Friday, October 16, 2009

Securing your PC - Revisited

I was looking for a certain post from some months ago, and with this new blog (thanks again Google!) it's easy to find the old stuff. On March 9 of this year I blogged on Securing Your PC with my recommendations for FREE software you can use for this purpose.

I did this because I was reading the latest Windows Secrets newsletter, and saw an article that explained how to get rid of a particularly vicious piece of malware. The following 3 paragraphs are taken directly from this newsletter and they read:

"As Peter discovered, if you try to remove the Advanced Virus Remover, you find that your access to Task Manager and the Registry Editor (Regedit) are blocked, making removal of this malware harder than normal. But there are several approaches to rid your system of this and similar kinds of malware. Even if you don't encounter this specific Trojan, the same techniques can work whenever a similar problem occurs.

The first and perhaps most-obvious step is to use one or more of the many free malware-removal tools that find and delete this Trojan. From user reviews online, two that do the job are Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SuperAntiSpyware.

Users of Grisoft's free AVG, a full-on antivirus/anti-malware tool that prevents and disinfects — as opposed to the malware-removal tools and online scanners mentioned above — also report success in banishing the Advanced Virus Remover Trojan. Download your copy of AVG from the Grisoft site."

Well, this makes me feel pretty good, since they are talking about the same tools I have recommended to you. There are, of course, other tools in the basic security toolset I recommend. If you use all of these regularly, you can stay out of trouble, or, if you manage to get into trouble, these same tools will enable you to repair your own system.

See my March 9, 2009 post, Securing Your PC by clicking HERE.

Thursday, October 15, 2009

AVG Anti-virus Free Edition Version 9.0

There is a new version of AVG Free named Version 9.0. I downloaded it (71MB) and installed it on my Windows XP laptop. Previously I had Version 8.5 installed. The installation went smoothly and took only 5 or 10 minutes. As before with earlier versions, I did not install the AVG Security Toolbar, nor did I elect to have Yahoo as my default search engine. At the end of the installation I was asked if I wanted to run their Optimization Scan. This is a scan they are doing right now as I write this that will (supposedly) greatly reduce future scan times, and that is good news. Apparently they eliminate, through this scan, some number of files that they know won't need to be scanned during a regular scan.

I would recommend you download the new version at download.com. Here is the link:


Once there, PLEASE do a search, using the search window at the top of the display for AVG FREE. Do not click on any buttons that may look like they will lead you to AVG Free. DO THE SEARCH! If you do, you will get a window that will contain the download link for the new version. Below you will see the product you want to download. (Click on the picture below to enlarge it.)



Click on the Download Now button over on the right, and your download will begin. I usually save files like this on my desktop for immediate use after the download is completed.

As I said, the install went very smoothly. I opted out of the AVG Security Toolbar and the Yahoo as my search engine option, and I did opt for the Optimization Scan at the end of the install. This scan only took about 10 minutes.

The new AVG User Interface looks very similar to the older version. See below.



I don't see a need to rush into this brand new version for all of you, but be alert to come-ons from AVG and possibly others that may try to get you to buy the professional versions. You don't need them for your home computers. 

It's fairly easy to write comments on any of my posts. Just click on Comments below and to the right of every post to add your comments. Note that anonymous comments are allowed, but I'd prefer it if you would identify yourself. That or write me an e-mail with your comments.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool

If you pay any attention at all to the updates that get downloaded from Microsoft on a fairly regular basis, probably through Automatic Updates, you may have noticed one called Malicious Software Removal Tool. I believe this is the situation with this tool: Microsoft issues a new version every month and it gets downloaded along with the updates. It turns out that you can download this tool manually. You can find it at this url: http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx

Why, you might ask, would I ever want to do this? The answer, I believe, is this. If you download it and run it, you will be given the options of running a Quick Scan, a Full Scan, or a Custom Scan. This morning I went to the above web site and downloaded the October version of this tool. I ran it and elected the Full Scan. It ran for 3 hours! It found no problems, as I would have expected, but I thought this is a small price to pay for yet one more layer of security protection. I do not believe that the version one gets through Automatic Updates will run a full scan. I say this because I have never seen this program running at all, so assume it must be running the quick scan.

Note that when I began running it there was an indication that this was the October version. I'll do the same thing next month and run a Full Scan of the new November version.

Questions? Just submit a comment with your question or e-mail me. (Click on the image below for a larger version.)


Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Recapping

The buzz in the trade press  is all about Windows 7. Let's take a moment to recap where WE are.

Most of us have Windows XP, and we don't hate it. Some actually like it. In either case, there is no reason to leave it. Stay with XP. It will be supported by Microsoft until 2014, so if your hardware will last, you are all set for a while. I personally intend to stay with XP on my desktop and my primary laptop.

If you have Vista, I feel for you. You probably don't like it, but I know some of you do like it. If you are happy with Vista, there is no reason to change to Windows 7, although you will probably like Windows 7 more than Vista. If you do not like your Vista environment, than you should consider upgrading your machine to Windows 7. In both cases, I recommend you download, install, and run the Microsoft free program Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta by clicking HERE. This program will tell you if your current machine will run Windows 7. It's worth doing this even if you are undecided about what direction you want to take. I have one Vista laptop and I intend to upgrade it to Windows 7, mostly so that I can gain some experience with it and be of help to those of you who may wish to have some assistance with your upgade.

If you are going to buy a new machine soon, keep in mind that after October 22 you will have a difficult time finding a machine with anything but Windows 7. I'd suggest you wait a while if you can, give Windows 7 a couple of months in the hands of millions of others, and then jump in and buy a machine with Windows 7. There will probably be a lot of Christmas season sales promotions, and it may be a very good time to buy.

Monday, October 12, 2009

A Windows to Help You Forget

Forget Vista that is!

This is a really good Walt Mossberg article on Windows 7. Here is the first paragraph of his article:

"In just two weeks, on Oct. 22, Microsoft’s long operating-system nightmare will be over. The company will release Windows 7, a faster and much better operating system than the little-loved Windows Vista, which did a lot to harm both the company’s reputation, and the productivity and blood pressure of its users. PC makers will rush to flood physical and online stores with new computers pre-loaded with Windows 7, and to offer the software to Vista owners who wish to upgrade."

You can read the whole article here, and note the comments under it while you are there.