If you’re running as an admin user in Apple’s Mac OS X then now is the time to step down into a standard user account. Reports over the last few months detail how a malformed installer package could gain root access without a password meaning that unless your running as a standard user you could be vulnerable.

Mac Geekery lists the steps you need to take in order to change your account type, as follows:

• Make a new user. Call it admin (or flyingmonkey, whatever).
• Make it an admin.
• Logout or FUS (fast-user-switch) to the new admin user and strip your user of administrative rights.
• Logout of the new admin.

This means that when you install any new software or want to modify system files that you will be asked for the admin password - a small price to pay for piece of mind that are secure.

If you are trying to remove Norton Antivirus or other Norton product from your system and having difficulties then try the Norton Removal Tool. This is the official removal tool from Symantec and effectively removes all Norton 2007/2006/2005/2004/2003 products from your computer. Simply install the removal tool and follow the onscreen instructions.

If you are looking for a more lightweight or free Anti Virus solution then check our Antivirus Downloads page for a list of recommended software.

Over time, as you use your computer and install new software, more services and programs will start along with Windows and run in the background. If you take a look at your system tray, the area on the task bar where the clock is located, you will see an array of icons. Each of these icons represents a software application that is waiting to be used. Applications ‘pre-load’ like this, and run in the background, so that they can start up faster when you want to use them. But computers are now so fast that this is no longer required, and as the list of background applications grows the amount of required memory and CPU cycles also grows and can begin to slow down a system.

There is a way to combat the growing list of applications loading when your computer starts - the Microsoft Configuration utility, MSConfig.

To open MSConfig click on the Start button and then click Run. In the Run dialogue box type ‘msconfig’ without the quotes.

When MSConfig has loaded go to the ’startup’ tab where you can find a list of all of the applications that start when your computer does. In the startup tab it is safe to disable most of the items, this will simply prevent those applications from starting. Although, you would not want to disable your antivirus or any other security software that you are using.

Next to each item is a check box, to disable an item remove the check and click apply. In the image below you can see that MSN Messenger, along with software from Adobe and Apple has been disabled from starting up. If you are unsure about an item you can safely disable it and reboot the computer, if you find a desired application no longer opens simply re-enable that item in MSConfig and reboot your system.

Microsoft recently purchased an application called Autoruns, an application similar to MSConfig but a lot more powerful. If you are more of a power user and require more information about start-up items you should give Autoruns a try. Click the ‘Logon’ tab where you can deselect programs that you don’t wish to start when you log into Windows.

Internet Explorer 7 is different from regular Windows updates in that it appears in the add/remove programs list. If you wish to remove IE7 you can do so by following the steps below. Although, It is advisable to use a more secure browser such as Mozilla’s Firefox instead of IE6, if you do not want to use the new IE7.

To uninstall IE7 open the Start menu and click on Control Panel. Then, in the control panel, click on Add/Remove programs and you will see Internet Explorer 7 listed. Click on the remove button to uninstall, you will be prompted to restart your computer after which Internet Explorer 6 will have been reinstated.

If you do not want to use IE7 you should use a more secure browser than IE6 such as Mozilla’s Firefox, a link to which is available here.