Microsoft Tech support likes Malwarebytes’ antispyware

I saw this article on Windows Secrets. I am quite happy with this because as those of you who are regular readers know, I am a big fan of Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. It really is a wonderful product that does a great job of getting rid of the really bad guys, commonly known as rogue programs, as well as the less dangerous junk.

Don't be fooled into thinking, however, that one program like this is all you need. At the same level as this one product is SuperAntispyware. My experience has shown me that both are needed when fighting the rogue programs that have infected so many of your computers.

Please be sure to review my blog post of March 9 (below) titled Securing Your PC.

By the way, I see no need to buy the fee version of Anti-Malware.

Tech support likes Malwarebytes' antispyware

Recommendations continue to pour in from readers in response to Ryan Russell's March 26 Top Story on programs that should be considered for the WS Security Baseline. A letter from an anonymous Microsoft tech-support staffer caught our attention:

• "I read your newsletter and was disappointed by the offered antispyware listed. Spybot Search & Destroy was good back in the day, and so was Ad-Aware, but they aren't what they used to be. They're no longer effective, as the infection definition isn't being worked on as passionately as they had been.
  
  "I work for Microsoft technical support, and 90% of the calls are due to spyware infections, so we ask customers to download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware. They have a totally free version. It's the one we use for clients. It's so effective, I feel confident the PC you're using to read this has infections. Are you surprised? Even if it's just minor adware, it's an infection still.
  
  "If it weren't for Malwarebytes.org, I'd be spending more time per call and asking customers to reload Windows more often, because finding one infection could take forever. ... The application is painless to install, isn't too bulky, and requires no reboot after install. The application is a winner all around.
  
  "The Internet is full of scams. It's shocking to see it day in and day out."
  

Ryan's story never discussed Ad-Aware and mentioned Spybot Search & Destroy only because readers nominated it as one of the few options that will run on creaky old Windows 95 systems. But it's good to be reminded that some programs that were once highly rated are no longer up to par.

The free version of Anti-Malware, the program the MS staffer recommends, allows you to perform manual scans for spyware on your system. For U.S. $24.95, you can unlock the program's real-time protection, scheduled scanning, and scheduled updating. For more info, see Malwarebytes' download page.

The Future of Windows XP

Most all of you readers run Windows XP on your machines. There are two related articles on the ComputerWorld web site on XP that should be of interest to us all.

While the title of the first article may sound scary, fear not. As I have always indicated on this blog, if my hardware doesn't fail, I will most likely be using XP until 2014. The second article explains how we can continue to use it even past that year and into 2016.

The only thing that will change my mind is a really good new operating system from Microsoft. Vista is not that, and from what I have seen so far, Windows 7 is not going to be the one to change my mind either.

Microsoft moving XP into reduced-support phase on Tuesday

How to make Windows XP last for the next seven years

IT pros prefer old XP over new Windows 7, survey says

Virus Infects Vt. State Computers

Hard for me to believe. This is from WCAX.com. Why haven't they been reading my blog?!

Montpelier, Vermont - April 13, 2009

An outbreak of a computer virus forced the Vt. Agency of Human Services to shut down its computer systems. State computer experts are working on the problem to get departments back online.

They've been working on the problem all weekend and were still at it Monday night.

Because technicians cut the Agency's computers off from the rest of state government, it appears the virus was contained.

"This was a new virus previously not identified," said Rob Hofmann, the secretary of the Vt. Agency of Human Services.

The unnamed computer virus was designed to disrupt operations in large organizations, like corporations or state governments.

The virus was detected on Friday on a handful of computers within the Agency of Human Services. AHS includes a variety of departments handling everything from prisons to public health.

But it does not appear any personal information was lost or accessed. The virus instead confuses and slows computers and shuts down anti-virus software.

"We voluntarily brought down the system to prevent one computer from infecting another computer," Hofmann explained.

The servers were shut down over the weekend while a computer security company developed a cure for the virus.

"We know the servers are clean. The virus eradicated and we're working with the couple of thousand computers to make sure each is brought online," Hofmann said.

2,500 computers-- brought online one by one.

