Convert our Yugo to a Ferrari and give it away for free!

Faithful column reader Ben writes, “Can you recommend one of those free "Speed up / Clean up" software programs.” It is not uncommon to run into these types of programs as I visit with clients. There seems to be this fixation on a one button cure for slow from some company that wants to develop products that will convert our Yugo to a Ferrari and give it away for free. Users have sworn that a free $69 program made their computer run twice as fast as before. Asked how they benchmarked the computer before and after the fix, realization sets in that it was probably the placebo effect and their wallet was lighter.

Even worse, many of the tools that will help our digital domestique maintain its perky stature are already on our computers. Others are included with software we install such as anti virus/malware programs. The key is to benchmark our computer first and to do that we can download PC-Wizard free from this link, ftp://ftp.cpuid.com/pc-wizard/pc-wizard_2012.2.11-setup.exe. (Martha, he said FREE.) Be VERY cautious as the reason the program is free is the site is littered with download buttons that will install programs but not PC-Wizard. So if the download starts and it doesn’t say PC-Wizard cancel and try again. Install the program and there are lots of different ways to look at our binary buddy’s performance. Click on Benchmark and choose Windows Performance Rating. This is a general overall rating based on all the components of the PC. Now we have a starting point.

To speed up our calculating companion it is important to recognize that there is hardware speed, software speed and Internet speed. Hardware speed relates to spin rate of hard drives, processor speeds, RAM memory speeds and other resources. No software fix will alter these. Software speed pertains to how programs utilize ram memory and process tasks. No software fix will alter these either. Internet speed pertains to how fast our Internet provider provides data from the Internet to our PC.

What makes our PC seem to be slowing down? We tend to load them up with more programs that try to start when we turn on the PC including Fix it/Clean it programs. They compete for computer resources and everything seems to run slower. Examine what is starting up and ask is it running all the time or can it run only when needed? We need to remove temporary files that may be causing our antivirus to scan longer than necessary. And probably the greatest culprit to slow Internet performance is the installation of Toolbars. There are thousands of them, and not a single user has been able to tell me how they got installed. Rocketrebate, Ask, Community, Recipe and Babylon toolbars just to name a few. These toolbars tend to change our home page, alter our search engines and redirect our search results.

Stay tuned, next  some tools for tuning up our PC.

By now you know that there is a great companion piece to this blog. Order a copy today.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

 

Looking for something interesting to peruse that will tickle your gastric system? Pick up a copy today.

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

And for those that live in the northern states, winter isn’t to far away. What better way to spend those frozen days and nights with a month or more stay in Southwest Florida. Take a look at this seasonal rental and ask yourself, freezing cold, biting snow, black ice, snow blowers and worse OR, Sunny skies, warm temperatures, golf, biking, swimming, boating, fishing and on and on. In case you can’t remember last winter, here is a little video to refresh your memory. “Stop Your Bitchin bout the weather”  To view rental rates, pictures and contact information surf on over to Peg’s Hideaway

Email through the eyes of Windows 8

E-mail is a critical function of keeping in touch with friends, family, clubs, organizations, and bill paying. Not to mention advertisements and newsletters. Many of us have multiple e-mail addresses specifically for unique purposes. For example, I use Hotmail for business, Yahoo for family, AOL for junk mail, Gmail for clubs and organizations, NetZero for unknown reasons, and Comcast for (queue the scary music,) Quilting related stuff.  (and yes, according to my wife it is only spelled with a capital Q)

Windows 8 has a very interesting Mail function built into the Metro desktop. When setting up our new Windows 8 PC for the first time, one of the questions presented is to enter our e-mail address and password. From that point forward, when we click on the MAIL tile on the Metro desktop it will immediately open our e-mail for perusal. Another feature that we find in the MAIL function is to add additional e-mail addresses to the MAIL function that enables us to quickly review all our emails from one spot regardless of the source.

To enable multiple e-mail accounts within the MAIL function of Metro, click on the MAIL tile to open MAIL. Once it is open move the mouse pointer to the upper right corner of the screen to activate the CHARMS bar. The Charms bar can also be accessed by pressing the Windows key + C on the keyboard. Click on SETTINGS in the CHARMS bar and then click on add account. Now fill in the e-mail address of account we wish to add and the password and Windows will add that account to the display within MAIL. For example, when I click on the MAIL tile, the mail program opens and in the navigation bar it displays Hotmail, Gmail, AOL and others. To view the mail from a specific account I click on that account name and there is the mail addressed to that account.

