Guest Writers – ‘The Reading Room’

Get Personal – Create Your Handwriting Font

Guest writer Rick Robinette thinks it’s time for you to get personal, and shows you how to create your own handwriting font. Perfect for your upcoming online holiday greetings.

FontCapture is a web based (cloud app) that walks you through a (4) – four step process of creating a font style in your very own handwriting.

You will need a fine point marker, printer, scanner, an internet connection and a little computer know-how to make this work.

The FontCapture web site indicates it is a (4)-four step process; however, I found it is actually to be a (6)-six step process from the point of completing the template to actually getting the font style on a PC.

If you follow all of the steps, and take your time completing the template, the end result is very good.  Below is a sample of the results I managed to get.

Step 1: Download and print the the template

Step 2: Complete the template in your own handwriting

Step 3: Scan the template ( >200 dpi) – Save as a PNG file

Step 4: Upload the saved PNG file to FontCapture

Step 5: Preview and Download the converted font file

Step 6: Locate and Copy the downloaded font to your Windows font directory.

Note: If you experience any problems copying the font file to your Windows font directory, I encourage you to follow these “easy” step-by-step instructions on: “How To Add A Custom Font To Your PC”  at Tech-for Everyone.

System Requirements: Windows, Mac

Interact at: FontCapture

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Anvir Task Manager – Portable and Free

Popular guest writer Rick Robinette, is more than a little enthusiastic about Anvir Task Manager Free; a task manager with an insane list of options and features that gives you full control of your computer.

I love playing around with the various task managers and this one is no exception. As a matter of fact, I put Anvir Task Manager into the exceptional category for task managers.

If you dare to try this task manager, I encourage you to download the portable version that requires no installation. Simply download [ link ] AnVir Task Manager Free Portable, unzip the archive and run.

What I find interesting about this task manager is that it it like finding easter eggs. In conjunction with the normal monitoring features you find in a task manager (such as Startup, Applications, Processes, Services, etc…), AnVir has some hidden features such as a tweaker that gives you access to hundreds of Windows XP and Vista settings.

Another feature for example; Anvir Task Manager, when running in the background, places (3)-three small buttons adjacent to the minimize, restore and close button at the top right corner any window you have open.

One button allows you to minimize the window to the system tray, another allows you to pin the window so that it stays on top and another minimizes the window to a square floating icon on your desktop. Another easter egg buried in this task manager is the ability to generate a HiJackThisPro log that can be used for online troubleshooting assistance.

Anvir Task Manager, when running will place a couple icons in your system tray. One icon readily gives you your CPU Usage and Processes; and another icon readily gives you a drive listing, disk load of each drive and free space on each drive. If you “right mouse click” on either of the icons, you can preview a list of most recently launched programs.

An option to definitely explore is that you can “Check any file with AntiViruses on Virus Total” which is handy when you need to analyze a suspicious file. Analysis of suspicious files can be quickly accomplished when troubleshooting file sources in the startup, processes and services areas.

For a complete feature list (see below). Anvir Task Manager is available in a FREE edition and several paid editions (Task Manager, Task Manager Pro, Security Suite). Click [ here ] to compare the various editions. For everyday use, the AnVir Task Manager Free Portable Edition should be sufficient to meet your diagnostic needs.  Overall this app is my choice task manager.

Features of the FREE edition:

Basic Security analysis of processes, startup programs and Windows services

Startup monitor: alerts on new startups, block undesired startup programs

Check files on VirusTotal.com with 30+ antivirus engines

Startup manager: manage all programs running on startup including services and Internet Explorer toolbars

Save HijackThis log with additional info

Tweaker that gives direct access to hundreds of XP / Vista settings including settings that cannot be accessed in Windows at all without editing the registry directly

Drive’s free space as a colored horizontal bar in Windows “My Computer” (Vista style icons on Windows XP)

Click on title of any application:

• hide window to system tray
• make window semi-transparent
• pin window ‘always on top’
• change window size to 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768
• change priority of the process

List of recently used folders in “Open”/”Save” dialogs

Minimize windows to system tray and save taskbar space

Quick access to last launched programs and last opened folders in system tray

Monitor processes, services, Internet connections, CPU, disk, memory, DLLs, drivers,locked files, windows

Icons and tooltips in tray for CPU, memory, network, disk load, HDD temperature, and battery

Find locked files and DLL

Log of processes start and stop

Graph of processor, memory and disk activity for each process and for computer

Compatible with all popular antivirus, complement antivirus software or make it unnecessary

Can replace Windows Task Manager

Can run as portable application

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Complete Weather Conditions on Your Desktop

Popular guest writer Rick Robinette, shows you how to keep your pulse on the weather – right from your desktop.

Recently, one of my favorite weather monitoring applications (Weather Watcher Live) went from freeware to shareware. As indicated, I said “one of my favorites”.

Another favorite weather application of mine, that is FREE, is very good, is “ad free”, and has been in the loop for some time is “Weather Pulse”. I did not realize how much I missed this weather app until I started using it again.

Weather Pulse is an integrated weather monitoring utility that displays detailed weather conditions, in an attractive interface, for whatever location(s) you desire. With Weather Pulse you can get current conditions, 5 Day Forecasts, Hourly Forecasts, numerous radar image options, and tone alerts.

You can even set your wallpaper background to a weather radar image that will periodically update so that you know what the weather conditions are at any given time.

Weather Pulse also provides an interactive tray icon and desktop desklet that displays the current temperature. You can double click on either and the Weather Pulse application window will display.

Tray Icon

Desklet

If you want the weather at your fingertips, without ads, and is FREE (with no catches), then give Weather Pulse a try!

Download at: Download.com

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

SIW –System Information for Non-Geeks

If you think developing information on your computer’s operating system and hardware is a tough task, you can relax. Guest writer, Rick Robinette, introduces you to a small, free application that makes it easy.

How would you like to know everything about your computer?  You can with SIW – System Information for Windows…

SIW is a small in size utility that is specially designed to audit your PC and display the results in a very comprehensive manner. The results can subsequently be saved to a report file in several different formats (i.e. HTML, CSV, TXT, XML).

SIW can either be installed on your PC or you can download the “standalone version” that can be installed on your flash drive. The “standalone version” is an excellent choice for diagnostic purposes; and troubleshooting other PCs.

The developer of SIW works hard to continually keep SIW  up-to-date with the current changes in hardware & software configurations.  SIW, highly recommended for the everyday user and for those you are in the spirit of helping others on their PCs.

Examples of what SIW will gather about your PC:

Software Inventory: Operating System, Installed Software and Hotfixes, Processes, Services, Users, Open Files, System Uptime, Installed Codecs, Software Licenses (Product Keys / Serial Numbers / CD Key), Secrets (Password Recovery).

Hardware Inventory: Motherboard, Sensors, BIOS, CPU, chipset, PCI/AGP, USB and ISA/PnP Devices, Memory, Video Card, Monitor, Disk Drives, CD/DVD Devices, SCSI Devices, S.M.A.R.T., Ports, Printers.

Network Information: Network Cards, Network Shares, currently active Network Connections, Open Ports.

Network Tools: MAC Address Changer, Neighborhood Scan, Ping, Trace, Statistics

Miscellaneous Tools: Eureka! (Reveal lost passwords hidden behind asterisks), Monitor Test, Shutdown / Restart.

Real-time monitors: CPU, Memory, Page File usage and Network Traffic.

Platform: Microsoft Windows 98 / Me / NT4 / 2000 / XP / Server 2003 / Media Center / Tablet PC / Windows 2003 Server R2 / Vista / Windows Server 2008 / Windows 7 / Windows Server 2008 R2 / WinRE / Bart PE / Winternals ERD Commander

Download at: MajorGeeks

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Free TabScope – “Real Time” Firefox Tab Preview

Guest writer, Rick Robinette, gives you the scoop on one of his favorite Firefox extensions, and how it can help you get more from your Browser sessions.

If you are a Firefox user, which by the way, is the choice browser of computer techs, I encourage you take a look at the Firefox extension called TabScope. If you are not familiar with browser extensions (sometimes called plug-ins or add-ons), then you do not know what you are missing.

A browser extension is a computer program that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Depending on the browser, the term may be distinct from similar terms such as plug-in or add-on. [ Wikipedia ]

TabScope is one of those extensions that I have installed to enhance the functionality of my browser session. With TabScope installed you can hover your mouse over a browser tab to get a “real-time” thumbnail preview of what is open behind the tab.

The “cool factor” with TabScope is, you can resize the thumbnail size and you can actually interact with the thumbnail.  In other words, when the thumbnail is open it is like having a mini browser window open that you can click on the links/buttons and can navigate back in forth. This is very useful if you are working with and toggling between numerous browser tabs.

I do have to say, when I installed TabScope the thumbnails were a little small for my eyes; therefore, I went into the settings and doubled the size of the thumbnail previews.

If you are person who multi-tasks in their browser, like I do, with numerous tabs open; then, TabScope is a good browser extension to install. You can download and get the TabScope extension [ HERE ]. Again, a reminder, this is a Firefox browser extension that works with the Firefox browser only.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

YouSAB – The Best Way to Surf Anonymously

This is a guest post by Patrick Holm, in which he explains the benefits of YouSAB, a Secure VPN & VOIP messenger service, which is particularly effective for users living in countries that censor Internet content.

After reading Bill Mullins blog Iranian Surfers Downloading Anonymous Surfing Tool, I made a comment on our new service that can be used by Iranian web surfers (and other web surfers living under repressive regimes), to ensure them they can use the internet without fear of reprisal from government bodies.

These comments prompted Bill to invite me to describe our new software in the guest blogging section, which I have gratefully accepted.

After living and working in the IT industry, in Dubai, for the last 8 years, (which has censorship of Internet content), some of my colleges and I, managed to create VPN software to allow freedom for all on the internet.

After encouraging responses from the YouSAB community, we formed a company called YouSAB Ltd, in alliance with the payment gateway provider Gulhmes Ltd, to provide a VPN service which is a little different from other VPN providers.

What is the YouSAB community?

YouSAB is a Secure VPN & VOIP messenger service that enables users to access and interact with their social and business peers, through totally secure downloadable VPN software.

Originating from a vision of freedom and security, YouSAB was born out of a desire to fundamentally change the way people communicate.

YouSAB Ltd, and Gulhmes Ltd, veterans of the Internet payment security and high tech security industries respectively, joined together to create an easy to use, consumer-centric, truly converged peer-to-peer service, enabling its users to take control of their on line security from one single place on their computer.

One of the main purposes for the development of YouSAB community was to take a conventional VPN set up, and provide more usable features the ‘every day person’ can use to remain safe while online, at a fraction of the industry price.

What is the difference between YouSAB messenger and other VPN providers?

One of the main differences of the VPN messenger compared to other VPN providers is; VPN messenger has taken the highly secured method of VPN and added an additional layer of security protection using proxy Dynamic TCP tunnels Network, so if the VPN network was ever comprised, Internet users would have the safety of a proxy network to keep them anonymous at all times. Coupled with these two layers of protection are a whole host of features that really make YouSAB Messenger stand out from other VPN providers.

These include the following:

A platform where YouSAB community users can use two forms of communication, VOIP and Messenger texting.

YouSAB messenger, as the name suggests, allows all of its users to invite and build a buddy list of all their YouSAB contacts that they wish to communicate with, via VOIP and messenger. All members’ accounts have in built VOIP and messenger features, so users can use both forms of communication to contact their business, or social contacts across the VPN network.

Both methods are highly secured, and both are totally anonymous to the outside world, with no third party monitoring communications. We have had several independent reviews of the speed of the service, and download quality is very acceptable and voice quality is comparable to Skype, and Call serve PC-PC. YouSAB accounts also have profiles where users can post business or personnel information about themselves, if they wish.

Once connected to the VPN network, you are provided with uncensored internet use, and a non traceable IP address.

YouSAB messenger unblocks all your favorite websites, which are deemed, unsuited for viewership by your Employer, Internet Service Provider or country Government E.g. VOIP providers, and Unblock Facebook. It also gives you a bogus IP address, which is non-traceable, even to a highly experienced hacker.

This program really works well for users who are using unsecured Wi-Fi hot spots, or people who want to file share without fear of authorities tracking their activity.

Prepaid card facility that allows to you purchase credit to use the service for as low as 3 Euro, minimizing the risk versus a yearly, or monthly, payment subscription.

The YouSAB messenger network, with its advanced features, was originally designed with the business network in mind. This was to assist in business activity at a fraction of the cost of normal VPN business networks. After been encouraged by good response from the public, based on YouSAB’s ease of payment, we decided to offer it to the public.

YouSAB is a micro pay as you use service, and is controlled by the payments solution provided YouSAB Intercard. This service is a highly secured form of collecting payments and it works in conjunction with the popular online merchant PayPal which handles all payments.

Intercard payment solution controls the debits, or credits, to and from your YouSAB messenger account. Intercard is responsible of providing a clear and transparent service so you are able to understand at all times, what you have been charged, to the nearest micropayment.

Without getting into the complex workings of Intercard, the basic numbers that you need to be aware of are:

100 units of Intercard credit, is equal to 1 euro. This will allow you 40 hours of using your YouSAB messenger service.

Intercard will deduct 0.125 units every 3 minutes that you use the service, so you can be sure that you are getting value for money at all times.

YouSAB offers you different values of Intercard credit which are:

300 units which will give you 120 hours of use for 3Euro

500 units will give you 240 hours of use for 5 Euro

1000 units will give you 500 hours of use for 10 Euro

One of the best features of using Intercard is; you can use it to carry out balance transfers to and from your Intercard account. This feature was introduced as a test bed for our soon to be released online money exchange bureau, that users will be able to use to exchange online currency at favorable exchange rates e.g. PayPal to Web money.

These are just three main features for the YouSAB community, but we continue to work from feedback from our users (which we welcome), to further improve the service, so we that we can all retain our privacy while online.

Hope you liked the article, and if you want to download the software freely to test, you can do so here.

For further information checkout my site.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Computer and Internet Related Addictions

Guest writer, Rick Robinette, writes a thoughtful article on computer and Internet addiction, and what overindulgence might mean.

Overindulgence, in anything, (including computers and the internet) will result in devastation of some form.

Have you lost your connection with the real world as a result of excessive computer usage and what the internet has to offer (e.g. video games, chatting, texting, social networking, blogging, gambling, buying, pornography, compulsive surfing, etc…)?

Do you know someone personally, as a result of excessive use of the internet, whose:

marriage has been devastated?
career has been shattered?
family has been broken?
health has been affected?
financial ruin has occurred?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are witness to someone (or yourself) of a computer or internet related addictive behavior.  Here in the U.S. we are just starting to recognize these addictive behaviors and are taking steps to provide help and resolution.

One such place to seek help is called reStart: Internet Addiction Recovery Program. reStart is the first program of its’ kind in the U.S. designed to specifically help internet and video game addicts overcome their computer or online dependencies. reStart is a 45 day in-patient (therapeutic) program, 6-bed facility (family style retreat), located in Fall City, Washington.

Current research suggests that anywhere from 6-10 % of the online population is dependent on one or more aspects of cyber technology and the internet. Among gamers, those playing multi-user games (like World of Warcraft) appear to be addicted at much higher levels. Both China and South Korea have designated Internet Addiction as their #1 public health danger and have responded by developing multiple treatment programs. The United States, by contrast, has been slower to recognize and respond to the problem but now is beginning to take some active steps.  This program is part of that process.

Another great resource is the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, located in Bradford, PA. You will find treatment services for:

Cybersex/Cyberporn

Studies show that men are more likely to view cyberporn, while women are more likely to engage in erotic chat.

Online Affairs

Partners engaged in an online affair go through several personality changes and often rationalize that an online affair isn’t really cheating.

Online Gambling

At an alarming rate, people in recovery from gambling addiction have relapsed because of the availability of virtual casinos, as they use the Internet as another vehicle to satisfy their addiction.

Online Gaming

Like a drug, gamers who play almost every day, play for extended periods of time (over 4 hours), get restless or irritable if they can’t play, and sacrifice other social activities just to game are showing signs of addiction.

Compulsive Surfing

Internet Addiction is an impulsive-control problem and five subtypes have been defined:

1. Cybersexual Addiction
2. Cyber-Relational Addiction
3. Net Compulsions
4. Information Overload
5. Computer Addiction

eBay Addiction

Online auction houses create a stimulating place where users can conquer others as the highest bidder, which can be intoxicating as one beats out others in the last precious seconds to win the desired prize.

Take a Test

- Cybersexual Addiction Quiz
- Internet Addiction Test (IAT)
- Quiz for Obsessive Online Gambling
- Quiz for Compulsive Online Gamers
- Quiz for Online Auction Addiction
- The Partner’s Addiction Test
- The Parent-Child Addiction Test

I have personally witnessed the evolution of computers and the internet from the very beginning. On a personal level, I have witnessed the devastation that can occur as a result of overindulgence in the various avenues that computers and the internet has to offer. The internet, in a sense is a virtual world, where your soul and mind can become consumed, if you let it. If you need help, please seek it!

In connection to this article and information, I also encourage you to read A Look At Our Newest Addiction at Tech-for Everyone.

Note: To read my personal contrary take on computer or Internet addiction, please read “Internet Addiction – Do You Qualify?”, on this site.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

FilzMail – A Disposable Email Address

What do you do when you need a temporary email address? Guest writer, Glenn Taggart, has some great advice for you.

Last week, I set up a new user account on my computer for my oldest daughter who is almost 10. She has been after me to get her own user account for about a year or so.

I told her if she could compute responsibly and not cause any significant registry damage, I would go along with her request. She has shown excellent computer responsibility, and so I followed through and set up her own user account.

