October 21, 2009

What makes Windows 7 better than Vista or XP?

Filed under: Software — Tags: computer, computer checkup, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer software, repair computer, Software, solutions, Windows 7 — admin @ 9:11 am

Windows 7, the long awaited replacement for the much maligned Windows Vista is due to be released on Oct 22nd (although many custom-build computer shops like ours are already delivering Windows 7 systems.)  Even if the reasons for considering an upgrade to the new OS were not so numerous, the reality is that at some point most users will have no choice. No matter how much users like Windows XP, there will come a time when Microsoft won’t support it, including the very important security patches that plug security vulnerabilities.  With this in mind, the Windows 7 question isn’t really a question of WILL you upgrade, but WHEN will you upgrade (a month, a year, 5 years?).

By all accounts, Windows 7 is a significant improvement over Windows Vista, primarily because Microsoft has been able to strip out the bad and add lots of new good to make what is essentially Windows Vista 2. (They knew better than to call it that, though!)

Regardless of how it happened, Microsoft listened to the complaints of Vista users and continued to improve the built-in security to produce a pretty solid operating system.

Here are some of the major improvements:

It actually requires less hardware than Windows Vista. For those of us that have been around since Windows 1.0, we were shocked to learn that Microsoft didn’t ratchet up the hardware requirements like they have with every previous version.  Systems light on power that struggled to run Windows Vista will likely run better with Windows 7 (you will even see lots of Netbooks running Windows 7 shortly, which would be unimaginable for Vista).

A kinder, gentler and more flexible UAC (User Account Control). In Windows Vista, the UAC feature was so over-bearing (remember the humorous ‘accept or deny’ Apple commercials?) that many users simply turned it off, which disabled one of the best features that made Vista much more secure than Windows XP.  In Windows 7, you can decide where and how this very useful and powerful tool is implemented (a great way to control what the kids can and cannot add to the system). With the sneaky malicious software that is plaguing the Internet at the moment, this updated version of the UAC is just what most consumers and small businesses need to fight the malware battle.

Faster boot times. The goal from the engineering side at Microsoft was to target a 15 second startup time, which may or may not be possible for everyone (your start time will depend upon what additional software you install), but by all measures, the tech community agrees that 7 boots faster than Vista.

Easier home networking setup. Anyone that went through the nightmare of trying to integrate a Vista system into an existing Windows XP network will appreciate this improvement.

Better support for multi-monitor configuration. If you haven’t experienced the joy of having dual monitors installed on your home or office computer, you are really missing a huge improvement in productivity (add it to your holiday wish list, you will thank us for it!).  Windows Vista was pretty picky about what it would support, whereas Windows 7 has wider support for different video cards coexisting in the same computer for a dual display configuration.

There are a whole host of other improvements such as auto-sizing side-by-side windows, consolidated and clearer security messages, Taskbar previews that are actually viewable and control over those irritating balloon notifications in the bottom right corner that make Windows 7 worth considering.

At the end of the day, if what you are using is working fine, don’t be in a huge hurry to fix what ain’t broken, however, if you are struggling with security, stability or performance, Windows 7 may be just what the doctor orders!

October 7, 2009

How did I get infected with Antivirus 2009?

Filed under: Viruses — Tags: antivirus, computer, computer checkup, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, data recovery software, disk recovery, easy recovery, file recovery, hard drive recovery, laptop repair, partition recovery, recover files, recover my files, recovery, recovery software, repair computer, virus removal — admin @ 10:28 am

Even with security software in place, virus infections can occur. Anti-virus/anti-spyware programs as well as firewalls are of no protection if the user of the computer decides to click on links that generate malicious code or download and run questionable files. The user’s interactions can easily override the installed protection and in some cases, actually disable protection programs, but make it look like they are still running.

The fake antivirus program scams actually started last year as “Antivirus 2008” and they were so successful that they live on as many variations including “Antivirus 2009” and most recently, “Personal Anti-Virus Pro.” A clever author of malware discovered a sneaky way to fool folks into installing malicious software into their computers, THEN extract money from them by posing as a legitimate program for removing the malicious software.

The reason that this approach has been so successful is that they very closely mimic Windows warning screens and legitimate antivirus programs. Virtually every legitimate antivirus company has a product called Antivirus 2009, which further confuses the uninitiated.

The most common ways to come in contact with this infection include maliciously coded websites that popup a warning message that you are infected, e-mail messages that trick folks into clicking on a link, websites that claim you need to download software in order to see a posted video and links or downloads that are spread through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook as well as all of the Instant Messaging systems.

