Correct your file associations

This comes from the Kim Komando web site, http://www.komando.com/. Among many other interesting and useful tidbits, Kim posts a Tip of the Day. This web site is among those I visit every day. You never know what you may find. I am sure most of you know that Kim is also on the radio, and has a great show.



Q. My computer is acting funny. My photos are opening in Microsoft Word. My videos are opening in the wrong video program. What is going on? How can I get everything straight again?
—Josie in Phoenix, listening on KFYI 550 AM

A. This problem is actually pretty common. It's also fairly easy to fix. File associations tie file types to specific programs. When you double-click a file, it opens in that program. Your file associations apparently are mixed up.

There are a couple of ways this happens. You can do it by accident. That's probably what happened to your photos. There's no other reason they should be opening in Word.

Installing new programs can also change file associations. Music and video programs are notorious for doing this. They want to take over the role of default player. And they'll do it if you're not careful.

Thankfully, resetting these associations is fairly easy. You didn't say if you were using a Mac or PC. So, I'll cover both. Either way the process is simple. First, find one of the files you're having trouble with.
In Windows Vista, right-click the file. Select Open With>>Choose Default Program. You'll see a list of programs. Select the program you want to use. Or hit Browse to add a program to the list. Check the box labeled "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.

In Windows XP, right-click the file. Select Open With. Find the program you want to use. Or click Browse to find another program. Again, check "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file." Click OK.

In Mac OS X, right-click the file. Select Get Info. Click the heading labeled "Open with." Use the dropdown menu to select a suggested program. Or click Other to browse for something else. Click Change All. Close the window.

Now those files will open with the correct programs.

Sometimes, a program isn't available to open a particular file.  These free programs will handle common file types:

• Video files come in a ridiculous number of formats. This media player can open them all.
• You need a suite to open office documents. Microsoft Office is the standard, but it's expensive. For a free alternative, try OpenOffice.org.
• PDF files are easily opened with Adobe Reader. But it isn't the best program. Instead, try Foxit Reader or Sumatra.

Prepaid wireless market hot in U.S. during recession

This is an interesting article, or at least it is of interest to me. I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I am on a month-to-month with Verizon Wireless and not happy with what I have to pay for their service. If anyone out there has an opinion, in favor or opposed, please add a comment below. This can be done anonymously if you like. No fancy necessary registrations with userid and password required here. Anyway this article is from the computerworld.com web site and appeared there today.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prepaid usage rises as recession-worn users seeks cheaper deals for wireless service, IDC says

Matt Hamblen

March 15, 2010 (Computerworld) The hottest market in wireless communications in the U.S. is for customers who pre-pay for their service, with that group accounting for 65% of all net new subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2009, research firm IDC said.

Pre-paid customers grew during the recession and its aftermath as wireless users sought ways to avoid long-term contracts and related costs paid by post-paid customers, said IDC analyst Richard Murphy.
Pre-paid plans can also result in tremendous savings over monthly costs for postpaid plans, Murphy noted. For example, a savvy consumer can get unlimited voice, text and Web access for $45 a month with the pre-paid TracFone Wireless Straight Talk plan, he noted.

By contrast, a postpaid subscriber can easily spend more than $100 a month for service for an iPhone or other smartphone, he noted. "Some customers are more driven by the phone they want, so if you go for an iPhone you are probably not going to really care about the monthly cost at 100 bucks or more a month," he said.

Some careful customers, however, might realize they only need a phone for voice and text messaging, and will reserve their Web browsing for a desktop or laptop to save on monthly costs, he noted.

"The prepaid market in the U.S. will remain very competitive," said Murphy, noting that several carriers are most active in the space. At the end of 2009, TracFone led with 14.4 million prepaid customers, Boost (with the addition of Virgin Mobile) had 10.6 million, T-Mobile USA had 7 million, MetroPCS had 6.6 million, and Leap Wireless had 4.9 million.

The nation's largest wireless carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T, both appear to be moving away from the prepaid model in recent months, even though they each had about 5.4 million prepaid customers at the end of 2009. AT&T actually lost 800,000 prepaid customers in 2009, while Verizon gained 500,000.

IDC recorded that 4.2 million net subscribers were added by all the nine largest carriers in the fourth quarter of 2009, with 65% of them pre-paid customers. Overall, there were 285 million wireless subscribers in the U.S. at the end of 2009.

