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2012-04-20T20:44:00.000-07:00

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Best Spyware Removers

2010-01-23T04:52:00.001-08:00

Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware and adware from your computer is much easier if you consider a few things before you make your purchase. Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for a spyware protection program.

The best spyware removers should offer you complete protection against spyware, adware, keyloggers, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), and browser hijackers. These are the main spyware infections that expose your confidential information and diminish your PC's performance.

An important consideration for any spyware protection program is automatic updates for your software. There are new spyware programs invented on a regular basis just like viruses and automatic updates cover you against the latest spyware threats.

Another important consideration to look for should be technical support from the manufacturer. A spyware protection program doesn't do you any good if you have a technical issue that you can't solve. Often, just a minor piece of technical advice will solve most software problems and it's important that your software run right. You also may need someone to answer questions that come up.

Customer service is another feature you may consider looking for. It shows the
manufacturer is a trusted source who cares about their reputation and will probably be around awhile.

Spyware is quickly becoming a major threat to Internet security. It is reported that 9 out of 10 computers are currently infected with spyware, adware or both. Most people don't even realize it's there because spyware and adware is programmed to run silently. Microsoft estimates that spyware is responsible for 50% of all PC crashes.

If you don't remove spyware from your computer it will eventually not work at all or your computer files will become infected by spyware programs. Your personal information, passwords and credit card numbers could end up stolen from you without you even knowing it.

Once you remove spyware and adware programs from your computer you'll find it will run faster and your personal information will be much safer. Your security and peace of mind is worth spending a little time to find the best spyware removers possible.

Copyright © 2005 Spyware Information.com All Rights Reserved

Avoiding Spam, Scams and Computer Viruses

2010-01-23T04:49:00.001-08:00

One of the most popular pages on about-the-web.com is about
avoiding scams, hoaxes and urban legends on the Internet
(http://about-the-web.com/shtml/scams.shtml). Here are a
few ways to avoid some of the perils associated with being
connected to the rest of the world.

As a general rule of thumb, beware of any offer that sounds
too good to be true. This applies to products being offered
on the Internet and especially to any unsolicited offer or
spam you receive in your email. Many of these are scams.

The term "spam", in case you don't know, refers to any
unsolicited bulk email. If it's not addressed to you, or
you don't recognize the sender, or you're being asked to
buy something or pass along questionable information, then
that's spam. My advise is to "can the spam" by immediately
deleting any email you receive from anyone you don't know.

The best way to avoid spam, is to be very careful about who
you give your email address to. My advise here is to set up
a free email account and to give this email address to
anyone you don't absolutely trust with your personal
information. It almost never does any good to fight back
against spam. Your best course of action is just to delete
any unwanted email.

A trick that has been pretty successful for me is to set up
an email rule (or filter) that automatically sends any mail
not addressed to me to a special folder. Most of this is
spam and can be easily disposed of.

In addition to spams and scams, the other thing to watch
out for on the Internet is hoaxes, urban legends and false
information. There are many of these floating around the
Internet these days. Beware of any email that asks you to
send money for any cause, or to forward the email to all
your friends. Almost all of these are hoaxes. An excellent
resource for information on hoaxes, urban legends and false
information is http://urbanlegends.about.com/index.htm

Another category of hoaxes involves virus warnings. If you
receive information that indicates you can get a computer
virus from doing anything except opening an email
attachment or running an application, then this is probably
false information.

Most computer viruses are spread by users opening email
attachments that contain the virus. NEVER OPEN AN EMAIL
ATTACHMENT THAT YOU ARE NOT EXPECTING. Even if you know
the sender, make sure the attachment is legitimate before
opening it. It is much safer to delete any questionable
attachments and ask the sender to resend them than to
assume that the sender intended to send that email.

Your best defenses against computer viruses are: 1) caution
in downloading programs from questionable sources,
2) regularly scanning your drive with virus protection
software, and 3) backing up all your important data to a
different drive or media (floppy, Zip or CD-ROM) as soon as
possible. By doing all of these, if your system does get
infected, you can restore it with a minimum of hassle.

Always check out any offer or information you receive
before sending any money or forwarding the information
to someone else. That way you can rest easy knowing you
aren't getting scammed or passing along an urban legend.

3 Simple Steps to Stay Safe from Spyware

2010-01-23T04:47:00.000-08:00

There are several basic concepts to keep in mind when deciding to stay spyware free for good. This article will outline a spyware checklist for you to keep in mind when getting tough on spyware and taking back control of your computer using two popular free applications, Ad-Aware,and Spybot - S&D. Using these two programs in conjunction will eliminate a vast majority of spyware problems from your computer. For the purposes of this article, "spyware" refers also to adware, malware, and other not-so-nice "features" of today's computing reality.

These are some tell-tale warning signs that your computer may be suffering from spyware-

* You receive many pop-ups

* Your computer is running slowly

* You may have invasive toolbars hijacking your browser

* Your home page may have been hijacked

Your first step to escaping spyware's wrath is to download and run Ad-Aware and Spybot - S&D, the two leading spyware fighting tools out there, boasting millions of downloads each. Please remember it's always safest to backup your system before installing a new program or executing one. After downloading the two programs, be sure to run the update feature to be sure they are current when it comes to detecting the latest threats. Remove the detected spyware using these two programs, then move to step two.

The second step in staying spyware free involves you to be proactive. At this point your computer should be free from spyware. What you want to do now is keep it this way, to do that there are helpful tips to guide you. In Windows 98 you can use msconfig to view the startup programs on your computer. This is helpful because you can control what programs automatically load when you boot your computer. To access this invaluable tool, go to START >> RUN, type MSCONFIG. If you check the startup programs occasionally you may see a new spyware entry that will alert you it's time to clean out the spyware again.

The third step involves your web browsing habits. It means you must never click on an activex screen that asks you if you want to allow an innocuous looking toolbar, or "surfing aid"be installed. By clicking "allow" you are effectively giving these perfidious spyware authors free reign over your system and personal information. If possible you should surf with the security settings on "maximum" for safest surfing.

In summary, it's important to avoid spyware for your computer and personal identity health. To do so, use free tools available to you and be mindful of your computer settings and surf the Internet responsibly. Following these easy steps will ensure a safe and spyware free existence for you and your computer! Erich Bihlman is a technology pro specializing in PC/Internet Tutoring and website design services in Prescott, Arizona. Erich has owned and operated www.Bihlman.com since 1997.

Computer Security - It's Bigger Than Spyware And Viruses

2010-01-23T04:46:00.001-08:00

Computer security, in basic terms means keeping your computer and the data that's in it safe and secure. More of our personal data is stored in or accessed from our computer, now more than ever before. Yet most people lack even the basic understanding of how to keep their computers safe and secure. By following just a few simple rules you can dramatically improve the overall security of your computer.

The first thing to understand is what exactly it means to be connected to the internet. Your computer connected to the internet is similar to your house in many ways. There are many ways into your house. Windows, doors, etc. The more windows and doors you have, the more ways someone has into your house. An open door doesn't necessarily mean you are going to be robbed, but it does improve the chances. Complicating matters, the ones that you think are locked, may not be because the lock is faulty or even the door itself may have an as of yet undiscovered flaw that would allow an intruder easy access to your home.

Your computer has many windows and doors, not all of which are locked. New flaws are being found everyday, often with the fix not coming until days after. Just like you wouldn't leave your front door unlocked, you shouldn't leave your computer wide open either. The first two things we will discuss to help with this task are installation of a quality firewall and regularly updating your installed software.

Updating your software is becoming easier these days, especially your Operating System. We don't have the time here to go into detail about the many ways to update the many software packages you may have or use, but generally speaking the software manufacturer will provide you a way to do this automatically via the internet. A good example of this is the Microsoft Windows Update feature. Be sure to get the updates for everything installed on your computer, nothing is too trivial.

There are two basic types of firewalls and both perform the same functions. One is hardware the other is software. A hardware firewall is probably included in your router if you are using one, while you may or may not have a software firewall installed. To continue our house analogy, a firewall is like building a wall and gate around your home and giving the guard at the gate instructions on who to let in and out. While this does give a great deal of protection, it is not all that is required. Someone may know a way around or under your wall, or even be able to coerce the guard into letting them in.

You yourself may unwittingly allow someone in. This could happen by simply opening an email or even simply surfing the net. Spyware, viruses, trojans and the like are ever more adept in their methods of fooling you and your guards. Emails may come from a trusted friend containing a dangerous virus without them even knowing it. This is where the next layer of protection comes in, anti-virus software.

Anti-virus software is a large category these days. Often these packages come as "suites" including a firewall and Spyware scanner. While most of these programs are very effective in their promised tasks, it is not wise to be lulled into a false sense of security by them. They are simply one layer in what should be a multi tiered protection plan for you and your computer. One last important note about anti virus software is to be sure that it updates on a regular basis. New threats come out daily so check its updates manually to be sure they have happened.

Back to our house analogy, we now have all of our windows, doors and other entry ways locked and fully updated. We have a wall around our house with a guard at the gate and we have software scanning everything that comes in past the gate. Sounds pretty good, but there's one last security hole we need to address, you.

