Windows 7 Pricing Announced!

Windows 7 is an amazing OS, and I highly encourage everyone to get it. Ill be getting the Pro version for work, and Ultimate for home. Unless you need the domain connectivity and security benefits of the professional version, or the media features of the ultimate edition, home basic is what you want.  

Also, starting in mid July, all new computers purchased with Windows Vista, will be eligible for a free upgrade to the equivalent version of Windows 7 when it is released, and as much as I like Vista, after using Windows 7, I have to say, your computer will probable run even better after the upgrade.

 

For the home user: Windows 7 Home Premium

Full Version: $199.99

Upgrade from XP or Vista: $119.99 $49.99- Limited time pre order offer.

 

For Business Users: Windows 7 Professional

 Full Version: $299.99

Upgrade from XP or Vista: $199.99  $99.99 – Limited time pre order offer

 

For those who want it all: Windows 7 Ultimate

Full Version: $320.00

Upgrade from XP or Vista: $219.00 (sorry guys, no special here)

 

Special Pricing ends July 11, 2009

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First Conficker Attack? or Worst April Fools Day Joke Ever?

It looks like Time Warner Business Class for Oahu is going offline. Several clients are reporting outages, their phones and website are down, and TW Corporate live chat is not working. I will post updates as we get them. Anyone with info, feel free to contact me via the "Contact Me" link.


0919 HST

TW is back online... Just a power outage

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What's a Conficker?

What is the Conficker Worm?

Conficker (also known as Downup, Downadup, and Kido) is a worm that has been spreading across the Internet since around October of 2008, of course, this is just an approximation, and the actual origin is not known for certain. Conficker specifically targets the Windows operating system (Windows 2000 Pro, XP home, XP Pro, XP Media Center Edition, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008). It spreads via malicious web sites, emails, and sharing infected files via P2P software.

What does Conficker do?

As of now, all that is has done is install itself, break your antivirus software, and modify some system files to make itself very hard to remove. It is also likely that if you got the Conficker Worm, you got other malware as well that causes the common symptoms (pop ups, slowness, etc). In addition, it creates false URLs in order to spread it self, and also downloads more malware to your system.

The big concern with this worm is that is has spread so much. Current estimates indicate that it could be installed on as many as 15 Million computers world wide. Now, if it stay dormant and does nothing, that's not that big of a deal, but experts don't think that it is going to stay dormant. Analysts who have looked into the worm believe that on April 1st, 2009 (tomorrow) the worm is programmed to "phone home" and update it self with new instructions, and that is a major concern.

The potential for a worm like this is massive, and the update could make the worm do anything from delete files, download more malware, turn your computer into a spam bot (a computer that sends out massive amounts of spam) or all the infected computers could be combined to form a massive botnet, which would be leased to the highest bidder.

A bot net, is a network of computers, usually lots of home systems spread across the world, that are controlled as a single unit and used to either send out massive amounts of spam, or to DDoS targets. If used as a botnet and the target is a bank, a utility company, or even a few large organizations the results could be crippling. If they target ISPs, the Internet could come to a crawl, if they target a company, they could lose massive amounts of business.

The problem is, at this point, we don't really know what will happen, and that is scary. But not to worry, we are not helpless.

Symptoms of Conficker:

• Users being locked out of directories
• Access to admin shares denied
• Scheduled tasks being created
• Access to security related web sites is blocked.

How to stop Conficker:

This worm uses a known exploit in Windows that Microsoft has patched a long time ago. The problem is, many people don't update their computers, so the fix is never installed. So the first step is to update your computer.

1. Go to update.microsoft.com and install all of the latest updates for your computer. Once they are installed, reboot your computer, and go back and run the updates again. Keep doing this until no more updates show as needing to be installed.
2. Update your anti virus software. Open up the software and run the automatic update. If your subscription is expired, either renew it right now, or uninstall it, and download and install a free anti virus like AVG
3. After the updates, run a full system scan, and delete any threats that have been found.
4. Restart your computer, and run the full system scan again.
5. You can also use an online scanner like Trend Micro's Housecall,  Symantec's Removal Tool, or
Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool

For more information about the Conficker Worm See the following:

Microsoft Malware Protection Center

Microsoft Help and Support

McAfee Conficker Information Page

Symantec's Conficker Information Page

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What Causes Delays in Email Delivery?

