Scott's Thoughts

Best antispyware program review

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +0000

I remember years ago, when there weren't people in the world who wanted to destroy your computer with a virus. Sure, there were bad people out there; they were just doing other things.

Now, there are still people that want to infect your computer, but mostly for a different purpose. They don't want to destroy it, they want to profit from it. This is a big function of spyware. It's also called "malware", which is short for malicious software.

How can someone make money by putting a malicious program on your computer? Here are a few ways:

1. Install a browser hijacker - this means that every time you open Internet Explorer or Firefox, it doesn't go to your home page. It goes to a different home page, such as a casino or a porn site. If a million people have that as their home page, some percentage will eventually click and buy something.

2. Install a keylogger - this is a program that runs in the background and records all of your keystrokes into a hidden text file. Then that text file is sent back to the creator of the program. This gives usernames, passwords, credit cards, anything you entered on the keyboard.

3. Install a rogue anti-spyware program. I have dealt with this on several computers recently. This means that several windows will keep popping up and telling you about the hundreds or thousands of viruses or threats on your computer that you need to remove. The warnings always sound very serious and look quite official. And all you have to do is pay $29.95 to register the full version of the program, and it will take care of those problems for you. Many people do pay just because they are scared and don't want to take any chances. This is a big money maker.

Bottom line: you want to make sure your computer does not have any of this junk. A little while back I started using a program called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and it does a great job.

This program will do a scan of your computer and find the stuff that should not be there. Then it deletes it for you. Whatever it finds, you should get rid of.

When you first run it, you will have these two options: quick scan or full scan.

When I am working on a computer, I usually have it do the quick scan first and get rid of that stuff, then run a full scan afterward (a full scan will take quite a while, depending on how much data is on your computer). When I am working on a computer that is infected, this is the usually the first program I will run to diagnose the problem.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware does not require an annual subscription or renewal - it's a one-time cost of $24.95 (get it here). There is a free version, but it requires you to remember to run it on a regular basis. Bad idea. If your antivirus didn't do a regular scan, how often would you remember to do it? For $25 the program will always run in the background and keep the garbage from getting in your computer to start with, rather than just finding it after you're already infected.

For those of you using the AVG antivirus program (as I do), you know it does include an anti-spyware component. However, it does not detect all types of antispyware (such as browser hijackers and rogue antispyware programs). Malwarebytes is a good complement to AVG to make sure you are fully protected.

This week's video: Apparently some radio station had a contest called "World's Biggest", and people sent in video clips along that theme. This guy sent in a video demonstrating his homemade alarm clock. I don't know of anyone that could sleep through that.

Happy 4th of July! Government in action!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:46:00 +0000

Here's a video that represents the important matters that our elected officials have to deal with every day. I think they should all vote themselves another raise.

Homeless man has no access to safe

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:03:00 +0000

Don't store files on your desktop!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Does your computer desktop look like this?

I know, I know. Your desktop is the easiest place on your computer to save pictures, text documents, recent downloads, whatever. It's so convenient to just stick that file there where you know you can find it again.

Don't do it! Here's why:

1. Files stored on the desktop slow down the computer's overall operation. Not drastically, but some.

2. Your desktop will eventually run out of visible space. Then what? (Some of you reading this may be out of desktop space already!)

3. Most importantly, the files on your desktop at this minute are probably not backed up. If they are important enough to be quickly accessible, they should be backed up. When I set up an automated backup procedure on a client's computer, the first step is to get all the important files - the ones that need to be backed up - into one folder. Then you just have to back up that one folder. If you have anything on your desktop that you wouldn't want to lose, it's in the wrong place.

The solution? Shortcuts.

You can fill up your desktop if you want to (although #1 and #2 above still apply). But instead of putting the actual file there, just have a shortcut to that file.

Here's an example of how to do that. Let's say you have a folder on your desktop that contains several Word documents pertaining to your business. That folder is called "Loan papers". You want to store this folder in a location that is safe, but you still want it to be easy to access. Here are the steps to do that:

1. Right-click on the folder itself, and in the new menu choose "Cut"

2. Open your My Documents folder (in Vista, it is just called "Documents")

3. In an open area of the My Documents folder, right click and choose "Paste". Now your "Loan papers" folder has been moved from the desktop to the My Documents folder.

