Spring is Coming Time to Get That Computer Cleaned

Spring is just around the corner. We'll be opening the windows and letting in fresh air. Winter has played havoc on our homes, lots of dust collects everywhere, especially in your computer tower.

The image above demonstrates the accumulation of months of case fans sucking in dust and dirt from our homes. Our computers need to breathe. If the cpu fan becomes clogged it can no longer keep the computer at a safe operating temperature which can lead to system failure.

Regular computer system maintenance is a must for a longer life for your computer.

Vista your local computer shop today so your computer will work tomorrow.

Microsoft claims the XP BSOD problem is a rootkit issue, not the security patch

While I'd like to say they were right, I cannot. I have had 3 machines in the shop this week with the dreaded blue screen of death. I hand removed the update in question and all three machines booted normally.

Of course after the Microsoft announcement yet again that it "isn't" their fault, I ran several anti-virus scanners, malware detectors and rootkit detectors. I then kept the clients machine several days and found no issues. The computers were again working as expected.

Sorry Microsoft, but in my humble opinion you are wrong...

XP Blue Screen After Windows Update

Just this past Tuesday's Microsoft released several security and patch updates for Windows. One or more of these updates have left Windows XP computers un-bootable. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue and has removed the patch from Windows update.

For those of you already affected by the update, all is not lost. The patch(s) can be removed by hand and your system will work properly again without loss of data. If you experienced this BSOD (blue screen of death) you may want to take your computer to your local repair shop before you format and or restore.

What Is The Best Anti-Virus Software.

I get asked this question alot so I thought I'd write a little bit about the subject. Let me start by explaining how anti-virus software works.

Anti-virus programmers use a database to store information on known viruses and many other malware types. As each new threat is discovered it is added to the database and sent to the user as a virus signature update. They also implement a huerisitics signature which is a means of detecting unknown threats by comparing the malware's activity type to that of known viruses or spyware. In theory these signatures should keep your computer safe.

The problem with virus signature detection is how often the vendors signature file is updated and delivered to the client. No single anti-virus software suite detects all threats. Many do not detect spyware and grayware at all.

The problem with naming any one Anti-Virus software company as "The Best" is often realitive to the users perference or the company trying to sell their product. Your local computer repair provider may have a contract with a anti-virus software vendor and recieve a commission of each sale, however that doesn't mean that the software they sell is the best.

In my shop I specialize in virus & spyware removal and often have to use several anti-virus and anti-spyware scanners to remove malware from clients computers, then I have to go back and hand remove any files missed by those scanners and often edit the Windows registry to remove yet more viral information.

Every computer user should be running some type of anti-virus and anti-spyware software and all of them will tell you not to run more than one on your computer. What that really means is that only one program should be running in the background for active protection, however having multiple anti-malware progams installed and run manually is smart computing.

So whether you choose to use Avast, AVG, Nortons, Malwarebytes or some companies anti-virus software be sure to keep it up to date, use the resident scanner and by all means when a file is flagged, carefully read the information from your program and take appropriate action.

I hope this helps some of you when deciding on your anti-virus software.

Will you upgrade to Windows 7

I've heard this question alot lately. Windows 7 is due to ship in October 2009. I have pre-ordered a copy for the office machine. I participated in the beta trials and sent 1000's of bug reports and suggestions to Microsoft. The RTM or release version appears to be stable however, there are still compatibility issues with hardware and older software.

When compatibility is mentioned however, everyone replies well there will be an XP Mode for older software... Well there is and assuming it works it would be great if it were offered to the general public.

What do you mean you say?

Well XP Mode is only available to users who purchase Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate. Do you know of any computer manufacturer that ships a computer with anything but a stripped down OEM version of Windows??

Are you going to buy all new software??? or upgrade to a 300$ version of Windows....

You tell me.....

Secure your e-mail

We all use anti-virus and anti-spyware programs to help fight online threats but what about those we willfully let in with our e-mail clients. Here are a few tips you can use to make incoming and outgoing e-mail a little safer.

1. Don't allow your e-mail client to completely render HTML e-mails.
It is much safer to have your e-mail client render your incoming e-mails with limited HTML or better yet as plain text. Allowing full HTML rendering of your e-mail leaves you open as a valid recipient of spam or the risk of getting successfully phished by some malicious security cracker or identity thief.

2. Avoid free e-mail services.
Your POP3 account from your ISP is more secure than free e-mail services such as YahooMail, GMail and other free e-mail providers. ISP's usually require encryption to send and recieve e-mail and they do not sell or share your information.

3. Don't Access your e-mail account from an unsecured network.
We all want to check e-mail or banking while we're away on vacation. Often internet cafe's and free wireless access points are unsecure leaving your data open to the public.

4. Safe guard your address book users.
Address books are handy to send e-mail to all your friends and family with a simple click, however many trojans are designed to use your stored address book to send malicious code to all your users.

5. Use BBC when sending e-mail to multiple recipients.
Using BBC when sending e-mail to everyone in your address book ensures that each
user sees only his or her own e-mail address. Other recipients e-mail addresses are
hidden.