The immediate shutdown appears to have prevented the virus from attacking computers in other parts of state government. Technicians are closely monitoring computer systems to be certain. And Hofmann says other organizations should do so too.

"One area of concern is our nonprofit partners with whom we work no reports of problems but advise them to make sure anti-virus software up to date," Hofmann said.

Hofmann says services under his agency continue-- perhaps a bit more slowly while this is going on. He says instead of using the agency's computer network it's back to pen and paper, faxes and phone calls for now to make sure clients are still served. The agency is hopeful that all 2,500 computers will be back online by Tuesday night.

At first the virus that hit looked a lot like the computer worm Conficker that we've heard about. But computer experts now say it is not. It's a new virus. And again, security companies already have a way to get rid of it.

Happy Easter

Play Google's official Easter Egg game.

Google egg-drop game

Your Opinion

I am taking a brief break from blogging to spend time with family.

I am very interested in hearing your opinion of this blog. Do you find it helpful?

Please take a minute to provide me your feedback. You can write to me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

Happy Easter all.

Flash Drives

Flash drives, aka thumb drives, are a terrific and inexpensive way to transport data from one machine to another. If I come to your home on a service call I will always plug in my flash drive and copy the tools I use to clean and tune a system onto your PC.

You can use it to carry all of your photos to the grandkids' house or better yet, copy all of your kids' pictures of the grandkids to your thumb drive before you leave their house!!

These devices are also an easy and inexpensive way to back up your valuable data like photos, music, word documents and spreadsheets. My only concern in relying on flash drives for backup is that I am not sure how long they will last, and I worry about that. That's why I have a 1TB external hard drive for backup.

Yesterday I upgraded my largest flash drive. I have had an 8GB drive for some time but purchased a 16GB flash drive at Costco. It was priced at $39 and I had a $7 coupon. Look for sales and buy yourself the largest flash drive you can. Yes, use it for short-term backup of your valuable data, but think about investing in a large external USB-connected hard drive for that. I think my Western Digital 1TB drive was priced at around $130 at Costco yesterday. I noticed that they now have a 1.5TB drive as well!

Please get serious about backing up your data. You will be glad you did.

Defraggler

Piriform (http://www.piriform.com/) is the name of the company that has brought us CCleaner, an amazing free product that I hope all of you are using weekly. I just ran my weekly CCleaner and it took 30 seconds or less. That's all it takes if you do it regularly.

Piriform also has some other free utility programs, and I had heard recently about their Defraggler program. Also free, it is a program that just does one thing: defragments a hard drive. I downloaded it yesterday and installed it (amazingly fast install of about 15 seconds). I then proceeded to defrag my 250GB main hard drive and was NOT impressed. It was not faster than Microsoft's built-in disk defragmenter, although for the time I could stand to do so, it was more fun to watch!

After running it I ran the Analyze portion of the XP built-in defragment program and it found 15 fragmented files. Hmmmm. I guess we need a better definition of what a fragmented file is.

In any case, I do not recommend Defraggler but if you want to try it yourself, it can be quickly and easily downloaded and run. The reason that I am not recommending it for now is that it buys you nothing when compared to what you already have, and why add yet another program to your system if it gains you nothing?

Which reminds me: have you defragmented your hard drive lately? You should do this at least once a quarter.

No reason to rush your upgrade to IE 8

This is a good article for the techies amongst you who may have an interest in the latest release of Internet Explorer (IE) from Microsoft.

As for me, I don't recommend the upgrade, and I don't even recommend IE at all, but prefer Firefox.

No reason to rush your upgrade to IE 8

AVG Anti-Virus Free Version 8.5

I downloaded and installed AVG Anti-Virus Free Version 8.5 tonight on 2 machines. Note it is still FREE! It went in quite easily, replacing the Version 8.0 I already had. I was glad to see that the Link Scanner is an option. This feature is the one that gives you green checkmarks next to okay web sites when you do a Google search, for example, and view the search results. Opting out of the Link Scanner  as I did (it was integrated in Version 8.0 and not optional) should make Google searches faster. I never really even saw anything but green checkmarks anyway all the time I had Version 8.0 installed.

This new version is a 60MB file to be downloaded, so may take a while for you dial-up and DSL users.

