It involves creating a scheduled task to run the application with highest privileges then creating a shortcut to run the task

Create the Scheduled Task Item

Open up Task Scheduler through the start menu search box ( just type task and select ‘Task Scheduler’), and then, when Task Sceduler is open, click the “Create Task” link on the right hand menu.

The first thing you need to do is give the task a short, simple name, preferably without any spaces in it. Then check the box for “Run with highest privileges” (very important)

Now switch to the Actions tab, click the New button, and then browse down to the application that you are trying to start.

Close out of the dialogs by clicking the OK button, which should create the new task in the list. You can right-click on it and choose “Run” at this point, simply to make sure that it launches the application the way you were expecting.

Create the Shortcut to Start the Task

We need to add a command that will run the scheduled task, passing in the name of the task that we used. Right-click an empty spot on your Desktop and select New > Shortcut. In the Create Shortcut window enter the following text: C:\Windows\System32\schtasks.exe /run /tn “TaskName” Where “TaskName” is the name of the task you chose above. Note: Include the quotation marks around the TaskName or it will fail to run the task. Click Next and then enter a name for the shortcut. When done, click Finish.

Whenever you want to run the specified program, simply double-click on the shortcut you’ve created without requiring prompts or complete Administrator access.

You can also further customize the shortcut with an icon or other settings if you wish.  To change the icon check the properties of the shortcut created by the program (the one which prompts you to proceed as administrator). Click ‘Change Icon’ to establish the location of the icon file (usually the program itself) and copy thid to the the properties of the new shortcut.

I’ve never been a fan of history always being displayed especially on a computer used for business so I was not happy when recent application file history appeared with a right mouse click of the minimised application in the task-bar.  Here is a Windows 7 tip that tells you how to disable the Taskbar Application jump history from appearing;

• Right-Click a clear area of the task-bar and then Click Properties.
• In the dialog box that appears Click the Start Menu tab, and then Uncheck the box for’ Store and display recently opened items in the Start menu and the taskbar’.
• Once you Click ‘Apply’ ALL jump list recent history will be erased.

It’s as simple as that when you know how.  This is a Windows 7 tip supplied by Computer Business Services.

The first action to take is to review your spam filtering.

Let Your Mail Provider do the Work

A large number of people still have their main spam filter operating on their PC in conjuction with their mail client, eg. Outlook.  This is now not usually the best approach.   Most Mail Providers (usually your website hosting company) can apply a spam filter and virus check any mail attachments before the mail ever reaches you. Each day you will receive a single email detailing any spam which has been detected and quaranteened.  There is usually enough info there for you to assess if it is indeed spam.  If you see a mail which has been wrongly classed as spam you can retrieve it into your normal mail box.

White Lists and Black Lists

In conjuction with the above you should be be able to create ‘White Lists’ and ‘Black Lists’.  If the spam system incorrectly traps a ligitimate email you simply enter the senders email address in the ‘White List’ and it will never be treated as spam again.  Similarly if you consistantly receive spam from the same sender you can add their email address to the ‘Black List’ which will ensure it is always blocked.  Note, seasoned spammers continually change their ‘email’ address so this can have limited effect.  Your Mail Server Host uses additional advanced techniques to detect spam.

How to Set This Up

So, log on to your ISP account and go to your email settings.  Note that you may not be able to adjust these settings from your web-mail console where you can view/collect your mail.  You may have to log on to your general hosting account.  

Important Tip – Unsubscribe

Try unsubscribing if you are given the option. Check the bottom of a spam email and if there is an option to un-susbscribe try it.   Although many spam email sources use somewhat questionable means to obtain your email address many of them also realise that if you are not interested you will simply block it so do provide a ligitimate means of unsubscribing.  (it is often said that by doing this you are confirming a ligitimate email address but seasoned spammers don’t care about this they will keep bombarding you anyway so always best to try and unsubscribe if you can).

Further Steps to Minimise Spam

In addition there are a number of steps you can take to minimise spam going forward;

• Only give out your personal business email address to clients and people you wish to contact. Eg your.name@mycompany.co.uk
• Have a seperate general email address for your company. Eg info or enquiries@mycompany.co.uk
• You need to decide whither you put your personal or general email address on your personal business card
• Have a non-personal email address which you use to subscribe to websites etc. Eg isubs1@mycompany.co.uk
• Have a 2nd non-personal email address which you give to sources that you may have misgivings about but you still want give them an address, perhaps a mailing list that you have not heard of before but looks interesting. Eg isubs2@mycompany.co.uk
• If possible keep a note of what people/organisations/websites you give out the email to on a spreadsheet.  You can also combine this with a note of associated website password and user names.