4. In the My Documents folder, find the "Loan papers" folder that you just moved. Right click on it, and choose "Send to - Desktop, create shortcut"

5. Close the My Documents folder and go back to your desktop. You should see a new icon there called "Shortcut to Loan papers".

So whenever you need to open that folder, you can just double click the icon on the desktop and it will open just like it always did. The difference is that the icon on your desktop is only a shortcut icon - the actual file is stored safely in your My Documents folder, where it should get backed up nightly.

(If you need an automated backup procedure set up, contact me. If you are wondering if you really need automated backup, here is the answer: you need automated backup.)

This week's video - can you imagine playing this game?

How does search engine optimization work?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

How does search engine optimization work? That is a question often asked by many people. Everyone wants their website (whether it is a personal site, or a business site) to show up on page one of Google. But how does that happen? More importantly, how can you make it happen? It may seem impossible, but it happens every day. I see it first hand.

Before we can answer the question "how does search engine optimization work", we need to define what it really is.

Search engine optimization, simply put, is just removing the technical inaccuracies of a website that keep Google from reading it properly. You see, Google sends out what are called "spiders" to go from website to website, reading the code and the content in each web page. If the spider comes up against something in the code that it cannot read, it stops reading that page and goes on to another one. If you are asking, "how does search engine optimization work" because you want your business to be found on Google, you definitely want Google's spiders to be able to read your website easily. Your goal for your site is to make Google's job as easy as possible to read your code.

The problem is, most sites are not easily read by Google. Oh, they look beautiful when you look at them - they are well designed, have beautiful pictures to make them interesting, beautiful colors, etc. However, we are not talking about what you see when you view the site as a human. We're talking about the code that makes the site look the way it does. For most sites, the code is written in such a way that it actually puts up roadblocks that block Google from reading it.

"But wait a minute", you say. "I paid a professional web designer a lot of money to create my site! Shouldn't he know this stuff?" That answer is simple - no. Ask your web designer "how does search engine optimization work" and he will either say he doesn't know, or he will give you an answer that is mostly incorrect. Designing a website to make it look beautiful is an entirely different thing than getting it found on Google. You can have the most beautiful website in the world, but if no one sees it because it never comes up in Google, it doesn't bring you any new business. It's like putting up a great-looking billboard in the middle of a desert.

Think about it like this - if your web designer knew the answer to "How does search engine optimization work", your site would be showing up on Google already. It's a very specialized science.

Take my site, for example. As you probably know, I am called The Computer Tutor because I provide personal computer instruction to individuals or small business owners that want to learn how to use a particular program, or how to do something with their computer. I do this locally in person, or nationwide via remote access.

If you go to Google and do a search for the phrase "personal computer instruction", you will see about 25 million results come up. In other words, there are 25 million websites that are somehow related to personal computer instruction, and Google looks at all of them and ranks them in order of relevance. You will see that my site (www.ComputerTutorFlorida.com) is listed at #2 in that list.

Think about that - there are hundreds or thousands of businesses offering computer training all around the country, and some of them are very large businesses. Some of them may well be asking how does search engine optimization work even now! But Google has determined that my site is more technically accurate than theirs, so I rank higher in Google than they do.

I talk to business owners every day who are frustrated at not getting found on Google. If you own a business, the very life of your company could depend on that one factor. Don't trust your livelihood to a place that doesn't know the answer to this problem! My company currently has close to 400 clients all appearing on page one of Google, for tons of different key phrases. If you understand the importance of this, and want to achieve that for your business, contact me.

I love being able to help small business owners who are wondering how does search engine optimization work. Learning the answer to that question is vital to your success. I can help you with that, and you will have more business than you ever thought possible.

Save some time when you use MS Word

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

I used to waste a lot of time every time I opened a blank Word document.

Whenever I create a new Word file, I have a couple of preferences. I prefer to use Arial as the font (instead of Times New Roman, which is the default). I also like to use different margins. The new document usually defaults to an inch at the top and bottom, and 1.25 inches on each side. I usually change that to .7 on all sides, so that I can fit as much as possible on the page and still be able to print it all.

So I would open Word, and before starting to work, I would make those changes to suit my preferences. What a waste of time! I don't do that any more.

A few years ago, I decided to make a default "new document". I opened Word, made my changes as I mentioned above, then I just saved that blank file. I called it "narrow margins.doc" so I would know what it is.

