Whether you are looking for a new laptop on a budget, or the latest cell phone with all the bells and whistles, the CNET Product Finder will walk you through the decision-making process step-by-step.

CNET Downloads  is your place to discover (safe, secure, and spyware free) free-to-try legal downloads. RAC Services recommends CNET Downloads because of their comprehensive catalog of downloads from games to security patches, screensavers, and mobile apps. In addition you will see CNET editor reviews and users opinions making it easy to find the right download.

Today’s technology easily allows us to keep our family and friends informed of our daily activities. With social sites like Facebook and Twitter, we can get real-time updates of what our friends are doing. Tweeters tweet real-time thoughts of sports games that they are at, or quick reviews of a movie as they watch it at the theater. How many times have you been on Twitter and read from a friend “I’m going to the movies tonight”, I’m inline to buy tickets, so excited!” It is nice that with the technology and Twitter that we can interact in real-time, even when we’re not at home or work. But who all is keeping track of your postings?

Criminals are turning to the Social Networking Sites to find out when someone will be away from home. Reported by KTLA News, was “LOS ANGELES — A group of teenagers accused of burglarizing the homes of Hollywood actors, including Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Audrina Patridge and Paris Hilton, tracked the stars using paparazzi photos and celebrity websites, according to Los Angeles police detectives. Police say the suspects used the information to determine the schedules and movements of the celebrities they are accused of burglarizing. They looked online for the times of award ceremonies, movie premieres and other events so they could plan the break-ins, detectives say.”

The news story did not mention Twitter, but if you are a criminal, what better place to track movements of your next potential victim. Most of us are guilty of posting our movement. “I’m going work now”, “going to Starbucks”, “off to a meeting.” In most cases no harm or wrong doing would probably occur. On the other hand, if you are the next target for a criminal, your providing an “open door” when your house will be unoccupied.

What should we do? After all, one of the main purposes of Twitter is tweeting our real-time “What are you doing” posts. The best measure of safety that we all can do, is use “common sense” on the information that we make available for anyone to see online.

1. Use common sense

2. Avoid revealing your exact location

3. Avoid disclosing the start or end time of a meeting or activity

4. Never reveal that your alone while away from home (Don’t – “I’m alone studying at JohnDoe Park”)

5. Pay attention to questions that you are asked. If someone online is asking for to much information, that should raise a red-flag.

6. When not at home, leave an inside light on and a radio or TV. (If your tweeting that your going out)

7. Use caution when posting pictures that you share on Twitter. That big flat screen and surround sound or the china cabinet might looking tempting in the background.

8. Do not brag about the expensive jewelry or items that you may have in your home.

9. Keep your personal information brief. (profile/background)

10. Never reveal your daily schedule (school/work hours)

RAC Services uses Twitter, but we are not Safety Experts. This article is only for thought and our suggestions. RAC Services is not employed or affiliated with Twitter.

If you have any safety tips that you would like to share, please add them in the “Comments” below.

Example System Tray Balloon Pop-up False Alerts

People that were scammed downloaded the rogue programs by choice after being tricked into believing it was legitimate. Web users fall prey to the scam when they click on links, pop-ups or flashing adverts warning them their computer was infected. The fake program then appears to run a virus check which tells the user their PC is infected and asks them to pay for it to be cleaned up.

But downloading the software can give criminals access to bank details and computer files. Symantec found 250 rogue programs were downloaded 43 million times in the 12 months to July 2009.

Analysts believe a small number of people run networks of more than 1,000 distributors whose earnings are linked to the number of machines they infect. The distributors, most of whom are in the United States, may not even realize they are acting illegally. The software may be developed in one country and then distributed in another so it is hard to track them down.

There are very few things the consumer can do. If you go to the site and try to get your money back, you will often find that it has been removed from the web or the contact information (if any) is not valid information. In so many cases with scams, there are hundreds, if not thousands of people that were infected. You can try and do a “search” by entering the website name and/or the software name. You may get lucky and find forum topics listed under your search that may contain valid contact information for you.

There are ways to spot a fake site. You should be protected from this type of malware if you keep your browser and anti-virus software up to date. If messages telling you that your PC has an infection pop up when you visit a website, simply close your browser down and use your existing anti-virus software to scan your PC.  Also, if you think a warning message on your PC is suspect, carefully check spelling and grammar — there could be a tell-tale mistake.