Today, any form of popup or error message that refers to Antivirus 2008 or 2009 (including System Antivirus, Ultimate Antivirus, Vista Antivirus, Pro Antivirus or XP Antivirus followed by a number) should be considered extremely suspicious. If you ever see any reference to a virus that is not specifically from the product that you have installed in your computer for protection, you should consider it to be a fake (Windows, itself won’t ever alert you of a virus infection).Similarly, any website that claims that you need to download a new video program or “codec” in order to view a video should be considered a threat.

Users of file sharing networks are at a high risk of contracting malicious software as it’s often hidden within what appears to be a legitimate program (referred to as a Trojan).The writers of malicious code count on users that are not really paying attention and at this point, they are fooling people by the millions around the Internet. This type of infection is amongst the worst that I have seen in my 20 years of using computers.

Getting rid of the code once it has infected your system can be very involved and is different for the various versions of the infections, so don’t attempt this without help if you are a novice.

Start by identifying the exact version of the malware that you have and placing it in quotation marks followed by the words ‘removal instructions’ in Google (Ex: “Antivirus 2009” removal instructions).

WARNING: There are so many people infected with this family of malware that many new scam programs that claim to specifically clean the code have popped up. Some appear to be free programs that will only scan your system for free, but charge you to remove the code and often they don’t even do that properly.

Since there are so many different variations of this infection, the exact steps are going to be based on the exact version of the malware that you have. In our service business, we use a combination of several manual detection and removal processes (again, based on the exact version of the infection) along with multiple scanning programs to ensure that all potential re-infection avenues (temp files, restore points, modified dll files, etc.) have been removed or restored.

If you know how to work with the Windows registry, operate in Safe Mode and have a current backup of your critical files, you should be able to find instructions online for removing the exact version of the infection that you have.

If not, consult a tech savvy friend or a professional as removing this infection properly (so that you don’t re-infect) is not for the novice.

October 5, 2009

Dropped my phone in water, ugh!

Filed under: Tips, mobile — Tags: battery, computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, data recovery software, disk recovery, easy recovery, file recovery, hard drive recovery, laptop repair, partition recovery, phone recovery, recover files, recover my files, recovery, recovery software, repair computer — admin @ 7:34 am

Ker-plunk. There goes my phone, down into the dark depths of the lake, a burial of yet another phone costing me hundreds of dollars. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something that I could do to attempt lifesaving measures on this electronic device?

The first thing to do is turn the phone off and take out the battery (iPhone users don’t have the battery removal option, so turning it off is critical.) The biggest mistake that’s made in these panic situations is repeatedly trying to get the device to power up hoping that everything will be ok; each attempt could be your last!

Your best chances of recovery will be to not turn it back on until you are absolutely certain that all of the moisture has been removed or has evaporated – this could take days.

October 2, 2009

Am I really safe using public WiFi?

Filed under: Online Safety, Wireless Internet — Tags: computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, data recovery software, disk recovery, easy recovery, file recovery, hard drive recovery, laptop repair, partition recovery, recover files, recover my files, recovery, recovery software, repair computer, WiFi — admin @ 7:12 am

How many times have you logged onto public WiFi and wondered if you’re safe and secure? In order to intercept your transmissions, a hacker would have to install special software called a ‘packet sniffer’ which secretly copies unsecured packets transmitted on the same network or create a ‘man-in-the-middle’ exploit to trick you into connecting directly to their computer instead of a wifi access point.

Packet sniffers are readily available on the Internet and any motivated 14-year old could figure out how to use one, but that doesn’t mean that everyone around you has one.

The other issue is that even if someone can see what website you are surfing while you are at the airport, no harm is done unless you access your e-mail account, an online banking site or other normally secured resources on the Internet.

Secured sites on the Internet will show up as ‘https:’ instead of ‘http’. If you need to type sensitive information into your computer while on public WiFi, make sure you are doing it on a page that has the ‘https:’ prefix so that your transmissions are being encrypted.

Sadly, many web-based e-mail systems have a secured login page, but once you get past the login, the rest of the pages are not secured. The easiest way to tell if your webmail system is secure at all times is to log in, then go to your Inbox and see if the ‘https:’ remained in the URL.

If your webmail does not encrypt pages after the login screen, then you need to think twice about using it on public wifi networks without adding additional security software, such as VPN – Virtual Private Network software (more on this later).

To avoid the ‘man-in-the-middle’ attack, be very careful to look at the icon next to each available connection when you are attempting to connect to a wifi network. A fake wifi connection will appear as two computers instead of something that looks like an antenna.

Overall, you are pretty safe using a public wifi. Just remember to watch what you click and don’t go into confidential files without a secure login while you are public.