Along with the user account she also wanted her own email address. I was somewhat indecisive if I should or not, but ultimately set one up for her at Gmail.

Gmail is a real pain to set up if you don’t have another email address (non Gmail). They wouldn’t let me use my pop3 email address because it was already being used for my wife’s Gmail account.

So I’m thinking – wow, I need a disposable email address.

Enter FilzMail. After doing a little research on the web, I came across this simple web application that gives you a free email address that self destructs after 24 hours. Using it to set up my daughter’s email account worked fabulously.

In this world of spam, if you come across something that you don’t want to give your regular email address to, head on over to FilzMail and create a disposable email.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world. Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Online Dangers – Even a Tech Can Get Taken

Think you’re immune from online fraud? Do you believe – “It could never happen to me”? Read what guest writer Dave Brooks, a vastly experienced computer tech from New Hampshire, has to say about what happened to him.

Bill is constantly trying to pound security into his reader’s heads, and with good reason, but unfortunately no matter how careful you are, there are things that are beyond your control when buying stuff online.

Case in point: at Bill’s request I’m going to relay a recent unnerving personal experience, if only to show that even the most security conscious are still at risk.

I’m very online safety/security conscious and I buy online only from reputable, well known stores. My online bank account password looks like an alien language, my ATM pin is 8 digits long (compared to 4 or so many people use), and I monitor my account closely.

Even so my ATM card number was recently used, in the middle of the night, in Georgia, while I was sound asleep in New Hampshire. Luckily Bank of America has decent monitoring, and I have a ton of alerts set up to email me when certain things happen with my account.

I woke up in the morning to find an alert that my card was used while I was asleep, and an email from Bank of America that they had detected suspicious activity on my account, had frozen the transaction, and placed a lock on my account to prevent further activity.

The charge was for the amount of $1.22; it’s apparently common practice by those that use stolen card numbers to make a small charge such as this to confirm that the number is good before using it to make larger purchases.

Thanks in part to my diligent monitoring, and Bank of America’s account monitoring system, the thieves were never able to get to step two and spend my hard earned cash on god knows what.

A call to the number provided in the alert email I got from the bank (after confirming it was in fact their number by matching it up on the Bank of America website; phishing emails are pretty convincing nowadays!), confirmed the illegal activity. Bank of America cancelled my ATM card, and cancelled the charge, and a trip to my local bank branch netted me a new ATM card.

My number was likely stolen from a hacked online database of a company that I had made an online purchase from in the past, but there’s no way to confirm this – it could have just as easily been a dishonest employee from a local store where I used my card.

I have since opened a second account with an ATM card, and use only that account for online purchases, (I had been contemplating doing this for a year or more or more, but never did),

I keep a balance of about 5 bucks in it, and when I want to buy something online, I transfer the purchase amount from my main account to the “internet” account to cover it. At least that way, my main account is less exposed, and if it happens again I’ll be able to determine if it was the “internet” or “local purchase” that led to the compromise.

Bottom line here is, even though you think you’re safe, if you purchase stuff online, your bank or credit card info is out there for the taking. The best you can do is keep a close eye on your accounts for suspicious activity, and try to minimize possible damage that might be done if your card number is stolen.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dave Brooks a professional computer technician from New Hampshire, USA. Dave has become a regular guest writer, who’s articles are always a huge hit.

This article is Dave’s response to today’s article “How to Conduct Online Banking Safely”.

Thank you Dave for such a quick response – a great article, crafted quickly.

Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go, and checkout the Security Alerts.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Postbox – One Stop Email, Newsgroup, Tasks, and Contact Manager

Guest writer, Glenn Taggart, shares his discovery of an email, newsgroup, tasks, and contact manager that will help you save time, and get more done.

Since I made the move to Windows 7, I have made every effort to use open source software. Other than the Win7 operating system and the other programs it comes with as part of the Win7 installation, I am proud to say I don’t use any other Microsoft products.

The two main Microsoft products I am training myself off of, are the Windows office suite and Outlook which was used to host my email, calendar and contact management.

At home, I have little use for the Microsoft office suite or Outlook. Most of my home office routine is web based; when I need to draft a letter or check my email. Google office, Gmail, Calendar, etc, all take care of my minimal home related office tasks.

I still have a POP3 email account through my internet service provider, although I have switched all of that email to head toward my Gmail account. I still like to check it on occasion.

Enter a new lightweight Email program called Postbox. Postbox is an email, newsgroup, tasks, and contact manager that has a simple user interface and is the easiest Pop3 email program to set up I have ever used.

The program is based on the Mozilla platform (same folks who brought you Firefox). Not only will it check your Pop3 account but will also set up all of your web based email accounts as well. If you like your email via the local desktop rather than the cloud, this program certainly is a strong contender.

If you find yourself without a good trusty local email client, check out Postbox. It is still in beta but so far I haven’t had any issues. It runs on Windows7 x64bit just fine.

System requirements: Windows XP, Vista

Download Beta at: Download.com

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world. Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Take Control – Stop Windows Update Prompts

Do you get a little bugged out when Windows constantly reminds you of an update that you have decided you don’t want to install? Want to put a stop to this annoyance?

Guest writer TechPaul, my tech wizard friend, a CompTIA Certified computer technician, and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid, shows you how.

Sometimes we need to tell Windows Update to stop prompting us to install a particular Update.

When Microsoft has released important and/or critical Updates (aka “patches”) for us, Windows has various ways of letting us know, including a System Tray icon.

Note: The normal route for accessing Update choices is Start >Windows Update, or Start >Programs >Windows Update. Click “View available updates”.]

I am a big fan of Updates. I (almost) always install them the moment I become aware of them. I use Secunia’s Personal Software Inspector to keep an eye on all my installed programs’ update state.. and I recommend you do too. Updates are ‘good’, and you want them.

Manage Windows Updates prompts

Currently, Microsoft Update is annoying me by continuously nagging me that there are Updates available. And when I click on the icon to see just what these updates are…

.. and I see that there is just one Update Microsoft wants me to install (the others only rate “optional”) – Internet Explorer 8.

Now, I understand why Microsoft wants us to be using a more secure browser (and I understand why it’s considered “important”) and I will upgrade from IE7 on most of my machines – but not all. Not yet.

So I right-click on the Update I don’t want to be nagged about and then click on “Hide update”.

That’s it. I’m done. Windows Update will no longer prompt me to install this (now) ‘hidden’ update. At a later date, to see Updates that I’ve hidden, I just click on “Show hidden updates”. I can undo my change.

Note: This technique can be used on troublesome Updates that cause incompatibility issues such as a BSOD.

If a Windows Update install causes you trouble, and you need to uninstall it, the “Hide” tip won’t help you (it’s too late). Please refer to the 3rd answer in this article, IE’s Menu bar, Taskbar icons, and bad Updates*, to see how to remove Updates.

After you get that Update uninstalled, (then) use the Hide feature to prevent Windows Update from re-installing it on you again.

To uninstall IE 8: Uninstalling IE 8 will automatically restore your older version. Please see Microsoft’s official How To, here, How do I uninstall or remove Internet Explorer 8?

This is a guest post by Paul Eckstrom, a technology wizard and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California. Paul adds a nice humorous touch to serious computer technology issues. Why not pay a visit to his Blog – Tech – for Everyone.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Internet Privacy – You’re Kidding, Right?

Rick Robinette’s guest writer article might surprise you. Rick lays out what the sum total of your Internet activity might mean for you now, and in the future.

Once It Is Out There, It Is Out There

I was thinking about the time I first accessed the internet, up to the present, AND was questioning myself; “What have I put out there?” Now, I am talking about anything and everything from emails, web accounts, web mail, online purchasing, online chatting, files, credit card numbers, etc.

Actually, I try to be very careful of what I am doing; however, what little I have put out there, is out there AND there is no turning back. The little bit of information I have put out there is just enough that my identity and privacy could ultimately be breached.

Recently we all read in the news where the ESPN reporter was a victim of a peepster who posted shots of the reporter on the internet. I actually was chuckling when there were reports of trying to stop this transgression and get it back.

There is no getting it back… In this case, the internet takes over, and these shots were sprinkling down on people’s PC’s like rain (a million drops a second). There is just no way to stop it and there is no way to get it back.

It amazes me what people are putting out there on the social network sites, such as Facebook and MySpace. Remember, when the information you are posting is “all about you”, it could come back to haunt you years down the road.

The younger generation, oblivious to privacy, is telling it all and exposing sensitive matters about themselves that would make a sailor blush.

Email is another interesting tool that we use that leaves a trail. My email sending policy, is to keep it short and never express my feelings about something or someone. Once you hit that send button, it rockets into cyberspace, which in essence can be infinity.  Email can remain on servers forever.

To give you an example, when I retired, my email account (at a government agency) remained active for over 2 years until I demanded it be terminated.  Termination of the account took it out of the public’s view; however, my data and email correspondence was still there.

The purpose of this article is to heighten your awareness about your identity and privacy; AND to make you think about what information you are giving away about yourself. It is human nature to investigate and to be curious. With just knowing your name and your zip code, a person with bad intentions can get your address, a map to your house, a photo of your residence, your property tax records, and it goes on and on.

Are you out there?

Simply by using Google or Yahoo you can find an abundance of information by simply entering a person’s name; however, there are online services that specialize in deeper searches.

I encourage you to perform a search for your name, using these services. If you know of any other services, please leave a comment below.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Panda Cloud Antivirus Upgrades to Beta2

Guest writer Rick Robinette, one of my favorite Blogging buddies, brings you up to date on Panda’s beta2 of its in-the-cloud Antivirus.

If  you are currently running the Beta1 version (00.08.80.0000) of Panda Cloud Antivirus on your PC, you are most likely being alerted that it is set to expire.  You will be required to uninstall the Beta1 version prior to installing Beta 2 (Version 00.08.82.0000).

During the uninstall process (especially on Windows XP) the uninstaller may not complete. In my case, I went into the Windows Task Manager, under “Processes”, and terminated the process “PSANHost.exe”.  Once that process was terminated I was able to complete the uninstall process on my Windows XP machine.  I encountered no issues on my Windows Vista boxes.

Panda Antivirus is the latest in “set and forget” antivirus programs that relies on synchronization processes that are driven across the internet to your PC. I have been using this software on my PC’s and have been quite pleased.

It is a lightweight antivirus package in that degradation to  your system’s performance is minimal compared to other antivirus packages.

Reflected are some of the fixes and enhancements in Beta2:

New – “Undo” Option for Recycle Bin

New – Synchronous Real-Time Cloud-Scan

New – Latency & Response Control of the Cloud-Scanner

Fixed – Slow Scans

Fixed – Recycle Bin Unblock Functionality

Keep in mind, that with any “Beta” level software, expect issues; such as the uninstall issue I experienced.  If interested in reading more about (and even trying) Panda Cloud Antivirus, click [ HERE ].  Past articles of interest about Panda Cloud Antivirus can be found here:

Panda Cloud Antivirus – Is it netbook ready?

Panda Cloud Antivirus – Free Cloud Protection
(courtesy of Bill Mullins’ Weblog – Tech Thoughts)

As an added note, if you opt to remove any antivirus software from your computer, to install another, always check with the software maker to determine the uninstall process.  To assist you with this process I encourage you to follow the links below:

AppRemover… Antivirus and Antispyware Uninstaller!

Uninstalling and Installing Antivirus Software

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Clone Your Hard Drive with Free Easeus Disk Copy

A great tip from guest writer Mark Schneider on how to clone your hard drive (without the usual bull), using free Easeus Disk Copy.

Upgrading your hard drive can be a rewarding and simple procedure for the everyday computer user. Cloning your hard drive, or making a exact copy, is the easiest way to get your new hard drive up and running quickly.

It’s also a popular tool for many professional IT people to backup a computer setup to be instantly restored in case of a disaster.

There are a number of paid commercial programs that serve this purpose; Norton Ghost is very popular as is my favorite, Acronis True Image. Both do a great job and have a number of useful options besides the cloning function. They are great programs but they cost money, and money is tight right now, so I decided to try out a few free cloning programs that do the job just as well – albeit, without the options the paid programs include.

The first program I tried successfully was Easeus Disk Copy. Easeus Disk Copy allows a user to replicate their hard drive on to an external hard drive; the only option besides the full copy option is to copy an individual partition – a useful feature that I didn’t test.

Easeus Disk Copy is simple to use. Just download the program and burn the ISO image to a CD. Then boot to the CD and follow a simple set of windows guiding you through the process. Once your target disks are selected you simply wait for the process to take place.

This is where Easeus falls short of the paid programs I’ve used. The entire operation took over 3 hours to clone a drive with about 140GBs of data to the new drive. Not a big deal for most situations but if you’re in a hurry, you’ll want a different program.

Another issue which was no big deal but could be for some people, was that out of the 3 drives I cloned, 2 required me to repair the Windows Boot Loader using an install disk. No big deal for me, but if you don’t have an install disk for your operating system, or don’t feel comfortable doing this, it could be a real hassle.

Overall, I think Easeus Disk Copy did a fine job; it’s free and relatively simple. Since hard drives have become so inexpensive, it seems silly to pay for software if you’re only using it on rare occasions. I give it a conditional “fully recommend” rating’ – the condition being, the user knows how to burn an ISO file, and is able to repair the boot loader if needed.

Fast facts:

Copy all of your hard drive: Creating a bootable CD/DVD, it allows you to copy entire disk in case of unknown/proprietary file systems.

Partition copy: Enables you to copy one partition to another partition you want.

Disk copy: Enables you to clone one disk to another sector by sector.

Sector by sector copy: Makes physical 1:1 copies (clones) of hard disks and partitions. This ensures 100% identity to the original.

Safe, simple and fast: It is a very fast and easy way to copy all or part of a hard drive to another hard drive with Disk Copy.

Supports inaccessible disk copy

Supports booting from CD/DVD

Friendly graphical user interface

Relay disk space for insufficient destination

Support hard disks up to 1 TB

Download at: Download.com

This is a guest post by Mark Schneider of the Techwalker Blog, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Mark’s site today.

A Tech Discloses What’s Really Inside Your Mega Hard Drive

One of my favorite computer technicians, Dave Brooks, reveals what’s really inside that mega Hard Drive you were thinking of buying.

Numerous articles have appeared here on Bill’s blog about how important data backup is. This article will not discuss the why’s; it will discuss an issue which I feel is a trend in the external enclosure industry, a very bad trend, and not always disclosed in a products description.

When shopping for an external hard drive for backup purposes, you need to be aware of the following issue.

The average consumer would think that when buying a 1 or 2TB external hard drive,  the enclosure contains a 1 or 2 TB hard drive, but that isn’t so on some Lacie and some other manufacturers’ enclosures.

They may actually contain 2 physical hard drives, half the size of the total capacity, set up in a striped RAID array. With the electronics inside the enclosure controlling the drives, your system will see a 2TB drive, but the enclosure actually contains 2 1TB drives.

The problem with these is, if one of the 2 drives fail, all your data is lost if the electronics board in the enclosure fails all of your data is lost. In a normal single disk enclosure it’s usually possible to remove the drive from the enclosure to get data off of it, if the enclosure electronics or power supply fails.

This striped array method is absolutely the worst way to store important data, as it doubles the possibility of hard drive failure and data loss. Any IT person worth his salt will never recommend this setup for storing critical data (unless there is a backup of the backup done on a regular basis).

I’ve had 2 customers with Lacie enclosures set up this way. One had the electronics board in the enclosure fail, and data recovery was not possible via any methods I had -even going so far as to use a Linux box and data recovery software designed to reassemble RAID disks into a single image. The only option was to send the drives to a data recovery specialist at the cost of hundreds to even thousands of dollars.

The second customer had one of the drives fail (multiple bad blocks), and believe it or not, this is actually the better failure scenario, as I was able to repair the drive to get it working in the enclosure.

The recovery of almost 1Tb of data was successful – he got lucky, and saved a bunch of money as I don’t charge anywhere near what professional data recovery companies do, but they have techniques and equipment I can only dream about

The place for this type of RAID setup is when higher performance is desired. A striped array of two 500GB drives (that gives 1TB of useable storage) is faster than a single 1TB drive. I use this setup in my gaming PC, but it must be backed up on a regular basis.

Just keep this info in mind when shopping for that next external backup drive!

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dave Brooks a professional computer technician from New Hampshire, USA. Dave has become a regular guest writer, who’s articles are always a huge hit.

Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go, and checkout the Security Alerts.

If you enjoyed this article, why not subscribe to this Blog via RSS, or email? It’s easy; just click on this link and you’ll never miss another Tech Thoughts article.

Wireless Keyboards – A Hacker’s Gateway?

Guest writer Rick Robinette, one of my favorite Blogging buddies, explains why he’s concerned with the security of wireless keyboards.

I was sitting here typing on my wireless keyboard wondering what I could write about and explore next; when, low and behold it hit me.  Are wireless keyboards secure? In other words, could another person intercept my keystrokes as I typed from my wireless keyboard?  If this is possible, this is not good.

In my case I am an internet junkie and my credit card numbers, usernames and passwords to all of my accounts, could be stolen. I know as an IT professional that wireless networking can be a security risk; so why not wireless keyboards.

During my research I soon found out quickly from an article at Enterprise Security Today, titled “Symantec Warns of of Wireless Keyboard Security Threat”, that a new form of attack aimed at users of wireless keyboards had been uncovered.

Excerpts from that article:

The warning follows the release of Keykeriki, an open-source “sniffer” project that allows users to remotely decode wireless transmissions.