Some carriers are focused on bringing in customers on post-paid plans, luring them to use smartphones that rely on data plans. "To keep their revenues up they have to focus on selling data plans," Murphy said.

"The first step for a consumer walking into a carrier's store is to pick out a phone and that often means getting the customer toward a smartphone that obligates the user to a data plan. That's just the way the marketing is, since the wireless business is very competitive and the carriers are competing for every dollar."

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld.

Catching up

TGIF!

 I did two remote calls this week supporting 2 different customers. Both calls worked well. If you can connect to the internet from your computer, then I can connect with you, take control of your PC and fix what is ailing it. I do this while simultaneously calling your phone so we can discuss step by step what I am doing in response to what you describe as your problem. In this way you learn AND get a cleaner system!

For one customer I downloaded and installed the MVPS HOSTS file. Because I have done this so often, I can do it in less than one hour, and so have reduced my fee for this service to $40.  Part of getting this done is to teach you how to maintain the file, i.e., how to find the latest version, download it, and install it. As a result you become self sufficient and can always have the latest protection against malware.

For the second customer, it was a matter of a poorly performing system, and so I did a typical cleaning and tuning. This customer did not have any security issues so I did not get into installing and running the malware detection and removal tools. I showed the customer that he had only 512MB of RAM, and we went to the Crucial.com site and I demonstrated how he could upgrade from 512MB to 2GB for $78. I think he is doing that and I will follow up with him. For this work, which took only 1.5 hours, my fee was only $60.

Next time you feel a need to call your PC Doc, think remote!

Finally, if you are a Facebook user, please consider becoming a fan of my PC Doctor page on Facebook. My PC Doc's Blog is automatically download to Facebook, so you can look at it there! Just click on the Become A Fan button over there on the right side of this screen!

Oh, and lest I forget, I do love Windows 7. It is extremely reliable and much faster than Vista, which I replaced on one of my Acer laptops. I still have my Windows XP Acer laptop, my IBM Windows XP desktop, and my Apple MacBook Pro.

My Blog is now on Facebook

For those of you in the know (I am not one of you!), my blog can now be viewed on a page I created, PC Doctor, under my profile. I know I can view my blog there, but not exactly sure if you will be able to do so just by clicking on "Become a fan" over to the right of this post.

I figured I would give his a try to see if it works.

Ridding your system of malware

It never ceases to amaze me at how three totally different tools are needed to eliminate malware on most systems. You might think if you had one good product that should do it. Of course I am talking about free software products, and make no comment about fee-based products. I know some of you use the latter, and I hope they do the job for you.

My recommended security suite includes SuperAntispyware, Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, and Spybot. Quite a long while ago I had thought that Spybot could be discontinued, but I was wrong. As I work on your systems, it has become very clear, as recently as this past Sunday, that all three tools are needed. It's equally important to make sure you apply all updates to these 3 products before running a scan. It took me all three tools on Sunday to clean a customer's system. In this case the system would freeze at the user account choice screen, meaning the customer could not even get into the system. It was only in Safe Mode that I was able to get in and begin to use the tools I needed (as above) to clean the system, and it took all three!

This is not to say that there isn't another PC Doc out there who has found a solution to these issues that involve different products, even different free ones. I am sure there are such differing solutions. I am only presenting to you my successes based on my own personal experience.

Priorities

Sometimes we have to make choices, and we don't necessarily like those. I am taking care of a 93 year old Aunt of mine for a couple of days. She had surgery today and, thank God, she did well and will be okay in the near term. In the meantime I will be back there tomorrow spending time with her as she recuperates.

Remote Support

With all the traveling around I have been doing lately, I am going to start utilizing remote support more frequently, instead of making house calls. The only prerequisite to me being able to support you remotely is that you be able to connect to the internet. If you can do that, then I can support you. I have found that the most successful remote calls happen when we are also connected by phone. The usual sequence is that I will call you at your computer and we will stay on the phone for the duration, although I do not need you to stay on the phone if you have something else to do. We do need to talk while I connect to your computer, and this takes about 5 minutes. Once I have control of your PC I can go about doing my business, while you go about yours, if you wish.

"Next Blog"

Have you ever noticed th phrase "Next Blog" at the top of this page, right about dead center? This blog is hosted by blogspot and is a Google offering. You can have your own blog too, if you want. There is no charge from Google/Blogspot for this amazing service! Yes, it's free.