Email is one of the most handy tools available to both individuals and businesses a like. It provides nearly instantaneous communication with friends, family, colleagues, and even that friendly Nigerian Prince who said he wanted to give me a million dollars.

For the most part, when you send an email, within a few seconds, the recipient has it, but sometimes, that email that you really really need doesn't show up when you expect it, and you don't know why. To understand why emails get delayed, you have to understand how an email is sent from one person to another.

When an email is sent, it doesn't just go from your computer, to the recipients computer, it follows a path along the Internet, and along the way has several stops.

1. An email is created on your computer using a email authoring tool like Outlook or by using a webmail service like Gmail.
2. Once you click send,the message is sent to your mail server.
3. Your mail server then looks at the email, determines where it needs to send it according to DNS records the recipient company has set up.
4. Your mail server then sends the message to the place listed,
5. Many times, the server listed isn't actually the recipients mail server, it is an intermediary server set up as a spam filter or an archive server.
6. The receiving server then forwards the message off to the real mail server
7. The recipient then connects to their mail server and grabs the message.

This process seems simple right? not exactly. The Internet really is a series of computers, connected via wires, fiber optics, and other computers. An email must travel long distances, and a break down at any step, or between any step can cause a delay.

Some of the most common causes for delays and failed delivery that I see are the following:

1. User Error: It is very common for someone to mistype an email address. If you are missing an email, get in touch with the sender, and have them read you the email address they are sending to (don't ask "did you send it to youremailaddress as they will just assume they did)
   
2. Spam Filters / Grey Lists / Black Lists: Spam filters are meant to block spam, but sometimes they are wrong and block a legit email, which means the recipient doesn't get it, check your junk mail folder, or ask your admin to check the spam filter if you are missing something.
   
3. Internet Connectivity Problems: Sometimes things break, and broken things causes delays. A bad connection between your computer and mail server, your mail server and a DNS server, your mail server, and the recipients mail server(s), or the recipients mail server and the recipients computer can all cause delays in email delivery. Because of this, email servers have rules on the configured to retry message delivery several times before you ever get an error that says the message could not be delivered.

The bad part about most of these delays is that there is little you, or your IT department can do about it. People make mistakes, computers make mistakes, and things break. The good part is, at least now you have a better understanding of how email gets to you, and are more forging towards your IT guy a little slack when he says there is little he can do to find that missing email for you. In fact, most times, I cant even look into email delays until the email actually gets there and I can take a look at the message header to see where the email has been and when it got there. But Ill talk about that another time.

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The ThinkSmarter Store is now open

I have decided that since I spend a lot of time recommending cool products and gadgets, I would give you an easy way to also buy them.

The ThinkSmarter Store, powered by Amazon, is now open, and available via the sidebar below the RSS sign up section of the Blog.

 

I will be adding product to the store as I review things or find things that I think you would like. Right now there are some books, movies, software and hardware that I like, and the prices are pretty good (it is amazon after all), so check it out, as I will be adding more stuff frequently, and of course, if you have any recommendations of things I should check out, feel free to send me an email, and Ill take a look, and add them to the store if I like them.

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How do Spam Filters Work?

Over 95 percent of all email sent today is spam. That means if you have nothing filtering the email you read, only 5 of the 100 emails you look at will be legitimate. Within those 95 pieces of junk mail, several will contain tempting attachments that are really viruses, even more will contain letters of sorry trying to get you to send money, and even more will contain advertisements for fly by night pharmaceutical companies trying to sell you miracle drugs. How has time to deal with all of them? No one, and that is why Spam filters are becoming more and more important.

But how do spam filters know which emails are real and which are spam? Well, like any good security system, they run each message through several layers of tests and checks to ensure the email you get is not dangerous.

1. Black Lists: The first layer of protection that a spam filter offers utilizes a black list. A black list is a list of IP address and domain names that in the past have sent out spam. It is similar to the black list used by clubs and casinos to keep out trouble makers. Where at a club, every person has their ID checked, spam filters do the same thing and look at where the email is coming from. If the sender's domain or mail servers IP address is on a black list, the message is refused. Some of the most popular blacklists that people use are Spam Cop, Barracuda Central and The Spamhaus Project, although there are hundreds of others, many of which use each other to increase their effectiveness.
   
2. Key Word Searches: Spammers know what attracts peoples attention, they know that people love money, people love good looking men and women, people like exciting news, and because of this, they use the same type of word combinations to get people attention. This makes them predicable, and because of that, spam filters can look for key words and phrases and if present, block a message. For instance, if a message says something like "FREE VICODIN!!!!" its probably not legitimate, so the spam filter will mark it as spam. Some of the most common words used in spam are "millionaire" and "sex"
   
3. Mail Formatting: Spam filters can also look at the design of an email. Is it all text? is it one big image? are their tons of links to other things. is any of the text hidden? By using characteristics like this, the spam filter can make an educated guess as to what is real and what isn't.
   
4. Attachment Scanning: Spam filters will not only scan the email it self, but good ones will scan the attachment as well. This allows the filter to catch viruses and Spyware before they get to your computer.

When using any of the methods above on their own there is a good chance that you will both miss a lot, and let a lot through, so many spam filters use a point system to rate emails. For instance, a key word search might find a few things that look like spam, but could also be real, so it will give it 2 points, the formatting also looks bad, so it gives it another 2 points. The message comes from an IP that is not black listed, so no points given, and there are no attachments, so no points there wither. this is 4 points. So if the spam filter is only configured to block things that get 5 points or more, then the mail would go through, if it is configured to only allow 3s and below, it would be blocked.

Of course, no scan is ever going to be perfect. because of this good spam filters will have a way for the email recipients to see all mail that was filtered so they mark it as not spam so the spam filter doesn't make the mistake again, and also have an option to mark things it did let past as spam so the filter can better recognize the spam in the future.

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Getting rid of an old computer?

Ah...the smell of new computers in the morning... there is little in life which is better (except for bacon...bacon > most things in life)anyway...

So you just got your new computer, you backed up the data off the old one, moved it to the new one and are ready to take that old box to the recycling center (you wouldn't just throw it in the trash would you)

Not so fast...

One major mistake I see individuals and companies make on a nearly daily basis is taking their old computer and just throwing it in the trash. This is a big mistake. Before you throw out any computer, you need to make sure all data is properly removed. I can't count the number of computers I have gotten for free that were loaded with personal information, and not just silly things like family photos, I'm talking about bank statements, quicken files, "personal" photo albums, etc.

Reformatting your hard drive will discourage most people from looking for information, but it is not really deleting your data, just flagging the parts of the hard drive as empty. To really delete you data, you actually need to delete it, and then write more stuff over it. To do this, you need a special tool.

While there are several commercially available piece of software out there that can do this, I'm not a fan of any of them because they cost money. I'm cheap, I like free things, so I use DBAN,

*************WARNING***************

DBAN IS PERMANENT DATA REMOVAL, DO NOT USE DBAN ON A DRIVE YOU MIGHT EVER NEED DATA OFF OF AGAIN.

DBAN is an outstanding tool that deletes your data, then overwrites its it to make sure it is gone. It then repeats this up to 7 times if you want it to. (Department of Defense requires a minimum of 5 overwrites). It is incredibly simple to use, you just pop the disk in, pick the drive, and poof! all data is gone (ok, the poof! might take an hour or so depending on the size of the drive) but still, once you have done this, the recovery would take way more time and money (if possible at all) than almost any person or companies data is worth.

For businesses who need to remove data from drives frequently, there is EBAN which allows you to wipe data from dozens of computers at once.

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What's a Netbook?

Anyone who has been looking around for a new computer as of late has probably seen the growth of a relatively new class of computers, the NetBook. They are small, cheap, and portable. Sounds perfect right? Maybe not...

Many people are dazzeled by the low price (Dell's 9" Inspiron Mini starts at $249.99) so they may hurry into buying one without considering what they are actually buying.

The basic differences between netbooks and notebooks are:

• Netbooks are smaller and lighter usually
• Netbooks tend to have less RAM
• Netbooks have a superior battery life
• Netbooks have smaller hard drives
• Netbooks have less powerful video cards

A netbook might be ok for you if you want to:

1. Browse Websites
2. Check your email
3. View pictures
4. Stream media from sights like YouTube and Hulu (non Hi-Def)
5. Light word processing

Buy a standard notebook if you want to:

1. Edit photos and video
2. Stream Hi-Def video
3. Don't want to carry an external drive around.
4. Heavy MS Office work (mostly because the small screen size makes these tasks harder after long periods)

Are netbooks for everyone? No, but they absolutely have their place in the world. Would I buy one? I'd like to pick up one of the Dell Inspiron Mini's sometime. It would not be my primary computer, but I could definitely blog from it, and do a lot of my other day to day web tasks, and then remote desktop to my primary and do work if I didn't feel like going to my desk.

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Getting Rid of Anti-Virus 2009 and Similar Infections.

Anyone who has been doing computer repair in the last 6 months has without a doubt heard about antivirus 2009, and most likely seen in a few times. It has become one of the biggest annoyances yet and this is for trained computer technicians. After several infections on client computers I have come up with a pretty straight forward method of getting rid of it that both IT professionals as well as home users can follow.

This guide can help you remove: AV2009, AV2008, antivrus XP Pro, AV360, antivirus 360, and many similar variants.

Follow the steps below while logged in as the user having trouble. (logging in as another user makes this much more difficult)

1. The first thing to do may seem like the most obvious, but most people don't bother doing it. Uninstall the software. You can uninstall AV2009 by going to Start --> All Programs --> Antivirus 2009 --> Uninstall Antivirus 2009. This should immediately stop the pop ups from occurring.
2. Use windows Search and search you drive for av2009, delete all files with that name.
3. Download CCleaner and install it.
4. Under tools, go to startup and look through your start up items for av2009 entries and select the option to delete them. While here, verify all startup items as legitimate. Once done, use CCleaner to remove all temp files, cookies, and to clean up your registry (remember to backup your registry before making any changes)
5. Once you are done with CCleaner, download and install Malware Bytes Anti-Malware Tool. The free tool is all you will need for this removal, but you should consider purchasing the full version as it is very helpful.
6. Update MBAM with the latest  definition files and run the Quick Scan
7. Once the quick scan completes, delete all threats that it finds and reboot to deleting anything it could not delete after the scan.
8. Once the first scan/delete is finished, reboot your computer into safe mode.
9. Run a full system scan with MBAM in safe mode
10. Delete all threats found and reboot again
11. Run Microsoft Update to ensure your system is fully up to date

AV2009 should be completely gone at this point. If it is not, the most likely cause is that you missed an entry in the start up items.

 

 

NOTE: Before doing any virus clean up, you should backup all critical data to an external drive or DVD. Be sure to scan the files before copying them back to your computer in the future.

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Outlook 2007 doesnt work with Word 2003

So last week my boss decided we should upgrade our CEO to Outlook 2007, but he didn't want to upgrade the entire suite just yet because that would be too much change at a given time. I agreed or CEO isn't the greatest with change so I went a head and installed Outlook 2007. He really liked it. He enjoyed the new interface and the new features, but he did have one complaint. His auto correct/replace didn't work any more.

Here is why. When you are editing an email in outlook, it actually uses Microsoft word to do the work, the reason for this is MS Word has a much larger tool set then the one built into outlook (outlook does have its own for those that don't have word, but its not so good). Unfortunately, Outlook 2007 cannot use word 2003 for this. So what happens is you get stuck either with Outlooks word processing engine, or with Outlook trying to use word 2003 which it can't.

The fix was easy, install word 2007. Its not that big of a deal, but something to be aware of if you decide you want Outlook 2007 (because its awesome) but dont want to buy the whole office suite.

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False Security

Many believe that having "false security" or having the perception of a secure environment is more dangerous than having no security at all because at least when you realize you have no security, you are on the look out for strange behavior.

An example of false security that I have seen were the door guards at a retail store I worked at. When employees left for the day, the door guard was instructed to check the employees bag to be sure they haven't taken anything. In addition to that, if the employee owned a product that the store sold (it was an electronics store so it was very common) we had to log them into a book and include make/model/serial number. It sounds like a good idea right? well here are the flaws.

1. Security never checked the serial number/make/model against the log book.


2. Security often would look in just one pocket of a bag, and just glance so it looks like they did their job.


3. Employees could easily add the make/model/serial number of something they stole to the log book so it looks like it was theres.

These were the three biggest flaws. This is false security. At most it is a deterrent to employees who want to steal because there is a slight chance they could get caught. In addition to this it wasted my time as an employee because I would have to stop, wait behind customers who were also leaving, just so the door guard can pretend he gives a crap and checks my bag.

What this does is gives the company the feeling that they are protecting them selves, but in reality they are paying staff to not do anything. Then they wonder why things get stolen so often.

A way to prevent false security is to be honest with your self. Do an audit on your security practices, and be honest with the results. DO NOT make excuses for why things didnt go the way you had hoped. "well, it was an only an audit...that wouldn't happen if it were real" is a bunch of crap. To get a real feel of how things are going, pay an outside company to do the audit, and don't tell your staff. If you say "we are being audited on security on Tuesday" they will be on their best behavior on Tuesday, this will give you a false reading of what really happens. This is the same reason large retail companies pay "secret shoppers" its an audit of their performance. The same should be done for security.

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"local security authority could not be found"

This error message has been popping up a lot at work and took me a while to figure out 1. what is causing it and 2. how to fix it.

Here is what I have gathered so far:

1. The error is caused by a incorrect password be cached into memory somewhere then trying to be submitted to a server requesting authentication via web page


2. I Have experienced it while trying to access pages on a Microsoft Sharepoint server


3. It usually occurs if you either have your browser to authenticate you to the page automatically either with the credentials you use to log in, or with credentials previously saved or if you have previously saved credentials and click ok when the pre-filled authentication window pops up.


4. The only resolution I have found for this is to force the website to ask for authentication. You can do this by going into your internet security properties and under the custom settings select the option that forces a prompt for authentication rather than using saved credentials. Be sure to do this for all zones, since if you do it just for the internet zone, and this is on an intranet, it wont effect it.

Comment if you find out anything else. For now we have just set the group policy to force everyone to always authenticate, it seems to be working.

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Backups v. Redundancy

What are difference between Redundancy and Backups? Typically, when discussing redundancy in terms of data storage, you are talking about a RAID. Many people make the mistake of thinking that because you have a RAID you have backups of your data, this is NOT true. But to understand why this is not true, you need to understand the differences between Backups and a RAID and what their purposes are.

What is a RAID?

RAID: Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drive

RAID is exactly what it says. It is an array of drives, all of which are typically identical in specs and based on the configuration you set will divide and/or replicate the data you save to them. A RAID can be set up in several ways, but the most typical are RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5

RAID 0, or striping, refers to a configuration in which you have typically 2 hard drive of the same size and you set them to “stripe” data across both drives. It will generally provide for better performance because the computer can read from both disks when searching for data. This configuration provides no redundancy, and a single disk failure will cause the array to fail and data to be lost.

RAID 1, or Mirroring, is the practice of again taking 2 drives, but instead of striping the data across both drives, the drives mirror each other. With this configuration, you lose half your total storage space (because you are basically saving everything in 2 places), but you will get a performance boost because the computer can then use 2 separate points to pull data from, and if one disk dies, the other can pick up where it left off, which provides basic redundancy.

RAID 5, or a striped set, consists of a minimum of 3 disks, which is configured in a way that the data is distributed across all of the drives, and allows for the failure of 1 drive without data loss. The percentage of lost storage space in a RAID 5 configuration varies based on how many total drives there are (e.g. if you have 3 100GB drives, you have 200GB storage space. If you have 5 100GB drives, you have 400GB of storage space)

There are several other configurations for RAIDs which combine the above setups and allow for better performance or better redundancy. But these are the 3 Basic configurations. For more information about various RAID configurations, including options available via software see the RAID entry on Wikipedia.

What are Backups?

Backups are a copy of data, stored for the purpose of having a second copy of an original source in case of loss of the original source. Typically, backups are run on scheduled intervals. The frequency of a backups and how long you keep a backup for depends on the needs of you and your business. In an environment like a bank, backups are taken every few minutes because the number of transactions processed is very large, and the data being processed is very important. For a small business once a week may be often enough for documents that change, and once a month for archived information.

There are several types of Backup configurations and types including Full, Incremental, and differential. For more information in regards to the different types of backups see the Backup entry on Wikipedia

How to Choose:

When trying to determine which solution is best, you need to ask what your needs are. Do you need to have your computer up and running all the time? Or do you need to be able to replace files they may have been deleted, corrupted, or edited by mistake?

If you need the uptime, then a RAID solution is what you need. RAID solutions (with the exception of RAID 0) provide the most uptime, because if one of the hard disks fails, the others can take its place temporarily. If you need to have older versions of documents, or the ability to recover a lost document because it was deleted by mistake, or someone edited it and saved it incorrectly, then you need a good backup solution. And if you are like most businesses, you need both. In which case, you will need a RAID set up as well as a Backup solution.

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Down and Dirty System Tune Up (Part 2)

Extra Steps

So now your computer is clean of Malware, and is protected, but still running slow. Well we are not done yet. The first thing you want to do is open up your event viewer and take a look to see if any errors are occurring, these are going to be your best hints at what is causing a problem, possibly a conflict between two pieces of software, or just a program not running correctly. Also, run your disk cleanup tool and clean out your temp files and cache. Run you disk defragmenter to keep all of your data well organized and readily accessible on your hard drive. These tools can be found in you system tools folder (start -> all programs --> accessories --> system tools) and will help increase the life of your computer as well as keep its performance up to par. And if you are still having problems we have one more place we can look before you should think about seeing a professional. Look in our system information (start --> all programs --> accessories --> system tools --> system information) and look under the hardware resources section for any conflicts in hardware. If you locate any conflicts there is a good chance they are causing your problems. Take the necessary steps to correct the problems. (Things like making sure you have the most up to date drivers for all components help a lot)

Other Helpful Links

• Sysinternals - www.sysinternals.com - provides a variety of free system tools to help you monitor/fix system problems.


• Google - www.google.com - if you find something and don’t know what it is, Google it, I’m sure you’ll find an answer there.


• Symantec - http://securityresponse.symantec.com/ - latest virus news including new viruses and there danger levels.

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Note: Always make a backup of your data before doing any major work to your computer.

Why is my computer running slow?

So all of a sudden you windows computer is starting to run slower than normal, you are getting more pop-ups than usual, and programs aren’t working the way they should. Don’t worry; it’s not the end of the world. The following is a down and dirty guide to first cleaning your computer of all the garbage that is slowing it down, and then keeping it clean.

Before we start talking about how to get your system back up and running like the beast it is, we should discuss what could be causing the problem to begin with. Today’s internet is filled with tons of garbage, it’s sad but true.

Two of the most common reasons for sudden computer slowdowns are vicious types of hidden software called adware and spyware. Both are usually installed under false pretences claiming to be these great pieces of software that will speed up your internet connections, give you free games, or pretty screen savers. And while they may do some of the stuff they claim, they also send information about you, your computer, and your internet browsing habits back to its creator (or more likely the person who paid the creator) and they use this information to trigger pop-ups on your computer and in some cases get your email address to send SPAM to.

Aside from these two types of hidden software there is the world of viruses that we must discuss. Viruses come in a wide variety of types and can do many things (almost none of which is good). Viruses are defined as any software that can replicate itself and spread throughout your system or to another system. Viruses have functions that range from sending out SPAM, collecting email addresses from your address book to aid in spamming, turning your computer in to a “zombie” (a computer that is remotely controlled by the attacker to aid in Distributed Denial of Service Attacks), turning your computer into a proxy for a hacker to route his traffic through in order to protect his/her identity, and data loss among many other things.

What can be done?

Now that we know the 3 most common software threats on the internet you may be asking “How do I get rid of this stuff?” well the solution is much simpler than computer shops want you to think. There are a wide variety of tools available for free on the internet to help you with removal of this type of problem. I like to refer to the following as the Holy Trinity of the computer world.

Adaware – made by a company called Lavasoft, Adaware is one of the most popular and most successful programs I have come across on the internet for removing adware and spyware from your computer. The personal edition is available for free download from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ download the latest version of this software and get the latest definition updates.

Stinger – made by McAfee, stinger is a stand alone virus scanner that scans for about 50 of the most widespread (not necessarily the most recent) viruses out there. It saves a convenient log of what it found so you know exactly what was going wrong. Stinger can be downloaded from http://vil.nai.com/vil/averttools.asp

House Call – a web based virus scanner that is about as up to date as you can ask for. Now with a vulnerability scanner as well as a scanner for Spyware/Adware added this has gone from being a better than average virus scanner to an extremely powerful tool. It can be accessed at http://housecalll.trendmicro.com

Once you have downloaded your tools and have updated them, restart your computer into safemode. This is usually done by tapping the f8 key on your keyboard right after the computer begins to start up. Starting in safemode is strongly encouraged because while in safemode the computer only starts essential services, and loads essential drivers. If a file is in use it sometimes cannot be scanned and even when it is scanned it cannot be removed. So safemode accesses the fewest files needed to get the computer going. Run your scanners in safemode, and delete everything they detect (unless you know that it is a legitimate program, sometimes false positives do occur) chances are you will find a handful of stuff even if you think your computer is clean. After you have run the offline scanners you may want to reboot your computer connect to the internet and run Housecall"s scanner. After this is done the basic scans of your computer have been completed. If you feel the need you can repeat the previous steps as many times as you want until you feel your system is clean (I normally go through two times, just to be sure, with a reboot after the first time around)

How to keep it running well:

So now your computer is Clean, so let’s keep it that way. The most important thing you can do to keep your computer clean, is educate yourself. Be careful of the sights you visit, remember the saying “if it looks too good to be true, it probably is” and don’t download software from untrusted sites. Even if the software seems harmless it can cause a great deal of damage. Secondly, get an antivirus program installed on your computer; many good products can be purchased from a computer store including Symantec’s anti-virus and McAfee to just name two of the bigger ones. Or you can opt to download a free anti-virus like AVG (available at http://www.grisoft.com/)

You may also want to install a firewall on your computer. A firewall is another layer of protection between your computer and the internet. Firewalls come in both software and hardware form, and when configured correctly are very effective in protecting your computer. Sygate is a free software firewall and can be downloaded from http://smb.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm but like I said before you must keep this software updated and configured correctly for it to be effective. Do not “allow all connections” or you are just wasting system resources. Take the time to configure the firewall correctly and it will pay off.

Now all the software in the world can’t protect you if you don’t take the basic steps of patching your operating system. Microsoft provides a nice little program called “Microsoft Automatic Update” which comes pre-installed on all windows computers. USE IT. It will keep your computer up to date with the latest OS patches and help in keeping your computer a bit safer on the internet. I cannot stress enough how important it is to keep all of your software up to date with the latest security patches. The companies have only a handful of programmers creating the software and have THOUSANDS trying to break it. Holes will be found, so it is your responsibility to patch them.

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