Attack of the Viruses!

Along with Death and Taxes, it seems the other thing we are destined to have in our lives are viruses. It is a rare day that we do not get at least one call, usually more, from a customer whose computer has become infected. And it seems there is not an anti-virus product out there that will protect you 100%. Viruses have slipped by Norton, McAfee, Kapersky, AVG, Symantec Endpoint Protection, and Microsoft Security Essentials. One of the reasons viruses slip past your protection is that the people who create them lean the definitions of the protection programs and create a new virus that avoids the protection. The anti-virus companies spot the new virus and write a new definition to protect you from it, but it takes time to write the new definition and then additional time to get the definition dispersed to all the computers in the world. In that gap is where most of the infections occur. So to protect yourself, make sure you have a current update for both your anti-virus program and its definitions. And should you get an infection, call us right away. We can usually remove the virus for between $50 and $100. On a rare occasion, the infection is so bad that we have to take your computer with us, save your data, erase your hard drive and rebuild everything from scratch, which runs about $200. Hopefully you will not experience a virus infection, but if you do, we will be there to help.

Heat - Your Computer's Enemy

Once upon a time all computers were huge and they were kept in air conditioned rooms to keep them from malfunctioning due to over-heating. Today, computers are smaller and they tolerate a wider range of operating temperatures (usually 45-80 degrees Fahrenheit). Serious damage can still be caused to your computer or its components by not providing a cool enough space. Recently one of our customers, not aware of the need to provide proper ventilation for their server, had one of the main drives fail from overheating. The server was kept in a closet with the door to the closet kept shut. To make matters worse, bubble-wrap packing material, not only a good protector of fragile items but a great thermal insulator, was piled on top of the server. Without a proper air flow to remove the heat the server generated and with the further insulation of the bubble wrap, the contact points on the hard drive became so hot that data loss was just around the corner. Fortunately, we were able to recover the great majority of the files on the drive and the customer is back in business. So whether your computer is a laptop or desktop, make sure it is surrounded with as much cool air and air circulation as possible, or you run the risk of a “melt-down”.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1 and Internet Explorer 9

Microsoft has released two major updates for Windows 7 computers. Service Pack 1 provides security updates, OS repairs and speed improvements. We recommend installing it at your earliest convenience. It is rather large, so allow at least 1 hour for the process. Run Windows Update from the Start Menu to initiate the install. Call me if you have any questions or if you would like us to come and perform a complete tune-up on your computers for you. Internet Explorer 9 has also been released, but only for those already running Windows Vista or 7. This program will not work with Windows XP. I have installed it on all of my computers about two weeks ago. Microsoft changed the controls in the program so using different parts of the application will take both a little getting used to and some explorative trial and error. I have not had it crash on me or lock up my computer at all, but two different websites I use did not function the way they were supposed to. We recommend waiting another three months before installing IE 9. As always give me a call if I can help you.

Bad Emails

Hoping to add clarity to which emails you should delete immediately, I would like to address to specific kinds: The Phishing Email and The Dangerous Attachment Email. Both emails usually are crafted with the appropriate corporate logos and official sounding customer service tags. The Phishing Email usually informs you that there is something wrong with your account or the security on your account and that you will need to contact customer service or corporate security. Most often they want you to click on a link which will “help” you make things right. The link, if you followed it and the instructions you receive when you arrive, would take you to a counterfeit website, similar to, but not the same as the true corporate web site. Any information that you voluntarily provide on the counterfeit site would be used to steal your identity. In my experience, corporations almost never adjust customer accounts this way. Delete Phishing Emails immediately. The Dangerous Attachment Emails are different in the process that they will ask you to open the attachment to view the information, which they say is so important to you. Double-clicking the attachment usually will install a rogue virus on your computer, costing you between $50 and $200 to remove. Corporations will almost never send you information this way either. Delete Dangerous Attachment Emails as soon as you can. Remember, receiving these emails in your inbox will not harm you or your computer. They both require you to take additional steps to create a bad situation. As always, if you have any concerns about an email, feel free to call us. We do not charge you to answer a few simple questions over the phone.

To Defrag or Not To Defrag?

Defrag is short for defragment. Basically, the defragment process takes files that are split into various fragments on a variety of locations (sectors) on your hard drive and rejoins them in one contiguous path. The theory was that if the read/write head that is retrieving the information you requested doesn’t have to skip to another part of the hard drive to complete the task. In the olden days (before the year 2000) when hard drives spun at a slower rate, were smaller in size (we kept running out of storage space for our files), had less read/write heads and the computer operating system could only address so many files, defragmenting the hard drive was a regularly recommended maintenance item to allow us to store more information and retrieve it faster. In 2011, not so much. The drives are faster, bigger, have more read/write heads and the operating system is more savvy about finding files. Many technicians (including myself) feel that there is little or no value to defragmenting your hard drive today. You probably would not be hurting the computer, but you would likely see very little improvement in the computer’s function. So save yourself time and effort by not defragmenting your computer.

You and Your USB Printer, Scanner and Web Camera

Many of our customers hire us to connect external devices to their computers, which we appreciate. If you feel strongly that you would like to do this yourself, here are a few items to keep in mind. The first rule, which you should almost NEVER break, is never physically connect the device to your computer until the software that came with the device is installed. In most cases, during the software installation, at some point the software will ask you to physically connect the device to the computer. If the directions are clear enough so that you are able to follow the instructions, you should end up with a fully functional piece of equipment. If for some reason you receive error messages, call us and probably do not try and fix the error messages yourself. On at least two occasions in the last 5 years, our customers have had installations they attempted go badly to the point where the only recourse was a $200 reinstall of the operating system to get everything to work. As always, we are ready to help you in any way you would like us to help you.

Which Internet Browser Should I Use?

We live in America, the land of choice. Internet Explorer (48% market share), Firefox (30%), Chrome (13%), Safari(6%), and Opera (2%) are the current generation of browsers to pick from. Your new computer will only come with Internet Explorer preloaded on it (Windows PCs) or Safari (Mac PCs), but any one of the five can be added from their respective company's websites (except there is not an IE for the Macintosh). Yes, Firefox and Opera may be a little faster. Yes, IE is hacked a little more often than the rest. But all browsers offer pretty much the same features, so no advantage there. Also, IE is going to be the most compatible browser, since people who create special options on their websites are going to do so for the browser with the largest market share. The continued life of a browser is a concern, too. Firefox and Opera have limited revenue streams and could go bankrupt tomorrow. Chrome and Safari do not have the programming muscle that Microsoft does. What do we recommend? Most of you know that we are minimalists when it comes to adding software to a computer. We think you should only add programs that you absolutely have to add. There are not any truly compelling reasons to use a browser other than the one that ships with your computer. So, in most cases, we believe you should stay with Internet Explorer or Safari.