writer only — [should] stay with the SP3 situation to avoid conflicting statements. I usually never, ever, write, so I will stand down now, had my say. Thanks again for Windows Secrets, as it has kept me out of a lot of trouble. I haven't had a reformat in quite awhile now."
  

Susan's lukewarm recommendation of SP3 advises that you have a full system backup handy before installing the service pack and that you have another Internet-connected PC at the ready so you can troubleshoot any problems you encounter during the update. For me, those are two indications that plenty of risk remains.

You would think that an e-mail provider would consider the addresses and passwords of its customers worth securing. Unfortunately, at least one webmail service doesn't feel the need to encrypt this information when people log in to its service, as reader F. Aydelotte points out.

• "Don't assume that your ISP's webmail is secure. Frontier, a major Internet provider on the East Coast and elsewhere, uses a nonencrypted Web page for its webmail.

  "I exchanged several e-mails with various levels of tech support and marketing at Frontier, asking about this security hole, and it became obvious that they could care less about their customers' sending user names and passwords in clear text."
  

Whenever you log in to any Web site, make sure the URL in the address bar begins with https: and look for the lock icon in the bottom-right corner of the browser. If the company doesn't provide a secure login page, find yourself another provider. You'll be doing all of us a favor.