The project was created by a site called remote-exploit.org. “This open-source hardware and software project enables every person to verify the security level of their own keyboard transmissions, and/or demonstrate the sniffing attacks (for educational purpose only),” the site notes.

Symantec warned that, although the creator’s intentions appear honorable, making the software code and hardware schematics open to everyone means that criminals could use the software to eavesdrop on wireless keyboard inputs.       [ Source: Enterprise Security Today ]

I then came across excerpts and a YouTube video with Steve Gibson, Security Expert and Founder of GRC.com (makers of the Spinrite hard drive data recovery software), being interviewed by Leo Laporte (from the “The Lab with Leo Laporte”) regarding “The Frightening Insecurity of Wireless Keyboards” (see excerpts and video below).

Having a keystroke logger installed on a computer is one of the worst things that can happen. But what it everything you type on your wireless keyboard can be easily intercepted by a neighbor or office worker?!!! It turns out, it probably can be.

Leo and I will examine and describe the incredibly weak “encryption” used on Microsoft’s 1000 and 2000 series (and probably other) wireless keyboards to show how easily that encryption can be broken to allow anyone within “radio range” to log everything typed.

If you Google: “wireless keyboard encryption” right now you’ll find a number of links to articles about the recent revelation of how simple Microsoft’s wireless keyboard encryption is. [ Source: The Lab with Leo Laporte ]

[ CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO ]

Needless to say, following my reviews of this information, I am considering going back to a wired keyboard; at least until the wireless keyboard manufacturers can responsibly demonstrate that the data being transmitted from my keyboard to the receiver is encrypted and is not at risk of being intercepted.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

System Security Scareware – Infection Removal Instructions

Wondering how to remove System Security malware? Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com shows you how.

System Security is the latest scareware hungry for your dough. System Security poses as a fake video codec – oops, you didn’t need that to see Rihanna naked – to get into your machine.

Once System Security gets cozy, it wastes no time telling you that your computer is infected with all sorts of imaginary badware it’ll gladly remove if you just buy the “full” – or “fool”? – version of System Security.

You probably already know that the only thing System Security removes is cash from your pocket.  But if you’re wondering…

Am I infected with System Security?

System Security is a shameless scam that’ll do anything to get your attention. It’s virtually impossible to be infected with System Security and not know it. If you see any System Security popups on your machine, you’re infected.

System Security won’t let me do anything in Windows!

Some versions of System Security block you from using Windows. Have you started up your computer, and all you see is a System Security window? There’s not even a Windows task bar at the bottom? Try these instructions.  If you’re lucky enough to still have your Windows task bar, skip to #3.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.  This will either bring up Windows Task Manager or a menu,  in which case click the Windows Task Manager button.

1. In the top right corner, click File > New Task (Run…).  In the box type in Explorer.exe and click OK.

2. You should now have your Windows Task Bar back.   Press Windows Key + R and when the Run box appears, type msconfig and click OK.  Uncheck Load Startup Items and click OK.  A message will pop up prompting you to restart your computer.  Do it.  Your computer will restart, minus the System Security popups.

3. Go to your Program Files folder on your C drive and delete the System Security folder.

4. That’s it! You’ve removed the bulk of System Security from your computer.  You can visit my blog for details to remove System Security 4.52 files.  You should also run a trusted anti-badware scanner to check your machines for other infections – you probably have some. Yep, thanks for the Trojan, System Security.

I removed System Security, but I can’t use the Internet.

Some versions of System Security mess with your Internet connection – your connection is actually okay, but System Security will change some of your browser’s settings. If you’re using Internet Explorer…

1. Launch Internet Explorer.  At the top of the window, click Tools > Internet Options.

2. In the Internet Options box, make sure your home page is right.  If System Security has changed it, type in the correct address.  If you don’t know your home page address or you are unsure if it’s your proper home page not, click the home page box and type www.google.com.

3. Click the Connections tab and press the LAN Settings button, which is just above the Cancel button.

4. Make sure Automatically Detect Settings is ticked, and that Proxy Server isn’t checked.  Click OK twice, and exit Internet Explorer.

5. Relaunch Internet Explorer and your home page should appear.  You can now surf the net.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Kris’ site is one of the best I’ve found that helps users identify, and then deal with scareware related issues. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

Tick Tock “Clock” for your Windows Desktop

Guest writer Rick Robinette, one of my favorite Blogging buddies, explains why “Clock” is the perfect clock for your desktop.

Here is a neat little application called “Clock”… It is what it is!  This app is an analog clock that you install on your PC that has a vast array of features and options.

Once installed an analog clock will appear on your desktop (second hand and all) and  an icon will show in the taskbars’s system tray (at the bottom right corner of your screen). You can “right” mouse click on that icon to customize and change the appearance of your clock (see below).

I normally select “On Top” and “Transparent – click thru” so that the clock is always visible. There is also a calendar feature and a feature to set alarms (for reminders).

You have option to change the appearance of the clock by selecting from 50 different themes OR you can design your own clock theme. “Clock” has been my favorite in the clock software category and best of all it is FREE.

From what I can tell, Clock does not mess with the registry; therefore you could copy it to your flash drive and use it as a portable app (as I have done).

Features as described by the publisher:

Beautful! You’ll love the 50 themes provided!

Smart! It remembers your appointments!

Easy! You don’t need a degree in computer science to use it!

On Top! If you like, it will always be displayed, no matter how many windows you have open!

Customizable! Change the background picture to anything you like!

Unintrusive! Make it the size you like: choose between four pre-defined sizes or size it like you want!

Serious! Clock will not mess with your system registry!

Small! It’s only a 1Mb download!

Free! It costs nothing!

Download at the developer’s site.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

Ten Beginner Tips for Using Google SketchUp

Guest writer Megan Jones takes you on a tip trip with Google SketchUp.

Whether you want to design a new addition to your house, plan your landscaping or just make a drawing for fun, Google SketchUp offers wonderful functionality for creating 3D models. Even better, it’s completely free. If you’d like to try your hand at designing with the program here are some simple tips to help get you started.

1. Learn the keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time whether you’re using a complex program or just browsing the internet. That’s why it can be beneficial to learn what the major ones are in Google SketchUp, and you can find a list here. If you want to customize, you can even set your own.
2. Watch tutorials. You can learn a lot of the basics of SketchUp by watching some of the great tutorial videos out there. These will help explain things and also show you exactly how each tool works. Google offers a great collection on their site.
3. Customize. Whether you want to customize your shortcuts as mentioned earlier or your toolbar, it’s important to get things set up to your liking. SketchUp doesn’t have a lot of toolbars to start out with, so go through and pick out the ones that will be most important like Layers, Standard and Tool Set.
4. Use the docking feature. Inevitably there will be features of SketchUp that you will use more regularly than others. You can keep these out by simply dragging and dropping them into the upper right.
5. Download pre-made objects. Unless designing objects is your goal, you can save yourself a lot of time by using Google’s Bonus Packs or finding user generated material to use in your models.
6. Edit pre-made objects. You can customize any of the items you use from components like stairs, counters and bathtubs if they’re not to your liking. Hit edit/component/explode and you’ll be able to tinker with all the individual parts.
7. Use layers. Much like in PhotoShop, using layers in SketchUp can make certain tasks a whole lot easier and can make your models much clearer and easier to work with. Read up on how to use layers and make the most of them in your designs.
8. Learn how to move objects. For the most part, the program is fairly intuitive when moving things around, but if you’re struggling, as sometimes happens, then try using the keyboard to help. The arrow keys reflect the direction, and shift can lock in movement along a particular plane.
9. Be creative. For a free program, SketchUp has a lot of juice to it and you can use it for a wide range of applications. Try out new things like scaling your drawings from a photo or designing crafts or other fun projects.
10. Have fun. Even if you want to learn how to make serious models with SketchUp, playing around with it before you read a manual or get down to business can be a good idea. You’ll be more willing to try things out and you may even learn a thing or two.

Download SketchUp at: Download.com

This post was contributed by Megan Jones, who writes about the online college degree. She welcomes your feedback at Meg.Jones0310 at gmail.com

Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Office 2000. How Will This Affect Your System Security?

Guest writer Rick Robinette, one of my favorite Blogging buddies, explains why MS Office 2000 is poised to become a security risk.

You have heard it here, and on other blogs associated with “What’s On My PC…” – “Keep your software up-to-date!” (to protect yourself from potential security vulnerabilities, or weaknesses).

But, what do you do when the software maker stops supporting a specific product version? The common sense approach is to upgrade; however, in some cases where economics (cost to upgrade) becomes a factor, the user will stick with the version that has economically worked for them.  A good example of this scenario are the people still using Microsoft Office 2000.

I really do not know what the numbers of actual users (or businesses) are, but if you are a Microsoft Office 2000 user, be warned that the lifecycle for Microsoft Office 2000 comes to an end on July 14, 2009.

Microsoft initially retired “Mainstream Support” for Office 2000 in mid-2004; however, extended support (for critical updates, patches, and fixes) continue to be available until July 14, 2009.

To put this in perspective:

Office 2000 has been patched 15 times so far this year alone, 12 of which were labeled “critical,” Microsoft’s most serious threat ranking.

Just last week, Microsoft patched 10 bugs in PowerPoint 2000, the presentation maker in Office 2000.

[ Source: Computerworld ]

If you are connected to the internet (or any network for that matter) and are still using Office 2000, after July 14th, 2009, then you are at risk of being targeted for any future potential security vulnerabilities (i.e. hijacking).

In a sense, Microsoft Office 2000 will become a security vulnerability in itself and a potential avenue for bot infections, etc. It is advisable that you upgrade to a newer version of Microsoft Office, prior to July 14, 2009, to protect yourself and other users.

Free alternatives exist to replace Microsoft Office; perhaps the most popular is the outstanding open source application Open Office 3.1. Many software application reviewers consider Open Office to be the equal of MS Office in most respects.

For information on this excellent free suite of office tools, checkout OpenOffice.org for information and download links.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

Run 20 Separate Desktops with Free Dexpot

Guest writer Rick Robinette shows you how to run 20 separate desktops – for free!

You are probably wondering, how is it possible to increase your monitor screen by up to 20 times.  It is possible with Dexpot…

Dexpot is a virtual desktop manager that can be configured to create up to 20 different virtual desktops. The advantage of this concept is that you can work more efficiently with simultaneously opened Windows on different desktops. I could not imagine using 20 separates desktops, but I recently started using Dexpot to manage up to 4 desktops on my PC.

The functionality of this app is amazing. Not only can you create independent desktops, you can configure each of those desktops to have their own independent wallpaper background, screensaver, icons, screen resolution, etc.

You can copy windows from one desktop to another and you can switch desktops via hotkeys, the tray icon, the special “Desktop Manager” or by using an automatic slideshow that automatically goes from one desktop to the other.

You can also select the “Desktop Preview” feature that will tile all of your desktops on your screen to give you an overall view of what’s happening on each desktop.  Another notable feature is the “Windows Catalogue” feature which when selected will tile the windows you have open on the desktop.

If you are a serious multi-tasker, or a fan of virtual desktop managers, you surely do not want to pass this one up. Dexpot is FREE for non-commercial use, is available as a portable app, and will run on just about any Windows based platform ( Windows 95/98/ME and NT4/2000/XP/2003/Vista – incl. x64).

You can read more about Dexpot and download it from [ HERE ].

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

Portable Browsing with TheWorld Browser

Guest writer Rick Robinette introduces you to TheWorld Browser – checkout why.

For those who may not know what a web browser is, it is simply a software application, such as Internet Explorer, that is specifically crafted for retrieving, presenting and traversing information resources on the internet. Many computer users do not realize that there are other browser options out there, other than Internet Explorer; the most popular being Firefox, Google Chrome and Opera (to name a few).

Recently I have been on the hunt for a good portable version of a browser to run from my flash drive. I have tried and used extensively the portable versions of the most popular browsers such as Firefox, Opera, and Chrome; however, I found that after long periods of usage (from the flash drive), the browsers would start to bog down and/or errors would start to develop.

Sometimes we get so locked into what is popular and forget that there are other options. It was at this point I starting looking outside that circle of “popular browsers” for something different. During that hunt, I tried and tested many (such as Maxthon, Browzar, QtWeb). I eventually came across a browser called “TheWorld Browser” that not only caught my eye, but has performed beautifully from my flash drive. As a matter of fact, the more I use it, the more I like it.

TheWorld Browser is a “fast, safe and easy way to browse the web” that has features that many of the other browsers do not.  TheWorld Browser is dependent on the Internet Explorer engine, and is guaranteed to be 100% malware free.  This app is small in size (1.4 MB) and, in my opinion, is very fast to the draw…  If you are looking for an Internet Explorer replacement on your PC or a browser to carry with you on your flash drive, I say give this browser a try!

Publisher’s Description

Multi-threaded frame.
TheWorld Browser version 2.0 is among the first multi-threaded frame browser in the world (the first is Internet Explorer 7.0), the multi-threaded window frame can prevent the web pages from freezing.

Intelligent Ad blocking + Blacklist filter.
TheWorld can block popup ad. and float ad. automatically.
TheWorld can block popups and float ads automatically. You can also use a blacklist to filter ads. The blacklist filter works from lower level of HTTP protocol, with regular expression so that you can filter out anything you want.

Web page mute.
TheWorld is the first browser that can disable a web page’s sound with one click.

Powerful Tools
Powerful Tools Built in tools like: Flash filter, unlock page script limited, zoom, Proxy quick switching, Auto complete, Quick media saver, Privacy guard, Mouse gestures, Custom hotkeys and Drag & drop support, make TheWorld one of the most powerful browsers around.

Safer.
TheWorld Browser has built-in safe guards that will protect you while surfing.

Built-in Download Manager.
Which consists of multi-thread download, resumable download, with intuitive download management.

Skins and plugins.
TheWorld Browser supports skins and plugins, we have hundreds of skins and plugins to customize the way you browse. TheWorld has native support for Internet Explorer’s plugins as well.

TheWorld Browser uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer engine and will run on Windows 98/me/2000/XP/Vista.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

ConvoTrack: Track Web Conversations With a Single Click

Silki Garg has some great advice on how to follow the latest Buzz easily, using a neat little tool.

It often happens when you see an interesting article, or a blog post, and you want to know more about it. What’s the buzz?  Who’s talking about it? Who’s following it and how do you find out?

You can always rush to Twitter Search and poke around. You can head over to FriendFeed, Digg, Reddit, HackerNews of course. Or, you can just trust your old pal Google Blog Search.

But what if all these services were combined into one package – one which was available to you with one simple click?

Sound interesting? Then read on.

ConvoTrack is a simple service from Improving the Web, which allows you to find the buzz around a web page with a simple click on a bookmarklet on your Toolbar.

ConvoTrack divides your browser screen into two parts. In the left side bar, you see all the links where recent discussions about that page has happened, and the right pane lets you browse the same page.

You can use ConvoTrack in four different ways:

1. Add a bookmarklet to your browser’s bookmark toolbar, and whenever you see an interesting story, click on this bookmarklet to see the buzz around it.
2. If you do not want to add the bookmarklet, then simply add http://convotrack/ before the URL of the page. It will have the same effect as the bookmarklet.
3. If you are a webmaster, and want to give your visitors the power of Convotrack, then you can add a simple piece of code in your HTML, and a button will be displayed on the left side of  your page. Your visitors, even if they don’t have the ConvoTrack bookmarklet, can still use the power of ConvoTrack.
4. If you are a WordPress Blogger, then there is a neat WordPress plugin to give the power of Convotrack to the visitors of your blog.
5. Bonus – A FireFox Plugin is slated as suggested on the Convotrack website.

Visit ConvoTrack

This is a guest post by Silki Garg. She advises on spyware removal, online threats and malware detection, on her Internet Security Blog. A visit to her Blog is highly recommended. You’re sure to find something of interest.

KidZui – Free, Safe Internet Browsing for Kids

Silki Garg has some great advice on how to give your child access to the Internet in a child safe environment.

Internet Browsers are windows to the outside world through which a user interacts with others. While they open up opportunities to access loads of information which is available on the web, they also expose the user to the bad side of this outside world.

The bad side, which is full of spam, malware, spyware, viruses, porn etc. will try to gain your attention with the intention of entrapping you for the benefit of cyber-criminals.

While an adult is expected to understand the nasty designs of these malware artists and stay clear of them, although to a limited extent; the situation becomes more critical for children.

Safeguarding kids, on the Internet, is a topic which has been discussed a great deal, with different tools taking different approaches to this problem. Most of these tools are of the restrictive type. They search and identify websites and places, which can potentially harm a child and then block the child’s access to these unsafe sites.

However, KidZui, takes a different approach. It searches and identifies websites, which are absolutely safe and fun for kids to visit. KidZui coordinates a large team of parents and teachers, which maintains a white-list of websites for children.

While it has grown slowly over the years, today KidZui has the one of the largest number of games, websites, videos and photos reviewed by parents and teachers, anywhere. In this way, children can find what they need to help them with schoolwork and so on, without parental guidance.

As a parent, you can keep track of what your kids are up to. KidZui sends a weekly email that lets you know you what your kids are doing online.

KidZui is more than just a simple browser. KidZui is a free Web browser, search engine and community for kids 3-12.

Features of KidZui

Search:

KidZui Search is tailored to the needs of kids.

Offers suggestions and spelling corrections.

Offers search results with content relevant for kids.

Graphical presentation that is easy for kids to understand.

Browsing and Content:

KidZui has the largest number of games, websites, videos and photos reviewed by parents and teachers anywhere.

Kids can browse all this content easily and independently.

Account:

A KidZui account gives kids the freedom to learn, play, and discover over 2 million games, websites, videos and photos approved by parents like you.

