Cryptic error messages, hour long startups, dirty pop-ups, and other strange behavior, seem to plague many people's PCs. This can become so bad that people throw out a good computer and buy a new one because they think it is irreparable. Never fear there is hope, even for the worst of infestations.
How to fix it...
1. Get a some software.
-If your computer is badly infected then use someone else's computer to download the required software.
-download:
Spybot Search and Destroy
AVG Anitvirus (the free version)
Advanced WindowsCare Personal
Threatfire
2. Restart your PC and then boot into safe mode.
-To get into safe mode, restart and then just before the Windows startup screen comes on push F5. This should get you to a screen that will ask you if you want to boot to safe mode.
-Log on to your account
3. Once you are in safe mode, install both AVG and Spybot.
4. Let both of them update.
5. Run a full system scan with AVG.
6. Order a pizza. (the scan might take over an hour)
7. When it is done you might have to restart. If you restart make sure you boot back into safe mode.
8. Run Spybot
9. Take your family out for ice cream. (this might take a while also)
10. When you are done with the scan, click the "Fix Selected Problems" (It's toward the top)
11. Once again you may need to restart and it might ask if you want to run it again when it restarts, say yes and then let your computer restart.
12. This time let your computer boot up normally.
13 . Spybot will run one more time to finish it's clean up.
14. Install Advanced WindowsCare. IMPORTANT: When you install it, it will want to install a Yahoo tool bar and change your default search engine to be Yahoo. Don't let it, uncheck the option boxes.
15. Run Advanced WindowsCare
16. When it is done with it's scan, click on the "Show Details" next to the Startup Manage button.
17. Go through each item in the green highlighted area and read the description about each. Decide which ones you need and which ones you don't, then uncheck the ones you don't need.
18. The items that are not highlighted in green do not have a description, look them up on google, then decide if it is something you need to have running.
19. When you have taken care of your startup items, click "OK" then click "Repair" on the main screen.
20. Install Threatfire.
21. Done. You should have your computer full repaired. Some viruses can be a little harder to remove. If you think you might need to check a little deeper then download and run the malicious software remover from Microsoft.
Of course this is not perfect but it will take care of most infestations. Here are a few tips to follow:
- Never let your computer get out of hand. You won't have to do all this every time if you keep your PC clean all you will have to do is scan your computer with Spybot every month or so.
- Keep AVG running and updated.
- Don't use Norton's. It is expensive, bloated, ineffective, and will suck the power out of your computer.
- Don't give into ads that tell you that you have viruses or spyware on your computer. These will install spyware and not be effective.
- Read my past posts for tips on keeping your PC clean.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Learn to Geek for Free
I have never had a formal training in computers or web design (except for a short course on the Internet when I was in high school.) I have learned everything I know from three sources.
One: Learn by doing.
When I was in 9th grade I had a shop class that offered a section on computers. It was more or less a joke. There was no books telling you what to do, no teacher who knew anymore than the students did, nothing. What they did have was two old IBM 386 computers. The teacher told me, "If you can strip this down to all of the separate parts then put it back together and have it still working then you can have it." WOW! A real working computer! How could I refuse? I stripped that thing down to the motherboard and then put the whole thing back together and prayed that it would still work. Sure enough, when I pushed the power button it came on and had no errors.
If you want to learn how to geek out then go get an old computer and tear it up. I don't recommend using your new Alienware gaming rig, that would not be a good testing platform. Instead find your old computer that you retired back in 2001 and see if you can fix it. If you start and get stuck, don't worry that's when my next point will come into play...
Two: Learn by Reading
We have the greatest resource that has ever been developed sitting at our fingertips. The internet has how-tos, walkthroughs, and tutorials.