You can get it here if you want to try it out, however, I would recommend waiting a month or more until all the kinks are ironed out. Click on the Download Now green icon here:

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.5.285 

While I have your attention, ………………

The hit count on this blog - down at the bottom of this page - shows that you received my e-mail and have visited here to check out the post just below this one, so, while I have your attention, let me make a few other suggestions.

Today, the day before CONFICKER is rumored to cause some widespread mayhem, would be a great day to take some other precautions. It's a good time to do a full system scan using Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, SuperAntispyware, and Spybot, and while you are at it, a full system scan with your anti-virus program, in my case AVG Free.

Before you start the full scans, be sure to update each one to ensure that it has the latest definitions. Become very familiar and comfortable with each of these programs so that on any given day you can run a manual scan.

If you have not received my e-mail re. Conficker, and wish to be on my mailing list, please contact me using the "Contact the PC Doc" link just to the right of this post and ask to be added to my list.

An Ounce of Prevention

I was reminded about this April 1 rumor when I read Kim Komando this AM. She writes: "Conficker is the latest horror show, and it’s coming your way. It certainly sounds scary. An estimated 12 million computers have been infected. The virus is currently dormant. But it’s programmed to do something on April 1.

Does anyone know what the something is? Nope. Conficker has essentially built a massive and powerful botnet. But nobody knows what this army of infected computers will do. It could spread spam or cyberterrorism. Or it could be an elaborate prank (activating on April Fool’s Day)."

The ounce of prevention you can take is to manually download the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool and run  a FULL SCAN. On my machine this morning it ran for almost 2 and a half hours.  You can download it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

The tool found no problems on my machine. I also use the 8 free tools listed two posts below in the Einstein post, so I did not expect there to be any problems.

I strongly recommend you do the same: use my "Big 8" recommended free tools and download the above program from Microsoft. Do it today and run it today. Let it run to completion. I hope no problems are found on your machine, but if they are, and if you need help, give me a call at 802-899-4541.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!




Here are a couple of screen shots from my run this AM:

IE8

I received an e-mail this morning from Microsoft with this news:



I am not a fan of Internet Explorer and use Firefox instead. I do not recommend the download to anyone at this time. I am making this post just as a FYI. I may download it in a test environment sometime (not soon) to test it out and report on it here, but I doubt it'll ever be on my list of favorite applications.

Unfortunately, as is their wont, Microsoft will undoubtedly include it in their automatic updates. If/when I find out that is happening, I will alert you all so that you can prevent the installation from happening on your machine. (I still recommend IE6.)

Securing your PC

1. Windows Defender


2. Windows Firewall


3.  CCleaner


4. AVG Anti-virus Free Edition


5. MVPS HOSTS File


6. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware


7.  SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition


8. Spybot Search & Destroy

These are all free products. I strongly recommend and use them all. Use them and keep your system up and running smoothly and without security issues. Each of these products is covered in earlier blog posts.

5 Great Technology Bargains

This is an interesting and timely PC World article. If you are in the market for a new desktop, I really like their number 1 item, a Dell desktop. Note that my Netbook is the number 2 item of their 5. As noted in other posts, do get the 6 hour battery if this lightweight machine appeals to you. This version costs $399 and also includes a larger hard drive of 160GB. I bought mine on Amazon.

The other 3 items making up this list of 5 are a printer, camera, and TV.

5 Great Technology Bargains

Happy Anniversary to ME!

I just realized that I missed my anniversary (typical male thing, right?). I am talking about the first anniversary of this blog. I began it on February 12, 2008.

I had thought I'd try to post something every weekday, but that has proven to be an impossible task. I'll keep trying, however.

I just browsed through all of my posts to the beginning and realize that this is a real treasure trove of good stuff for your average PC user. I have never tried to include stuff that is too technical, but rather that which applies to most of my customers and the people I know.

I hope you get the chance to look in now and again and to browse the posts that you have missed.