A large percentage of infections are caused by the computer user themselves. The internet is an ever changing place that requires it's users to be educated about its use. I'm not suggesting that you need to be a computer expert to simply read your email. I am however suggesting that you take some time to educate yourself on some of the dangers that pop up everyday, and the precautions to take in order to avoid them.

In summary, your computer is a powerful machine connected to one of the greatest things ever invented, the internet. This vast resource can be a dangerous place if you are not properly prepared and informed. Regular software updates, a good firewall, anti virus software and a little education are the basics in computer security. Having and understanding these basics will make your computer safer, more secure and more enjoyable.

Detecting and Eliminating Computer Viruses at the Gateway

2010-01-23T04:39:00.001-08:00

Traditional anti-virus software only stops known computer viruses – stopping undefined computer viruses requires a different approach.

In the past, network administrators scrambled to apply new virus signatures whenever new computer viruses were discovered. While these signatures will stop a known threat, it takes time for anti-virus vendors to develop them. Unfortunately, the newest and most damaging viruses are able to spread so quickly that the damage is done before a signature can be developed and distributed.

In fact, the independent testing laboratory AV-test.org found the response times for major anti-virus software publishers to range from just under 7 hours to almost 30 hours , with the four leading vendors (Sophos, McAfee, Symantec and Trend Micro) clocking in at no less than 12 hours.

In January 2004, the computer virus known as “MyDoom” created mass disruption to corporate resources and reputations as it quickly spread through e-mail networks worldwide. At its peak, MyDoom infected one in every five e-mails transmitted over the Internet. The worm broke records set by previous malware, such as Sobig.F, to become the fastest-spreading virus ever. This incredible propagation speed left many networks vulnerable - despite the presence of anti-virus software - because of the lag time between when the virus outbreak began, and when a virus definition became available.

As a result of recent malware threats, corporations and organizations have learned a painful but important lesson: simply deploying a signature-based solution is no longer enough. Detecting and eliminating computer viruses requires a multi-faceted, rapid-response approach that traditional anti-virus protection cannot provide. Even a single unprotected computer on an enterprise network can bring down the entire system in just minutes, rendering even the most expensive and up-to-date software useless.

Why E-Mail is Particularly Susceptible

In many organizations, e-mail has replaced the telephone as the most useful business tool available. Unfortunately, e-mail has also been a victim of its own success and presents a unique threat to the enterprise network as a whole.

Detecting and eliminating threats has traditionally been the combined responsibility of firewalls, virus scanners, and intrusion detection systems (IDS) set up by enterprises to defend against attacks. Firewalls prevent unauthorized programs from accessing the network, virus scanners scan each PC in the network for malicious code, and gateway servers lock down extraneous ports to protect against unauthorized access.

But key Internet-facing applications, including e-mail are unguarded by firewalls. In order to function, e-mail must expose firewall ports, including port 25, the port used by SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) and port 110, the port used by POP (Post Office Protocol).

When a firewall receives a connection on port 25, it generally assumes that the transmission is e-mail and allows it to flow through to the e-mail server. The transmission may very well be a valid e-mail; however, it could also be a virus, spam or something much worse. Firewalls are not able to distinguish between “good” mail and “bad” mail and therefore they are unable ot protect the e-mail application.

Stop E-Mail Threats at the Gateway

Therefore, some sort of protection is needed specifically for e-mail and, since the best place to stop a threat is before it gets inside the network, the protection should be at the e-mail gateway. Protecting the e-mail gateway requires a coordinated effort to combat a host of issues, including spam, viruses, corporate policy infringements, directory harvest attacks, denial of service attacks, phishing, spoofing, and snooping. As e-mail threats evolve, the distinction between each of these types of threats becomes blurred.

Furthermore, accuracy in identifying “bad” e-mails is crucial. Extreme care must be taken to avoid filtering out legitimate e-mails (false positives), which could contain important information from customers or partners.

Historically, enterprises have turned to multiple vendors to solve their e-mail security issues. They have relied on anti-virus vendors to protect them from viruses. They use a separate anti-spam vendor to help cut back on the spam. Then, there are the issues of content filtering, policy enforcement, encryption, and network security. Unfortunatley, attackers are now highly adept at exploiting these non-integrated solutions. This “Swiss cheese” defense has not only been costly, but increasingly ineffective at protecting corporate email systems.

Computer Virus Risks

Recent attacks from various types of computer viruses and worms have had profound effects on computer systems around the world. Enterprises have been brought to their knees and forced to spend billions of dollars cleaning up the mess and rebuilding their infrastructures. While the increased IT costs are clear, there are other risks corporations face with regard to e-mail borne viruses.

System Downtime

E-mail has evolved to be the primary communication tool for most organizations and the loss of e-mail due to attack can severely affect enterprise operations. Beyond the immediate expenses involved in restoring the network, an attack on your enterprise e-mail system can also result in lost hours and days for employees who have come to rely on it to accomplish their daily tasks.

Resource Depletion

The costs of cleaning up after an attack are significant. IT teams are forced to spend considerable time and money repairing virus damage. The damage, however, is rarely contained to network servers. Once inside the network, viruses can quickly infect large numbers of relatively exposed client machines - all of which must be individually cleaned, patched and repaired.

Administration

In the past, when a new vulnerability was discovered, network administrators scrambled to apply security patches from the makers of their anti-virus software and manually reviewed quarantine lists for virus-infected messages. Software manufacturers release patches so frequently that network administrators cannot reasonably be expected to keep up with them all. As stated by Gartner Research, “Enterprises will never be able to patch quickly enough. After all, attackers have nothing else to do.” The staggering damage caused by recent computer viruses and malware attacks is clear evidence that manual intervention to institute emergency measures or review quarantined messages is rarely effective against rapidly propagating threats.

Compliance and Liability

Recent Federal regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) and Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SoX), require enterprises to protect data residing in mail servers and other internal systems. Security breaches violate these regulations, exposing sensitive data and opening the door to serious sanctions and costly litigation.

Credibility

Falling victim to a virus attack can also result in lost trust from business partners and customers. According to Gartner, “Enterprises that spread viruses, worms, spam and denial-of-service attacks will find not only that malicious software can hinder their profitability, but also that other businesses will disconnect from them if they are considered to be risky.” While an attack may not be your fault, it is most certainly your problem.

The Solution

Although signature-based anti-virus systems are inadequate to preventing virus attacks in the first few hours or days of an outbreak, it is possible to identify outbreaks before they infiltrate your organization’s network and become a problem. In fact, doing so successfully requires tight integration of several different technologies designed to analyze mail based on many different characteristics. One of the most innovative and important technologies for meeting these threats is known as Anomaly Detection.

Large-scale virus outbreaks create anomalies in mail flow which are identifiable by the message content, source, volume, attachment or any of a number of other indicators. When a particular message appears to be a part of a sudden surge of anomalous messages moving across the internet, the message can be quarantined until virus definitions can be developed to address the new threat.

Anomaly Detection

CipherTrust’s IronMail utilizes a unique Anomaly Detection Engine (ADE), which dynamically identifies and responds to abnormal behavior in mail flow. By monitoring “normal” e-mail traffic rates across the Internet, the ADE allows IronMail to identify spikes in traffic that are often the first signal of a malicious attack. Once these spikes are recognized, IronMail units take appropriate action to prevent infiltration of the network.

How To Stop The #1 Cause Of Computer Slow Downs And Crashes!

2010-01-23T04:36:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't it be nice if your computer still ran like it did
back when you first got it? Before you go and buy a new
computer try this key maintenance step you can use to put
life back into the computer you've already got.

Imagine that you start up your pc just to find yourself
staring at a blue screen with white writing, termed "the
blue screen of death" by those at Microsoft.

So you push the power button to shut it down, and when you
bring
it back up it just crawls. Within a few minutes it goes
back to the
blue screen of death.

This happened to a friend of mine. When she asked me what
she could do, I asked her if she had ever defragmented her
pc.

She got that "deer in the headlight" look, so I knew she
hadn't. Defragmenting her pc, after 3 years of never doing
so, took about 14 hours to complete.

One of the main reasons that computers slow down is poor
maintenance practices.

Unfortunately, when you buy a new computer you don't usually
get much instruction on how to maintain it. Poor or no
maintenance allows your hard drive to become more and more
fragmented which will slow it down over time.

To best explain hard drive fragmentation think of your hard
drive as a file cabinet. In this cabinet there are folders
with documents (files) in them.

When you need to work on something you open the folder
containing the necessary file, pull out what you need and
put the folder back. The files go on your desk so you can
work on them.

Over time certain files don't get put back, or they get put
back in the wrong places.

When this happens on the hard drive it leads to
fragmentation. Think of defragmenting as going through all
of the files on your desk, and in the cabinet, and putting
them all back in order in the correct folders.

Just as staying in this state of disorganization would lead
to a significant loss in your own productivity, the same
thing happens to your computer.

Eventually this even causes crashes because of how scattered
all of the information gets.

