Heuristic scan is a technique designed to find at a very high speed a Malware registry entry, file or folder whether or not the Malware is or is not on the system, it look for specific attributes and characteristics (heuristics signature) for detecting viruses and other forms of Malware, once detected it will use a complete known recipe for complete removal of all entries of the Malware.

Every time I get to work on a clients computer, my first priority is to deeply clean up the system before I can troubleshoot any problems, as one of the main reasons a computer has low performance is due to the excessive amount of garbage files that the system generates in order to operate.

If I start cleaning manually every folder that contains unneeded files, it could easily take me 25 to 30 minutes per computer, but it also requires the knowledge to locate all these folders. I strongly recommends to all my customers to use regularly (every 15 to 30 days) CCleaner to remove all these unwanted files.

CCleaner is a free system optimization and also privacy tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up an important amount of hard disk space. It cleans: Internet Explorer (Temporary files, URL history, cookies, Auto complete form history, index.dat); Firefox (Temporary files, URL history, cookies, download history); Windows (Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files, and Log files); Registry cleaner (Advanced features to remove unused and old entries, including File Extensions, ActiveX Controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, Uninstallers, Shared DLLs, Fonts, Help Files, Application Paths, Icons, and Invalid Shortcuts. So comes with a comprehensive backup feature.)

In the latest version several changes such as improving support for IE7 auto complete cleaning, and adding Vista Recycle Bin secure deletion. Version 2.04.543 added system tray icon, added minimize to system tray option, and optimized file deletion routines.

If you want to get ahead of the game and cleanup the computer before my visit, we'll both save precious time!

I did some research on the web about how to change your ip address and nobody is addressing the real source that will force your Internet Service Provider (ISP) to give you a new IP address instanly!

The main question that was addressed to me was, why if I disconnect from my ISP and reconnect again I still have the same IP?

Each ISP has a pool of IP addresses assigned, in order to keep an order the ISP's will try to maintain the same IP's for people that are always connected, if you disconnect too long then that IP will be released and assigned to a new user. So this will be the easiest method to change your IP.

Then how will the ISP know that is mee reconnecting again?

To explain this you have to understand a few concepts, you connect to your modem (Cable, DSL or Fiber optic) through a NIC card on your computer (Network Interface Card) or ethernet card. Each NIC card has a specific MAC address that your ISP will use to identify you (the user) they will reserve and IP address for a period of time (6, 12, 24 hours, etc...) for each time you try to ocnnect with the same MAC address.

The beauty of this is that Addresses can either be "universally administered addresses" or "locally administered addresses." You can edit this MAC address in windows, Linux or directly in your router depending on which devide is connected to your modem.

If you have a router connected to your modem the procedure is very easy, unplug the power to your modem, then login to your router and look for a button that says "Clone Mac Address" you can also manually edit this address by changing one number or one letter. Make sure that you don't alter the format.

The MAC address is a hexadecimal format (letters A to F and numbers 0 to 9) with each octet separated by a dash or colon like this: 0a-1b-2c-3d-4e-9f if you edit one of theses number like changing the 3 for a 6 or the d by a c then reconnect to your ISP, they will think that you are a new user and assign a new IP address.

If you don't have a router you can edit this address in windows very easy, the first step is to find your current MAC address, to do so go to Start -> Run type CMD and press Ok. In the command pronpt or black window type the following: "ipconfig /all" without the quotes. This is what you should see:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 1:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/1000 PM Network Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-D4-C2-9A-F7
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 48.231.xxx.xxx
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 48.231.116.xxx
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 48.231.116.xxx
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 48.231.116.xxx
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : December 20, 2007 8:55:57 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : December 20, 2007 11:55:57 PM

Make sure that you have the right NIC card in this case is "Intel(R) PRO", I highlighted the MAC address so you can clearly see it, keep note of this address and the IP address also to monitor if it changed after we are done.

Disconnect the power of your modem.

Now go to start -> Run and type sysdm.cpl press Ok. Click on the Hardware tab and then "Device Manager" browse for "Network Adapters" expand it by clicking the + sign look for the right NIC (in my case is Intel(R) Pro...) then right click on it and hit properties -> Click on the Advance Tab and select "Locally Administer Address"

Click on the Value box and paste the Mac Address you kept Ex: 00-16-D4-C2-9A-F7. Now change on digit click Ok, reconnect the power to your modem and you are done! You got a new IP instanly!

· Accessibility Controls---> access.cpl

· Add/Remove Programs control ---> appwiz.cpl

· Add Hardware Wizard---> hdwwiz.cpl

· Automatic Updates ---> wuaucpl.cpl

· Date/Time Properties control ---> timedate.cpl

· Display Properties control ---> desk.cpl or control desktop

· Display Properties "Appearance Tab Preselected" ---> control color

· Disk Management ---> dskmgmt.cpl

· Find Fast control ---> findfast.cpl

· Fonts Folder control ---> fonts

· Folders Properties ---> control folders

· Game Controllers ---> joy.cpl

· Internet Properties control ---> inetcpl.cpl

· Keyboard Properties control ---> main.cpl or control keyboard

· Mouse Properties control ---> main.cpl or control mouse

· Multimedia Properties control ---> mmsys.cpl

· Network Properties control ---> netcpl.cpl

· Password Properties control ---> password.cpl

· Printers Folder control ---> printers

· Power Configuration ---> powercfg.cpl

· Printers and Faxes ---> control printers

· Regional Settings ---> intl.cpl

· Sound and Audio Devices control panel ---> mmsys.cpl

· System Properties control ---> sysdm.cpl

· Windows Firewall ---> firewall.cpl