When you think a warning message or any pop-up is suspicious, we recommend that you run a full system scan using SuperAntiSpyware. It’s free to use and is a great addition to any anti-virus program.

Additional Information: Pop-Up Windows May Lead to Trouble [Safest way to close a pop-up ad]

Microsoft will patch 13 vulnerabilities this Tuesday. Eight are rated as “Critical” and the other five are marked “Important.”

TweakNow PowerPack is a fully-integrated suite of utilities that let you fine-tune every aspect of your computer’s operating system and Web browser. Computer manufacturers recommend that you run the built in system tools to maintain your operating system. Often times these tools are difficult to locate and that leads to neglect on regular maintenance. TweakNow PowerPack eliminates the hassle and confusion when it comes to performing regular maintenance on your computer. TweakNow PowerPack will do everything that the pre-installed manufacturers system tools will do, plus a whole lot more. Running the TweakNow PowerPack once a week will keep your computer clean, tuned and operating at it’s top performance.

The Registry Cleaner module provides you with a safe and simple way to clean Windows Registry. To keep your computer always at top performance, we recommend to clean your registry at least once a week. For Windows tweaking lovers, the suite provides more than 100 hidden Windows settings in the Windows Secret section. Using modules included in this section, you can easily customize your Windows like guru’s do. The Virtual Desktop module lets you run as many as four custom-designed desktop configurations simultaneously, allowing you to tailor your computer screen to your mood and your work requirements. Last but not least, the suite also gives you a complete picture of all aspects of your computer’s hardware, including detailed information about your motherboard, processor, video card, memory, hard disk and network.

This is a great tool that eliminates the need for multiple programs. TweakNow PowerPack puts all of the tools that you need to maintain your computers performance all in one easy to use program. The best part of TweakNow PowerPack is that it is 100% FREE.

Download TweakNow PowerPack Here

Important Tips:

• After downloading, close ALL running programs before proceeding with setup.

• Before running TweakNow PowerPack, it is recommended that you create a “System Restore” point.

• Read the “Help” section on the TweakNow PowerPack interface before running for the first time.

System Restore: Click  Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Restore

RAC Services does not receive any incentives, payments or rewards from TweakNow for our recommendation of their product(s)

If you enjoy jazzing up your photos LunaPic.com is a great site for you. At LunaPic.com there are many options that you can choose from to make your photos unique and fun. You are given a toolbar where you can edit photos or create something new on a blank canvas. LunaPic.com has many animation options as well, such as animated glitter, reflections, animated groovy color change, winking and more. Simply upload your photo or paste the url and apply the animations that interest you. It is great because you can add as many animations as you want.

LunaPic has great Touchup options, including removing acne, scars and any other blemishes. If you like what you create you can save it or send it to friends if you have an account. LunaPic is a free online service, creating an account is Free. You can save your photos in your own gallery that you can access when you sign in to your account. Have fun browsing the public gallery to get ideas for your own photos. You can also open up facebook, flickr and photobucket from your LunaPic’s account. Have fun making creative photos at LunaPic.com.

An Example of one of the things that you can do at LunaPic.com

Is your computer running slower then normal? Don’t worry just yet. No matter how new a computer is, the performance will decrease over time. The good news is that in most cases, you can easily increase the performance of your computer to “like new” speed. Below are some free programs along with a few simple steps to get your computer running smooth again.

Computers require regular maintenance. A lot of the maintenance tips and the factory installed system tools are often overlooked or ignored. There are a lot of factors that can slow down a computer. Spyware, Malware and Adware are probably the biggest culprits. The Anti-virus security software just isn’t enough these days. No matter how good an anti-virus program claims to be, it never hurts to run a second program that specializing in anti-spyware.

Problems with the Windows Registry are a common cause of Windows crashes and error messages. Registry problems can occur for many reasons, including references left behind after uninstallation; incorrect removal of software; missing or corrupt hardware drivers; or orphaned start-up programs. This will significantly increase the Registry size and slow down your computer, because Windows will need more time to load, search, and read data from the Registry.