Then I did two more things:

1. I right-clicked on the file name, chose Properties, and checked the box that says "Read only".

2. I right-clicked on the file again, and chose Send to - Desktop to create an icon on my desktop that is easy to access.

Now, whenever I want to create a new Word document, I just double click that shortcut icon and my preferences are already built in. Then when I save it, Word makes me give the new document its own name - that way, my original "narrow margins.doc" file never gets changed accidentally - it is always there waiting for me, just like I like it.

This week's video is one that you will probably want to watch a couple of times. Can you spot the changes?

What is a browser?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:10:00 +0000

Do you know what a browser is?

Google sent a guy to Times Square to ask people on the street that question. The answers he got varied widely, but the vast majority of people didn't know what a browser is.

A browser is a program on your computer that allows you to view websites. Examples of browsers are Firefox and Internet Explorer (and Google's new browser, called Chrome).

Here is the video of the people who answered this question:

Family photo ends up as Czech billboard ad

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

This lady posts a picture of her family online. Great family photo. So great, in fact, that a grocery store in the Czech Republic decided to use it for a billboard advertisement.

Full story here

Professional computer repair

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:11:00 +0000

If you live in the Tampa Bay area of Florida, and you have a problem with your computer, I can fix it. Check out my new Computer Repair page for more details.

How much time is left on your laptop battery?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

If you use a laptop on battery power sometimes, you know that it's important to keep track of how much battery time is left before you lose power. You might get in the habit of occasionally putting your cursor over the little Windows battery icon in the system tray, to make sure you're not cutting it too close.

Today you have a different, more accurate option: Battery Bar.

Battery Bar (download here) is a free program that gives you a much more detailed and accurate assessment of your laptop's remaining battery power.

First, whenever you are running on battery power you will see a display in your taskbar that looks like this:

The display is in green, yellow or red, depending on how much time is left on the battery. It is always there so you never have to keep mousing over an icon to check on the battery.

When you do want more detailed information, you can click and see a window like this:

It tells you just about everything you need to know. Here's the cool thing: as you use the Battery Bar program, over time it learns how strong your battery is and how long it holds a charge, so it can give you an increasingly accurate picture of how much time it has left.

There is a paid version for $9.95, but the free version will be all that most people need. The paid version has some pop-up alerts when the battery level gets to the critical level.

This week's video: what would you do if you came out of a store and realized that your car is gone? You might have the same reaction as some of these people.

Fixing Outlook for Gmail

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Recently I helped out one of my clients with an Outlook problem. Bob uses Microsoft Outlook to read email from his Gmail account (I use the same procedure myself). Suddenly, Bob found that he was able to receive email in Outlook, but he could not longer send email. He would get an error message saying that the email could not be sent, and that he should check for the correct email address.

Of course, the first thing is to double check that all of your email configuration settings in Outlook are correct.

Next, go to your Gmail account on the web, and under the Settings link make sure that POP3 access is turned on.

If those two procedures don't fix the problem, you probably need an update for your Outlook. Here's how you do that:
1. Visit the Microsoft Updates website
2. Click "Check for updates" in the top right corner
3. After all updates have been installed, restart the computer
4. Now try sending and receiving email through Outlook

Getting the recent updates is what solved the problem for Bob. It should work for you too.

This week's video is a motorized Lazy-Boy. I want one of these.

Computer repair graph

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

How to print a web page

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0000

I sometimes get asked this question: "How can I print a web page? Every time I print, the text goes off the side of the page, or the pictures don't line up correctly, or I waste a bunch of ink because it prints this big background image."

To answer this, you have to realize one important fact: when a website is designed, it is created with the idea of seeing it on the screen, not on a sheet of paper. So no web designer really cares about how it looks if you decide to click File - Print. That doesn't mean all sites look bad when printed; some look fine. But that is just by chance, not by design.

Also, if you ever see a page you want to print and you notice a button or link that says "Printer-friendly version", click that first and then print. That one should look find on paper.

So what about the sites that are loaded with graphics and ads and other junk, and all you want to print is the text in the middle of the page?