Kids can now safely express themselves with their Zui, backgrounds, tags and online status.

KidZui Community:

The KidZui community is tailored to kids as they learn all the things that make them productive adults.

It’s safe with no chat, no written text and no email.

KidZui is available in two forms. You can download the stand-alone version to your computer, or you can use it as a browser extension.

There is also a paid version of KidZui, but the free version seems to have all the essential components an average user will require.

Conclusion: Overall a neat application.

Download at: Kidzui.com

Related: 7 Toddler-Safe Web Browsers for Your Kid’s Internet Browsing

This is a guest post by Silki Garg. She advises on spyware removal, online threats and malware detection, on her Internet Security Blog. A visit to her Blog is highly recommended. You’re sure to find something of interest.

I’m a Botnet and I’m on Your Mac! – Removal Instructions

Another timely warning from Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com.

iBotnet, the first botnet of Mac computers, has debuted.  Botnets, a network of zombie computers controlled by a hacker, are usually restricted to Windows-based PCs.

iBotnet isn’t any different from its PC-based counterparts: iBotnet, as reported by CNET, is a launch pad for denial-of-service attacks.

iBotnet spread through a Trojan hidden in pirated versions of Apple iWorks ‘09 software. If you downloaded iWorks ‘09 from a peer-to-peer network, you could be infected. Look for iWorksServices.pkg on your computer, and try my step-by-step instructions to remove iBotnet from your Mac.

You might also consider antivirus software for your Mac — for the next season of iSpyware, anyway. iTrojans so far have that chic, brushed stainless steel styling, so they’re not too hard on your eyes.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Kristopher Dukes, LLC. All rights reserved.

Exploit the Power of Amazon S3 with CloudBerry Explorer Freeware

If your head is in the Cloud, this guest writer article from the team at the CloudberryLab, is for you.

Introduction

CloudBerry Explorer is a freeware Windows Client for Amazon S3 and CloudFront services. CloudBerry Explorer makes managing files in Amazon S3 storage EASY. By providing an FTP client like user interface to Amazon S3 accounts, files, and buckets, CloudBerry lets you manage your files on cloud just as you would on your own local computer. And best of all it is absolutely free!

Amazon S3

Amazon S3 is a web service that allows reliable and secure storage of your data in the multiple data centers with unlimited capacity and scalability. It allows you to easily scale up your data storage to meet growing needs of your business. What’s more you pay only for what you actually use and you don’t have to provision servers to match anticipate growth far in advance of this growth start hitting you. You don’t have to invest in the hardware infrastructure and you don’t have to pay for ongoing operations of those servers. You just pay low fee for data stored on Amazon servers.

However Amazon S3 is primarily designed for software engineers who would integrate the S3 with their web platform using so called S3 API which is based on REST and SOAP. This makes it difficult for less sophisticated users to employ Amazon S3 who would otherwise benefit from the scalable web storage as well. But at the same time it opens an opportunity to 3^rd party vendors such CloudBerry lab and many others to unleash the power of Amazon S3 for consumers.

With CloudBerry Explorer you can

• Allow end users to accomplish simple tasks without special technical knowledge
• Automate time-consuming tasks to improve productivity
• With CloudBerry Explorer, Amazon S3 becomes an extension to your local storage. You are no longer limited to the classic data storage on your local drive(s). With CloudBerry Explorer, you can move files to Amazon S3 just as easily as managing them on your local drive(s).
• CloudBerry Explorer allows you to move large files such as photos, videos, and music to Amazon S3 and free up your local storage.
• The files on your Amazon S3 can be shared with anyone who has access to the internet. For security purposes, the S3 accounts can be password protected and access can be restricted

Now let’s look at some of the CloudBerry Explorer functional capabilities

Browse S3 Buckets

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to browse contents of your S3 bucket and create new buckets and folders and rename files. It works just like Windows Explorer or any other file system browser.

Copy Files in background

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to copy files in the background, you can turn to other tasks while copy process is running. You can also pause/ resume copy process and review copy queue for errors. You can also hide CloudBerry Explorer to system tray to free up some space on your task bar while copy process is running. It will tell you when the process is over.

Register Multiple S3 Accounts

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to register as many Amazon S3 accounts as you like

Setup access control lists (ACL)

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to setup access control lists (ACL) with ACL editor, you can grant access rights to other Amazon S3 users or to any internet users. ACL editor reminds you the one that you use to manage file permissions on Windows.

Besides, you can propagate bucket ACL to all files in that bucket- something that Amazon S3 doesn’t provide out of the box.

Efficiently copy files between S3 accounts

CloudBerry explorer provides for fast and efficient way to copy objects between two Amazon S3 accounts, it leverages Amazon S3 capabilities to run this process on Amazon servers without the need to download files to your local computer.

Generate Web URL

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to generate URL for single or multiple objects. You can also generate time limited URLs that will expire at a predefined time. You can also specify CNAMEs to make your URLs look nicer and use http://chilp.it/ URL shortening service and BiTorrent URLs.

Configure CloudFront Distribution

CloudFront is another Amazon service that works in conjunction with S3 and allows for efficient content distribution. The content is published to data centers in multiple geographical zones and the user download content from the server that requires fewer network hops. All this happens transparently to the end user and the publisher pay a small per usage base fee.

CloudBerry Explorer allows you to configure Amazon CloudFront service in a matter of minutes. Just select a bucket and click a button on the toolbar.

PowerShell Command Line Interface

Finally, CloudBerry Explorer ships with a set of PowerShell cmdlets which you can use to script bulk or frequent operations. Most of the features available thru the user interface are also available though a PowerShell command line interface. You can combine CloudBerry Explorer commands with regular PowerShell commands. PowerShell is designed to operate with other objects, so you’re not limited to command syntax. You can write complex scripts with loops and conditions and schedule routing tasks such as data backup or cleanup.

CloudBerry Explorer PRO version

CloudBerry Lab is currently working on a profession edition of CloudBerry Explorer. This product will feature compression, encryption, multi threaded files transfer, customer HTTP headers and FTP source support. It would require writing a separate article just to make an overview of these features and we simply don’t have enough space here. Professional edition will have a small licensing fee associated with it.

Conclusion

One final note is that CloudBerry Lab tries to stay on top of what works best for Amazon S3 users and delivers new version almost every month. It has been 5(!) commercial releases since CloudBerry Explorer was first released in November, 2008.

Overall CloudBerry Explorer is a solid Amazon S3 client that can help developers, web designers and other users who want to exploit Amazon S3 and CloudFront services.

If you work with Amazon S3 on Windows or considering using Amazon S3 it is a good reason to start now and download CloudBerry Explorer from CloudBerry Lab website at http://cloudberrylab.com/

FREE Layers of Computer Protection!

Rick Robinette has some terrific advice on Internet and system security. Coupled with this, Rick has put together a terrific list of free applications for you to consider.

I have had many people approach me and ask,

“What is a good Security Suite to install on my PC?”

For the sake of this article, a “Security Suite” is a proprietary combo package that offers multi-dimensional levels of protection (against spyware, viruses, malware, rootkits, etc.).

I don’t know why (well I do), I start to cringe when I hear people tell me their stories of using the “high powered” security suites (that cost money); that they either installed or simply are using because it was on their new PC.

I have found it ends up being a convoluted mess that causes the user to become frustrated; often is a burden to the PC; and often ends up where they let their subscription expire (thus having no protection at all).

I also get the feeling that people, who use these security suites, have a false sense of security and think they are “ultimately” protected from anything and everything.

I have experienced just about every type of security software package out there. Am I an expert? No… But, the strategy I have been adhering to, has worked; especially when it comes to “layers” of protection that I set up on my computer; without causing my computer to come to a crawl. I use no Security Suites, never have, never will…

If you plan to go the route I am about to suggest (of no Security Suite), you will need to uninstall your current security suite software. The uninstall of security software can be very tricky and I encourage you to visit the vendor’s site to explore this subject or get a tech to assist you. I also posted (2)-two recent articles on this topic:

AppRemover… Antivirus and Antispyware Uninstaller!

Uninstalling and Installing AntiVirus Software…

The listing below are the layers of protection (all FREE) I have installed on my PC…  I encourage you to check for comments following this article, due some of the techs out there may add further information or make suggestions.  All of the software reflected is FREE…

You can click on the links below to explore each specific title:

Common Sense – You can not install this… I have found that if your gut says “beware”; then follow your gut.  Also, I am not an advocate of social sites, porn sites, pirating sites, etc…. If it is something that violates morality; believe me, you will be victimized.  “Where the people gather, the cybercriminals prey”. Please use common sense!

Microsoft Windows Updates – You should set your computer to automatically update or at least alert you that updates are available. Either way, this is very, very important. Keep your operating system up to date. Microsoft usually unleashes updates the 2nd Tuesday of each month.  You can learn more about Windows Updates and “patch Tuesday” [ HERE ] .

Software Updates – Keep any software on your PC up-to-date. Popular title software that is used by the masses are often targeted by hackers looking for methods to exploit any vulnerabilities or code flaws. I currently use Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) to assist me with maintaining software updates.

Windows Vista Firewall – I currently use the Vista Firewall and have no other firewall software installed.

Properly configured, it can stop many kinds of malware before they can infect your computer or other computers on your network. Windows Firewall, which comes with Windows Vista, is turned on by default and begins protecting your computer as soon as Windows starts. – [ source: Microsoft ]

WinPatrol – a robust SECURITY MONITOR , WinPatrol will alert you to hijackings, malware attacks and critical changes made to your computer without your permission. The software puts a small “Scotty Dog” in the tray area that will bark when a change occurs. It is strictly for monitoring and does not fix anything. You can also get full details about WinPatrol [ HERE ].

Avast! Antivirus Home Edition – a full-featured antivirus package, with anti-spyware and anti-rootkit built-in, that is designed exclusively for non-commercial & home use. You can also get full details about Avast! [ HERE ].

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware – an easy-to-use, simple, and effective anti-malware application. Use the “Free” version of this app to manually scan your system for malware. You can also get full details about MalwareBytes Anti-Malware [ HERE ].

SuperAntiSpyware – a next generation scanning system that goes beyond the typical rules based scanning methods. The Multi-Dimensional Scanning system detects existing threats as well as threats of the future by analyzing threat characteristics in addition to code patterns. Use the “Free” version of this app to manually scan your system for spyware. You can also get full details about SuperAntiSpyware [ HERE ] .

Spyware Blaster – can help keep your system secure, without interfering with the “good side” of the web. And unlike other programs, SpywareBlaster does not have to remain running in the background. It works alongside the programs you have to help secure your system. With the “Free” version, you will have to manually run the updates to keep your system sufficiently protected.

Firefox Browser – I currently test all of the main player browsers (e.g. Internet Explorer, Chrome, Opera, and Firefox).  I currently use Firefox as my main browser. You will find that most Techs are an advocate of Firefox.

Web of Trust (WOT) – WOT is a free Internet security add-on for your browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) that will keep you safe from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites. WOT warns you before you interact with a risky website. It’s easy and it’s free. If you do not install this, then I recommend you read the first item on my list (common sense). You can also get full details about WOT [ HERE ].

OpenDNS – I currently use OpenDNS as a layer of protection from web site phlishing; plus, by setting up an account with OpenDNS, I can use the built in Parental Controls to filter out and block what content reaches my computer. Installing or setting up OpenDNS can be intimidating to those with non-technical experience; however, I encourage you to read more about OpenDNS [ HERE ] .

Optional: I opted to list some additional protection, that I currently use, due to my ongoing testing of software and “test” visits to the underbelly of the internet.

Sandboxie – runs your programs in an isolated space which prevents them from making permanent changes to other programs and data in your computer. You can get full details about Sandboxie [ HERE ] .

Shadow Defender – This is the only software on the list that you would have to buy; however, if are someone who messes around with your system more than you should, then this may be for you.

With Shadow Defender you can run your system in a virtual environment, called Shadow Mode. Any software changes or malware attacks that occur, will occur in the virtual environment, not in the real environment. If attacks happen, all you need to do is to reboot your system.

I currently use Shadow Defender to test software products. I place the PC in shadow mode, install the software and perform my testing. Following my testing, I reboot and voila’, my computer is back to the original state it was prior to going into Shadow mode.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC. Like me, you’re sure to become a frequent visitor.

I Can’t HEAR You – Audio Codec Conflict

You’ll want to hear this advice from guest writer Glenn Taggart.

This weekend found me working on two clients laptops.  The first had a problem that happens frequently to those who want to add popular video/audio programs to their computer.

What happens is – if you already have a program that you have been using, say, Windows Media Player for instance, and you decide to then add, say, Media Player Classic along with K-lite codec pack, and then maybe later you decide, hmmm, I think I’ll add Foobar and Gom player.

You head out on the road with your kids with your laptop. The idea is the kids will be too busy watching movies to distract you while you are driving. But no. The DVD plays but you can’t hear the sound.

What just happened? In layman’s terms, you are having a serious case of codec conflict. Codec’s are the various .dll files that your audio/video programs need to decode the binary into a language that your player can understand, thus producing picture and sound.

In the case of laptop #1, it had a case of too many audio/video programs loaded and had a severe case of codec conflict.

The cure was to remove all of the 3rd party programs (which also removed the program’s codec’s) and installed an all in one program (in this case VLC media player) which had bundled with it it’s own codec’s.

When I am visiting various audio/video tech sites, it is a common occurrence to see posts requesting help because they can’t hear or see their audio/video. If you come across this post, removing programs and installing a bundled package 3rd party program may be your best bet. In my own testing, I have found that K-Lite codec pack also causes codec conflict so I don’t recommend using it.

Free 3rd party programs that work for me:

Gom Video Player
Foobar Audio Player
VLC Video and Audio Player

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.

The 411 on Conficker – The Spyware Protect 2009 Connection

Another timely warning from Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com.

According to the Washington Post, Conficker worm’s purpose is now known: it’s not going to blow up your PC, it’s not going to cyber attack Kazakhestonstania, blame it on Russia, and further heat up an e-Cold War, and it’s (probably) not going to spam your friends a great offer on V1agRa.

Conficker is just going to annoy the hell out of you and try to steal $50.

Yep, Conficker.C, the latest version of the headline-making worm that’s infected tens of millions of PCs, is distributing scareware Spyware Protect 2009 (sometimes spelled “SpywareProtect2009″).

Like other scam software, Spyware Protect 2009 tells you you’re infected with tons of non-existent  threats, then asks for fifty bucks to remove them.

You can remove Spyware Protect 2009 for free, but you may still have Conficker on your system.  Use this eye chart to check if you have Conficker. Then, visit FSecure.com for a free Conficker removal tool. (If your security software or sites are blocked, remove Conficker for free with step-by-step instructions.)

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Kristopher Dukes, LLC. All rights reserved.

How to Remove Scareware – Common Issues

Your guide to Scareware, and its common Issues

On 411-Spyware.com and the computer repair shop I work at, I’ve found that a lot of people use manual removal instructions to remove fake security software (AKA rogue anti-spyware software, or scareware) from their computer.

Using a paid antivirus/antispyware program is easier and more reliable, since manually removing infections can be tricky.

But for those of you who like the long road — yep, I’m raising my own hand here — , you may run into these common issues while removing fake antispyware.

I’ve got a list of files to delete, but Windows won’t let me delete them.

That’s because you are currently running the scareware, and Windows won’t let you delete files that are in use. Boot into Safe Mode (hold F8 at start up, and when the menu appears select “Safe Mode”).

This will prevent any programs automatically loading other than those that Windows needs to run. Delete your files from there and when you’re done, just reboot normally.

How am I supposed to delete this scareware when it generates popups every 20 seconds?
Once again, if you’re manually removing the files, you can use Safe Mode to make things easier. Some technicians advise using MSCONFIG to stop scareware from running.

I find this unnecessary as you can remove files in Safe Mode, and when you restart your computer you can see if it is still running and if there is anything else you have to remove.

The scareware won’t let me boot into Windows. I can’t do anything.
This is a very nasty tactic that some scareware uses. What makes it worse at that it even launches in Safe Mode, making your computer unusable.

Fortunately, not many scareware programs do this as it defeats the purpose of the scam. How can they get your money when you buy their fake software, if you can’t even get into Windows?

When I get infections like this I use a free program called VistaPE. Basically, VistaPE puts an operating system on CD that your computer can boot off. You can then view your hard drive and delete the scareware files that way. As you’re running off a CD, there is no way the infection can mess with the disk.

Follow this tutorial to make a VistaPE disk. Don’t worry about the advanced stuff. All you want to do is view and edit the contents of your hard drive. Once your disk is made, you may need to edit the boot order in your bios to make the CD/DVD drive the first boot device. Your computer manual will show you how to do this.

I’ve deleted all the files, but that damn scareware always comes back.
Scareware does have a habit of reappearing when you have think you’ve killed it, just like a horror movie monster.

This is happening because your scareware was put there by a Trojan. Right after you remove all the scareware files, the Trojan sees that you don’t have scareware on your computer, and happily provides you with one.

Even if the scareware you were infected with doesn’t reappear, you most likely have a Trojan running in the background. 90% of computers I see with scareware infections have a Trojan installed, too.

Trojans want to remain hidden, so even if you suspect there is one on there, you won’t know which one it is. The best way to find out is to download and run a legitimate antivirus/antispyware trial, like Spyware Doctor, and see what it finds.

If you really want to, you can see if there are manual removal instructions for your Trojan once you know its name (but I hope that by that stage you purchase software to remove it and any other nasty files it finds).

Please note most security software trial versions don’t allow you to install updates, so you may be infected with a Trojan that’s not in the default database.

That’s all the tips I have at the moment, if I find any more I’ll update the article.