Disk fragmentation can even shorten the lifespan of your
computer because your hard drive works so hard that it wears
out faster.

So the one step solution for this part of computer
maintenance, run the defragmenting tool that comes with
windows at least once every couple of weeks.

Do this by clicking Start, click All Programs, click
Accessories, click System Tools, then click Disk
Defragmenter. Choose the disk you want to defragment and
click the defragment button.

Alternatively you can get software that will automatically
keep your disk defragmented, like Diskeeper by Executive
Software.

Take care of your pc maintenance and you will continue to
enjoy the speed you experienced when you first made that
investment!

(c)Chuck Moorefield - All Rights Reserved.

Computer Repair Is A Tricky Business

2010-01-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

Computer is a combination of analog and digital device which is used to compute complex mathematical problems. It is basically a programmable electronic device which performs high speed mathematical and logical operations. The main function of computer is to perform repetitive procedures very quickly and reliably.

The computer can be broadly divided in two sections; one is hardware and the other is software. The hardware is made of electronic circuits and components while the software is the programs required to run the central processing unit or the CPU. Again the hardware is of four type i.e. CPU, input, output and memory device. Now a days looking at the vast uses of computer people are using computer at their offices and at homes for working as well as entertainment purposes.

As we all know that each and every electronic goods need repairing and computer is not excluded from that list. Whenever there is any troubleshoot in this whole procedure the computer seems to function improperly. As a result we need to repair our computer to make it function properly. It is very tedious to repair ones computer and beside that it is also time consuming if the problem is unknown by the repairer. But if anyone has sound information regarding computer repair then it would seem to be rather easier. There are several organizations with trained and qualified technicians to help you out whenever you have problem with your computer. There are also various computer selling organizations who give after sell repairing service completely at free of cost. While there are other computers organizations, which have good computer technicians, provide only repairing service. Each of these companies serves their clients with best technical services. There are also different books or guidelines to provide us various information regarding computer trouble shoot and how to repair them. There are also technical colleges and training institute for technicians to learn more about computer problems and their repairing.

There are computers of various brands such as IBM, HP, Compaq, Dell, Apple etc. in the market and they differ from each other in respect of hardware and software. Therefore their troubleshooting problems also differ from each other. So the technicians should know how to repair these different computers. A good computer technician is required to familiar with various operating systems such as Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, Linux, etc. A good technician must also know how to deal with different computer peripherals such as printers, scanners, fax machines, etc.

Here are few troubleshoots of computers which are very common. They are 1) Power Supply Failure, 2) Motherboard Troubleshooting, 3) Hard Drive Failure 4), CD and DVD Drive Troubleshooting, 5) Modem Failure, 6) Sound and Game Card Failure, 7) Peripheral Failure 8) Virus Threats and many more. At first the technician need to do a complete diagnostic checkup. Then he needs follow those Basic Computer Repairing rules to repair a troubleshooting computer successfully. Beside these computer requires regular update, virus cleaning and modifications. At last we can conclude that if computers are maintained and handled properly then we can prevent our computers from various troubleshoots as we all know that 'prevention is always better than cure'.

Tackling Slow Computer Shutdowns

2010-01-23T04:32:00.000-08:00

Question : My problem is when the time comes to shut down or restart my PC - it takes about two to three minutes to shut down or restart. Please help.

Answer : Slow shutdowns can be due to various reasons. The main reason for slow shutdowns is page file clearing. This is especially indicated if the hard disk light goes on and stays on while the operating system (OS) is shutting down.

The page file is a file on the hard disk that's used as virtual memory. Virtual memory augments the random access memory on the system board. Since the page file may contain sensitive information, many OSes can be set to clear the page file when it (the OS) shuts down.

Many Web sites state this improves the security posture of an OS. They're not wrong in this, except that saying this improves the security posture of an OS is a little like saying installing 12 locks and a biometric identification system with voice analysis improves the security posture of a house.

Page file compromise is very low risk because there are many other ways to attempt to compromise the security and integrity of an OS, many of which would be easier and have better yield rates. Because of this, this option is not recommended for all but the most secure environments.

In Windows, this option is controlled by a registry entry. The registry entry in question is "ClearPageFile-AtShutdown". This key is usually located in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management section of the registry.

To attempt to turn off page file clearing, start (run) the program regedt32.exe and navigate to the HKEY_ LOCAL _MACHINE\SYSTEM\ CurrentControlSet\ Control \ Session Manager\Memory Management section. On the right pane, check if the entry "ClearPageFileAtShutdown" is visible. If it is, right-click on it and select Modify from the pop-up menu. When the EDIT DWORD window pops up, type "0" in the box under Value Data and click on the OK button. After the PC restarts, the next shutdown should take a little less time.

Another possibility is that there are programs or services that take some time to shut down. In general, it is not advisable to have too many services or programs running in the background because all these will have to be terminated before the OS can shut down gracefully.

To test for this, try closing all open programs and manually shutting down all background applications (including all firewall/anti-virus software) just before shutting down the OS.

Most background applications can be shut down by right-clicking on the icon in the taskbar and selecting Exit or some similar option. If it shuts down faster after all the background applications have been shut down, it's possible that there are one or more background applications that take a long time to shut down. If this is the case, not much can be done other than shutting down the offending application or finding a way to configure the parent program so it doesn't load a background application when it starts.

The offending application can be identified by looking through the event logs (Start --> Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Event Viewer). If nothing looks amiss, it can also be identified in this manner: First, shutdown a background application and then shut down the OS. Not the shutdown time. On the next restart, shut down another background application and note the shutdown time. This should be repeated for every application that runs in the background. If at any time the shutdown time improves after a background application is shut down, the same application becomes a prime suspect in the "slow shutdown time" issue.

It's also possible to decrease shutdown time by decreasing the time Windows waits for hung and slow applications to shut down.

To change this time, open the registry editor (regedt32) and navigate to the HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control section. From here, right-click on "WaitToKillServiceTimeout" and select Modify. In the box under ValueData, enter the time (in millisecond) the OS should wait until it summarily kills the service. The default value is 20,000 (20,000 milliseconds or 20 seconds).

Other settings that can be added here include "Hung-AppTimeout" and "Auto-EndTasks".

HungAppTimeout controls the amount of time the OS should wait before killing a hung or frozen application. AutoEndTasks tells the OS when to end hung applications automatically, or display the End Tasks dialogue. To add any of the two settings, right-click on the right pane and select New --> String Value. Enter the name of the setting (HungApp-Timeout or AutoEndTasks as appropriate). Next, right-click on the added setting, select Modify and enter an appropriate value.

For HungAppTimeout, an appropriate value is the amount (in millisecond) that the OS should wait before terminating an application. Suitable values for AutoEndTasks include "0" and "1 ", with "0" meaning "end hung applications automatically, do not show End Tasks dialogue" and "I" meaning "show End Tasks dialogue when the shutdown time exceeds the value stated in HungAppTimeout".

If using Internet Explorer, ensuring that the browser clears the Temporary Internet Files folder every time it shuts down (Tools --> Internet Options --> Advanced --> Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed) and defragmenting the hard disk drive may result in faster shutdown times.

Why Do I Need Anti Virus Software For My Computer?

2010-01-23T04:31:00.000-08:00

If you've recently purchased a computer, or are just learning about using email and the internet, you may have heard about computer viruses and anti-virus software. You may be wondering if this is something that you should be concerned about, and if so, what you should do about it. This article will attempt to answer these questions for you.

First, you may be wondering just what a computer virus is. Basically a computer virus is one of many types of small programs that install themselves on your computer without your consent. Usually they enter your program through an email, or while you are browsing a website.

When these programs run, usually without you knowing, they can cause all types of problems with your computer. Some viruses can be mildly annoying, slowing down your computer as they use your computer's resources for another purpose. Others can be very dangerous, collecting your personal information and sending it to another party, or damaging your hard-drive.

True to their name, viruses are able to use your internet connection and email program and send themselves to the computers of other people you know, spreading themselves just like a contagious disease.

Because of this, just like the health of your body, when it comes to computer viruses, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is much easier to prevent viruses from entering your computer than it is to get rid of them and cure your computer once it becomes infected. This is why Anti-Virus software is important.

Once you realize that you need anti-virus software installed and running on your computer, you'll have to choose which one to purchase and install. This can be a complicated process, but here are some tips to make it a bit easier.

First, check your computer to see if it came with anti-virus software. Many new computers are shipped with anti-virus programs already to go on them, you just need to turn them on. Check your instruction manual to see if this is the case with your computer.

Check with the vendor. If you purchased your computer from a local retailer, check with them to see what anti-virus program they recommend. They should be more than willing to help you and may even be able to provide you with a discount since you purchased a computer from them.

Once you have your anti-virus installed and running on your computer, be sure to contact the software's support if you have any questions. It is also important to keep your software updated. Many of these programs will automatically update themselves when you are online. This is very important since new viruses are always appearing and you want to make sure your computer is protected.

Remove Rogue Desktop Icons Created By Spyware

2010-01-23T04:04:00.000-08:00

If you have used a Windows machine for a while, whether it's Windows XP, Windows 2000, or Windows 98, you're sure to have noticed desktop icons appearing from out of nowhere. How can icons mysteriously emerge on your Windows desktop?

1. When you buy a computer, many vendors place icons to selected products and services on your desktop, such as links to high-speed Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or add-on services vendors think you may need.

2. As you install software on your Windows machine, icons may appear, either to start the application or link to the manufacturer's website. Installing just one program could add three or more icons to your desktop!

3. It's easy to accidentally drag a Favorite, bookmark, text file, or other icon to your desktop, creating an icon.

Normally, it's easy to delete Windows desktop icons. Just place your mouse pointer on the offending icon, then right-click it and choose "Delete", clicking "Yes" to confirm if prompted.

However, what if the rogue icons are for adult websites, unfamiliar search engines, or other websites you don't recall visiting? You may try removing these icons but get an error, or after removal they still reappear again and again and again!

If so, then more than likely spyware, adware, or other malware has infected your machine. It may have been through file trading software, an inadvertent "yes" click when a popup window asked you to install software, 'freeware' that included adware, or other means. To remove the rogue icons, you need to remove the malware creating these icons.

Removing spyware and adware can be a time-consuming process, fraught with potential disaster as it is possible to accidentally remove files that render your operating system unusable. However, the following software products can help with this process as long as you read the instructions carefully, make backups, and get expert advice if you're not completely sure about removing what they ask you to do:

* Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoft.com/

* Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/

* Pest Patrol: http://www.pestpatrol.com/

* Spybot Search and Destroy: http://safer-networking.org/

* Spy Sweeper: http://www.webroot.com/

So, how can you prevent these icons from appearing in the first place? Practice safe computing.

* Backup your machine. If it does get infected to the point of being unusable, at least you won't lose all your important files.

* Install security-related operating system updates so spyware and adware cannot enter your system through well-known exploits.

* Download or buy a virus scanner, and keep it updated! Virus scanners cannot detect all spyware, but it doesn't hurt to have one. Check online or visit your local computer software store.

* Purchase a hardware or software firewall, and keep it updated! Firewalls help protect your computer from common exploits that spyware or adware can use to infect your machine.

* Consider using a different web browser. Though it is not perfect, Mozilla Firefox at http://www.mozilla.org is currently less susceptible to spyware than Internet Explorer, mainly because it lacks certain technology (such as ActiveX) that is often exploited by malware writers. Note that depending on your web use, certain websites may not work correctly with other web browsers.

By practicing safe computing and using spyware-removal software, you can help remove rogue desktop icons from your desktop and keep others from appearing.

From Settings and Preferences to Viruses and Crashes

2010-01-23T03:48:00.000-08:00

Copyright (c) 2007 Thomas Husnik

With the extent with which we use computers today ' for both professional and personal use ' it's safe to say we've all encountered the need for computer repair in some form. Whether it's spyware or a network crash, computer repair is what can save us from slowed computer performance, corrupted files, data loss, and time wasted.

Not surprisingly, the birth of computer repair coincided with the rise of computer use. A complicated piece of technology, a computer is nonetheless used by most of us daily. We sit down at our computers and effortlessly check our emails, stock quotes, and the latest news. We research showtimes and restaurants. We work our 9 to 5 jobs, using laptops, virtual communication, and handheld devices. Indeed, much in our lives revolves around the computer. It's no wonder why computer repair is so valuable a solution and for the technician, a coveted skill.

Given the many uses for computers, there are as many potential problems, errors, and failures. Thus for computer repair, there are at least as many possible fixes. As a result, knowing what to do to fix your computer can seem like an impossible task. However, if you think about it, most of us have picked up a few tricks along the way that have proven effective. For smaller problems, computer repair is entirely possible by ourselves. For more serious problems though, consulting a professional is the best route.

The main reason why professionals should be consulted is because a person could do more damage to a computer by trying to fix an unknown problem on their own. To avoid such mishaps, it's best to ask an expert to take a look. Pinpointing the problem is really the biggest part of any computer repair, as it will reveal the exact fix that's needed to get the system working properly again.

For computer repair technicians, this is the main aspect of their service. Diagnostics do not have to be performed in person necessarily, as most computer manufacturers and Internet service providers have call centers for troubleshooting and offer their advice over the phone, via live chat, or email. Business-wise, most companies have a tech-support staff that can help with most problems, from email to lost files.

Computer repair can be as simple as choosing different settings to full-on data recovery using involved techniques such as zero-knowledge analysis. Given that most computer technicians are specialized, the chances are good that a team can help with all your problems: viruses, spyware, firewall protection, virtual private networks (VPN), emergency data recovery, RAID recovery, system upgrades, etc.

Computer repair pertains to both hardware repair and software repair. At times, installation or uninstallation of software is needed. At others, a small adjustment to preferences will solve the problem. Again, computer repair is wide-ranging. Desktops, mainframes, and supercomputers can all encounter similar problems, but on a different scale. Portable devices will also have related problems, but knowing the system inside a laptop or notebook is a bit different than a PC. This is the reason why most companies have a number of technicians on staff, as one may be more specialized in one area of computer repair than another.

Computer repair can be as basic as rebooting your computer, but it can also be as complex as taking the entire system apart. Overall, the service of computer repair is relatively new, but the demand for it is growing at a rapid pace. Naturally, the aim is to keep up with all of the new advancements in computer technology ' which seemingly change by the day.

IE Out of Band Patch

2010-01-20T02:57:00.000-08:00

Microsoft will issue an out-of-band patch to fix a vulnerability in Internet Explorer version 6.

Those who have Windows XP or 2000 need to install the upcoming patch to protect themselves from the “Aurora” vulnerability that attackers exploited to strike internet companies such as Google.

The company recommend users to upgrade to version 8 but some companies refuse to make the move due to their way of depending on older online programs.

Damaged docx2txt And Corrupt Excel xlsx2csv

2010-01-20T02:53:00.000-08:00

Damaged docx2txt is a freeware recovery tool designed to recover text from corrupt Word 2007 XLSX files. Word 2007 files are actually a collection of zipped XML files and the XML format is somewhat unforgiving of data corruption. This application unzips the partially corrupted XML files and tries to read what it can, not caring about malformed XML. This tool pretty much just dumps the text it finds in the XML file to text.

Corrupt Excel xlsx2csv is similar to the above except it is designed to recover the content of corrupt Excel XLSX files. Again, XSLX files are based on XML files which is unforgiving to data corruption. This application has the ability to maintain the cell formatting and the cells content; including seperate workbooks in a single XLSX file. You can copy and paste the content out of the application or export the entire spreadsheet to CSV.

Both of these applications were originally Perl scripts but have since had a GUI made for them (you will see a command window though). These applications are “mostly portable” as it doesnt need to be installed but requires .NET version 2.

Screenshots:

Damaged docx2txt

Corrupt Excel xlsx2csv

Downloads:
Damaged docx2txt: Download from Official Site – 3.1mb
Corrupt Excel xlsx2csv: Download from Official Site – 3.5mb

Windows 7 System Recovery Discs

2010-01-20T02:48:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 is just about to be released (October 22) and you are going to start seeing it on clients machines when their new brand name laptop or desktop comes with it pre-installed. The problem with many brand name laptop and desktops is they often dont come with the Windows 7 disc.

This Windows 7 System Recovery Disc can be used to access the system recovery menu, giving you options such as System Restore, Complete PC Backup, Automated System Repair and Command-line Prompt. However, you cannot use this disc to re-install Windows.

If you already have access to a working copy of Windows 7, you dont need to download this because you can create this disk by going to the run dialog and type: recdisc

Screenshots:

Windows 7 Recovery Disc

Downloads:
Download from Neosmart.net – 32-bit (x86) Edition Torrent – 146mb
Download from Neosmart.net – 64-bit (x64) Edition Torrent – 145mb

More Information

Thanks to AtYourService for recommending this one.

If you arent familiar with how to use Torrents:

1. Download the appropriate .torrent file from above that corresponds to the version of Windows 7 you have installed.
2. Download and run µTorrent.
3. Open the .torrent file you downloaded with µTorrent. (File -> Add Torrent)
4. Select where you want µTorrent to save the 7 Recovery Disc.
5. Wait for it to download.
6. Burn the .iso file that µTorrent downloaded to a CD using these instructions.
7. When you want to use the recovery center, put the CD in your drive and boot from it. This is usually done by pressing F8 at startup, or changing the boot drive order in the BIOS.

Fix IE Utility – Repair Tool of the Week

2010-01-20T02:46:00.000-08:00

Fix IE Utility is a small, freeware and portable application designed to help fix Internet Explorer after a Malware attack. Fix IE Utility will re-register 89 DLL and OCX files that are often de-registered in a Malware attack and are required for Internet Explorer to run smoothly. You will still need to run your usual malware removal applications but if Internet Explorer still wont work correctly after the system as been cleaned, its possible the malware de-registered some files and this is where Fix IE Utility helps. Many people would just suggest that the client could just switch to Firefox. However, the core of Internet Explorer is still used inside many other programs so it needs to be operational, even if you don’t use Internet Explorer as a web browser

Fix IE Utility has been tested on IE7 and IE8 on both Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Screenshots:

Fix IE Utility
Downloads:
Download from Official Site – 405kb

In The Trenches – Troubleshooting a Blue Screen of Death

2010-01-20T02:39:00.000-08:00

Today while I was onsite, I came across a laptop that was getting a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) every single time it started Windows. In this article, I’ll show you how I troubleshooted and solved this particular problem using two past “Repair Tools of the Week”.

When booted, this computer would show the Windows XP logo , show the cursor for a second and then suddenly produced a Blue Screen of Death with the following message:

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
STOP: 0×1000000a (0×49df8170, 0×00000002, 0×00000000, 0×804d9afa)
BSOD IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

In most cases, “IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL” either means an incompatible or corrupt driver or bad RAM. I know this from past experience but don’t be afraid to Google it because you cant remember everything.

I was obviously unable to do anything further now that the computer had BSOD’d so I rebooted it and tried to see whether I could get into safe mode and luckily for me, I could. This strengthened the argument that this blue screen is probably due to a corrupt or incompatible driver since Windows doesn’t load many drivers in Safe Mode and bad RAM would probably continue to cause problems even in Safe Mode.

This job was made a little tougher because due to the maximum resolution of the screen I was working on, the information that tells me what driver caused the blue screen was either cut off or simply not there.

So, I loaded the tool BlueScreenView which we have featured as a Repair Tool of the Week in the past and it showed me all of the previous Windows crash dumps this computer has generated and the information they contain.

BSOD Driver

I chose the most recent crash dump and in the lower pane the application had highlighted the two files that caused the crash. One was “ntoskrnl.exe” which is a key system file. The other one was “w22n51.sys” which is an Intel wireless network driver and is most likely the cause of our problem.

Armed with this new knowledge, I closed BlueScreenView and opened up another tool we have featured here called Autoruns. Autoruns will show the operator all of the files that will start with Windows such as services, applications and of course – drivers.
I went to the “Drivers” tab and scrolled down until found the offending wireless driver and deselected it. This way, it will no longer load when Windows starts and hopefully not cause a blue screen of death.

BSOD Driver

I actually tried to uninstall these Intel wireless drivers from within safe mode using the “Add/Remove Programs” section. However, the uninstaller makes use of the “Windows Installer” service which doesn’t run in safe mode and while you can do a little registry tweak to get it running (which I tried), it still wouldn’t uninstall.

I rebooted into normal Windows and it powered up to the desktop without any problems now that the offending driver no longer loads up. I went back into “Add/Remove Programs” and removed the old drivers in the proper manner (now that I could) and rebooted the computer.

I then visited the laptop manufacturers site using its wired connection and downloaded the latest wireless drivers for the computer which were about 3 years newer than the previous drivers. My guess was that either the driver had become corrupted or a new Windows update was incompatible with it. In either case, reinstalling the drivers should fix the corruption or perhaps the manufacturer has fixed the compatibly problem in the last 3 years..

Once I installed the new drivers, I connected the laptop to the clients wireless network and browsed around a few websites. Everything seemed to work and I rebooted again for good measure (should the current drivers also cause a BSOD) and everything seems to be working fine. I rebooted the computer once more and ran Memtest86 (which is on UBCD) for about 5 minutes to be certain it wasn’t caused by bad RAM. Memtest86+ will read and write to the RAM to find problems and while a proper test should be run for hours, I have found that most RAM that is bad enough to stop Windows from booting will fail the test within the first 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, I was confident that the issue was definitely the wireless driver and not the RAM.
I was happy, the client was happy, so I got paid and went back to the office. The End.

How To Be A Better Computer Teacher

2010-01-20T02:36:00.000-08:00

Computer tuition is something I end up doing a few times every week. Most of the time the client calls me out to resolve a specific computer problem and I often end up fixing it in a very short amount of time.

I need to charge my full hourly rate to cover the travelling time but the client may feel they didn’t get value for money if I just pressed a few buttons and charged them for the hour. So, I ask them if there is anything they want me to show them and if there is, I fill out the hour by teaching them something.

One of the problems with computer tuition is that it is easy to tell someone how to do a certain task, but for them to understand it and to be able to reproduce it later is much harder. Most Computer Technicians tend to either give too little information or too much which confuses the client. We need to remember that some of the things we are referencing require prior knowledge on the subject.

“Your operating system needs to..”
“Whats an operating system?”

To increase the chances of the client absorbing the information and be a better computer teacher all round, here are some great methods that work really well for me.

Analogies
I always use analogies when I am trying to teach something to my clients. For example, If I was trying to explain defragging to my client, I would say something like:

“Your computer is like your office space and as you use it, computer files (which are like pieces of paper) end up all over the place and make a mess. When it is messy it takes longer for you to find what you are after and the same thing applies with computers and their files.

Defragging is like cleaning up all the papers around your office and sorting them alphabetically. Once its properly filed you can find it much quicker and the same applies to your computer”

I could “geek out” and tell them about how the Windows filesystem is messy, sectors can go bad and other relevant information – but they really dont need to know. After explaining the analogy above I would either schedule it to start defragmentation automatically or tell them “Press this icon once a week/month. Your computer will run a little slower while it is doing this”.

Another thing I often have to explain to my clients is why their computer needs constant Windows and antivirus updates. This is what I would typically say:

“Windows is pretty much everything you see here (points to the Windows desktop). Imagine Windows as being your physical bricks-and-mortar house and hackers/viruses are like insects. These “insects” will try and find new ways to get inside your house looking for little cracks in the walls and open windows. New cracks in the wall are constantly forming and these Windows patches are like sealant glue to seal the cracks. I can make it so your computer automatically seals these cracks on an ongoing basis which will help keep the ‘insects’ out”.

95% of the time, my clients will remember and understand it if I explain it like this.

Let Them Drive
The best way to make what you are teaching sink in is to do it yourself the first time and then let them drive.

While you are doing it yourself for the first time, get them to write notes of each step in their own words and do this slow enough so they can keep up.

Then, give them the drivers seat and ask them to do the task themselves based off their own notes. Dont say a word unless they get stuck. I usually give them about 20-30 seconds once they get stuck to figure it out themselves before I speak up and help them out.

To help out the client further, I often record what I am doing the first time using Camstudio Portable. This freeware and portable software will record the screen and convert the video to a compressed format. I then name it something like

“How-To-Download-Photos-From-Camera.avi” or something to that effect.

Each To Their Own..
One of the key things to remember when doing any computer tuition is don’t think someone is stupid because they aren’t good with computers. Everyone chooses where they want to focus their skills and many of them just aren’t interested in computers. For example, I’m not very good at diagnosing car problems but you wouldnt exactly call me stupid.

Lastly, if someone doesn’t understand what you are saying, dont repeat what you just said louder. Instead, find a different way to say it and take your time.

The client will be happy that they actually learned something because you did it slowly, weren’t condescending and made sure it sunk in – unlike their children who did it quickly and got angry with them when they didn’t understand it the first time.

Computer tuition is an easy job if you have the patience for it and pays well.

Rizone Take Ownership Extension

2010-01-20T02:34:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has tightened up security in Windows Vista and 7 by disallowing access to critical system files using a Unix like permission system. While this is great for the average user because it helps protect them from viruses and themselves preventing them from being able to accidentally delete a critical system file. It isn’t so great for a Computer Technician who may need to access those areas.

Even if your user account is set to be an Administrator, there are many files and folders you cannot access including something as simple as changing the Start Menu under Windows 7. If you try, you will get an “Access Denied” error because SYSTEM owns this folder, not your user account. While there is a round-about way to assign yourself permission of these files, its a little long winded.

This is where Rizone’s “Take Ownership” Extension comes in. It is a small, freeware and portable application that will add a “Take Ownership” option to your right click context menu. Just right click on the file or folder you want to be able to access, and choose “Take Ownership” and it will assign you the necessary rights.

Downloads:
Download from Creators Site – 335kb

Rkill

2010-01-20T02:31:00.000-08:00

The malware world is changing. It’s getting smarter.

In fact, some infections will detect that you have launched an anti-malware tool such as MalwareBytes and close it down as soon as you open it, which makes your job much harder. This is the exact situation Rkill is designed for.

Rkill is a small, freeware and portable tool designed to terminate active malware processes allowing you to use other removal tools. Rkill is made by a Microsoft MVP “Lawrence Abrams” and is available in 4 different extensions. An .EXE, .COM, .SCR and a .PIF file.

The reason why Rkill comes in 4 different versions is because some malware will block .EXE files in an attempt to prevent you from running other malware removal tools, so this gets around that problem.

I tested this tool on a virtual machine which I had infected with a fake antivirus and Rkill killed the malicious processes without any problems. Of course, I then had to delete the malicious files manually as this is not a malware removal tool, but a malware process killing tool. It just stops the malware from running right now, allowing you work your computer technician magic.

Screenshots:

Rkill - Kill Malware Processes
Downloads:
rkill.exe – Download from BleepingComputer.com – 257kb
rkill.com – Download from BleepingComputer.com – 257kb
rkill.scr – Download from BleepingComputer.com – 257kb
rkill.pif – Download from BleepingComputer.com – 257kb

How to Bypass or Remove a BIOS Password

2010-01-20T02:25:00.000-08:00

A BIOS password is a protection measure that can be used to stop someone powering up a computer system or making changes in some of the computers most sensitive areas. Many big name computer manufacturers such as Dell and HP lock the customers out of this area because they don’t want the customer changing anything and potentially damaging the machine (which the manufacturer may have to warranty). However, when someone like a computer technician or hardware enthusiast needs to make some hardware changes to the computer, they will need to access the BIOS. Here are some methods to bypass or remove a BIOS password.

NOTE: Do not try to guess the password on a passworded Hard Drive. 3 wrong guesses will often result in the information on the hard drive being lost forever.

How to Bypass or Remove a BIOS Password by Removing the CMOS Battery:
The simplest way to remove a BIOS password is to simply remove the CMOS battery. A computer will remember its settings and keep the time even when it is turned off and unplugged because these parts are powered by small battery inside the computer called a CMOS battery. If we pull out this battery, the computer will forget alot of its hardware settings, including its BIOS password. This should not be performed on Laptops if you are not experienced working with laptop hardware.

Finding the CMOS Battery

Anyway, open up the computer case using a screw driver and locate the flat, circular and metallic CMOS battery. It should look something like the picture to the right. Some computers have this part standing upright.

Once you have located it, observe how the latches are holding it. There are many different ways to remove a CMOS battery but the most common way on newer computers can be seen in the picture below.

Removing the CMOS Battery

Make sure to power down the computer, unplug the power cables and unplug any USB devices if they are powered. The computer must not be able to get power from anywhere for this to work. Take out the CMOS battery and wait 10 – 25 minutes before putting it back in. The reason for this wait is because the computer can still store power in its capacitors even though everything is unplugged. The waiting period allows enough time for them to discharge.

Plug everything back in, power up the computer and enter the BIOS again. If everything went well there should be no more password. In some cases, if you get weird error messages during bootup now, you will need to goto “Load BIOS Defaults” in BIOS and save the changes to fix them.

If this method didn’t work, try one of the methods below.

How to Bypass or Remove a BIOS Password using Software:

!BIOS is a freeware utility which is designed to be a whole BIOS and security suite. It has the ability to decrypt the passwords used in some of the most common BIOS makes such as Award, Phoenix, American Megatrends, IMB etc..

It also has the ability to brute force the password (known as “blasters”). However, this method is dangerous and can result in some unexpected and unwanted results.

Note: Because of this applications password cracking abilities, some antivirus software may report it as a virus/trojan. This is a false positive.

To start using !BIOS, reboot your computer and take note of the BIOS type and version you are running. For example, If your motherboard uses Award BIOS you should look for the text “Award Medallion BIOS 6.0″ or something similar.

Download !BIOS from here and save it to your desktop. Then, open a DOS command windows by going to Start > Run and type: cmd

Once you see a black screen in front of you, type: cd desktop

You should now see something like:
C:\Documents and Settings\YourUserName\Desktop>

Now type the name of the file you just downloaded, if you haven’t changed the name just type in: bios320.exe

!BIOS - Decrypting a BIOS Password

Use the down arrow and choose “Crackers” and then press the right arrow. Using the up and down arrows, select the BIOS that the motherboard is using and press Enter.

You should now see a menu asking what you want to crack, in most cases its the Supervisor or System Passwords you want to crack, so press the 1 key on your keyboard. It will then show you another menu asking how you want it to be cracked. Option 1 is pretty good so try that first by pressing the 1 key on your keyboard. You should now have your BIOS password.

Reboot the computer, enter the BIOS and try it out.

How to Bypass or Remove a BIOS Password using the manufacturer backdoor password:

On many computers (especially old ones), computer manufacturers build in backdoor passwords for their own technicians to use so they can access the BIOS when the hardware is being serviced. Here are some of the ones that have been reported. You may need to try quite a few passwords before you find one that works

These passwords are CaSe SeNsItIve.

AMI BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

* A.M.I.
* AAAMMMII
* AMI
* AMI?SW
* AMI_SW
* BIOS
* CONDO
* HEWITT RAND
* LKWPETER
* MI
* Oder
* PASSWORD

Award BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

* (eight spaces)
* 01322222
* 589589
* 589721
* 595595
* 598598
* ALFAROME
* ALLY
* ALLy
* aLLY
* aLLy
* aPAf
* award
* AWARD PW
* AWARD SW
* AWARD?SW
* AWARD_PW
* AWARD_SW
* AWKWARD
* awkward
* IOSTAR
* CONCAT
* CONDO
* Condo
* condo
* d8on
* djonet
* HLT
* J256
* J262
* j262
* j322
* j332
* J64
* KDD
* LKWPETER
* Lkwpeter
* PINT
* pint
* SER
* SKY_FOXSYXZ
* SKY_FOX
* syxz
* SYXZ
* TTPTHA
* ZAAAADA
* ZAAADA
* ZBAAACA
* ZJAAADC

Russian Award BIOS Passwords:
* %øåñòü ïpîáåëîâ%
* %äåâÿòü ïpîáåëîâ%

Phoenix Backdoor BIOS Passwords:

* BIOS
* CMOS
* phoenix
* PHOENIX

Other Manufcaturers Backdoor Passwords: (manufacturer name – password)

* VOBIS and IBM – merlin
* Dell – Dell
* Biostar – Biostar
* Compaq – Compaq
* Enox – xo11nE
* Epox – central
* Freetech – Posterie
* IWill – iwill
* Jetway – spooml
* Packard Bell – bell9
* QDI – QDI
* Siemens – SKY_FOX
* SOYO – SY_MB
* TMC – BIGO
* Toshiba – Toshiba

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Monitoring Hard Disks with SMART

2010-01-18T07:37:00.000-08:00

It's a given that all disks eventually die, and it's easy to see why. The platters in a modern disk drive rotate more than a hundred times per second, maintaining submicron tolerances between the disk heads and the magnetic media that store data. Often they run 24/7 in dusty, overheated environments, thrashing on heavily loaded or poorly managed machines. So, it's not surprising that experienced users are all too familiar with the symptoms of a dying disk. Strange things start happening. Inscrutable kernel error messages cover the console and then the system becomes unstable and locks up. Often, entire days are lost repeating recent work, re-installing the OS and trying to recover data. Even if you have a recent backup, sudden disk failure is a minor catastrophe.

Many users and system administrators don't know that Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology systems (SMART) are built in to most modern ATA and SCSI hard disks. SMART disk drives internally monitor their own health and performance. In many cases, the disk itself provides advance warning that something is wrong, helping to avoid the scenario described above. Most implementations of SMART also allow users to perform self-tests on the disk and to monitor a number of performance and reliability attributes.

By profession I am a physicist. My research group runs a large computing cluster with 300 nodes and 600 disk drives, on which more than 50TB of physics data are stored. I became interested in SMART several years ago when I realized it could help reduce downtime and keep our cluster operating more reliably. For about a year I have been maintaining an open-source package called smartmontools, a spin-off of the UCSC smartsuite package, for this purpose.

In this article, I explain how to use smartmontools' smartctl utility and smartd dæmon to monitor the health of a system's disks. See smartmontools.sourceforge.net for download and installation instructions and consult the WARNINGS file for a list of problem disks/controllers. Additional documentation can be found in the man pages (man smartctl and man smartd) and on the Web page.

Versions of smartmontools are available for Slackware, Debian, SuSE, Mandrake, Gentoo, Conectiva and other Linux distributions. Red Hat's existing products contain the UCSC smartsuite versions of smartctl and smartd, but the smartmontools versions will be included in upcoming releases. To understand how smartmontools works, it's helpful to know the history of SMART. The original SMART spec (SFF-8035i) was written by a group of disk drive manufacturers. In Revision 2 (April 1996) disks keep an internal list of up to 30 Attributes corresponding to different measures of performance and reliability, such as read and seek error rates.

Each Attribute has a one-byte normalized value ranging from 1 to 253 and a corresponding one-byte threshold. If one or more of the normalized Attribute values less than or equal to its corresponding threshold, then either the disk is expected to fail in less than 24 hours or it has exceeded its design or usage lifetime. Some of the Attribute values are updated as the disk operates. Others are updated only through off-line tests that temporarily slow down disk reads/writes and, thus, must be run with a special command. In late 1995, parts of SFF-8035i were merged into the ATA-3 standard. Starting with the ATA-4 standard, the requirement that disks maintain an internal Attribute table was dropped. Instead, the disks simply return an OK or NOT OK response to an inquiry about their health. A negative response indicates the disk firmware has determined that the disk is likely to fail. The ATA-5 standard added an ATA error log and commands to run disk self-tests to the SMART command set.

To make use of these disk features, you need to know how to use smartmontools to examine the disk's Attributes (most disks are backward-compatible with SFF-8035i), query the disk's health status, run disk self-tests, examine the disk's self-test log (results of the last 21 self-tests) and examine the disk's ATA error log (details of the last five disk errors). Although this article focuses on ATA disks, additional documentation about SCSI devices can be found on the smartmontools Web page. To begin, give the command smartctl -a /dev/hda, using the correct path to your disk, as root. If SMART is not enabled on the disk, you first must enable it with the -s on option. You then see output similar to the output shown in Listings 1–5. The first part of the output (Listing 1) lists model/firmware information about the disk—this one is an IBM/Hitachi GXP-180 example. Smartmontools has a database of disk types. If your disk is in the database, it may be able to interpret the raw Attribute values correctly.

Listing 1. Output of smartctl -i /dev/hda

Device Model:     IC35L120AVV207-0
Serial Number:    VNVD02G4G3R72G
Firmware Version: V24OA63A
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   6
ATA Standard is:  ATA/ATAPI-6 T13 1410D revision 3a
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

The second part of the output (Listing 2) shows the results of the health status inquiry. This is the one-line Executive Summary Report of disk health; the disk shown here has passed. If your disk health status is FAILING, back up your data immediately. The remainder of this section of the output provides information about the disk's capabilities and the estimated time to perform short and long disk self-tests.

Listing 2. Output of smartctl -Hc /dev/hda

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Off-line data collection status: (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                                     was completed without error.
                                     Auto Off-line Data Collection:
Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine
                                     completed without error or no
                                     self-test has ever been run.
Total time to complete off-line
data collection:                 (2855) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:                    (0x1b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                                     Automatic timer ON/OFF support.
                                     Suspend Offline collection upon new
                                     command.
                                     Offline surface scan supported.
                                     Self-test supported.
                                     No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                                     No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                                     power-saving mode.
                                     Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                                     General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:        (  48) minutes.

The third part of the output (Listing 3) lists the disk's table of up to 30 Attributes (from a maximum set of 255). Remember that Attributes are no longer part of the ATA standard, but most manufacturers still support them. Although SFF-8035i doesn't define the meaning or interpretation of Attributes, many have a de facto standard interpretation. For example, this disk's 13th Attribute (ID #194) tracks its internal temperature.

Listing 3. Output of smartctl -A /dev/hda

Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate       0x000b   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always      -       0
2 Throughput_Performance    0x0005   155   155   050    Pre-fail  Offline     -       225
3 Spin_Up_Time              0x0007   097   097   024    Pre-fail  Always      -       293 (Average 270)
4 Start_Stop_Count          0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always      -       10
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct     0x0033   100   100   005    Pre-fail  Always      -       0
7 Seek_Error_Rate           0x000b   100   100   067    Pre-fail  Always      -       0
8 Seek_Time_Performance     0x0005   125   125   020    Pre-fail  Offline     -       36
9 Power_On_Hours            0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always      -       3548
10 Spin_Retry_Count         0x0013   100   100   060    Pre-fail  Always      -       0
12 Power_Cycle_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always      -       10
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032   100   100   050    Old_age   Always      -       158
193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   100   100   050    Old_age   Always      -       158
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0002   189   189   000    Old_age   Always      -       29 (Lifetime Min/Max 23/33)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always      -       0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0022   100   100   000    Old_age   Always      -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0008   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline     -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x000a   200   200   000    Old_age   Always      -       0

Studies have shown that lowering disk temperatures by as little as 5°C significantly reduces failure rates, though this is less of an issue for the latest generation of fluid-drive bearing drives. One of the simplest and least expensive steps you can take to ensure disk reliability is to add a cooling fan that blows cooling air directly onto or past the system's disks.

Each Attribute has a six-byte raw value (RAW_VALUE) and a one-byte normalized value (VALUE). In this case, the raw value stores three temperatures: the disk's temperature in Celsius (29), plus its lifetime minimum (23) and maximum (33) values. The format of the raw data is vendor-specific and not specified by any standard. To track disk reliability, the disk's firmware converts the raw value to a normalized value ranging from 1 to 253. If this normalized value is less than or equal to the threshold (THRESH), the Attribute is said to have failed, as indicated in the WHEN_FAILED column. The column is empty because none of these Attributes has failed. The lowest (WORST) normalized value also is shown; it is the smallest value attained since SMART was enabled on the disk. The TYPE of the Attribute indicates if Attribute failure means the device has reached the end of its design life (Old_age) or it's an impending disk failure (Pre-fail). For example, disk spin-up time (ID #3) is a prefailure Attribute. If this (or any other prefail Attribute) fails, disk failure is predicted in less than 24 hours.

The names/meanings of Attributes and the interpretation of their raw values is not specified by any standard. Different manufacturers sometimes use the same Attribute ID for different purposes. For this reason, the interpretation of specific Attributes can be modified using the -v option to smartctl; please see the man page for details. For example, some disks use Attribute 9 to store the power-on time of the disk in minutes; the -v 9,minutes option to smartctl correctly modifies the Attribute's interpretation. If your disk model is in the smartmontools database, these -v options are set automatically.

The next part of the smartctl -a output (Listing 4) is a log of the disk errors. This particular disk has been error-free, and the log is empty. Typically, one should worry only if disk errors start to appear in large numbers. An occasional transient error that does not recur usually is benign. The smartmontools Web page has a number of examples of smartctl -a output showing some illustrative error log entries. They are timestamped with the disk's power-on lifetime in hours when the error occurred, and the individual ATA commands leading up to the error are timestamped with the time in milliseconds after the disk was powered on. This shows whether the errors are recent or old.

Listing 4. Output of smartctl -l error /dev/hda

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

The final part of the smartctl output (Listing 5) is a report of the self-tests run on the disk. These show two types of self-tests, short and long. (ATA-6/7 disks also may have conveyance and selective self-tests.) These can be run with the commands smartctl -t short /dev/hda and smartctl -t long /dev/hda and do not corrupt data on the disk. Typically, short tests take only a minute or two to complete, and long tests take about an hour. These self-tests do not interfere with the normal functioning of the disk, so the commands may be used for mounted disks on a running system. On our computing cluster nodes, a long self-test is run with a cron job early every Sunday morning. The entries in Listing 5 all are self-tests that completed without errors; the LifeTime column shows the power-on age of the disk when the self-test was run. If a self-test finds an error, the Logical Block Address (LBA) shows where the error occurred on the disk. The Remaining column shows the percentage of the self-test remaining when the error was found. If you suspect that something is wrong with a disk, I strongly recommend running a long self-test to look for problems.

Listing 5. Output of smartctl -l selftest /dev/hda

SMART Self-test log, version number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status       Remaining  LifeTime(hours)
LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended off-line   Completed          00%      3525         -
# 2  Extended off-line   Completed          00%      3357         -
# 3  Short off-line      Completed          00%      3059         -

The smartctl -t offline command can be used to carry out off-line tests. These off-line tests do not make entries in the self-test log. They date back to the SFF-8035i standard, and update values of the Attributes that are not updated automatically under normal disk operation (see the UPDATED column in Listing 3). Some disks support automatic off-line testing, enabled by smartctl -o on, which automatically runs an off-line test every few hours.

The SMART standard provides a mechanism for running disk self-tests and for monitoring aspects of disk performance. Its main shortcoming is that it doesn't provide a direct mechanism for informing the OS or user if problems are found. In fact, because disk SMART status frequently is not monitored, many disk problems go undetected until they lead to catastrophic failure. Of course, you can monitor disks on a regular basis using the smartctl utility, as I've described, but this is a nuisance.

The remaining part of the smartmontools package is the smartd dæmon that does regular monitoring for you. It monitors the disk's SMART data for signs of problems. It can be configured to send e-mail to users or system administrators or to run arbitrary scripts if problems are detected. By default, when smartd is started, it registers the system's disks. It then checks their status every 30 minutes for failing Attributes, failing health status or increased numbers of ATA errors or failed self-tests and logs this information with SYSLOG in /var/log/messages by default.

You can control and fine-tune the behavior of smartd using the configuration file /etc/smartd.conf. This file is read when smartd starts up, before it forks into the background. Each line contains Directives pertaining to a different disk. The configuration file on our computing cluster nodes look like this:

# /etc/smartd.conf config file
/dev/hda -S on -o on -a -I 194 -m sense@phys.uwm.edu
/dev/hdc -S on -o on -a -I 194 -m sense@phys.uwm.edu

The first column indicates the device to be monitored. The -o on Directive enables the automatic off-line testing, and the -S on Directive enables automatic Attribute autosave. The -m Directive is followed by an e-mail address to which warning messages are sent, and the -a Directive instructs smartd to monitor all SMART features of the disk. In this configuration, smartd logs changes in all normalized attribute values. The -I 194 Directive means ignore changes in Attribute #194, because disk temperatures change often, and it's annoying to have such changes logged on a regular basis.

Normally smartd is started by the normal UNIX init mechanism. For example, on Red Hat distributions, /etc/rc.d/init.d/smartd start and /etc/rc.d/init.d/smartd stop can be used to start and stop the dæmon.