The MAIL program keeps the e-mail segregated by account. Additionally, if we have set up folders or labels within each account, as we examine our mail the folders associated with that specific account are visible and ready to receive mail should we decide to move an e-mail to a specific folder.

Windows 8 also has on the Metro desktop a tile labeled Weather. During set up for the first time the computer will ask if it may use location based information. If we say yes then when clicking on the Weather tile, the screen will display the local weather, in significant depth. If we then right mouse click anywhere on the weather menus open and one is called Places. Click here to add to the Weather display the locations of kids, grandkids, friend and other places we might have an interest in. Don’t forget to move the mouse to the upper right corner for the Charms bar, type Snipping Tool in the Search field and grab a screen shot of the weather hear in SWFL and e-mail it to our friends up north. We know they will appreciate it.

Windows 8, interesting features.

For those that follow my column in the Sun-Herald newspaper,  I talked about a piece of software called Sandboxie (www.sandboxie.com) for preventing drive by download malware.  Listed below are three video tutorials by Matt from Remove-malware.com. If you decide to use Sandboxie these will help the setup and configuration.

Sandboxie Review Part 1

Sandboxie Review Part 2

Sandboxie Review Part 3

Now with all this information perculating in the brain cells, isn’t it time to get some light reading for the throne room? Pick up a copy of Grumbles from the Keyboard. Packed with tips and tricks to make using a computer fun and functional. You be so engrossed reading that you’ll forget to eat. But when you do, eat something from my cookbook/novel Epicuria: Adventures that really Cook!

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

One question, many answers.

Received an e-mail this week from long time column follower JTB. The question, “When I turn on the machine, an Easy Solve box appears saying that IE cannot display the webpage. When I X out the box, there seems to be no other effects. Occasionally and more frequently, the page freezes for 30-60 seconds. It responds to no keystrokes, commands, or to the mouse. IE stops working. A box appears saying that the Internet connection is lost. This happens more and more frequently. I have Norton and have done total system scans to no avail. If you have any ideas on how to remedy these problems, I would appreciate your response.”

When asking questions about a problem, always make sure all the facts are given. Let’s see if we can devise some ideas that might address these problems. “When I turn on the machine,” indicates the problem begins at start up. Easy Solve says that IE cannot display the webpage. What is Easy Solve? This is easily determined by using a search engine to find Easy Solve. We learn it is software installed on our computers by Comcast. One solution would be to go to Programs and Features and uninstall the offending program. It isn’t needed, obviously interferes with Internet Explorer and tries to display web pages on it’s own.

The next question pertains to “the page freezes.” Without clarification as to which program is not displaying a page, let’s assume it is a page being displayed by Internet Explorer. One likelihood is that Internet Explorer is loaded with toolbars, such as the translator toolbar, Google toolbar, Bing toolbar, recipe toolbar, Iwon toolbar and on and on. Each of these alters the response of Internet Explorer when we try to go to a website or search for something. After a while, Internet Explorer doesn’t know what to do and just quits. Go to Control Panel - Programs and Features to uninstall anything with the word toolbar in it. Then go to Control Panel – Internet Options. When the dialog box opens click on the tab labeled Advanced and towards the bottom is a button labeled Reset. This will remove temporary files, history, reset the homepage, set all the security levels to the default factory settings, remove all saved passwords, usernames and reset the default search engines to Bing. This usually solves most Internet Explorer problems.

A different alternative is to use another browser such as Google Chrome, Firefox or Safari. However, if we add toolbars and multiple search engines these will also have to be reset eventually.

Finally, the last part of the question was, “the Internet connection is lost.” Many possibilities here, the Comcast modem may be resetting itself; the router may reset itself, a bad cable or even a bad network adaptor or corrupt driver. Each needs to be tested and eliminated in order to zero in on the cause.

Keep pluggin’ away!