From time to time I click on that "Next blog" phrase up top and see some amazing things. It can be lots of fun, and I encourage you to try it if you have some time. You can flip through a lot of blogs very quickly, and from their look and feel and the contents of the blog post right there in front of you. It's easy to decide if you want to click on "Next blog" or maybe stay a while and look it over. I have found that there are many blogs like mine written by people just like me, and the most interesting thing, I think, is that the authors are from all over the world.

So give it a try and click up there and see what surprise you may find in your box of Cracker Jacks!

Internet Explorer Version 8

A reader writes:

"Tom, Awhile back you asked for suggestions for topics you could write about in your blog. How about Internet Explorer v8? I exclusively use Firefox. I have IE v6 on my computer because I recall you told us to NOT install v7 nor v8. Microsoft Updates uses IE and sometimes I use IE to verify some strange web page appearance in Firefox. Should I install v8, to be up-to-date, even though I rarely use it?"

My reply:

Internet Explorer Version 7 was fraught with problems and vulnerabilities. On many of your machines I personally uninstalled V7. When one uninstalls V7, one is left with V6 in place. On my Windows XP laptop I still also have V6 installed, having decided to stay away from V7 & also V8.

However, things have changed now. V7 never got much better, but V8, although shaky at start, is now the most stable and secure version available.One other factor: Microsoft has announced reduction in support of V6, so now is a good time to upgrade to V8. Keep in mind that V8 is the current version and is the one that attracts most virus writers and system atackers.

But, Microsoft and Windows operating systems still rely on some of the settings in IE for systemwide operations, so the settings in IE are important and, for the moment, one can't run without having IE installed. In the best world, IE would be completely optional and you wouldn't have to have it installed at all.

How can you tell which version you have installed? Start IE, click on Help, and then About Internet Explorer.

Bottom line recommendation: install V8 but don't use it except when you have to do so (there are still some web sites that require IE). I use and recommend Firefox. You can download IE8 at microsoft.com.

Seven Things You Should Do Before & After Your Laptop Is Stolen

This is some good advice for all of us laptop owners. Please check out the article and give some serious thought to following the advice. This comes from a web site known at The Consumerist.

7-things-you-should-do-before-after-your-laptop-is-stolen.

ScreenToaster

This looks like a really useful tool, but I haven't yet found a use for it! Perhaps some of you more creative types can come up with some good uses. If you do, please use the Comments feature of this blog (below this post) to inform us all of your idea.

Free Online Screen Recorder

Phishing Scams - THIS IS HARD TO BELIEVE!

Below is a real e-mail I received yesterday. It was not placed in my Junk e-mail folder because it came from a customer of mine who was listed in my address book. I have blocked out her e-mail address to protect her privacy.

So there it was in my Inbox and coming from a trusted source, so I opened it. You can see what the contents were. Someone had obviously taken over control of my client's e-mail. I am not sure what they expected to happen next. There are no instructions. Maybe they hit SEND too early, or maybe they were all set to collect any e-mails sent in reply. I don't know which, but this is just another good example of how and why you need to be very careful out there.

From: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, February 25, 2010 2:36 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: I hope you get this


Hope you get this on time,sorry I didn't inform you about my trip in UK for a Program, I'm presently in UK and am having some difficulties here because i misplaced my purse on my way to the hotel where my money and other valuable things were kept. presently i have limited access to internet,I will like you to assist me with a loan of 800 POUNDS to sort-out my hotel bills and to get myself back home.I have spoken to the embassy here but they are not responding to the matter effectively,I will appreciate whatever you can afford to assist me with,I'll refund the money back to you as soon as i return,let me know if you can be of any help.I don't have a phone where i can be reached.


Please let me know immediately.

The Olympics run on Windows (XP)

Isn't this interesting. The following comes from a cnet.com news story I saw today. 6,000 PCs and all running Windows XP! And, they are all Acer PCs. As some of you know, I own 3 Acer laptops, and they have all performed flawlessly.

"VANCOUVER, British Columbia--The good news for Microsoft is that all the PCs powering the Olympics are running Windows. The bad news: it's the older Windows XP operating system.

Windows 7, it seems, was a bit too new to be used, while Windows Vista was, well, Windows Vista. So, instead, all the PCs are running an operating system that was first released before the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City.