If you have some tips or questions, please leave a comment.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Dukes Media, LLC All rights reserved.

PC-BSD – Best Unix for Beginners?

I recently downloaded and installed the latest versions of PC-BSD and I have to say I’m extremely impressed.

The install went fast (18 minutes), and it was extremely simple and straight forward. I downloaded the 7.02 version using the DVD option. Downloading using http went fairly quickly – I tried to use bit-torrent and there were simply not enough seeders to make it reasonable.

During the install you get the option of adding various additional components already on the DVD including FireFox 3.0, Thunderbird, and Open Office 3.0. Based on FreeBSD version 7.0 PC-BSD is stable and secure, the GUI is the new KDE 4.1.2 and I really enjoy it. Installing new apps is far easier and straight forward than Linux in my opinion, and I’m comparing it side by side with Kubuntu 8.10 which also uses the new version of KDE.

The secret to improving usability in PC-BSD is the PBI or Push button Installer or PC-BSD Installer. The .pbi extension has all the files needed to install the applications by simply double clicking the file; this is essentially the same as a setup.exe file in Windows or the .DMG file in OSX.

The pbi applications can be found at http://pbidir.com/ where a great variety of programs can be had. For more hard core Unix geeks the FreeBSD Ports are also available. FreeBSD Ports are similar to the apt-get found in Linux systems and any FreeBSD Port can be downloaded with all their packages and dependencies to install them in PC-BSD. But for beginners everything you’ll need not on the install DVD, will be found at pbi.dir.com site.

(Second Life running on PC-BSD)

The default browser in KDE is Konqueror which is what the Safari browser was originally based on – it’s a very fast browser but I vastly prefer FireFox. FireFox on PC-BSD came with all the plug-ins installed to play YouTube video’s and to render most web pages as they were meant to be seen.

PC-BSD seems like the perfect OS for a Netbook. It’s lightweight and simple, and has great applications like the Flock browser available, which is perfect for social networking sites and cloud based email. Unfortunately, a Netbook isn’t in the budget right now but I’d love to hear from anyone who’s installed it on one.

I’ve tried at least a dozen different Linux distros over the past few years and although they all worked fine, I really feel PC-BSD has surpassed them in ease of use for the beginner.

There were a few issues though. Although it runs flawlessly on my desktop, PC-BSD did have a few problems on my Thinkpad R60. The ATI video card isn’t supported for 3D graphics and the proprietary driver available on Linux builds doesn’t work. It also had an issue with my Wi-Fi card, although it would connect it never showed better than a 25% signal despite being in the same room as the router.

The signal would also occasionally drop out only to reappear shortly afterward. So its worth looking through their support page and checking to see if your hardware is supported. If you’re trying it on a laptop with network cards not supported, I’d hold off. Its main feature is simplicity, but that will go away quickly if your hardware has known issues – in that case Ubuntu, or Kubuntu, might be a better choice.

Despite the few glitches I still recommend PC-BSD. It’s well worth a try especially if you’re the sort of person who likes to try new Linux builds, or you are looking for a secure and stable operating system to put on your machine without shelling out for Windows.

Download at: PC-BSD.org

This is a guest post by Mark Schneider of the Techwalker Blog, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the blogging world. Mark has written this article to emphasize the importance of data back up on a regular and consistent basis.

Why not pay a visit to Mark’s site today.

How to use a Blackberry Smartphone with a cheap “Pay As You Go” mobile phone plan…

I love my gadgets, and when opportunity presents itself to try something different, I cannot resist.

The object of the this story is to demonstrate how I maximized the usage  of a Blackberry Smartphone using one of the cheapest mobile phone plans out there. For the sake of this article, the model phone that I used for this project was the Blackberry Curve 8320 Smartphone.

If you do not know what a Blackberry is, I encourage to visit the Blackberry website [ CLICK HERE ] .

When it comes to mobile (cell) phones I cannot see myself conversing for a 1000 minutes (16.66 hours) a month. That is two workdays to me or time that I can allocate to other things where I can see results.

Please do not get me wrong, a mobile phone is very much needed in circumstances where your business or livelihood is dependent on quick communications. The plan which I currently use is a “pay as you go” plan (with T-Mobile). I have learned to discipline myself with the usage; PLUS I do not give my number out or use it for lengthy conversation.

I have always been fascinated with PDA’s, have owned quite a few, and was currently looking for something that would provide PDA capabilities, as well as, mobile phone capabilities. I did not want to pay a lot or get trapped into a lengthy service contract with a mobile phone provider just to own a computer in my pocket.

During a recent visit to the local mall I entered into my usual question and answer session with the sales rep at one of the T-Mobile kiosks.  I have done this in the past at other locations in an effort to educate myself about mobile phones.

One of my primary questions has been,  “What phones will my T-Mobile “pay-as-you-go” SIM card work in?”. You would be surprised at the answers I have received. I have always been told I would have to purchase another phone plan, if I wanted a Blackberry, etc…

Ultimately I always leave very confused about mobile phones. In this case, the sales rep proceeded to inform me that my SIM card in my cheapie phone would function in any of the phones they had. The sales rep proceeded to show me several phones including the Blackberry (all with heavy price tags if I were to buy the phone straight out).

As my “gadget luck” would have it, I was preparing to leave and the sales rep proceeds to tell me that he had an used Blackberry Curve 8320 for sale, minus the software for the phone.

Long story short, I get what I think is a good deal on this phone…  I buy the phone and with my cheap “pay as you go” plan, I challenge myself (as a project) to find workarounds to getting data to and from the Blackberry without the need to purchase a high priced data plan.

Reflected below is highlights of how my project turned out…  Some of the information alone may be helpful to other Blackberry owners and in some cases, depending on the phone (and provider), may not work at all. Some of the information reflected may be common information to mobile phone power users and may make me appear as if I don’t have a clue about mobile phones…

Well I don’t, but I am learning!  All I can tell you is, that I took a cheap phone plan (pay-as-you-go) and an expensive smartphone and customized it for my personal needs.

SIM Card

SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) is the card located in your phone that is a module that identifies to the mobile phone provider, who you are. It can also serve as storage media for your contacts, etc… The module can usually be removed and swapped to other phones (with the same provider).  In my case the SIM card worked with no problems and all my contacts were transferred to the Blackberry.  I now have voice communications with the Blackberry using my “pay as you go” plan.

Coverage

My phone coverage improved noticeably.  Locations where I could not get service, I now have service.  Proves to me that some mobile phones are better in transmission and reception than others.

Blackberry Desktop Manager Software

Since there was no software with the smartphone to manage the phone from my computer, I had to go find the software on the internet. I easily located and downloaded the software from “Blackberry” and installed it on my PC .

The Desktop Manager Software is an integral piece that you need to keep your phone software up to date; AND to provide file management, software management, and backup capabilities.

The installation was also bundled with a Roxio package to manage and convert audio, video and photo files.  After learning the Desktop Manager Software, I knew at that point this was my gateway for installing third party software onto Blackberry.

Calendar, Contact, and Task Management

In order to take full advantage of the calendar, contact and task management portion of the phone, I needed some type of syncing capabilities.

The Desktop Manager Software provides syncing capability to Microsoft Outlook and to Yahoo.  I exclusively configured my Yahoo internet mail account to manage my contacts, calendar, notes and tasks on my Blackberry.

When I connect my Blackberry to my computer, run the Desktop Manager Software, it automatically syncs with my Yahoo account on the internet. This also gives me the ability to pull up my information from any PC connected to the internet.

Wi-Fi

The Blackberry Curve 8320 has wi-fi (wireless) capability.  I configured the Blackberry to connect to the wireless router in my home, which provided me with (at first) limited access to the internet.  You will see below the workaround I utilized to gain full access.

Internet Browser

The browser on this particular phone was very, very limited (proprietary to T-Mobile) and did not provide complete internet access via my wireless access point. I initially did not think this was possible without a data plan, but after some careful thinking, I knew there had to be some way that I could bridge that gap.

I downloaded and installed Opera-Mini which is browser software designed for mobile phones. I now have full access to the internet via my wireless router or at any Wi-Fi access point that will let me in.  (Note: Opera-Mini is an awesome browser for this purpose).

MicroSD Card (with PC Adapter)

RadioShack had an 8 gig MicroSD memory card on sale ($20), which I installed into the Blackberry…  I now have storage capability; plus when  connecting the Blackberry to my computer it is recognized as a mass storage device.

I can now transport my files, portable apps, etc… This particular phone model has a camera (w/photo viewer), video camera (with video player) and voice recorder (w/audio player) built in.

With the added storage I successfully converted a full length movie to play on the Blackberry; added MP3 music files, photos, documents, etc…

Software

Now that I have learned to install software onto the Blackberry, I am currently exploring the internet for “freeware” software for the Blackberry.  Several sources that I have located are:

Blackberry Freeware

Blackberryfreaks.com

Blackberry Freeware Directory

In closing, I have been quite pleased with the outcome of this project and the Blackberry Curve Smartphone.  I welcome any comments or suggestions.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

Disable Avira Notifier

I recently downloaded Avira AntiVir Personal – Free Antivirus as my primary antivirus program. I had been using version 8.2.

Recently my favorite security tech guru – Bill Mullins, advised me that version 9 is now ready for download. I couldn’t immediately find an update to version 8.2 so I used my trusty Revo Uninstaller to uninstall version 8.2 and made a clean install with version 9.

For those of you who don’t use Avira, I’m the poster child, card carrying member for their product. I have tried several antivirus programs and Avira works the best in my opinion.

That being said, Avira has one drawback – A nagging notifier to upgrade to the premium version pops up every time you update the Avira database.

Well, you don’t think g would put up with a popup do ya? Heck no!

To disable this pesky notifier, simply follow these directions:

For XP and Vista Users:

1. Start-> Control Panel

2. Administrative tools-> Local security policy

3. Click on Software Restriction Policy-> Action (at the top)-> create new restriction policies

4. Right-click additional rules (on the right side)-> new path rule

5. Click Browse and navigate to C:\Program Files\(Avira)\AntiVir Desktop\ and double-click avnotify.exe

6. Set the security level to Disallowed-> apply-> ok

If you had Avira previously installed and have already disallowed this, you need to change the thread to match (which for me meant changing AntiVir Personal Classic to AntiVir Desktop).

It’s a beautiful thing my friends!

You can download Avira AntiVir Personal at Download.com.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.

Quake 4 – Game Review

Quake 4 is the next game in the long series of Quake games dating back about 10 years. Quake 4, developed by Activision, is a fast paced, FPS (First Person Shooter) game.

Quake 4 Game Play

The game play is very similar to Quake 2. This is good – Quake 2 was a great game; a lot of fun and exciting. However, it is so similar that it takes away some of the excitement of playing a new game.

The game play is comparable to Quake 2, and the weapons and enemies are very like those in the older Quake games as well. The story line picks up right were Quake 2 left off, and is good enough to keep you interested.

The missions are varied and keep the game exciting. The pace of this game is very fast, which is what the Quake series is known for. There is a lot of action, and the enemies come at you fast. You have to be very quick to get past certain parts of this game!

Even though the action of this game is a lot of fun, Quake 4 doesn’t leave much room for level exploration, or problem solving. It pretty much seems that if you can kill the enemies, you can get past the levels.

Quake 4 Graphics

The graphics and effects of Quake 4 are good, but nothing that is really impressive. Quake 4 uses the Doom 3 engine to run its graphics. There are some minor improvements which were made when Activision applied this engine to Quake 4.

Quake 4 definitely shows improvement over past games when it comes to graphics, however, it cannot match some of the games that came out at the same time like Half-Life 2.

Activision did nothing innovative with this game. It seems as if they made quite a few minor, to medium improvements, but nothing that makes you say – Wow!! Overall, I give this game a 7/10. This is a good and fun game, but it is definitely not the top game in its genre.

Download the demo at GameDaily.com.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dominic Acito, who brings a background as a high level super user and gamer, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Dominic’s site at Computer Too Slow.

Spyware Terminator v2.5

It must be upgrade week for the arsenal of antivirus/malware/spyware software that I use.

Spyware Terminator v2.5 is now available for download (free). It has some nice features that were not previously available on v2.3 (the last version I had loaded).

One thing that irritated me about Spyware Terminator was asking me every time if I wanted to run certain programs. This was just a minor annoyance but the positives with this fine piece of software far outweighed the minor annoyances I mentioned.

The latest release helps fix those annoyances by giving you the option to “remember the program”. You only need click it once and Spyware Terminator will “remember the program” for the next time you run it. So in a nutshell, my previous minor annoyance is fixed.

Spyware Terminator offers the following features:

• Spyware/Malware realtime protection

• WebGuard (you can enable or disable this feature)

• HIPS protection (host intrusion)

• Integration with ClamAV (antivirus)

• Automatic Updates

• Automatic Scanning (enable or disable)

• FREE!

I’ve been using Spyware Terminator for about a year now and can’t recommend it enough.

Download at: Download.com

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.

Red Alert 3 Review

Red Alert 3 is a new game from EA in the Command and Conquer, Red Alert series. It is a real-time strategy game similar to the Warcraft series. This is a review of the PC version of the game. I bought and downloaded this game on Steam which was a really quick and easy way to buy this game.

The Game Play

I was impressed by the game play for this new game. EA found a way to take the same concept and add on to it to make it better. The visual effects were improved from the last game in the series, and the missions were fun to play.

The thing I liked the most about the game was the new co-op mission capability. This new feature allows you to play the campaigns with another player online.

I found it to be a lot of fun being able to jump on Ventrilo (voice over IP app), with a friend, and play a few campaign missions. I feel like this is a good enough feature to make the game a success by itself.

The only downside was the campaigns were a little on the short side. I think each campaign only had 6 or so missions in it. However, a few of the missions seemed a little more involved than the past C&C games, so this may have not been as short as it sounds.

Cast

Another impressive thing about this game was the cast. They cast includes Tim Curry, Jenny McCarthy, Gina Carano, J.K. Simmons, George Takei, and more. The cast did a great job with the cut scenes and really made me get into the story more than past command and conquer games.

EA also did a good job integrating the cast into the missions themselves. It was pretty neat to have Jenny McCarthy’s character following my commands on certain missions.

The Verdict

Overall, I give this game a 9/10.

This game is probably the best real time strategy game to come along in the past year or two. I would suggest that any RTS gamer give this game a try.

Download the demo at BigDownload.com, an amazingly fast game download site. I downloaded this terrific demo of 1.8 GB, in just over thirty minutes. Fast enough?

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dominic Acito, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Dominic’s site at Computer Too Slow.

How to Get Rid Of Antivirus 360: Manual Removal Instructions

Since its appearance in December 2008, the infamous Antivirus 360 is still messing up our computers. New variants are coming out everyday.

Antivirus 360, Antivirus360, AV360 or A360, are all the same fake anti-spyware program that only has one purpose: convincing you to buy it with a credit card, and then using your credit card information for more fraud.

All over the help forums, you can read Antivirus 360 victims saying: “Out of nowhere it appeared on my screen and is claiming that I have about 38 threats.”

What these people don’t know is that their computers most likely got infected with the Vundo Trojan when they were visiting a suspicious website or downloading an infected file from a file-sharing network.

Then they will be invaded with pop-ups stating that their computer has a virus and Antivirus 360 must be downloaded to save their systems from harm. And once they open one of these popups, Antivirus 360 is installed.

Antivirus 360 will automatically start up and scan your system and will list quite a few infections that will stay on your computer unless you purchase the software. These infections are no more than your necessary Windows files that your system will not work without. Also, when Antivirus 360 is running, fake security alerts will constantly popup stating that your computer is vulnerable and needs an antivirus such as Antivirus 360.

The aim of Antivirus 360 with all these bogus infections listing and all these fake security alerts is to scare you into thinking that your computer is dangerously infected while Antivirus 360 is the actual infection.

So, just ignore all these false security alerts and pop-us, and follow these manual removal instructions to get rid of Antivirus 360.

Very important: Don’t forget to make a system and registry backup before this operations. Please read this article on How to back up and restore the registry in Windows.

Step 1

Kill all Antivirus 360 Processes.

1. Open your task manager by pressing “Ctrl + Alt + Del”.

2. Go to the “Processes” tab.

3. Highlight Antivirus 360 Process (in most of cases it’s av360.exe or a360.exe)

4. Click on “End Process”

Now antivirus 360 will not bother you until the next reboot.

Step 2

Find and Remove all Antivirus 360 related files and folders.

1. Press the “Start” button and then click “Search”.

2. Then in the “What do you want to search for?” section, click on “All files and folders”

3. On the Search box, type Antivirus 360 related names (Antivirus 360, Antivirus360, AV360, A360… etc)

4. Click on “Search”.

5. In the results area, delete all the files that you are sure are related to Antivirus 360.

Step 3

Find and Delete all Antivirus 360 related registry entries.

1. Press the “Start” button and then click “Run”.

2. Type in “regedit” into the “Open:” field. Then click on the OK button.

3. Now it opens the Registry Editor.

4. Navigate through the subkeys and edit the Antivirus 360 registry entries. Or, you can press “Ctrl + F” to locate the subkey that contains the antivirus 360 value (F3 to Find Next).

Step 4

Antivirus 360 related registry entries are:

• Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu2\Programs\A360
• Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\MenuOrder\Start Menu2\Programs\Antivirus 360
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “13376694984709702142491016734454
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\13376694984709702142491016734454
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Browser Helper Objects\{d263fa6d-84cc-48a8-9af6-c664362b7a5b}
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{d263fa6d-84cc-48a8-9af6-c664362b7a5b}
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\2e97f8dfd4426572882394323b23c449
  

Step 5

Close the registry editor and reboot your computer. If something appears wrong after you change the registry, you can restore the registry from the backup you’ve created.