Yet another repository for Chittenden County folks for old computers

Looks like those of us who live in Chittenden County have another option when it comes to ridding ourselves of our computer junk! I have already posted below about Goodwill. Now the CSWD is involved. Someone must have found a less expensive way to extract the gold from the old clunkers and with gold at such a high price, .........? Tongue in cheek, but maybe not.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FREE computer & electronics round up coming to Williston Sat., March 7!  If your TV is kaput and your computer no longer boots up, you can give them both the boot -- literally -- at the FREE CSWD ELECTRONICS ROUND UP on Saturday, March 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Williston Drop-Off Center (off Mountain View, at the end of Redmond Road). The same goes for your old printer, that stereo that you lost your hearing to in college, and any other electronics that you need to dispose of. Among items accepted are computers, printers, modems, and other peripherals, TVs, stereos, phones, CD/DVD/MP3/Tape players, typewriters, and media for electronics, such as tapes, CDs, DVDs, etc. Click here for a complete list. No appliances will be accepted at this round up. NOTE: This round up is open to all households, including those outside of Chittenden County; business electronics will not be accepted. This free round up is sponsored by Samsung and CRT Processing. Usually, the Chittenden Solid Waste District charges fees to accept electronics at its Drop-Off Centers, due to the cost of recycling them. For example, a TV would normally cost $5-$15; a computer, monitor, keyboard, and mouse costs $8.50. But for one day only--and only at the Williston Drop-Off Center--it's free! CSWD collects about 600,000 pounds of electronics from Chittenden County businesses and residents each year. The fees we charge don't cover the entire $100,000 that it costs for us to handle them. Samsung, CRT Processing, and CSWD are partnering to shoulder the cost of this round up. Electronics can contain a host of hazardous materials that are banned from the landfill. For example, TVs and CRT computer monitors alone can contain mercury, cadmium, barium, dioxins, and several pounds of lead. The good news is that these toxins, as well as more benign recyclable materials, can be harvested and either disposed of in an environmentally sound fashion or reused to make new products. Many people are getting new TVs due to the analog-to-digital switcheroo that occurred earlier this month. With a digital converter box, your working TV will most likely still be able to pick up a clear signal (click here for info on how to go about getting a converter box). For more information, visit www.cswd.net; call 872-8111; e-mail info@cswd.net.

Netbooks: All About the New Ultraportables

I am happy to see that my Acer Aspire One Netbook that I bought quite some time ago is still among the leaders in this field. My wife is the primary user. She has excellent eyesight and has little trouble with the small screen. She loves the light weight which makes it easy to carry when traveling. I bought the 6 hour battery right out of the gate, and it really does give a full 6 hours. This normally equates to a full day's use if it is set to go into Standby when the cover is closed, as I have done.

Netbooks: All About the New Ultraportables

Bank account hacking is on the rise

Let this UPI article serve as a reminder that we need to be very careful. Protect your PC with a quality security software suite and run malware checkers and a full antivirus scan at least once a week.

Bank account hacking is on the rise

Hackers jump on newest IE7 bug

Once again users of Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) web browser are exposed to hackers. Most hackers target IE because of its widespread use. This article is from ComputerWorld today and can be found at this link.

I have IE7 installed on only one machine, and that is because I need to have a machine for understanding what you folks are up against. I have IE6 installed on my other machines, and have long recommended against all of you installing IE7. I have even included a post somewhere below this one that instructs on how to remove IE7 and return to IE6.

Still, I recommend against any of you using IE at all, whether IE7 or IE6, except in those cases where it may be required.

I recommend the Firefox browser, but there is nothing wrong with Netscape or Safari. All three are fine browsers and are a lot safer than any version of Internet Explorer.

Lavasoft AdAware

I have rarely run AdAware in the past few months, but thought I'd give it a try the other day just to see if it might find something the others didn't.  In the process of updating the definitions file (I thought), Lavasoft downloaded a new version of the program which was, as I recall, The Anniversary Edition, or something like that. It was still free, but I found the user interface to be even more complex than AdAware had been, and it never was the best. I ran it and it found several very trivial files it recommended I not bother deleting. Strange. I interpreted this to mean that they found nothing, but felt  they had to say something after taking up so much of my time. Ridiculous.

Bottom line, I have uninstalled Lavasoft AdAware and will not use it again. There is simply no need to use this superfluous product when my top three spyware products are all free and do a better job.  Actually, a far better job.