And don’t forget to pick up a copy of these two wonderful books.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

Limit Exposure to Ripoffs

The article on computer repair scams must have hit a sore spot. Based on the number of emails I received from folks that had experienced the exact sequence of events, it wouldn’t surprise me if tens of thousands of Charlotte County, and possibly millions of citizen dollars are now doing great good in India, Pakistan or some other country not labeled U.S.A. For a great video of the exact science of ripping off computer users, surf over to Tag um and bag um! and watch another tech, tag, bag and record the rip off as it happens. Hopefully, seeing is believing. On a related note, the FBI/Reveton virus seems to be making another round, but this time harder to remove. If a screen appears to take over the computer displaying the FBI logo and stating that the computer has been locked due to attempted download of copyright movies, music or porn and to send $200 immediately via a prepaid MoneyPak card in order to unlock the computer, do NOT send money to unlock the computer. The money will be gone and the computer will still be locked. The real FBI has posted a warning here www.fbi.gov/news/podcasts/thisweek/reveton-ransomware/view that gives and overview of the virus.

Things we can do to limit our exposure to these types of rip offs are the basics. If we receive an unsolicited phone call warning us of dire consequences about to occur to our computer unless we let the caller takeover our beloved PC, hang up. Or if in a jolly mood, tell the caller our brother is a computer crime tech for the FBI and could we have their name and number so our brother can seek their input on cybercrime.

If looking for a support phone number, go to the company’s website to find a contact number if they offer one. DO NOT, Google (company) support phone numbers. Any number we find will not be the real number for the company, but will be the number of a bogus support rip off site.

The FBI virus, exploits older versions of Java and Adobe products so make sure these are the latest versions available. As of this date, Java 7 version 11 (available for free at www.java.com) and Adobe Flash version 11 (available for free at www.adobe.com) are current. Go to Control Panel, Programs and Features, scroll down the list of installed programs to find which versions of those programs we have. Consider PSI from Secunia, available at http://secunia.com/vulnerability_scanning/personal/, a free program that will scan our computer comparing the versions of software and updates we have against current ones available and update our computer for us.

While it is convenient to have our browser remember our passwords so we don’t have to enter them each time, remember that a password can’t be stolen by a virus if it isn’t on the PC.

Notice that neither of the two threats mentioned occur via e-mail.

Got a problem? Call a LOCAL tech. They need the money more than someone on the other side of the world.

Don’t forget to buy Grumbles From the Keyboard. Lots of stuff written about the computer for the layman.

And if you’re hungry, Epicuria will leave you entertained and enjoying a fine repast.

 

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!

But they said they were from ….

A worldwide epidemic is afoot. Charlotte County seems particularly vulnerable based on phone calls and emails I receive. Here are the source points, symptoms, results and methods to protect ourselves.

Contact points appear to be an unsolicited phone call from “windows” or “Microsoft” or some other Internet technology company or our attempt to find a phone number for support.

With unsolicited phone calls the caller informs us our computer is infected and may crash, infect our friend’s computers or is sending viruses infecting computers around the world. The caller offers to remove the virus and save our binary buddies. They then request that we visit a website that allows the caller to remotely control our computer. Sites like Logmein, or Teamviewer. Once in control, they go to Start – Control Panel – Administrative Tools – Event Viewer. Now they filter the events to show only the ERROR reports. Scrolling through recorded events they point out the red ERROR messages and tell us thousands of problems exist on our computer. Next they download a program that flashes a graphical scan screen that reports thousands of registry errors, and the caller states our computer is about to crash. While all this is occurring the caller may do one or all of the following: Infect our PC then request money to clean it up, steal our files / folders / e-mail address / passwords etc. use our computer to attack other systems. The caller may ask us to write down a series of numbers referring to them as support numbers, license keys, ticket control numbers to keep us distracted. The caller offers to resolve all the problems for some monetary sum, usually in the $199 range however the last few I have been called on have been in the $300 dollar ballpark. One client tried to pay with a credit card that was blocked from overseas transactions and the caller demanded that the client surrender the account and routing numbers to their checking account. When the user refused they hung up and sent an invoice via e-mail.

A recent twist to this scam is that now instead of taking a credit card payment for payment, they are using the credit card to fund a Western Union money transfer. One client had the money picked up in Singapore minutes after giving out the credit card and the scammers not only took $500 but charged the credit card for the Western Union fee. Once cash has left a bank, the bank will not give it back.