For detailed instructions check out this Antivirus 360 removal video.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Sarah M. of Spyware-Removal-Guide.net – a good resource for malware and spyware manual removal. Pay a visit to Antivirus 360 Manual Removal for more details about this rogue anti-spyware.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Spyware-Removal-Guide.net – All rights reserved.

Will Obama Give You Dough? Spare Change You Shouldn’t Believe In

Scammers are taking advantage of Obama’s grant money news to rip you off.

Shocking.

Watch for fake emails, links in ezine articles, and Google campaigns leading you to Obama-scam websites.

Testimonials on these Obama scam sites from people who’ve received government grant dough are as real as Ivanka Trump’s chest, and hardly as charming.

Quotes will urge you to order a CD to learn how to write a successful grant application – and that small S&H charge for the CD is how scammers get your credit card info and mailing address.

Another Obama-stimulus package scam email claims to be from the IRS, and asks you to fill out your personal information online, in order to receive a “stimulus payment.” What’s the most stimulating part of this process? Finding out strangers know a touch too much, about you.

Fortunately, if you follow the usual Internet safety rules, you’ll be okay. Look both ways before opening surprise email attachments and clicking links, and breeze over to YouTube to view some tips for avoiding grant-related scams.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Dukes Media, LLC All rights reserved.

Getting rid of your mobile phone? Be careful; do not give your identity away!

Without purging the data in your mobile phone when you throw it away, recycle it, or transfer it, could cost you.

Today’s phones are comparable to mini-computers in their ability to store personal and often private information (e.g. text messages, voice notes, email, personal contacts, phone numbers, notes, reminders, addresses, photos, videos, etc…).

This information is stored in the mobile phones internal memory and or on the SIM card -Subscriber Identity Module, which is a removable memory chip in many phone models.

The memory in mobile phones is non-volatile memory that can retain the stored information even when not powered. It is important that you protect your identity and information; as well as, the identity and information of other people.

How big of a problem is this?

When I started thinking about this and researching the topic I wanted to find some supporting (reliable) data that hopefully would reveal and convince readers the magnitude of this problem. I actually found (2)-two articles that hopefully will drive the point home. You can click on any of the links for a direct connect to the original sources.

22 January 2009: Regenersis tops 2m handsets processed in 2008 – one every 15 seconds — but finds that 99% of handsets received contained personal data.

Regenersis, Europe’s largest mobile phone recycling and reuse provider, announced that they processed over 2 million handsets for reuse and recycling in 2008.

The Company processed 2,007,652 handsets, the equivalent of one every 15 seconds. Handsets are cleared of all data and fully tested. If a handset is beyond repair or too old it is sent for safe recycling, ensuring nothing goes to landfill.

Regenersis studied a random sample of 2000 handsets processed during the first week in December and found that 99% of handsets received contained some sort of personal data, including: Contacts, SMS messages, pictures, music, videos, calendar entries, emails, notes, mailing lists and to do lists.

In some cases, extremely sensitive information was contained, including bank details, addresses, and confidential emails.

12 December 2008: McCain Campaign Sells Info-Loaded Blackberry to FOX 5 Reporter.

ARLINGTON, Va. – Private information at bargain prices. It was a high-tech flub at the McCain-Palin campaign headquarters in Arlington when Fox 5’s Investigative Reporter Tisha Thompson bought a Blackberry device containing confidential campaign information.

When we charged them up in the newsroom, we found one of the $20 Blackberry phones contained more than 50 phone numbers for people connected with the McCain-Palin campaign, as well as hundreds of emails from early September until a few days after election night.

How to protect your identity when you get rid of your phone.

• Notify your mobile provider and terminate all services.
• If you are changing providers, purge the information on your online account and delete the account.
• Find what method(s) are available for your phone model, from the mobile provider or manufacturer’s web site (or user’s manual) to reset (format) and/or overwrite the data:
• The memory in these mobile phones/devices are very similar to a hard drive in your computer. You can delete the data, but it is not actually gone. The data can be retrieved from a phones memory module using third party software. A nice resource available on the internet, to assist you with purging your phone, is Cell Phone Data Eraser. It is a tool that provides deletion instructions for specific cell phones.
• Return the phone to the provider and request that the data be deleted. Verify that the data has been deleted.
• Remove the SIM Card and reuse it or destroy it.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

Safari 4 for PC - Review

I am always intrigued by applications that offer more speed and more features. I am also interested in checking out new competitors takes on the web browser application.

Safari 4 claims to be both faster than IE7 and FireFox, so I figured I would give it a try and a review. My initial take was one of surprise.

I was not expecting to like this browser much at all, but I found a few of the features to be very impressive. The browsing was speedy as advertised, and I really enjoyed some of the auto-installed bookmarks.

I also was satisfied with the way Safari 4 used tabs. I was a bit worried Apple would try to do too much with the tabs. One other cool feature was a “Top Sites” page. This feature had a well laid-out visual representation of my selected top sites. This was also a useful feature in which IE and FireFox had no comparison for.

One more thing I really enjoyed as a power user was the cookie viewer. IE doesn’t have one of these, and I had to download 3rd party software to view my cookies in IE. I did, however, think that the cookie viewer in FireFox was a bit better though.

Lastly, the search bar that was pre-installed was well done. It gave the user the option of searching either Yahoo, or Google. The built in auto-complete was also helpful. I liked the search bar a lot since most browsers try to promote their own search engine with the search bar. Apple realized that most users would be annoyed if Google or Yahoo were not the primary search engine for the toolbar.

Even though I was impressed with Safari 4 to start, there were a few things I didn’t like. The first thing I didn’t like was that most of the menu buttons were on the top right side of the browser. In Windows, the menu buttons usually go from left to right. It took a little getting used to these buttons on what seemed to be the unnatural part of the application.

The second thing that was a little annoying was the auto-complete in the URL bar. I am sure there is a way to turn this off, but by default it is on and it made typing in a URL a little tougher than expected.

There were also a few features missing from this browser that I find useful in other browsers. Drop-down history in the URL bar, drop-down history on the back/forward buttons, and a quick link to my homepage were a few missing features to name a few.

Overall, I am not switching from my primary web browser. I currently use FireFox and I am pretty happy with the way it performs. However, I would suggest checking out Safari 4, especially if you are an Apple fan.

The main reason I am sticking with FireFox is – Safari 4 didn’t impress me enough to switch from something I am used to. Also, I am pretty happy with the web security FireFox offers, and I am a little concerned with web security from Safari 4, since it is new and untested.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dominic Acito, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Dominic’s site at Computer Too Slow.

Digg a Little Deeper Into Social Bookmarking Links to Find … Malware

It is not only porn-happy or peer-to-peer downloading internet users that are vulnerable to the Trojans and other infections that malicious sites can install on your computer.

Criminals have recently been targeting Digg users, posting links in the comments boxes on Digg to sites which install rogue anti-spyware and leave your computer vulnerable to remote attacks.

These comments look for the content in pages and latch onto it, and usually promote a new video of a celebrity, or a sex tape. When the user clicks on the link, they are directed to a site which asks them to install a video codec to view the content. This will than install additional rogue anti-spyware, like MS Antispyware 2009 or XP Antivirus.

Typical Digg comments – Click pic for larger.

Sean-Paul Correll, from Panda Security, has been investigating the phenomenon. His initial search identified 52 accounts that were posting links to malicious sites. The MO was the same in every case – the end aim was to install rogue anti-spyware .

The comments in Digg accounts are posted by bots, so the flaws in some of them are obvious. For example, one comment invites users to a website where they can see Heath Ledger in the shower and refers to ‘herself’.

Here are some examples of the comments (thanks to The Tech Herald):

• Pregnant Ujwala Raut in Bikini
• Megan fox naked secret videos
• Sexy Megan Fox having sex Sex Tape, rally nice and hot video
• Naked Truth on Celebrity News and Edison Chen Sex Scandal
• Heath Ledger naked in shower, playing with herself!!
• Breaks Season 4 Episode 9
• Emma Watson Nude Video

One worrying aspect of the crimes is that legitimate accounts seem to have been hijacked in order to post the comments. Digg users are being cautioned to protect their computers – update your software regularly, and put on your computer’s full body-armor, by using anti-malware programs as well as a firewall and anti-virus.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Dukes Media, LLC All rights reserved.

The 411 on Conficker B++

There’s a lot of tech jargon when reporting the new variant of the Conficker worm, Conficker B++. We’ll skip it.

We previously reported on the miseries of the Conficker worm, AKA W32.Downadup.B: think locking you out of system directories, blocking access to security software and updates, and deleting any system restore points in your computer.

Ouch.

Conficker spread fast earlier this year; at one point Conficker infected over 6 million PCs within four days. Conficker generated random domain names to download more malware from, which created delays in stopping Conficker. Lucky for us, techies cracked the Conficker code, discovering how the worm generated those domains, and blocking access to them for most computer users.

Hold that “phew”: now Conficker B++ uses fresh, stealthier techniques. The SRI Report says that Conficker B++ bypasses the use of Internet Rendezvous Points, using a DLL patch and pipe backdoor to execute its code.

So how do you prevent Conficker B++? The Microsoft patch is critical in fighting Conficker B++. Microsoft’s corporate-friendly language hardly expresses the pain Conficker B++ could mean to you—don’t let understated sentences like “Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution” have you delay these updates. Windows XP and earlier systems are especially vulnerable—if you haven’t already, set your computer to automatically update.

Conficker also exploits commonly used passwords. If you use any of the weak passwords that Conficker exploits, even only for low-value sites, make sure you change them.

Yeah, we’re referring to “sdrowssap”.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kris Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Dukes Media, LLC All rights reserved.

Inventive FaceBook Scammers Trick You Out of Money with Trojans

Do you take the same pains to protect your FaceBook details online, that you do your banking info?

A recent case involving a Microsoft employee from Seattle, Bryan Gutberg, highlighted the need to protect your FaceBook details in the same way, and be as wary surfing around FaceBook as you are the rest of the net.

This story was first reported by Bob Sullivan, respected cyber-scam reported for MSNBC. In the tale, hackers somehow gained access to Gutberg’s login and password – most likely through a keylogger, or a Trojan such as Zlob or Vundo.

They logged into his FaceBook account and posted a status update saying “Bryan IS IN URGENT NEED OF HELP!” They had also emailed all of his contacts, saying that he had been robbed and that he was in need of money to get home. Many of his friends were ‘defriended’ on FaceBook, so he wasn’t able to have them post messages on his wall letting his FaceBook-contact only friends know that they were the victims of a scam.

One of Gutberg’s friends did fall for the scam – his good-heartedness cost him US$1,200. He wired $600 through Western Union, and then a further $600 at the scammers’ behest.

Trojans and other malware that are designed to steal passwords can quite easily obtain your FaceBook account details from your computer. You can fight these infections by ensuring that you regularly use anti-malware software (certified, not rogue!), keeping all of your programs updated and patched, and taking online browsing precautions like not installing extra codecs.

FaceBook is also urging customers to be aware when they click on links in emails to access their accounts. FaceBook regularly sends these emails with links, so they are a ripe target for scammers. Pay extra attention that the FaceBook login page looks as you remember it, and access your account by opening a new browser window and typing in the address directly wherever you can.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Kristopher Dukes of 411-Spyware.com – an invaluable asset in the battle against malware. Pay a visit to 411-Spyware.com, and I’m convinced you’ll become a regular visitor.

The content of this article is copyright 2009 © by Dukes Media, LLC All rights reserved.

Cloud Computing – An Overview

Cloud computing is not a new concept. If you really want to get down to it, the internet IS the cloud.

The purpose of this article and the articles that will follow is to try and flush out desktop computing in the cloud and how we are moving farther away from the traditional “C drive” desktop and closer to the desktop that lives in the cloud.

First of all, we need to figure out what we are trying to accomplish. While there is more than one school of thought on how to get there, the end result is arriving at the same summit.

The simple answer: I envision browser based computing where all of my data exists on a web accessible server from anywhere in the world. This includes my software, desktop, c drive, storage, etc.

So basically when I boot my machine, it opens a browser that contains my “desktop” that exists on the web. Synchronizing that information to the c: drive is important as well for the times you are unable to connect to the web.

I hear what you are saying – the technology already exists and is used. Unfortunately, the people who are making this point are geeks like you and me and do not apply to the mainstream computer user. To get an acceptance of moving desktop computing to the web, we must convince the mainstream that it is safe to do.

In my next article, we will attempt to explore the biggest concern:

The Cloud – Is my information safe?

In the meantime, here are several up and coming Cloud Links:

Cloudo is a cloud based desktop with storage (not much mind you). The concept is there and will give an idea of what is possible. This is free for all, so sign up and give it a try.

This is a short article explaining Google’s up and coming Gdrive and their attempt to dethrone Microsoft from your desktop.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.

What’s in a (File) Name?

One of Bill’s security recommendations (among the many that he tries to pound into the heads of his readers), is to disable the hiding of file extensions for known file types.

In this, my second article on Bill’s Blog, I will explain why this is important and how it can protect you.

This can get a bit complicated for the novice user, so I’ll try to make it easy to understand.

Firsts things first. What is a file extension? File extensions tell the operating system what type of file it is dealing with, which in turn determines what application is opened when you double click the file.

Adobe PDF documents have a PDF extension, MP3 audio files have the MP3 extension, video files use a number of extensions such as AVI, MPE, MPEG, WMV, and so on. Windows keeps track of what file extensions should be opened with which application, if you rename a file and delete its extension, Windows no longer knows what type of file it is and will not be able to open it.

When working with Windows, almost all files have an extension, this is the 3 or 4 characters after the LAST “.” (dot or period) in the file name. Why is the word LAST in upper case? Because file names can have more than one “.” in them, and this is where your ability to see these extensions can save you.

For example, consider this file named “Invoice.doc”. For many people they would immediately know this is a standard Microsoft Word document. If your PC is set to hide known file extensions then your computer would display the file in a Windows Explorer window, or email attachment, as “Invoice”, hiding the 3 digit extension.

The problem here is, a Trojan can come in as an email attachment as a compressed file, or an executable called Invoice.doc.exe. Remember, only the digits after the LAST “.” are important to the file type, so even though you see Invoice.doc, the file actually has an exe extension, making it an exe or program.

If you have your PC set to hide extension, you would see the file name as “Invoice.doc”, even though the actual extension (which is hidden by Windows) is exe. Another trick is to give the file an icon that makes it look like it’s a Word document to fool unsuspecting users even more.

So you can see, if you disable hidden extensions, you will be able to see the actual file extension, not the one the Trojan wants you to see, and you will be able to better determine if the file is in fact what it is claiming to be.

To unhide these hidden extensions;

1. Go to start>Control Panel

2. Click on >Folder Options

3. Now go to >View tab> Then uncheck the box “Hide extensions for known file types” >click Apply>then OK. That’s it done.

Now you can see the file extensions on all file types.

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Dave Brooks a professional techie from New Hampshire, USA. Dave has now become a regular guest writer who’s last article “Let’s Talk About Backups” was a huge hit.

Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go, and checkout the Security Alerts.

Western Digital WD TV - Impressive!

If you are a computer media junky like yours truly, getting that media to your analog and digital television can present a challenge. Like in, how does one do it?

Wonder no more my friends. Western Digital has a great affordable answer to this challenge.

I bought the Western Digital WD TV set top box about a month ago, and have been putting it to the test with various types of computer type media. To put it bluntly, I’m impressed with this unit. In the past 30 days, I have yet to throw a file at it that it won’t play or view.

For those of you with analog TVs, it features a composite cable output. For those of you with up to 1080P high def TVs, the WD comes with an hdmi hookup.

Because my TVs are somewhat older and don’t utilize an hdmi input, I have been using the composite cables to view the media. Once you have the WD TV hooked up, you need only to copy your media files to a flash drive (thumb drive), or any USB connectible storage medium. I have tried it on both a portable WD hard drive, and a flash drive, and both work flawlessly.

Types of media:

• Music
• Video
• Pictures

Pros:

• Plug and play. If you can hook up the cables, this thing pretty much guides you to the point of playing your media. Very user friendly.
• View’s nearly every media format out there. I have yet to have it reject any media.
• Comes with remote
• Small footprint

Cons:

• Remote is small – you could lose it.
• Slight delay sometimes with selecting media with remote – this is a very minor con.
• If you lose the remote, you will have to buy a new one because it is the only way to control the unit.

Rating: 10/10. Simply put, WD TV hits on all cylinders. It is simple to use, plays almost all formats of media, and is very affordable for what it does. Highly Recommend.

Price as tested: $90 from Newegg.com

Guest Writer: This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Glenn’s site at The Crazy World of G.

This is a guest post by Dave Brooks a professional techie from New Hampshire, USA. Dave has written this article to emphasize, once again, and it can’t be repeated too often – the importance of data back up on a regular and consistent basis. Pay a visit to Dave’s site at Tech-N-Go and checkout the Security Alerts.

Let’s Talk About Backups

My Name is Dave Brooks, I’m an A+ certified technician currently employed in a small shop in New Hampshire.

I’ve been in the computer industry for about 15 years, playing with computers even longer. Other than a brief introductory class many years ago, I am completely self taught.

Bill has generously donated space for wanna be novelists (I’m not a writer by any stretch) to share their thoughts, so I figured I’d take him up on the offer.

Much of the operation of a computer seems to amaze the average user; that they can do what they do even amazes me sometimes. You don’t need to know how a PC works to use it, just like your car, if you have problems you visit a mechanic, you don’t need to know how it does what it does.