In practice you arrange to have all the mail addresses re-directed to your main email address (but the sender will never know this). Why do this?  If spam becocomes a problem on a partivular address you can cancel it without affecting the others.  It also lets you know which address has been passed to the spammers.  Note – sometimes websites get hacked for the sole purpose of ‘stealing’ the subscriber list so your email address may not have been deliberately passed on

If you want to find out more or need any help with the above contact Computer Business Services who will be only too happy to advise.

There are a number of ways of configuring Outlook to fetch your mail. If you have multiple mail addresses, perhaps used by different people, how best to work together?

And the biggest confusion of all, Outlook’s attempt to automatically archive your mail. In many cases it is best to disable Outlook’s automatic archiving.  Archiving can be switched on for individual folders as required.

A then there’s spam. You don’t have to put up with high levels of spam. This can reduced this to a trickle rather than a deluge.

Tip: Create your own Archive folders, for for each quarter, year or whatever is approprite for you and drag your older files as a group into the appropriate.

Tip: If there is more than one person dealing with emails arriving to multiple email addresses a good solution is to designate one of the PCs as the master and use synchronising software to duplicate the incoming email to the other PCs.  Mail can be sent from any of the PCs. Sent mail from any one of the PCs are atomatically transferred to the other computers.

If any of the following apply, you have lost control of your own Website;

• the content of your website been static for some time and you are not able to have it updated
• you have to pay every time you want a simple change to your website in addition a monthly and/or yearly or charge
• you cannot update the content of your own website

We regularly ‘rescue’ websites for our clients.  Once rescued they can update their own website (or we will make simple changes free).

If you think your website needs to be rescued don’t delay, contact us now and we will start the process.

So if your existing Anti Virus solution contract is nearing its end or you are simply unhappy with it, then complete our contact page and we will extend your anti virus coverage for an additional 6 months free.

1. How many enquires are you getting as a direct result of your website? If it’s less than 10/month your website is not working for you.  If you don’t how many enquiries you get that’s just as bad.
2. Search Google (from within the local area where you operate) using search terms that you would expect people to use to find you.  If you are not on the 1st or 2nd page of results your website is not working for you at all.  Supplementary to this add the location of your company to the search terms.  If you are not on the 1st page you have serious problems with your website.
3. Another very important test is cost. How much is it costing you?  If you feel it’s costing too much it probably is.  If your wensite company charges you every time you want to make a relatively small change then it is definitely costing you too much.  As a rough guide if you are spending more than about £350 per year you are probably paying too much.

OK, so you’ve done these tests and your website isn’t working for you and costing way too much. Don’t panic – just contact us and we will explain what we can do for you.  If you are worried about leaving your current provider because they appear to ‘hold all the cards’, i.e. they control your website and are unlike to give it up without a fight, again – don’t panic – you are legally entitled to control your own website and we know exactly how to get control for a mere £30 total cost.

As an example, 18 months ago we took over a website which was costing many £1,000s pounds to host and a further £300 every time the site was updated.  The hosting company would not relinquish control however we took control through the correct channels and now the website generates many hundreds of enquiries every month and generates over £15,000 per month revenue (there are no products actually sold on the website itself).

So, to recap, if you are not generating a reasonable number of enquires and revenue from your website irrespective of cost we strongly suggest yo contact Computer Business Services sooner, rather than later.  This situation should not be allowed to continue.

Tell us the symptoms and we’ll suggest a course of action. You will be surprised how little it will cost (and may not cost you anything).

Type that email or pick up the phone and give us a call now. What are you waiting for?

There has been a recent increase in the number of customers and people we know who have had viruses cripple their PCs and laptops.

Even though they have well known and generally reliable Anti-Virus protection on their PCs, their PCs will not connect to the Internet nor will they allow themselves to be AV scanned. In some severe cases the PCs are almost useless and won’t even allow themselves to booted in Safe Mode.

Well, we have a suggestion; TrendMicro SysClean.

As agents for TrendMicro we recommend this one-off solution to crippling viruses.

It’s a little tricky for most people but you can download the program and the latest ‘pattern files’ and run it in ‘Command Mode’ – if you PC will allow. For more severe infestations you may need to create a boot-able USB memory stick with SysClean on it. You then re-boot your PC which boots up from the USB memory stick and SysClean will remove the viruses. This is a bit more technical and in this case we would suggest you ask an expert to do this for you.

Contact us and we’ll give you free advice on removing crippling viruses from your PCs and laptops.