Fixing Computer Problems after Virus Removal with Disk Heal

Disk Heal is a useful tool that tweaks your PC and fixes common computer problems. Initially it was a program which fixed disk problems that occur after a virus has been removed with a few additional features like changing the icon of a drive. Currently it performs various other tweaks as well.

Main Features:

• Fixes Disk Problems. Can’t open your drive just by clicking it? Getting error messages like “Could not find something” or an Open With dialog? Disk Heal fixes these problems in just one click.

• Fixes Task Manager inaccessibility

• Fixes Folder Options inaccessibility

• Fixes Registry Editor inaccessibility

• Can’t access any of the above three features, Disk Heal fixes this problem

• Fixes File/Folder inaccessibility: Has a virus hidden your files/folders and you cannot unhide it? Use disk heal to fix this problem.

• Perform Tweaks: Performs various other tweaks to optimize your pc including:

• Security Tweaks:

-Password protect these features
-Enable/Disable Task Manager
-Enable/Disable Folder options
-Enable/Disable the registry editor
-Lock the location of ‘My Documents’
-Enable/Disable Display Properties
-Enable/Disable ‘Search’
-Enable/Disable ‘Run’
-Enable/Disable Control Panel
-Enable/Disable Shutdown
-Enable/Disable CPU Beep
-Enable/Disable CD Auto-run
-Hide/unhide Start->(All) Programs menu
-Enable/Disable the Context menu in My Computer & Desktop
-Enable/Disable My Computer
-Hide/Show ‘Pinned’ items from the Start menu
-Remove ‘Manage’ in My Computer Context Menu

• Appearance Tweaks:

-Change drive icon
-Enable/Disable Clear-Type (Also known as ‘Font smoothing’ Fonts)
-Enable/Disable smooth scrolling
-Hide/Show the left panel from My Computer
-Hide/Show the current user in the Start menu
-Hide/Show the windows version on the Desktop
-Hide/Show windows error messages on startup

• Internet Explorer Tweaks:

-Enable/Disable Auto-complete
-Check if Default Browser
-Lock current home page
-Increase simultaneous downloads to 10

• Control Panel Tweaks

-Hide\Show Accessibility Options
-Hide\Show Add\Remove programs
-Hide\Show Console Options
-Hide\Show Date\Time Options
-Hide\Show Display Options
-Hide\Show Fax Options
-Hide\Show Hardware Wizard
-Hide\Show IR Port Options
-Hide\Show Regional Options
-Hide\Show Internet Settings
-Hide\Show Joystick Options
-Hide\Show licensing programs
-Hide\Show Keyboard\Mouse Options
-Hide\Show mail Options
-Hide\Show sound Options
-Hide\Show dial-up Options
-Hide\Show network & connectivity Wizard
-Hide\Show modem Options
-Hide\Show Netware client Options
-Hide\Show ODBC options
-Hide\Show PC card Options
-Hide\Show port Options
-Hide\Show power Options
-Hide\Show scanner and camera Options
-Hide\Show server manager Wizard
-Hide\Show speech Options
-Hide\Show System Properties
-Hide\Show Telephone Properties
-Hide\Show TweakUI Properties
-Hide\Show User Manager Properties
-Hide/Show WSP client options NEW!
-Hide/Show Quicktime preferences NEW!
-Hide/show Norton Live update client NEW!
-Hide/Show Compaq Agent NEW!

Operating Systems: Windows NT; Windows 2000; Windows XP; Windows Vista.

System Requirements:

• At least Pentium II or equivalent 166 MHz Processor.
• At least 32MB RAM.
• Administrator privileges

Additional Notes:

Tabctl32.ocx and comdlg32.ocx are required components to run Disk Heal, this is generally installed into the system directory. However a security feature in your computer may prevent installation of the file. You can install it manually by downloading it from here(tabctl32.ocx, comdlg32.ocx) and copying it to your system directory (default: “C:/windows/system32″), Re-launch the application.

Developer: Computer Realm Software.

Website: http://www.computer-realm.net/diskheal/

Hard Drives Interface

Typically, PCs rely on either a PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment) or SATA (Serial ATA) connection to a hard drive. You might even have both: Most modern motherboards offer both interfaces during the current period of transition from PATA to SATA; this arrangement is likely to continue for some time, as the PATA interface will remain necessary for connecting internal optical drives to the PC. The parallel in PATA means that data is sent in parallel down multiple data lines. SATA sends data serially up and down a single twisted pair.

PATA drives (also commonly called IDE drives) come in a variety of speeds. The original ATA interface of the 1980s supported a maximum transfer rate of 8.3MB per second--which was very fast for its time. ATA-2 boosted the maximum throughput to 16.6MBps. Subsequently, Ultra ATA arrived in 33MBps, 66MBps, 100MBps, and 133MBps flavors referred to as Ultra DMA-33 (Direct Memory Access) through Ultra DMA-133 or Ultra ATA-33 through Ultra ATA-133. The odds are overwhelming that you have Ultra ATA-66 or better unless your PC is more than seven years old.

You can typically recognize an ATA drive by its 2-inch-wide 40-wire or 80-wire cables, though some 40-pin cables are round. Desktop drives typically use a 40-pin connector; the extra wires on 80-wire cables are to physically separate the data wires to prevent crosstalk at ATA-100 and ATA-133 speeds. Notebooks with 2.5-inch drives use a 44-pin connector, and 1.8-inch drives use a 50-pin connector.

At 133MB per second, the ATA interface began to run into insurmountable technical challenges. In response to those challenges, the SATA interface was designed. At the moment, SATA comes in two flavors: 150MBps and 300MBps. Spec mongers may notice that those two versions are alternately referred to as 1.5-gigabit-per-second SATA and 3-gbps SATA, but the math seems a little fuzzy: 3 gbps divided by 8 (the number of bits in a byte) is 375MBps, not the 300MBps you’ll see referred to. This is because the gigabits-per-second-speed is a signaling rate; 300MBps is the maximum transfer rate of the data. The roadmap for the interface sees speed doubling yet again. As it stands today, however, the sustained data transfer rate of single SATA hard drives is comfortably handled within the 150MBps spec. It takes a striped RAID, which feeds the data from two or more drives into the pipeline, to benefit from the greater bandwidth of a 300MBps interface.

SATA drives have a much thinner cable and smaller connectors than ATA drives, which allows for more connectors on motherboards and better airflow inside cases. And SATA simplifies setup by using a point-to-point topology, allowing one connection per port and cable. So gone are the jumpers and master/slave connections of PATA drives, where one cable would be used to connect two drives. And unlike PATA, SATA is also suitable for direct-attached external drives, allowing up to 2-meter-long cables on an interface (referred to as external SATA, or eSATA) that’s significantly faster than USB 2.0 or FireWire. External SATA added a slightly different connector that’s rated for more insertions and designed to lock in place, plus some additional error correction, but it is otherwise completely compatible.

One connection interface you hear less about these days is SCSI (for Small Computer System Interface). At one time, SCSI was a means to achieving faster performance from a desktop hard drive; however, the SATA connection has since replaced SCSI.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/18693/how_it_works_hard_drives.html