One thing you DO need to know is that you MUST back up your computer if you have anything of even remote value to you on it. Hard drives (the device that actually stores your data) are amazing things, their capacity is growing by leaps and bounds and the price per Mega Byte is dropping about as fast.

One of the biggest problems with them is that they can fail at pretty much any time with no notice at all, one minute your working away, the next the drive has developed a catastrophic problem and your years of work and photos have gone to that great recycle bin in the sky.

Depending on the problem the drive has developed it can be relatively inexpensive to recovery your data or it can cost thousands of dollars to send it off to a company specializing in data recovery.

Planning ahead, you can reduce this cost to a mere hundred or two dollars and a minimal amount of downtime. How you ask? An external hard drive and some imaging software. Acronis True Image is a great application and one I recommend to all my home clients.

It is really as simple as installing the software, connecting your external drive, and going through a wizard which will perform a full backup of your hard drive and help schedule recurring backups. When your hard drive fails, it’s a simple matter of installing a replacement, and restoring your recent backup back to the new drive, and you’re up and running with minimal downtime and aggravation.

I’ve had many a customer lose many a file because they had no backup, they usually implement a routine after they experience data loss, but the loss could have been prevented, it’s not a matter of if your hard drive will fail, but when.

In closing I’ll leave you with this thought; BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!!!

(Click pic for larger)

Checkout the review of DriveImage XML, a free, easy to use, and reliable data back up program, from Runtime Software, on this site.

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

Taking A Byte Out of Malware

When I mention the term “malware” around my friends and family, I get some really strange looks. Most people are not absorbed into the tech side of protecting their PC’s and really do not care what the name of the current disease is.

It is an attitude and approach similar to the government; “wait till it happens, then fix it”. Fixing a PC after a malware infection can be like the government trying to fix the economy. You try to fix it and the problem does not go away, resurfaces, and in turn progressively worsens.

When you own a computer, the user must develop the attitude of prevention and protection. If you do not heed this advice, trust me, you will be in a position where you will be trying to fix your own economy…

It is important to educate yourself about the threats, before the threats educate you. Malware today has developed into a threat with such magnitude that it is predominantly the preferred avenue of attack against everyday computer users.

What is malware?

In short it is “malicious software” that installs on your PC without your consent. It is designed to compromise your privacy, steal your money & identity, AND contaminate your PC. Basically, it just shows up in one form or another. (Obvious signs can be: as a popup, a browser redirect, suspicious security software, fake security warnings, your PC consistently runs slow, etc…).

How is it delivered?

Usually through misrepresentation or trickery… You click on a link in an email or a link on a web page that misrepresents what it really is and you’ve been had. Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing, software pirating sites, porn sites are also favorite launching points for malware.

How to take the byte out of malware?

Layers of protection…What this is referring to is multi-layers of protection such as your firewall and various types of security software (e. g. anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware, browser protection, windows updates, software updates, etc…). It is important to maintain and keep these layers of protection in place.

One layer of protection that I currently use, and highly recommend to all of my friends and family, to combat the threat of malware, is a program called “Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware”. Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is an anti-malware application that can thoroughly remove even the most advanced malware.

(Click pic for larger)

I use this program to manually scan my PC on a regular basis. There is a “FREE” and “PAID” version. The difference is that the real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating features are not activated in the “FREE” version.

Performing manual routine updates and scanning is sufficient in most cases. Just the fact that you have it installed and ready to go on your PC, in the event of a malware threat, is a big plus.

Most tech people, without software such as this, will look you in the eye and tell you, formatting the hard drive and doing a complete operating system rebuild is the only way they will touch your PC. Due to the complexity of malware and today’s operating systems, no one can guarantee that your PC will be completely cleaned after a malware infection.

I highly recommend that you download and install this software today.

Dangers on the Internet – The Orcs Have Found the Gateway!

The following is the full, unedited text of a comment by JR Bombadil, who’s perspective on the current state of Internet security contains a lesson for all of us.

This finely crafted satirical parody, on the effects of the constant bombardment of bad news on Internet users, may well leave you questioning the “fear factor” as a motivating influence in securing Internet linked computers against the “bad guys”..

I must admit, I enjoyed reading this comment enormously, and I promise you, you are in for an unusual reading adventure in which the writer takes the “malware fear game”, to its logical conclusion.

As an aside, those of you who are familiar with the writings of JR Tolkien will have noted, the writers name is an amalgamation of Tolkien’s initials, and a Tolkien fictional character, Bombadil.

Read on ……..

I must thank Bill Mullins for illuminating the dangers of the internet. I only became meaningfully aware of them when I switched from dial-up to high-speed on my “new” computer.

Though I cannot brag I slew the Jabberwock, the Bandersnatch of Paranoia is dead, and the flaming eyes shall wiffle towards me no more, nor shall I heed its burble.

The first rays of light had cracked through my utter and blissful ignorance of the multitudinous dangers all about me only a few months ago when a real, living flesh and blood person told me that his identity had been stolen. A world shattering realization: the virtual world is real, it had struck my world.

The orcs have at last found the gateway into our world. They have arrived. Over the last seven months, I have gradually emerged from that dark cave into the light of full blown paranoia. Here follows the story of my enlightenment. May you be similarly blessed.

Pars Prima

So there I was, the very brain child of Ignorance herself when I first entered the high speed world and deftly flew through the virtual ether world fleeter than feather-footed Hermes.

Ten years late arrived and freshly equipped with technology already outdated, I had finally pulled the trigger and entered the world of high-speed. But that is my modus operandi: wait until it’s cheap and outdated.

On that day and in my self-gratulatory mood for finally keeping up with the times, though still barely able to see the tail end of the pack, my mind was mostly at peace, somewhat confident that I had taken the sure steps to secure my identity, having paid homage to the credit gods, Equifax, Experian and Transunion.

I was lazily, blissfully surfing in ether-paradise but a few minutes when lightening struck: I felt the awakening that haunts me still. It was the Verizon god come to rescue me from my slumber. It spoke: “you are in great peril, soon to be hacked, an unmourned corpse for birds and dogs.”

With uncustomary, docile alacrity, I cried a quick thanks be to the Verizon god and immediately downloaded the savior, Verizon’s own virus-Trojan-malware-adware-root whatcha-call it security suite, and dutifully gave the appropriate tithes to pay for this great god’s protection, a pittance for its saving my virtual identity.

After the hour-or-so-long download, I sighed in relief that I and my virtual I were safe. Or so it seemed. For, deny it as I tried, I couldn’t not notice that my matrix-link that had been quick as mercury had become slow as lead, now running at half speed of my old machine. Thus, entered paranoia: as if economic, politic and moral collapses were not enough to stagger the frame of this Atlas.

After a few googles, I learned that my computer was probably attacked within the first ten minutes of being linked in; not only that but it was infected every ten or so minutes thereafter. I was a virtual leper or worse: unprotected, my very immune system could be compromised. I performed all the rites that the Verizon god had instructed. Thanks be to Verizon, safe. Right? My link’s protected, isn’t it? Enter Worry bird.

My link-up was still slow, slow even when not linked in: my just reward for not keeping up with the Jones. I would crawl long penance before I received again my wings. “Blessed be the virtual gods,” I might have cried out, but no. That wisdom comes only after suffering in long self-inflicted, self-pitying crawling. Thus it began, and there I was in the middle of a dark wood, unable to get out, truly unable to move, shameful to tell:

No time to further investigate and ameliorate the crisis, I cling to the unreasonable hope that nothing is really wrong. Back up my files and despair that the back ups too were food for vultures. Come back later when I have time. Come back later. Come back later. And all the while sleepless nights and a nagging conscience that I have let down the virtual gods and not only them: I have consigned my children to a life of poverty, a father reckless of his own identity. And all the while I was building up courage to face the hundred eyed, hundred armed monster and all the time I put it off and put it off with fingers crossed.

I could not dispel that nagging thought: my identity had been stolen by every pencil-necked criminal in the vast virtual world of geeks gone bad. Tum-tum, I meanwhile rested, unthinkingly worse than Hamlet, and did nothing: a wretched coward.

Days passed, weeks, months, even a new year. Then at last having imbibed enough courage, inspirited, I turned to face the manxome foe. It was a foe like none dreamed of. Oh horror, horror, horror! Unutterable. ALL the virtual wizards of all the virtual world asked: “Are you paranoid yet?” And all shouted at me with one accord: “Not paranoid enough!” And so it goes. Even Gandalf was terrified. From whom should I have courage? But, good fortune, the spirits had not quite worn off, my bravery had not yet left.

Pars Secunda

The unvirtual truth was that my computer began to almost freeze and crash and my backups were not that good. I could procrastinate no longer.

Aware enough to be afraid and yet ignorant enough to still have hope, I learned that the Verizon god is only one, and a weak one at that (and costly), in a pantheon of gods besieged by a much greater army of demons. I proceeded to acquire and install all the best recommended virus immunizations, adware assassins, spy-killers, fire-walls, adamantine-walls, every best known defense I could find.

Then came the full revelation. It turns out that my problem all along was that I did not have sufficient memory to run my anti-viral arsenal. In my slovenly insobriety I had ignorantly assumed that my computer actually had enough memory to work the minimal tasks I put it to. But no, if one wants to defend his castle, he must pay the guards, and clearly I did not have sufficient resources to feed these eating machines.

As consequence, I only ran a half dozen or more different Trojan assassins. The rest would have to wait until I could purchase the resources necessary to feed my army. However, the real revelation from the great wizards, who are remarkably like the Oz variety, is that even though I detected not a single nasty on my machine, that is only a sure sign that there is something really nasty and deep down rooting into the very core of my virtual being.

One must run at least ten to twenty different of these mercenary-Trojan-assassins in order to rest not assured, but at least relatively more at ease. And there’s the additional problem that the one program I hastily downloaded in order to determine what kind of RAM I need to feed my troops could itself be a Trojan horse. Apparently WOT is not fool proof.

Moreover, I made a-grievous-nother mistake: I began to think. How can I be sure I am safe? I was now also informed and know that the majority of sites that advertise as security services are actually nothing but pirate outfits; that there are more bad guys than good guys; that the bad guys can pose as good guys and vote themselves good guys on WOT; that perhaps maybe WOT and FireFox and even Avast are the most brilliant spies of all, the inner circle of assassins that secretly direct the whole apparent warfare in Matrix. In short, who is to guard the guards? Thus, goes my dizzying intellect, my German mind having spent too long a time in uffish thought, in this matter far superior to the mind of a Sicilian “when death is on the line” though doomed to the same fate.

But there’s no need to recount the whole whirling dervish of my thoughts. Suffice it to say, it is just the sort of stuff, when it gets in a head of mine takes a life of its own, an uber-monster, the very stuff of the Krell monster. And like monsters dreamt up on forbidden planets, it is unconquerable.

The conclusion was obvious: I can only trust myself. But what hope for a digital ignoramus and neophyte like myself to outmine the millions who have long ago already figured out a way to undermine any infantile attempt of mine. I must rule it out altogether, consign myself to defeat, await my pending doom.

Pars Tertia

But the noggin didn’t rest there. Unsatisfied, we have found a solution. At first, I thought it might suffice simply to unlink myself. Shut down all possible credit and bank account hijackings and unplug. However, I know better. They are too smart and that is trusting in futile hope.

The Ethernet gods will be avenged, and besides I already had witnessed the invasion. The orcs have arrived, the virtual world did strike the real world. And the only way I might be unscathed is to trust in the gods, but I’ve already disconnected from them; so, that too is futile hope.

The only solution is through more uffish thought: how to deliver the snicker-snack? That is the question. I cannot use my internet or computer savy since I have none, so I must use my real calculator, Jeeves’ like, and come up with a brilliant ‘fix’ that only Jeeves could. What would Jeeves do?

I thought. I could completely remove myself from the virtual world: shut down my bank account altogether, destroy all credit cards, wipe out my virtual self, in a sense commit virtual hara-kiri to avoid my own real destruction. It would work. For a time. Then all my other better-founded conspiracy theories rushed back into my head at once, and I knew it was but a short-lived solution.

The real solution is a preemptive strike. The bad guy pencil-necks want to steal my identity. It was not enough to lose my identity, destroy it, change it, become a new virtual me, even utterly obliterate or make meaningless the virtual me. I had to make it impotent, harmless, a virtual eunuch, and somehow render the theft of my virtual me harmless (at least to me), also an excellent revenge on my would be other me’s. But how to do it?

I decided we would completely unplug, pull out, leave not only the virtual world but all worlds possibly affected by the virtual world. We would follow the example of Lot (though my daughters will not). My children shall be raised after the customs of those in the world of Mad Max. If you want to contact me, you cannot: we have no virtual address, or real for that matter and it would be foolish of me to tell.

Let Jabber gurgle all he wants. The Bandersnatch is slain! And I can chortle away.

(In all seriousness, thanks for all your help, Bill.)

Cloud Computing – Is Your Head In The Cloud Yet?

This is a guest post by Glenn Taggart of The Crazy World of G, who brings a background as a high level super user, to the Blogging world.

As Glenn explains “Even though I spend most of my day at a desktop or on the road (in the Pacific NW), with my laptop, I have an insatiable thirst for leading edge computer technology that helps me get my job done faster.

I firmly believe we are on the verge of an open source cloud computing world. The company I work for is making great strides in making our software web accessible (which is no small feat!) I am excited to share my cloud research as it evolves”.

Take a look at some of the Cloud applications Glenn has discovered, and has put to good use.

HOMEPAGE

iGoogle – I love all things Google and this is my first stop when I enter The Cloud. Check out the Radiohead theme to customize iGoogle.

WEB MAIL

Gmail – integrates nicely with pretty much everything. It’s also the consummate beta so if you are a geek wannabee, you can make sure to tell everyone you are testing beta software.

RSS READER

Google Reader – The best RSS news compiler.

OFFICE DOCS

Google Docs – Word processing, Spreadsheets, calendar, etc.

FILE HOSTING

Mediafire – Unlimited file hosting for all types of files. I use it to back up my media and it has an excellent photo album view that lets you share files and folders. Highly recommend.

PERSONAL DATA / PASSWORD MANAGER

Clipperz – I’m still a little weary of putting my bank account info in The Cloud but Clipperz uses a pretty strong encryption method which is fine for storing your other passwords.

BOOKMARKS

Delicious – Does an excellent job managing your web bookmarks and integrates nicely with Firefox.

PHONE CONFERENCING

Rondee – I use it and it works great.

Calliflower – I use this service as a backup. Haven’t had to yet…

FILE COMPRESSION

Shrinkfile – Compresses/Extracts files to zip, etc.

FILE CONVERSION

Zamzar – I use this to convert open office docs to Microsoft doc formats. It will pretty much convert any file you throw at it to a compatible format.

IMAGE HOSTING

Rapidpik – I use this to host image files for my blog on occasion. Very fast and no sign up required.

PHOTO EDITING

Photofunia – Uses face recognition technology to insert your mug in a variety of different poses.

Face In A Hole – Another face recognition site. Just upload your favorite face photo and choose the pose.

PixiFX – Online image editor. I like the various borders they offer (among other effects). Once again, upload your photo and choose your effect. User friendly.

MEETING SCHEDULER

Diarised – I haven’t had the opportunity yet to use this but I’m anxious to. Very nice layout.

CALCULATOR

Ecalc – This is the daddy of all things calculated and converted.

LARGE FILE SENDER

Filemail – I use this every once in awhile when I have to send a large file(s) to someone who’s email won’t accept large files. This happens to me frequently.

FAX

Drop.io – Online fax machine. It’s a pain to use but it works in a pinch.

Another promising cloud technology that I’m keeping my eye on (I already registered, it’s not yet available) is Grand Central which has just been purchased by Google. Check it out, it looks pretty cool.

Uninstalling and Installing AntiVirus Software…

This is a guest post by Rick Robinette, who brings a background as a security/police officer professional, and as an information technology specialist to the Blogging world.

Why not pay a visit to Rick’s site at What’s On My PC.

Antivirus software are complex programs designed to identify, neutralize or eliminate malicious content that invade your computer.  Many people over a period of time will change from one brand of antivirus software to another.  Antivirus software is big business and today there are many flavors and options available.

For example; There are (3)-three “FREE (for personal use)” reputable antivirus packages that are widely recognized (see below).  I prefer any one of these over the major brand antivirus software packages due they are light on system resources, and are not bloated.   As a matter of fact, I cannot remember ever having a commercial (paid for) version of an antivirus program on any of my computers at home.

The points of this article is to educate you to the fact that there are FREE antivirus software options available and that follow-up research may be required to “completely” uninstall (remove) antivirus software from your system in the event you desire to install another antivirus program.

Antivirus software, when running on your system, is hooked into many areas (i.e. registry, file system, resident memory, etc…) and uninstalling it can leave debris behind that can cause other systemic issues.  Antiviruses are like viruses; they can be hard to get rid of…  To prove my point, I researched (9)-nine antivirus programs and found that every one of them had supplemental removal instructions or tools, in addition to following the typical Add/Remove console process found in Windows. I have listed the sites below for convenience and reference.  During this research I also found that locating this information was often buried deep in their sites and was not readily accessible.

Antivirus Programs
Uninstall Information & Links

Norton Removal Tool – The Norton Removal Tool uninstalls all Norton 2009/2008/2007/2006/2005/2004/2003 products, Norton 360 and Norton SystemWorks 12.0 from your computer. If you use ACT! or WinFAX, back up those databases before you proceed.

McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe) – uninstall or reinstall supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe)

Avast! uninstall utility – Sometimes it´s not possible to uninstall avast! the standard way – using the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS in control panel. In this case, you can use our uninstallation utility aswClear.