The same scam occurred when users, frustrated that they cannot find a phone number for Google, HP, Norton or Microsoft, type into a search engine “support phone numbers for” the company they are trying to reach. One client called a number they thought was the support line for Norton Antivirus and the person who answered the phone took over their computer and ran the same scan outlined above. Seems pretty strange that Norton would tell one of their customers that the Norton software didn’t protect them but for $179 they would remove what their software couldn’t.

Companies do not use phones. Online Chat, e-mail, and forums are the service de jour. Receive one of these calls or recognize the scam, hang up. For fun, see how long we can keep them on the phone without payment before they hang up.

Is it imperative that $169 be sent to someone? Please send it to me or a LOCAL tech of choice.

Here’s an interesting idea sent in by a loyal reader. They keep a copy of Grumbles From the Keyboard on the coffee table. Each day as they settle in for a little TV, they pick up the book and read another chapter during commercials. It’s quiet time, and they can concentrate on the subject matter without interruption. Get your copy today.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

And don’t forget, after absorbing all that knowledge, you’ll be hungry. Find out what a computer geek likes to eat from my cookbook, Epicuria: An Adventure that Really Cooks!

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734

It’s a Brave New World!

Thinking about a new computer? Stores are filled with low priced towers and laptops. Why, because consumers have voted with their wallets. Tablets and smart phones are replacing conventional computers at a tremendous pace. Reports from NPD Online Research state that sales of new computers are down 11% from a year ago. Another report stated that tablets and smart phones made up 40% of all technology purchases in 2012. But some of us still enjoy sitting down at a desk with our work spread out in front of us and tapping out a column on a big old standard keyboard. For us a brand new tower or laptop with Windows 8 on it still suits us just fine. What impacts have tablets and smart phones had on new PCs?

For starters, Windows 8 no longer has support for playing DVD movies. (We can still use the DVD for reading and writing data.) Microsoft considered that tablets, smart phones and Internet TVs don’t even have DVD players as users increasingly stream movies directly from the web. Since MS pays license fees for each DVD movie playing computer, this was eliminated from Windows 8. Not to worry, many computer manufactures add DVD movie players to their products so the capability is still there. Just type DVD in the search field of the Windows 8 PC and look for any program that has DVD in it. If we have one of the truly bargain basement computers without a DVD movie player, download a free DVD player such as VLC from www.videolan.org/vlc/index.html.

Another impact on traditional computers directly linked to tablets and smart phones is the use of tiles (Martha, they used to be icons.) on the Start Screen. Tiles work like the icons on our older computers but now they preview changes to the programs they link to. For example: the mail tile will update regularly to notify us that new mail has arrived or a news tile will constantly display the latest headlines. We can modify the position and size of the tiles to meet our needs. Some tiles are rectangular while others are smaller and square. By using the right mouse button and clicking on a tile, we have the choice of using larger or smaller tiles and we can pin it to or remove it from the Start Screen if desired. To rearrange the position of the tiles simply grab one with the mouse and move it to a new position. Want a new tile on the desktop for our favorite website? Open the website and click on the site icon beside the web address. Now click on Pin to Start and a new tile appears on the Start Screen. The start screen may seem a bit awkward at first, but for folks that use the computer for basic functions every day it makes for easy access to those programs, I mean apps we use frequently.

Windows 8 also comes with a built-in SkyDrive app. With it, we can view and browse the files we’ve saved to SkyDrive.com. By installing the free SkyDrive desktop app we can also automatically sync  files across our computers.

It’s a brave new world.

Here’s an interesting idea sent in by a loyal reader. They keep a copy of Grumbles From the Keyboard in the bathroom. Each morning when they begin their constitutional, they pick up the book and read another chapter. It’s quiet time, and they can concentrate on the subject matter without interruption. Get your copy today.

Grumbles From The Keyboard: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love My Computer: Courtland Nederveld: 9781467985895: Books ISBN: 1467985899 ISBN-13: 9781467985895

And don’t forget, after absorbing all that knowledge, you’ll be hungry. Find out what a computer geek likes to eat from my cookbook, Epicuria: An Adventure that Really Cooks!

Epicuria: An Adventure That Really Cooks!: Court Nederveld: 9781456561734: Books ISBN: 1456561731 ISBN-13: 9781456561734