Finding information does not have to be as daunting a task as you might think. Your first and best option is Google. Google is the best search engine ever developed, and most everyone has used it at least once, but most people have no idea about the power it really has. Google has many advanced 0ptions that most people have no idea even exist. For example, your computer gives you an error message, you search for it on google but you get a bunch of irrelevant links that just contain a couple of the words in the error, how do you get only what you want? If you put quotation marks around the phrase, google will only search for that exact phrase. This is only one example but there are many more that you can learn about for yourself here. When searching Google, remember that it looks through websites for the words your are looking for, so think about what might be written in the page instead of asking a question. Ok, I know that was confusing so let me give you an example: Instead of "How do you cook collard greens?" use "collard greens recipes" The latter phrase is more likely to be found on the site you are looking for rather than just asking a question.
Anything you want to know can be found on the Internet somewhere. The key is to look for it. There is even sites that are dedicated to teaching a certain subject. For instance, I've never had a formal lesson on web design but I have built several sites. I learned all of that from a site called W3Schools.com. This is a great resource for everything you would need to make a dynamic website.
Three: Listen to People Who Know
Whenever I find someone who knows more than me on geeky stuff I pick their brain for anything that I can pickup on. Don't be proud, be humble and let them know that you think they are smarter than you are. This will open them up more than trying to compete with them. Also in the last few years a new media has been evolving called podcasts. Podcasts are videos or audio clips that individuals make and post for people to download (usually for free). I subscribe to about a dozen different podcast, most of them are tech podcasts. These help me to learn and stay on top of the news in the tech world. The easiest way of getting these is to download iTunes from Apple then go to their iTunes store and search for podcasts.
Some of my favorite podcasts are Tekzilla, Geekbrief, DL.TV, and Webb Alert. These have a good mix of tech news and how-tos. These will help you to learn and to stay up to date.
I hope this will be helpful for those who want to geek but don't know where to start. Comment below with any questions your might have as well as any other tips you might have.
One: Learn by doing.
When I was in 9th grade I had a shop class that offered a section on computers. It was more or less a joke. There was no books telling you what to do, no teacher who knew anymore than the students did, nothing. What they did have was two old IBM 386 computers. The teacher told me, "If you can strip this down to all of the separate parts then put it back together and have it still working then you can have it." WOW! A real working computer! How could I refuse? I stripped that thing down to the motherboard and then put the whole thing back together and prayed that it would still work. Sure enough, when I pushed the power button it came on and had no errors.
If you want to learn how to geek out then go get an old computer and tear it up. I don't recommend using your new Alienware gaming rig, that would not be a good testing platform. Instead find your old computer that you retired back in 2001 and see if you can fix it. If you start and get stuck, don't worry that's when my next point will come into play...
Two: Learn by Reading
We have the greatest resource that has ever been developed sitting at our fingertips. The internet has how-tos, walkthroughs, and tutorials.
Finding information does not have to be as daunting a task as you might think. Your first and best option is Google. Google is the best search engine ever developed, and most everyone has used it at least once, but most people have no idea about the power it really has. Google has many advanced 0ptions that most people have no idea even exist. For example, your computer gives you an error message, you search for it on google but you get a bunch of irrelevant links that just contain a couple of the words in the error, how do you get only what you want? If you put quotation marks around the phrase, google will only search for that exact phrase. This is only one example but there are many more that you can learn about for yourself here. When searching Google, remember that it looks through websites for the words your are looking for, so think about what might be written in the page instead of asking a question. Ok, I know that was confusing so let me give you an example: Instead of "How do you cook collard greens?" use "collard greens recipes" The latter phrase is more likely to be found on the site you are looking for rather than just asking a question.
Anything you want to know can be found on the Internet somewhere. The key is to look for it. There is even sites that are dedicated to teaching a certain subject. For instance, I've never had a formal lesson on web design but I have built several sites. I learned all of that from a site called W3Schools.com. This is a great resource for everything you would need to make a dynamic website.
Three: Listen to People Who Know
Whenever I find someone who knows more than me on geeky stuff I pick their brain for anything that I can pickup on. Don't be proud, be humble and let them know that you think they are smarter than you are. This will open them up more than trying to compete with them. Also in the last few years a new media has been evolving called podcasts. Podcasts are videos or audio clips that individuals make and post for people to download (usually for free). I subscribe to about a dozen different podcast, most of them are tech podcasts. These help me to learn and stay on top of the news in the tech world. The easiest way of getting these is to download iTunes from Apple then go to their iTunes store and search for podcasts.
Some of my favorite podcasts are Tekzilla, Geekbrief, DL.TV, and Webb Alert. These have a good mix of tech news and how-tos. These will help you to learn and to stay up to date.
I hope this will be helpful for those who want to geek but don't know where to start. Comment below with any questions your might have as well as any other tips you might have.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Computer Ownership 101
I work full time at a small Christian radio station, but I do some computer repair on the side. I am often shocked at what I find on people's computers. I once cleaned out a PC that had over 900 viruses! We spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars on our PCs and then we fill it with our music, documents, emails, movies, pictures, and other priceless content, and ignore some of the most basic of security measures. I understand that not everyone is interested in being a power user, but everyone who owns a computer should understand a few things.
Number One: Your Computer Needs Protection!
Your car has some built in security measures. You have door locks and it takes a unique key to start it. That said, if you live in a area where cars are stolen like my wife's cookies, then you put more security measures like an alarm on it. Your computer needs protection. If you run windows, then you should at least use an anti-virus. Lets face it, Windows is attacked more than any other system out there. Secondly, you need some sort of second layer of protection. A newer threat has started to attack windows, its purpose is not to destroy your computer but to learn anything it can to exploit you through advertisements, stealing of your personal information (credit card numbers, user names, social security number, your online habits, passwords, and any other information it can use to exploit you.) many times this is not picked up by your anti-virus. There are a number of anti-spyware programs out there that work to keep you protected.
"I don't have anything that is important on my computer so, I'm not concerned about all that stuff." This is the most dangerous mindset that anyone can have. Viruses don't just attack your system, but they also use your unprotected PC to infect others. If you don't care about your PC then please do everyone else a favor and protect it for our sake! Viruses can spread themselves by sending themselves to everyone on your email list as well as use all of your internet bandwidth (your internet speed) to do anything they want. Letting your PC become infected with viruses and leaving it, hoping that it will fix itself, is like giving your computer to a nefarious person to do what ever he wants with it.
Security does not have to make you take out a second mortgage on your home. My favorite set up is to use AVG Free Anti-Virus for viruses, PC Tools Threat Fire for zero day attacks (attacks that are not yet known), and Windows Defender for spyware and a few other problems. These three are free and do a very good job of protecting your system. As long as your computer is not made before 1998, you shouldn't notice any performance hit.
Number Two: Backup Your Stuff!
This is something that I can't stress enough. Most people don't do this, and many of those who do don't do it right. You don't have to do a full system backup to protect yourself. Sometimes you only have to put your documents on an USB thumb drive. Other times, it is important to clone your whole hard drive. The most important thing to remember is that if you are going to protect your important information then you need to get the information off the computer and put in a different place all together. If your hard drive dies then all of the backups you made on your hard drive will die also. With the price of USB drive going down and the capacity is getting larger there is no reason why the common person can't backup their info. Blank CDs and DVDs also make for a good backup medium, but beware these are not for long term. After a few years a CD or DVD will suffer from rot and all that info will be lost. This has happened to me with some of the CDs I burned when I was at college. If you have huge amounts of data, you will want to buy a external hard drive. If you are looking for some good backup mediums that won't break the bank then look on Newegg.com. Newegg has the best prices on hardware and also has the best customer service.
Number Three: Don't Be Stupid!
This is the most important tip that anyone could ever follow. I know people who have all of the super expensive anti-whatever software and total security suites and still get pwned by viruses and spyware. The best thing you can do is to use your brain before you do something. If you get an email from someone you have never heard of that says "check this out" or "here is what you requested" or (God forbid) "Cheap Viagra!" DO NOT OPEN IT, DO NOT REPLY TO IT, DO NOT BE FOOLED! These are like worms on a hook. Any message you get that has an attachment from someone you have never heard of DO NOT OPEN IT!
Update your security software. If your software does n0t auto-update then make sure you update it manually at least three times a week. If your software expires, renew it or get a free option but do not let it go unattended. I have cleaned out infested computers with the full Norton's suite that wasn't kept updated and had expired.
Don't trust other people's portable storage devices (Burned CDs, DVDs, USB Drives, etc...), viruses can be spread through them also. Stay way from "shady" sites. Porn sites are notorious for this. While they have your attention they will install all sorts of things that will destroy your computer. Have some self control stay away from sites offering things like free money, free porn, free screen savers, free wallpapers, etc... I use Firefox to browse the internet (which will help keep you safer). Firefox has these wonderful things called add ons. One of the best ones I've ever used is call WOT. It has a rating system for sites based on four things: trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. This is a quick and easy way to find out if a site is dangerous or not.
Be careful of pop-ups. Many times they are made to look like a normal window or have items that look like you can click to get out of them. Many times the "click here to close" button lies. If you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 and you get an unwanted pop-up, be very careful. The best option is not to click the X on top because it can sometimes do something very bad to your computer. It is best to hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and kill the pop-up manually in the task manager. This may seem like an over kill but it is better than spending an entire day trying to fix your PC.
If you own a computer you have some responsibilities that come with it. If you are responsible you will have many years of trouble free computing, if you are careless and ignore the advice of all your geeky friends you will have hours of headaches. So stop procrastinating and take care of your PC there is no excuse.
Number One: Your Computer Needs Protection!
Your car has some built in security measures. You have door locks and it takes a unique key to start it. That said, if you live in a area where cars are stolen like my wife's cookies, then you put more security measures like an alarm on it. Your computer needs protection. If you run windows, then you should at least use an anti-virus. Lets face it, Windows is attacked more than any other system out there. Secondly, you need some sort of second layer of protection. A newer threat has started to attack windows, its purpose is not to destroy your computer but to learn anything it can to exploit you through advertisements, stealing of your personal information (credit card numbers, user names, social security number, your online habits, passwords, and any other information it can use to exploit you.) many times this is not picked up by your anti-virus. There are a number of anti-spyware programs out there that work to keep you protected.
"I don't have anything that is important on my computer so, I'm not concerned about all that stuff." This is the most dangerous mindset that anyone can have. Viruses don't just attack your system, but they also use your unprotected PC to infect others. If you don't care about your PC then please do everyone else a favor and protect it for our sake! Viruses can spread themselves by sending themselves to everyone on your email list as well as use all of your internet bandwidth (your internet speed) to do anything they want. Letting your PC become infected with viruses and leaving it, hoping that it will fix itself, is like giving your computer to a nefarious person to do what ever he wants with it.
Security does not have to make you take out a second mortgage on your home. My favorite set up is to use AVG Free Anti-Virus for viruses, PC Tools Threat Fire for zero day attacks (attacks that are not yet known), and Windows Defender for spyware and a few other problems. These three are free and do a very good job of protecting your system. As long as your computer is not made before 1998, you shouldn't notice any performance hit.
Number Two: Backup Your Stuff!
This is something that I can't stress enough. Most people don't do this, and many of those who do don't do it right. You don't have to do a full system backup to protect yourself. Sometimes you only have to put your documents on an USB thumb drive. Other times, it is important to clone your whole hard drive. The most important thing to remember is that if you are going to protect your important information then you need to get the information off the computer and put in a different place all together. If your hard drive dies then all of the backups you made on your hard drive will die also. With the price of USB drive going down and the capacity is getting larger there is no reason why the common person can't backup their info. Blank CDs and DVDs also make for a good backup medium, but beware these are not for long term. After a few years a CD or DVD will suffer from rot and all that info will be lost. This has happened to me with some of the CDs I burned when I was at college. If you have huge amounts of data, you will want to buy a external hard drive. If you are looking for some good backup mediums that won't break the bank then look on Newegg.com. Newegg has the best prices on hardware and also has the best customer service.
Number Three: Don't Be Stupid!
This is the most important tip that anyone could ever follow. I know people who have all of the super expensive anti-whatever software and total security suites and still get pwned by viruses and spyware. The best thing you can do is to use your brain before you do something. If you get an email from someone you have never heard of that says "check this out" or "here is what you requested" or (God forbid) "Cheap Viagra!" DO NOT OPEN IT, DO NOT REPLY TO IT, DO NOT BE FOOLED! These are like worms on a hook. Any message you get that has an attachment from someone you have never heard of DO NOT OPEN IT!
Update your security software. If your software does n0t auto-update then make sure you update it manually at least three times a week. If your software expires, renew it or get a free option but do not let it go unattended. I have cleaned out infested computers with the full Norton's suite that wasn't kept updated and had expired.
Don't trust other people's portable storage devices (Burned CDs, DVDs, USB Drives, etc...), viruses can be spread through them also. Stay way from "shady" sites. Porn sites are notorious for this. While they have your attention they will install all sorts of things that will destroy your computer. Have some self control stay away from sites offering things like free money, free porn, free screen savers, free wallpapers, etc... I use Firefox to browse the internet (which will help keep you safer). Firefox has these wonderful things called add ons. One of the best ones I've ever used is call WOT. It has a rating system for sites based on four things: trustworthiness, vendor reliability, privacy, and child safety. This is a quick and easy way to find out if a site is dangerous or not.
Be careful of pop-ups. Many times they are made to look like a normal window or have items that look like you can click to get out of them. Many times the "click here to close" button lies. If you are using Firefox or Internet Explorer 7 and you get an unwanted pop-up, be very careful. The best option is not to click the X on top because it can sometimes do something very bad to your computer. It is best to hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete and kill the pop-up manually in the task manager. This may seem like an over kill but it is better than spending an entire day trying to fix your PC.
If you own a computer you have some responsibilities that come with it. If you are responsible you will have many years of trouble free computing, if you are careless and ignore the advice of all your geeky friends you will have hours of headaches. So stop procrastinating and take care of your PC there is no excuse.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Drastic Measures...
My current computer is um... old. Actually it's not that bad it is a 1.3 ghz AMD Athlon with 768 mb of pc 133 ram with a 128mb PCI Radeon card. This is a decent computer for common tasks but when I start gaming it starts to get smoking hot! The inside of the case is stuffed full of IDE cables and a huge air flow director. I finally got tired of it and decided to take measures into my own hands. I have always wanted to mod my own case but never had a case that I thought would be worth it. So I decided to put a side viewing panel on it and then put a 120mm side fan on it. I hope that this is going to help, I also am planning on making those unsightly IDE cables look a little bit nicer and possible make them round. (we will see how that turns out) After a few case lights and some model paint the case might look almost cool.
I know what some people might be thinking "What on earth is he putting all of that time and effort into such a lame PC?" My rational is why on earth would I take a nice case and try to cut holes into it on my first try. If I totally destroy this computer then I haven't lost anything valuable and this gives me that opportunity to learn. After all, I'm cheap.
Comment and give me ideas about what else I can do as well as some of your own modding stories.
I know what some people might be thinking "What on earth is he putting all of that time and effort into such a lame PC?" My rational is why on earth would I take a nice case and try to cut holes into it on my first try. If I totally destroy this computer then I haven't lost anything valuable and this gives me that opportunity to learn. After all, I'm cheap.
Comment and give me ideas about what else I can do as well as some of your own modding stories.
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