Avira AntiVir -Normally the Avira Registry Cleaner removes all entries that were created by AntiVir. In this way, it prepares your system for the installation of a new AntiVir version.

BitDefender Uninstall Tool – There are two methods of uninstalling BitDefender from your computer: using the system tools and using the special uninstall tool provided by BitDefender.

Kaspersky’s Antivirus Removal Tool – Some errors might occur when deleting Kaspersky Anti-Virus product via Start > Control Panel > Add\Remove Programs. As a result the program will not be uninstalled or will be partially uninstalled.  The removal tool is required to remove a variety of their products.

F-Secure Internet Security (and antivirus) – Should you decide to uninstall, F-Secure does not provide its own uninstaller. You must use the Microsoft uninstaller found in Add and Remove Programs within the Command Console. After a reboot we found no Registry files, but we did find several program and log files in an F-Secure directory tree on the root drive.

Trend Micro Antivirus -  Trend Micro Support to remove Trend Antivirus plus AntiSpyware from my computer?

AVG – Open the directory with AVG Free Edition installed in and run the SETUP.EXE file or download the current installation file of AVG Free Edition from here and run it to start installation process. A window with following options will be displayed during the installation process: Add/Remove Components, Repair installation or Uninstall

A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 – Part 3 – Improvements over Vista?

This is a guest post by Paul Eckstrom, a technology wizard and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California.

Why not pay a visit to his Blog Tech–for Everyone.

I have now been using Microsoft’s latest operating system, Windows 7, for a week. I configured it to my taste (aka “preferences”), and installed my primary applications (and a few games) and done lots of things to try to break it.

Yes, you read that last part correctly – I said “try to break it”. You see, there simply is no better way (many people feel) to test a thing than to fill it up with High-Octane, put the petal to the metal, use the gears to keep the RPM’s well into the red, and go! go! go! until a piston sails up and through the hood. Of course.. for this to really mean anything.. you must do this several times in a row.

Not only is this method fun, but this is how “limits” are discovered. Ask Chuck Yeager. (Geeks call this “benchmarking”).

Some findings: I have found that it is fairly easy to get a fail on IE 8, the newest release of the venerable Internet Explorer web browser (which is still a beta also). Open too many tabs (6+), or a Microsoft.com page using Silverlight, and you’ll get a “Not responding” fairly quick. But, I have also found that it is extremely difficult to get Windows 7 itself to fail. Win 7 is fast and it’s stable.

In fact, despite my best efforts and determination, I have yet to have a lockup, or BSOD¹. Improved multi-processor/multi-threading ability is noticeable. No Windows Update fails either, as still befalls Vista SP1 (you know the ones.. you have to reboot 3 times and/or use Startup Repair to get to your Desktop?)

After my admittedly amateur and unscientifical-style testing, I would be willing to quite prematurely guestimate that Windows 7 is one-hundred and thirty two point six times (132.6x ) more stable than Vista was, and at least .. oh, um, let me say, one magnitude more stable than Vista w/SP1.

All jocularity aside, only time will tell how accurate my estimates and impressions are. But I’m impressed. Quite impressed. This is a beta, after all. (I’m willing to wager that this is a historic first — “beta” and “stable” are never used in the same sentence. I’ll come back to some of the reasons for this.)

Plus number 6.

Other differences: While retaining most of what we’ve come to know in Windows, (such as, by default, the Taskbar is on the bottom, Start button on the left, everything “interesting” is found in Control Panel, etc.) there are some changes.. changes that affected me in my daily usage. First up on that list is the Taskbar has changed in appearance and behavior.

The Taskbar (aka “Superbar”) is similar to Vista’s in that it has a “hover” feature, as shown below… though it has been enhanced to show thumbnails of the program’s open windows (or tabs, as in this case) for easier selection, and direct-action “maximize”.

Windows 7 “Superbar”. (Click pic for larger)

But look closer. Quick Launch and tabs are combined into “pinned” icons, and the System Tray (the icons down by the clock) are now an “up arrow”. To make a program a “Quick Launch”, or visa-versa, you simply drag-and-drop (and select “pin to taskbar”, no more “lock”/”unlock”), and open programs – “tabs” – ’stack’ to the right.

It’s weird how much I miss the by-the-clock icons.. though they’ve never really served any truly practical purpose (except maybe as a source for context menu shortcuts). I find myself clicking the arrow, to make the System Tray visible, and reassure myself – yes, they’re still there.
I’ve been running (and troubleshooting) Microsoft operating systems since Windows 3.11, and I just expect those things to be there…

Speaking of things that are missing: menus have been consolidated and “pruned”. They seem to me less cluttered, more intuitive, and easier to navigate. This is most noticeable when trying to access system tools and the elements that make up the Control Panel. Long-time Windows users and über geeks may feel that Microsoft has unnecessarily moved a few things (and occasionally get annoyed, at first), but newbies and flexible-types will find things “friendlier”… IMHO.

Plus number 7.

And Defender is nowhere to be found in Programs or the Start menu: it’s in Control Panel.
(Don’t ask. Haven’t even a guess.)

And, when you first get started, “Network” is missing from the Start menu.
But that’s a topic for Part 4..

Link for Part 1 of this series, A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 Part 1 of a series
Link to Part 2, A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 Part 2 — Transferring Your User Account To Windows 7

¹ Blue Screen Of Death (see Troubleshooting the Blue Screen Of Death)

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved

A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7 – Part 2 – Transferring Your User Account To Windows 7

This is a guest post by Paul Eckstrom, a technology wizard and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California.

Why not pay a visit to his Blog Tech–for Everyone.

In Part1 of this series, A Tech’s First Impression of Windows 7, I described the install process for Microsoft’s new operating system, and today I will proceed to the next step of setting up a new computer.. transferring all your stuff from the old machine, and ‘tweaking’ things to just your liking.

Last year I wrote wrote about the fastest, easiest, user state migration I had ever had — New PC? Migrate Your User Account The Easy Way — and described a Microsoft download that allowed me to not only transfer settings and preferences (aka ‘tweaks’) and my files (.doc, .jpg, mp3, etc.), but my installed programs as well. (Which to me was about the neatest thing since sliced bread?)

[Note: Microsoft has since removed the utility, Windows Easy Transfer Companion, referenced in the link/article above. Apparently, it doesn't work on Vista SP1, and/or XP SP3.]

Should’a caught this sooner, but…

For the purposes of this article (and, simulating what the typical user will do with a new computer and/or OS), I took an older machine running XP that had been one of my “daily usage” machines before being relegated to testbed duty and re-attached it to my home network (LAN).

Easy Files and Settings Transfer: On my Windows 7 machine, I typed “File an” into the search area of my Start menu, and Windows Easy Transfer showed up in the results immediately. A click launched the Easy Transfer Wizard, and I was asked if *I was on the new machine or the old?

New

How did I want to make the transfer? – Over the network. (the other choices were CD/DVD, or an external HD.)

Does the old machine have Windows Easy Transfer? – Um.. probably not, so, No.

It offered to provide the program if I would plug in a thumb drive, so.. I did.

It said “Finished” and told me to go plug the thumb drive into the old machine and let it “autoplay”, so.. I did.

The old machine (slow!) did its thing and presented me with a code, 123-456, and told me to go to the Windows 7 machine and enter the code, so.. I did.

Bingo, I was connected, and the Windows Easy Transfer tool started to scan the XP machine for “transferable items”.

When the scan finished, I was provided with a result, and there were some default items already checked off — pictures, music, and documents. No surprise there, but I was very pleased to see the “Programs” folder.. could it be?

So.. I drilled down into the “Customize” section and selected the applications I wanted to try to transfer to the new machine (though, I could’ve just done the whole folder). That will save time.. and hunting down install CDs!

I clicked the “Save” button”..

And presto. Seven minutes later my “user state” was now on my new machine. And so I have a new “easy champion”, and I confess.. I’m impressed.

Well, I ran long. Tweaking the Desktop, and “Superbar”, and other personalization’s will have to wait for the next article.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

A Tech’s First Impression of Windows7

This is a guest post by Paul Eckstrom, a technology wizard and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California.

Why not pay a visit to his Blog Tech–for Everyone.

Part 1 of a series

Yesterday I downloaded the official Microsoft beta release of its new operating system – called Windows 7. (Technically, for those of you interested in this sort of thing, it is “Build 7000″.) I opted to install the 32-bit version, as I think this will remain the “standard” and most common.

I installed a “clean install”, though I could have “upgraded” an existing Vista install (I recommend ‘clean install’ as a Rule Of Thumb).

Microsoft is calling Windows 7 a whole new OS, and are expecting it to replace replace Vista.. in the same way that Vista is replacing Windows XP. I can tell you that it is not a whole new operating system. I can also tell you that it does not give us the new file system (WinFS) that was originally promised as one of the “three pillars of Vista”.

The install itself:

My “clean” install on a freshly formatted volume took just over half an hour, and involved at least two automated reboots. (It may have been three.. but I got up and walked away for a few minutes. I have performed countless Windows installs – literally – and watching one more isn’t my idea of a “good time”.)

Once I clicked “go”, I only had to answer three screens– my time/location, a computer name/user name/passwords (recommended), and did I want to set up a sharing network “HomeGroup“? That last, because it’s new and still unfamiliar, I chose “Not now. Ask me again later.”

My experience matched that of other reviewers: it was by far the fastest, smoothest, easiest Windows installation I’ve ever had. That this is a beta release makes this fact all the more remarkable.

Plus number one:

No device driver issues: I installed Windows 7 on a recent-vintage machine (it came with Vista Home Premium) and I had to install zero, zip, nada, device drivers — and this is a beta! Every device worked out of the gate, so clearly Vista device drivers work well on Windows 7.

Microsoft claims Windows 7 is the most ‘backwards compatible’ OS yet (I guess, maybe they learned from Vista’s release?) and I believe them. A beta.. and no device driver installs??? Amazing.
As a test, I connected to a rather ancient HP DeskJet 970Cse printer over my LAN. Windows 7 found the printer and installed it it with one “Yes” click.

Plus number two:

Once installed: As a Vista user, the change in Vista 7’s GUI (graphical user “interface”) was not that startling to me.. in fact, aside from the desktop and QuickLaunch icons being larger.. and a change to the System Tray/”Notification Area”.. it is Vista. The QuickLaunch now has (even more) shades of Macintosh OS X’s “Dock”.
Yes, it looks more “modern” (and makes XP look absolutely archaic), but is very, very Vista.

One nice change.. I noticed rather quickly that 7 has a Desktop slideshow feature (found because the default – plain, with a Chinese fighting fish in the center – was quite drab after Vista’s spectacular nature images), and your Desktop can alternate images very much like your screensaver can in older versions of Windows (see Show off your photos with a screensaver slideshow).

The Start button, menus, icons, etc. are (basically) all the same. With the exception of the new networking and media sharing features, this is a zero learning curve change for Vista users, and a very modest one for XP users. If you use Windows, you can use 7, and you won’t have to take a night class or read a For Dummies book to do it.

Plus number three:

Speaking of the Start button..
In Windows 7, Windows Mail, Windows Calendar, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Movie Maker, and Windows Contacts are part of Windows Live Essentials.

Windows 7 removes InkBall and adds online versions of Spades, Backgammon and Checkers.

It comes with IE 8.

Programs and applets – like Paint – have been updated, enhanced, and now sport the Microsoft “Ribbon”.. which was introduced in Office 2007.

Well, I have only been using Windows 7 for a few hours.. and I will be writing more in this series.. so I’ll stop here for now. So far, I have installed both Call of Duty 5 and the original Call of Duty (patched to 1.4) and played a few rounds of each. Yup. They’re a tad faster than on Vista.

Plus number four…

Part 2 — Transferring Your User Account To Windows 7

Today’s free download: So.. you want to download the Windows 7 beta too? Click here.

Today’s free link: Mark Russinovich: Inside Windows 7 How has Windows evolved, as a general purpose operating system and at the lowest levels, in Windows 7? Who better to talk to than Technical Fellow and Windows Kernel guru Mark Russinovich? Here, Mark enlightens us on the new kernel constructs in Windows 7.

Copyright 2007-9 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved.

Benefits of a Wired Life

Over the last ten to fifteen years, we have seen an explosive amount of growth related to high technology.

In just a few short years, we have gone from land lines and dial-up internet connections to 3g cell phones and wireless internet.

Living in this period of time is exciting for many different reasons and living a wired life has many benefits, a few of which will be explored in the following article.

Instant Access to Information

Whenever you need to find something out in this day and age, all you need to do is go to Google and you will have the answer in a matter of seconds. This is great for many different reasons. There is rarely a need to dial information, and when you look up something on the internet, you also can see reviews, updated information, and alternatives to your search as well, regardless of what you’re looking for.

Get Anywhere with Ease

Whether you utilize the Google Maps tool or have a GPS system in your vehicle, chances are you’ll have a tough time getting lost on the way to a new location. Although there have been some instances where this technology hasn’t been quite as effective, it is generally the best information available out there at the moment. Glitches have basically been worked out and maps are updated frequently as new routes are assessed and opened up.

Mobility

Practically everything you could ever need in the way of technology is now available in a portable device.

In 1998, the average hard drive on a PC was 8 GB; now an 80 GB mp3 player is smaller than a deck of cards. In such a brief time period, practically everything is now portable.

Pocket PCs and cell phones have access to a variety of function that go far beyond the bulky cell phone of ten to twelve years ago. The ability to access your PC’s desktop from a remote location is another of many benefits of the increasingly mobile nature of technology.

Promise of Greatness to Come

Each time a new technology is developed, it brings a sense of hope for what the future has in store. Even now, documents and records are being scanned and backed up, books are being saved to digital formats, and databases are being created to be able to make the most of our technology. As this field continues to grow and develop, our lives can and will only get better as a result.

By-line:

This article was contributed by Holly McCarthy, who writes on the subject of an internet provider. She invites your feedback at hollymccarthy12 (at) gmail dot com

Every Good Story Needs a Villain!

This is a guest post by Paul Eckstrom, a technology wizard and the owner of Aplus Computer Aid in Menlo Park, California.

Paul adds a nice humorous touch to serious computer technology issues. Why not pay a visit to his Blog Tech–for Everyone.

This story opens gently enough. It begins with a friendly and helpful Comment posted on a friendly and helpful blog.

Someone had written to share “the results of their work”, which he said “solved his security problems.” He was talking about viruses and spyware, and other malware, and he said his method “covers 99.8%! of all known threats.” He posted his advice/Comment on an article about How To prevent the dangers posed by spyware (and also warns about “rogue” anti-spyware programs). He signed himself “Spycrasher”.

So far, this all sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? 99.8% effective certainly sounds good.

As you have probably deduced, Dear Reader, the “friendly and helpful blog” in question was this one. Tech–for Everyone, like most blogs, provides readers the opportunity to respond, ask a question, or just “put in their two cents”, simply by clicking on “Comments” at the bottom of the article. And also like most blogs, I have the ability to “moderate” which comments get posted and which don’t– for instance, Comments containing offensive language will not be published. Spycrasher’s 99.8%- effective security solution will NOT be seen here.

But.. maybe you’re a little curious as to what it was. And.. maybe, why I deleted it. (Take another peek at today’s title..) “Spycrasher’s” comment said to use three particular anti-spyware programs– in tandem– and he provided download links. (This, alone, triggers red flags.) He mentioned two tools I was not familiar with, and one rather well-known program.

* Hyperlinks are always suspicious (and blocked as a matter of policy), and the first thing I checked was, did the links point to legitimate websites..? Or would clicking on them take you to a poisoned webpage (which could infect your machine) or a pharming site.

No problem there. The links he provided did indeed point to real websites.

* The next thing was to check out the unknown programs themselves. No self-respecting and legitimate tech writer will advocate something they have not used, and tested, themselves. Period.

In my initial research of the first program (XoftSpy-SE), I found a wide range of reviews and comments.. from “this is rogue” to “this is the best thing since sliced bread”, and I learned that the program was “for pay”.
I don’t promote “for pay” software here (but do provide a daily free download), nor, even potentially rogue app’s; and so I stopped right there. I would not allow Spycrasher’s Comment.

· Being the gentleman that I am, I decided to write Spycrasher and thank him for his submission, and explain why I had moderated it. But before I did, I wanted to get a feel for where he was coming from.. so I ran a Whois on his IP…

Now, I gotta tell you.. it is very rare for ARIN to come back with a “no match found”. Very, very strange.

So I traced him.

New York >London >Amsterdam >Berlin >Warsaw…

And then he disappears into a virtual private network somewhere in the Ukraine.

Odd.

* So I used a search engine to find instances of the word “Spycrasher”… and he came up a lot. Spycrasher likes to post in various forums. Quite a few of them, actually. Like, practically all of them.
And he posts a lot of Comments there.
* Guess what? They are all identical to the the one he posted (I should say “pasted”) on mine.. right down to the ‘wink’ smiley .

Very.. odd.

Tip of the day: Be very leery of hyperlinks, folks.. and please understand: not every innocent looking thing you see on the Internet is in fact “friendly and helpful”. There are people whose full-time job it is to try to trick you, and seduce you into doing something you normally wouldn’t.
I am very sad to say.

[note to bloggers/forum moderators/webmasters: you may want to search your published pages for instances of "Spycrasher", and delete this guy.]

Today’s free link: I am going to repost a program here today, because I have it on every single one of my (Windows) machines, and I think you should too. ThreatFire (originally named “CyberHawk”) is a free, behavior-based anti-malware application. I use it as a supplement to my antivirus and other anti-spyware tools. Heuristic tools like ThreatFire are your only defense against “zero day” exploits.

Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved*