PreparedPC

Time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know

PreparedPC — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 10:02:18 +0000

One of the fastest ways to become more efficient with applications you use everyday is to learn keyboard shortcuts. Most people know Ctrl-C (copy text) and Ctrl-V (paste text), but there are dozens of other keyboard combinations that will help you to work faster. Knowing keyboard shortcuts can get you out of difficult situations, as when [...]

SpinRite 6.0 Might Make You a Hero

PreparedPC — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:58:35 +0000

SpinRite 6.0 from Gibson Research Corporation (GRC) is not new (released in 2004) nor is it free (USD$89), but it can fix hard disks (or even floppy disks!) that appear to be beyond recovery. Depending on the condition of the drive, SpinRite could recover files that could otherwise cost thousands of dollars if you were [...]

In-Session Phishing - Keep Your Guard Up!

PreparedPC — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:56:57 +0000

By now, most people know about phishing emails. You know, those messages made to look like they are from banks and other financial institutions, sent out in the hope that someone will click on the phony link and enter their username and password? A recent threat to watch out for is called “in session phishing.” The [...]

How to Recover from the Vista blacK Screen of Death (KSOD)

PreparedPC — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 02:58:10 +0000

Some users have been experiencing the Vista “blacK Screen of Death” (as opposed to the pre-Vista “Blue Screen of Death” where after a reboot the Windows Vista PC boots up to a black screen with a white mouse cursor and nothing else ever loads (no logon screen, etc). Turns out the problem is due to the Remote [...]

Sandboxie - Laugh (Cautiously) at the Next Browser Vulnerability

PreparedPC — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 09:23:36 +0000

What’s a Windows user to do? Between the most recent zero-day exploit to affect Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox recently named as the most vulnerable application on the Windows platform, even with all Windows updates installed, virus protection and the current version of your browser, you can still end up with a nasty malware infection. That’s [...]

Has AVG AntiVirus Made Your Windows XP PC Unbootable? Here’s the Fix

PreparedPC — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:33:43 +0000

AVG Antivirus 8.0’s recent set of antivirus definitions broke Windows XP by quarantining XP’s user32.dll as a bad file. There are 2 ways to fix this: Windows XP CD - If you have a Windows XP installation CD handy, follow these steps. No Windows XP CD - Grisoft has created a bootable .ISO or bootable flashdrive image. Follow [...]

Patch Windows Now - Critical For Windows 2000 and XP

PreparedPC — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 03:16:07 +0000

Microsoft typically releases updates for Windows on the 2nd Tuesday of each month (aka Patch Tuesday), but this week, they released an important patch outside of their normal schedule. The security bulletin describes the details. An issue with the “server service,” part of the Windows operating system, could allow your Windows computer to be taken over [...]

What Every Computer User Must do Now - Round up your data

PreparedPC — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 11:03:05 +0000

Corporations have disaster recovery plans, and so should you. If you want to minimize your own computers’ downtime due to hard drive failure, operating system corruption (i.e. the “Blue Screen of Death”), and the like, there are a number of solutions that you can use that can help you get back up and running quickly. [...]

Adobe’s Workaround for “Clickjacking” Issue, and What You Can Do Now

PreparedPC — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:03:10 +0000

UPDATE: Adobe released Flash Player 10.0.12.36. Look-wise, it’s an improvement. Take a look at the 3-D effects that Flash Player 10 supports at Alternativa’s demo site. New versions usually mean new vulnerabilities. Protect yourself with Firefox + the NoScript add-on. ———————————————————————————————- Adobe recently acknowledged a critical issue with its Flash Player. Named “clickjacking,” this occurs when a user [...]

Gmail: Prevent those “Oh no!” moments with Mail Goggles

PreparedPC — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:29:29 +0000

We’ve all been there. You’ve hastily dashed off an email, then hit the “Send” button, only to feel the pangs of regret. You wrote something that you really didn’t want to say. But it’s too late–the damage is done. If only you could have a second chance to stop that email from going out… Well, [...]