Disk Fragmentation is another culprit in slow PC performance. As you add and remove programs, files and documents, the disk will get fragmentated and require a defragmentation in order to reorganize and optimize the disk.

A slow computer and browser can also be caused by the temporary files. As you work on the PC and browse online, the pages that you visit are stored in a temporary folder. As that folder gets bigger, it causes a noticeable reduction in performance.

The key is maintenance. Regular Maintenance will help your computer last longer, plus increase its performance.

If you are interested in using factory installed programs to maintain your computer, then please click here.

Below are four programs that RAC Services uses and recommends for maintaining a computer. All four programs are available in a free version. Upgrading to a full-version is optional. Honestly, the free versions work great, and you do not need the full-versions in order to see an improvement in your PC performance.

Click on the name of the program to read the details and download.

SuperAntiSpyware

Advanced System Care

Smart Defrag

Eusing Registry Cleaner

Once you have downloaded and installed the four programs above, proceed to the steps below.

First time steps and these steps should be performed once a month.

Step 1 – Open the SuperAntiSpyware. Click on “Scan Your Computer” then make sure that there is a green check mark in the box next to the “C:/”. Next, select “Perform Complete Scan”. (Run the “Complete Scan” once a month) A complete scan will take sometime to finish. You can continue working and let it scan in the background. Once the scan is complete, follow the on screen steps to remove the spyware.

Step 2 – Open the Advanced System Care. Click on the “Care” in the center of the screen. The Advanced System Care will automatically scan, detect and repair any problems. Once it is finished, close the program.

Step 3 – Run the Eusing Registry Cleaner. Click “Later” when asked to register. Next, click “scan” and once it has finished scanning, click “Remove”.

Step 4 – Run the Smart Defrag. Make sure there is a green check mark next to the “C:/”. Next, select “Optimize” in the drop down box. Then click “Start”.

Normal Maintenance:

The SuperAntiSpyware and Advanced System Care should be run weekly, ideally daily.

*the Smart Defrag will run automatically in the background when the PC is in Idol.

Remember to check for updates on a regular basis for these programs. Some of them allow you to select automatic updates.

If your Internet connection seems slow, the first step is to benchmark it using an Internet speed test site. An Internet speed test can give you an accurate indication of how much bandwidth is available to you at the current time.

Whether you have high speed broadband or a dial-up Internet connection, an Internet speed test can help determine if you’re speeding along the Information Superhighway as fast as you should be.

Of all the Internet speed test sites out there, this one is the winner by a landslide! It’s fast, free and graphically appealing with a speedometer-like display. A huge list of worldwide test locations are available making for very accurate results. The nearest one is automatically calculated based on your IP address which is very handy.

Description

• Speedtest.net can test the bandwidth between your PC and any of a huge number of test servers from around the globe.
• The speedometer-like display at Speedtest.net shows your bandwidth during the test in a format familiar to almost everyone.
• Speedtest.net automatically calculates the nearest testing server to your location helping you begin your test faster.
• Test results at Speedtest.net are saved to allow you to compare results over time, helping to spot slowdowns and upgrades.
• Saved results also allow comparisons to others based on ISP, state, Earth and more.
• Global Stats feature shows test statistics from all over the world.
• Each test at Speedtest.net generates a graphic displaying your personal results that you can email or share online.
• Speedtest.net tests both upload and download bandwidth along with latency, providing a complete picture of your connection.

Check your Internet Speed here

CPU-Z is a great program that gathers information on some of the hardware and devices on a computer. CPU-Z will list the motherboard, processors and graphic interface along with other hardware that is on your system. This tool takes the guess work out of determining what replacement parts and model numbers that you need for your system.

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system, including;

CPU

• Name and number.

• Core stepping and process.

• Package.

• Core voltage.

• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier.

• Supported instructions sets

• Cache information.

Mainboard

• Vendor, model and revision.

• BIOS model and date.

• Chipset (northbridge and southbridge) and sensor.

• Graphic interface.

Memory

• Frequency and timings.

• Module(s) specification using SPD (Serial Presence Detect) : vendor, serial number, timings table.

System

• Windows and DirectX version.

CPU-Z is FREE and easily installs on most operating systems. Click Here To Download