Now there is a service that allows you to do just that: PrintWhatYouLike.com

Here's how it works. You go to the website, and you type in the web address of the site you want to print where it says "Enter a URL":

When you click Start, you will be taken to a page that looks mostly like that website, but you will see over on the left there is a block of controls. The easiest thing to do really is just click the buttons at the bottom left that say "Remove Background" and/or "Remove Images". When you do that you will see what happens. The page becomes much more printer-friendly!

In addition, you can click a section of text to highlight it. If you then click the "Isolate" button, all you will see is that section of text, ready to print. If instead you click the "Remove" button, that section of text will disappear. So you can really get rid of all the stuff on the page that you don't want to print, leave what you do want to print, then print it. Easy!

There are some other things that you can do but I'll let you play with the controls and discover what else is possible. Don't worry, you can't hurt anything. And you will be saving your paper and ink too.

This week's video is about some poor old ladies who just wanted to cross the street:

Sorry Mac, it's not you

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:32:00 +0000

A trick with searching Google

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

We all use Google regularly. I use it many times throughout the day. When we use something that often, we tend to just do the same thing(s) routinely so we might miss some of the other features that are available.

Google has a link right above the search results called "Show Options" that you might want to use to make your searching a little more effective and efficient.

Let's try it out. I will do a search on horse riding. The standard results come up - a Wikipedia entry, horse rentals, riding instructions, etc.

However, look just below the Google logo and you'll see a link that says "Show options..." When you click that link, a new column will appear just to the left of the search results. The links that you see there - the options - will allow you to customize your search results.

The links are really pretty self-explanatory. Click "Videos" and you will only see a list of videos that have to do with horse riding. Forums will only show forum entries, and Reviews will mostly show articles.

The "Timeline" options allow you to narrow down your results based on how recent the web page entry is. So if you did a search on "Terminator", choose "Reviews" and chose "Past 24 hours", you would see a list of movie reviews for the new Terminator film.

The next section allows you to choose what you want to display in each entry in the results. For example, we'll take the Wikipedia entry. The standard results make it look like what we are used to seeing:

Here's the same entry if we choose the option "Images from the page":

And if we select the option "More text", each entry displays additional text from the web pages listed:

I'll let you do your own experimentation with the Wonder Wheel and the Timeline to see what they do. Now you know a way to customize your Google search results, and make Google work a little better for you.

This week's video is a dog that plays dead. He's really good at it.

Friday fun - this is a little weird

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 22 May 2009 11:41:00 +0000

To experience this, you really need to have headphones plugged into your computer. Put them on and turn the sound up to mid-volume or maybe a little higher. Then go to this page and experience what I am talking about.

This is not one of those scare pranks. There is actually nothing to see on the web page itself. It's something called holophonic sound. You just have to try it.

I posted this on Facebook, and here are some of the comments from friends:

"Weird!!!!!"

"wow ... that is seriously trippy"

"That was cool! and weird, I feel like I want some tic tacs now."

A great alternative to Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 18 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

The days of having large software applications installed on your computer will soon be gone. I will be doing an article soon on the concept of "cloud computing" so I won't go into a lot of detail here about it, but the service I am describing here is a good example of that trend.

For many years, Photoshop has been the standard program for anyone in the business of graphics, advertising, any kind of work with images. I have used Photoshop for a long time, and I probably haven't used even half of its features and functions. One of the prohibiting factors that kept many individuals from using it was the cost; like many Adobe programs, it was (and still is) quite expensive.

There have been other programs that claim to do a lot of what Photoshop does but at a much lower price, but most of them really didn't stack up to the "real thing".

Now, there is a way to achieve virtually all of the graphic effects that Photoshop is able to create, but without buying Photoshop. In fact, you don't need to buy any program. You don't even need to install anything on your computer - this application is entirely web-based. It's called Aviary, and you can see it at www.aviary.com.

You can watch a short video that sort of shows you what it can do:

Aviary gives you the ability to work with images and do just about anything you need to do, and it's free. Can't ask for much more than that!

This week's video is a great little clip of an elderly couple, married for over 60 years, doing a lively piano duet to entertain their friends. I guarantee you will smile at this one!

This will put a smile on your face!

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:59:00 +0000

(click to see image full size)

Google Gadgets

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

If you have not heard of Google Gadgets before, this might be of interest to you. To take advantage of it, all you need is a Google account (a Gmail account is the same as a Google account).