Further information about the smartd and its config file can be found in the man page (man smartd), and summaries can be found with the commands smartd -D and smartd -h. For example, the -M test Directive sends a test e-mail warning message to confirm that warning e-mail messages are delivered correctly. Other Directives provide additional flexibility, such as monitoring changes in raw Attribute values.

What should you do if a disk shows signs of problems? What if a disk self-test fails or the disk's SMART health status fails? Start by getting your data off the disk and on to another system as soon as possible. Second, run some extended disk self-tests and see if the problem is repeatable at the same LBA. If so, something probably is wrong with the disk. If the disk has failing SMART health status and is under warranty, the vendor usually will replace it. If the disk is failing its self-tests, many manufacturers provide specialized disk health programs, for example, Maxtor's PowerMax or IBM's Drive Fitness Test. Sometimes these programs actually can repair a disk by remapping bad sectors. Often, they report a special error code that can be used to get a replacement disk.

This article has covered the basics of smartmontools. To learn more, read the man pages and Web page, and then write to the support mailing list if you need further help. Remember, smartmontools is no substitute for backing up your data. SMART cannot and does not predict all disk failures, but it often provides clues that something is amiss and has helped to keep many computing clusters operating reliably.

Several developers are porting smartmontools to FreeBSD, Darwin and Solaris, and we recently have added extensions to allow smartmontools to monitor and control the ATA disks behind 3ware RAID controllers. If you would like to contribute to the development of smartmontools, write to the support mailing list. We especially are interested in information about the interpretation and meaning of vendor-specific SMART Attribute and raw values.

Bruce Allen is a professor of Physics at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. He does research work on gravitational waves and the very early universe, and he has built several large Linux clusters for data analysis use.

5 Ways To Speed Up Your PC

2010-01-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer and keep it running smoothly. This article discusses how to use the tools available in Windows 7, Vista, and XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) to more efficiently maintain your computer and safeguard your privacy when you're online.

1. Free up disk space

The Disk Cleanup tool helps you free up space on your hard disk to improve the performance of your computer. The tool identifies files that you can safely delete, and then enables you to choose whether you want to delete some or all of the identified files.

Use Disk Cleanup to:

*Remove temporary Internet files.
*Remove downloaded program files (such as Microsoft ActiveX controls and Java applets).
*Empty the Recycle Bin.
*Remove Windows temporary files such as error reports.
*Remove optional Windows components that you don't use.
*Remove installed programs that you no longer use.
*Remove unused restore points and shadow copies from System Restore.

Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

Use Disk Cleanup

Window 7
Windows Vista
Windows XP

2. Speed up access to data

Disk fragmentation slows the overall performance of your system. When files are fragmented, the computer must search the hard disk when the file is opened to piece it back together. The response time can be significantly longer.

Disk Defragmenter is a Windows utility that consolidates fragmented files and folders on your computer's hard disk so that each occupies a single space on the disk. With your files stored neatly end-to-end, without fragmentation, reading and writing to the disk speeds up.

When to run Disk Defragmenter
In addition to running Disk Defragmenter at regular intervals—monthly is optimal—there are other times you should run it too, such as when:

*You add a large number of files.
*Your free disk space totals 15 percent or less.
*You install new programs or a new version of Windows.

Use Disk Defragmenter

Window 7
Windows Vista

Windows XP

3. Detect and repair disk errors

In addition to running Disk Cleanup and Disk Defragmenter to optimize the performance of your computer, you can check the integrity of the files stored on your hard disk by running the Error Checking utility.

As you use your hard drive, it can develop bad sectors. Bad sectors slow down hard disk performance and sometimes make data writing (such as file saving) difficult, or even impossible. The Error Checking utility scans the hard drive for bad sectors, and scans for file system errors to see whether certain files or folders are misplaced.

If you use your computer daily, you should run this utility once a week to help prevent data loss.
Run the Error Checking utility:

1.Close all open files.
2.Click Start, and then click My Computer.
3.In the My Computer window, right-click the hard disk you want to search for bad sectors, and then click Properties.
4.In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab.
5.Click the Check Now button.
6.In the Check Disk dialog box (called Error-checking in Windows 7), select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box, and then click Start.

Check Disk Local Disk dialog box, with the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box selected.

Example of Check Disk Local Disk dialog box

7.If bad sectors are found, choose to fix them.

Tip: Only select the "Automatically fix file system errors" check box if you think that your disk contains bad sectors.

4. Protect your computer against spyware

Spyware collects personal information without letting you know and without asking for permission. From the Web sites you visit to usernames and passwords, spyware can put you and your confidential information at risk. In addition to privacy concerns, spyware can hamper your computer's performance. To combat spyware, you might want to consider using Microsoft Windows Defender, which is included in Windows 7 and Windows Vista, and is available as a free download for Microsoft XP SP2. Alternatively, there are other free anti-spyware software programs available.

5. Learn all about ReadyBoost

If you're using Windows 7 or Windows Vista, you can use ReadyBoost to speed up your system. A new concept in adding memory to a system, it allows you to use non-volatile flash memory—like a USB flash drive or a memory card—to improve performance without having to add additional memory.

Buy an Overstock Computer

2010-01-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

Increasingly, colleges and universities are expecting students to come to school armed with computers or to purchase one soon after arrival. Even at colleges where owning a computer is not a requirement its far more convenient for students to have their own than to wait in line at the library or computer center.

Unfortunately, as computer companies continue to introduce newer and more High-End sophisticated systems the price for a personal computer is actually rising, not dropping as commonly perceived. While newer machines can do more than their predecessors, the cost to perform simple computing tasks such as word processing or balancing a check book is becoming prohibitively expensive. By purchasing overstock models, first time computer owners can meet their needs without spending thousands of dollars for a more expensive retail priced computer.

When price becomes an issue, check the basics. Spending money for a computer which is faster and more expensive may not increase your productivity in the same proportion. Typing speed determines how fast you produce a letter more than the speed of the microprocessor. For most day-to-day uses such as writing papers or e-mail, the basics are more than adequate. The same is true for spreadsheet and database management applications on small files a low-powered computer will work just fine.

Processor Size and Speed

When comparing computers, two items to consider are the processor size and the speed. What does this mean? To use an analogy, suppose you have a tub full of water that needs to be emptied. You have a one gallon bucket to do the job and you can empty 2 buckets of water a second. Think of the water as information, the process of emptying the tub as information processing, the size of the bucket as the size of the processor, and the number of buckets you move per second as the speed. If you were to get a bigger bucket, maybe a two gallon bucket, and still move 2 buckets per second you would be emptying the tub (or processing data) twice as fast. If you keep the bucket the same but increase the speed you are moving to 16 buckets per second, you would again be processing twice as fast.

RAM vs. Hard Drive

Random Access Memory (RAM) is the temporary memory that is active only when the computer is on. This is the electronic space where the computer runs the operating system, the programs and the actual document you may be working on. Hard drive space does not lose its memory when the computer is shut off. As a rule, the computer will run more efficiently with more RAM as it can load more of a given program into memory without having to access the program electronically. If it has to access the program in the hard drive, it is slowed to the mechanical speed and access time of the hard drive.

Hard Facts on Hard Drives

If your car sits in the driveway because your garage is so full of stuff, spring for the larger hard drive.

Final Considerations

If you're purchasing an overstock computer it's better to go with a reputable seller rather than an individual, that way you have some recourse in the event there is a problem. Most resellers will give you, warranty usually 30 days. Additionally, some will give you a money back guarantee minus a restocking fee. However, before you buy from any organization get some references and check with the Better Business Bureau to make sure they have a good track record.

How to Choose the Right Computer Hardware - Top Tips For Zeroing on the Right Hardware

2010-01-16T05:07:00.000-08:00

How to choose the right computer hardware is a question that almost all of us face at some point of time in our life, what with computers becoming part and parcel of our lives these days. With such a wide variety available though, the task of choosing the right hardware though, has become daunting indeed. If you are wondering then how to choose the right computer hardware, the trick lies in doing plenty of research before you zero in on your choice. Once you do your homework thoroughly, no dealer can take you for a ride.

The first hardware that you need to choose is the processor of the computer. As we all know it is the heart of the computer. You need to check with multiple dealers before you narrow down your choice. Your ultimate choice will basically depend on the kind of applications that you are looking from your computer. Once you are sure about the things that you want to do with your computer, making this choice will become a lot easier.

How to choose the right computer hardware is all about asking pertinent questions and getting the right answers from the various dealers that you meet. It is always preferable that you list down the entire hardware configuration that you want and keep it with you whenever you talk to a dealer. This will help you virtually 'talk the talk'. Just in case you are not technically that proficient, you can always seek the help of someone in your family or a friend, who knows a thing or two about computer hardware.

Patience is another key thing that anyone wondering how to choose the right computer hardware should have. You should not shop in a hurry, as you may end up making the wrong choice. Make sure that you do at least a bit of comparison shopping, as it will help you make the right decision, at the end of the day.

People are always interested in finding an answer to the question, how to choose the right computer hardware as there are very few of them who know about it. You can come and check out my blog, computerhardwareblog.info to find something new and interesting about this.