5000

Dear Viewers,

This morning we hit the 5000 number - the number of visitors to this blog as indicated at the bottom of this page! It's been 10 months since I started the blog. I try to post a new entry each weekday, but occasionally I miss.

Thank you all for visiting. I hope you find it worth your time and I hope that maybe by implementing some of my recommendations you can keep your PCs running smoothly.

Tom

Yet Another Rogue Program

Yesterday I spent most of the day fighting a rogue program that had installed itself on a customer's machine.  Lately I have spent lots of hours and days doing the same thing for other customers. This program carried the name SPYWARE GUARD 2008. One of its many windows looked like this:

This is not at all unlike many of the other rogue programs several of you have been inflicted with. The appearance is similar. The name is different. (See my post of December 11.)

The come-on is to make you believe that your computer is infected with spyware (in this case) or viruses, and "won't you please run our free scan?". Folks, DON'T DO IT! At this point it may already be too late. I really don't know because I have never been there when one of you got infected.

What I do know is that these things are very vicious and very difficult to remove. Fortunately no one of my customers has lost any data (MY DOCUMENTS) yet. I say 'yet' because who knows what they'll do next. They have the ability to simply erase all of your data but so far they seem to be satisfied messing up your system files and trying to shake you down for $40 or so and, even if you pay, you are left with the mess they have created.

Those of you who have been hit know what I am talking about. Those of you who have not been hit, exercise caution!

As I have urged in earlier posts, keep your anti-virus program current, install and run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware and SuerAntiSpyware at least once a week to stay on top of it.

Also, you should have a firewall, Windows Defender, and the aforementioned HOSTS file installed.

Download Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware here

Download SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition here

See my November 25 post for additional information.

Microsoft patches IE, but Firefox is still safer

The following article can be read in its entirety at Windows Secrets

If you have not switched to Firefox yet, why not? Here is a caution, however: Firefox will one day be attacked as much as IE is today most likely, but for now it's a safer bet. So switch now if you have not and continue to watch this space for more info.

Microsoft patches IE, but Firefox is still safer 

By Mark Joseph Edwards

Microsoft recently announced that a special, out-of-cycle patch would be released on Dec. 17 for Internet Explorer's latest security vulnerability, the so-called XML exploit.

If you'd like to avoid similar weaknesses that are certain to be discovered in IE in the future, the simple solution is to use a different browser, such as Firefox, with a few easy customizations that allow you to switch to Microsoft's browser only for sites that absolutely require IE.

Delta’s In-Flight Internet Service Ready for Takeoff

Here is some good news for travelers from the Fox Business news web site:

Delta Air Lines (DAL: 10.63, +0.13, +1.24%) said it’s launching WiFi Internet access in six planes beginning Tuesday.

The service, called Gogo Inflight Internet, will soon be available on over 300 domestic planes thanks to technology provided by Aircell, an airborne communication’s company.

“Broadband Internet access has long topped passengers’ lists of desired inflight services and now that Gogo has launched it looks like 2009 will finally be the year of Inflight Internet," said Aircell CEO Jack Blumenstein.

Access to the service will be free from Dec. 16 up until the end of the year. After the promotional period ends, it will cost $9.95 for unlimited access during flights less than three hours long and $12.95 for longer flights.

Delta said by the end of the year, 10 aircraft will have the technology. It also plans to expand the service to its recently acquired subsidiary, Northwest Airlines, by late 2009.

In the airline industry, there’s little “leg-room” for heavy equipment that takes lots of space. Thankfully, the Aircell system, according to Delta, is light and compact so passengers need not worry about having less room to stretch out while surfing the Web at 35,000 feet.

Microsoft sees ‘huge increase’ in IE attacks

Some customers ask me why they should use Firefox (or any other browser) and not Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The referenced article on today's ComputerWorld web site should provide the doubters among you with some good reasons.

 Microsoft sees 'huge increase' in IE attacks

Acer Aspire One

I have hinted that I might buy one of these tiny, lightweight netbooks, and I have done just that. About 2 weeks ago I purchased an Acer Aspire One. It is tiny. It is lightweight. I paid $399 at Amazon. Although the ads suggest a price of $349, keep in mind that this is for a three cell battery. I purchased the model with a 6 cell battery, and this is listed at $399.

If you are going to buy a netbook be sure to read all of the fine print about its battery. This one lasts 5 or 6 hours, depending on what one does with it. If you power it up in the morning and put it in standby when it's not being used, the battery would probably last all day. This is a real boon for travelers, and that is one reason I bought it.

Another reason I bought it was that it was advertised as being 2 pounds 3 ounces (as I recall). The one I purchased with the 6 cell battery weighs in at 43 ounces on my food scale, and that's 2 pounds, 11 ounces, making it still a featherweight in my opinion.

It comes with the very familiar Windows XP and 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard disk drive. This is a well-configured machine. Its microprocessor is an Intel Atom 720 with a rated speed of 1.6GHz, not a speed demon by any measure, but adequate for most work.

The most significant feature of this machine is its 8.9" display. Believe me folks, this is small. I would not want to use this on a regular basis, but it suits my wife just fine. She has excellent vision and only uses light reading glasses when using the Acer. I would not recommend buying this machine for anyone until/unless you try one out at a store. Make sure you can live with the screen size.

Otherwise, it's a neat little machine. It was sluggish when it came out of the box with XP SP3, IE7, and McAfee. The first thing I did was to get rid of McAfee and installed AVG Free in its place. Next I installed Firefox and stopped using IE7. Now it performs much better. I haven't looked into this yet, but I understand its max memory capacity is 1.5GB, but the upgrade from its standard 1GB to that is not (supposedly) something the user can do. If I were ordering again, I'd try to order from someone who could install the extra memory first.

A friend asked me if I recommend Acer generally, and although this is my third Acer machine, I have reservations about recommending Acer. I bought my first and then second Acers as teaching tools for classes and as a challenge to myself to see if I could keep them running (they are cheaper). So far I have been successful, but keep in mind these are not my first choice machines for personal use. I still revert to my old IBM desktop as my main machine. For my customers I mostly recommend Dell - for their support.

The Acer Aspire One