First, go here: www.iGoogle.com and log in to your Google/Gmail account

You will see all kinds of little boxes of information there. These are called Google Gadgets, and they are completely customizable. You can drag them around to show up anywhere you want, and you can change the settings on most of them. And what you are looking at on that default page is just a small percentage of what is available. There are hundreds of these things - some useful, some superficial, some just plain silly.

You can see all of the Gadgets available from Google, here.

Would you like to see new Gadgets as they become available? Check out the Gadgets Directory. At the top of that page is the RSS feed to which you can subscribe, or on the right hand side you can sign up for email notifications (I just follow them on Twitter: @gadgetdirectory). There's all kinds of fun stuff there, and I'll bet you find some interesting gadgets to put on your iGoogle page!

This week's video is a guy who probably should not consider "lumberjack" as a career option. His wife, running the camera, is surprisingly calm.

Kids and their blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:13:00 +0000

Is Conficker still around?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Wed, 06 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

You might recall that back on April 1, the Conficker worm was supposed to explode all the world's computers. As expected, that didn't happen.

The reason nothing seemed to happen is because Conficker is much more devious than a simple April Fool's joke. The creator of the worm is extremely clever. He manipulated worldwide media to build up the hype leading up to the big date, and then seemingly nothing happened. This achieved two purposes: 1. It allowed the majority of the population to believe that Conficker was a dud, and 2. It caused more people to be complacent about virus and malware protection, since apparently even the "worst" virus is powerless.

This reaction of ambivalance has been brilliantly orchestrated by the originator of Conficker. The anti-virus software manufacturers understand how dangerous it is, but the component that allows a virus to flourish most easily is the complacency of the general public. In the beginning, Conficker was taking over maybe 250 computers a day. Now, it is commandeering up to as many as 50,000 computers each day. The anti-virus manufacturers just cannot keep up with that kind of volume.

The burden is on you to make sure your computer is clean, and is not being used as a "zombie" by Conficker (or other worms). Your best protection is to make sure all of your Windows Updates are current.

There IS such thing as a free lunch...

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:36:00 +0000

...at least through May 19 anyway. KFC is promoting their new Grilled Chicken meal by giving it away. You get two pieces of grilled chicken, 2 sides, and a biscuit - completely free.

Here's the catch: you have to print the coupon by 11 pm eastern time on May 6. Once you have printed it, you can use it any time up to May 19. You just can't use it on Mother's Day (but if you were thinking of taking your Mom to KFC for Mother's Day, shame on you).

So go and print your coupon now: http://tinyurl.com/c36usw

UPDATE: KFC has admitted that this whole promotion was a big blunder and they are no longer honoring the coupons. Instead, you can fill out some paperwork and get a rain check for a free meal at "a future date". Details here.

What if you can't log out?

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Mon, 04 May 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Received this question recently:

Sometimes after I’ve been at a secure site – complete with little padlock – and I want to leave the site, I don’t find a ‘log out’ button. It always makes nervous to just hit the X to close the page. I usually go to the options or file and find ‘close’ or ‘exit’ before I leave the page. What’s the best way to exit a site that doesn’t provide a log-out button?

A website that has been professionally developed should always have a logout option. That is considered standard procedure, for the sake of both security as well as just logical navigation. Certainly any sites that are financial in nature, such as online banking, should offer this option (if not, I would consider avoiding online banking for that institution).

At a site that does not offer you the chance to log out, the first step in remaining secure happens when you log in. If the site offers to remember your password for you, say no. Same thing if your web browser (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox) says it can store your password for future use - you should elect not to do that.

When you have completed your business, and there is no log out button available, you can simply close the browser window. Make sure all of the browser windows are closed. You are now logged out.

Want to test it to be sure? Go back to the same site and try to access your private information. If the site requires you to log in first, then you know that you have successfully been logged out.

I would also recommend contacting the owner of the site and let him/her know that the log out function is missing. Anyone that understands online security and also wants to keep website visitors happy will take care of that issue ASAP.

This week's video is pretty short, but funny. Some people just don't take care of their cars.

Important consumer warning

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Fri, 01 May 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Just about every week, there is some news about something that is bad for us. Probably millions of dollars was spent to discover this "important" information that most people knew as common sense already.

In order to save lots of time and money, I propose that we just use the one below (click image to see full size).

Origin of swine flu finally pinpointed

noreply@blogger.com (Scott Johnson) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 22:41:00 +0000