Representatives for Acer confirmed that the more than 6,000 notebooks and desktops that they delivered to Olympic organizers were all running Windows XP."

Read the whole article here

AVG Free Anti-virus

Just to clarify, I have nothing against the technical quality of AVG Free, and for those of you who have it, there is no reason to rush into something new like MSE.

I now recommend MSE as my anti-virus of choice. Like AVG Free, it is also free. There the similarity ends. I have often felt bad for all of you who followed my advice and went with AVG Free. The reason I felt bad was not the quality of the AVG Free product, we were all protected, but rather their incessant annoying marketing tactics that they used to try to get all of us to upgrade to their fee product. I think some of you even gave in to their undue pressure and signed up for the fee-bases professional version. If you did hat, I feel really bad about it.

MSE comes from Microsoft, and let's face it, they are the ones who know our operating environment better than any other company. They have come up with a product, MSE, that fits in so well with the Windows environment. I have been using it for several months now, and find it to be a very lean, clean, unobtrusive product.

I think MS has a real winner in MSE, and I would encourage all of you to look into it and consider it as your next anti-virus program. I don't think you'll be disappointed. It is a very easy product to install, and I find their optional settings easy to understand and change.

Comments

A reader commented on my 2/17 post re. MSE. Since yesterday I have had several more questions on MSE, so I thought I'd post the questions that were asked and my answers. Here are the questions followed by my answers:

Tom, I started installing MSE and stopped with these questions: 1) Should I really uninstall AVG before I install MSE? I can't find anyway to turn it off temporarily. 2) MSE says to remove antispyware programs, yet you still recommend Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware & SuperAntiSpyware. Is it OK to keep these programs and install MSE? 3) Will MSE change my current settings for Automatic Updates? I use "Notify me, don't automatically.....". 4) Will MSE program versions be automatically installed by Microsoft Updates? Thanks Joan.

 

Tom McGonegal said...

Answers: 1) Yes, uninstall AVG before installing MSE. 2) MSE is talking about realtime anitspyware monitoring programs, like Windows Defender. I doubt you have any other than WD.You don't have to remove WD. MSE will take care of disabling it for you without uninstalling it. Keep your "batch" antispyware programs. Neither is a realtime monitor. They detect and remove after the fact. 3)MSE will not change your Automatic Updates settings. 4) MSE updates, which are quite frequent, will be downloaded by MSE automatically and not Automatic Updates. After installing MSE meander through its settings. See the tabs in the image above? Check them out and select settings for your system.

MVPS HOSTS File Installation Process

There are 5 sequential blog posts that address the MVPS HOSTS file installation process, beginning with the first on January 27, 2009.

Click here to see the first and afterwards look at the other 4.

Please take heed and secure your system now!

 

I never have problems with viruses or malware or rogue programs. I use all FREE programs to secure all of my systems. These are the programs I use, and for faithful followers, please note that I am making some changes. 

1. Microsoft Security Essentials
2. Windows Firewall
3. MVPS HOSTS File
4. CCleaner
5. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
6. SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition
7. Spybot Search & Destroy

MSE replaces AVG Free Anti-virus. MSE replaces Windows Defender.
The MVPS HOSTS file is not a nicety. It is a MUST, and must be kept up to date - by you checking every couple of weeks or monthly for an updated HOSTS file. CCleaner should be run weekly, alternate running Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware weekly, run Spybot once a month, or when you see items found in either of the two above programs.

Boothbay Region For Rent By Owne (BRFRBO)

As many of you know, BRFRBO is a little project of mine. It started several years ago when a friend, who wanted to rent their summer cottage at Ocean Point, in East Boothbay, Maine, asked me if I could create a web site for them, which I did, and this soon grew over the years to the point where I think we have 20 or so homes, cottages, condos, and apartments listed for rent. Most of these are summertime rentals, but a few properties are year-round. If you have never been to the Boothbay Region of Maine, you owe yourself a look. We looked in 1969, I think it  was, back when we had 2 little boys, rented for a week in the summer, kept coming back, and the rest is history. Our 4 sons have lifelong friends at Ocean Point, and although our little cottage is too small to hold all of us anymore, they keep coming back, and we love having them.

It started as a summer vacation spot, and although we only go there in the summer, it is our real home, the place we all 6 of us have roots.I invite you to look over our listings, come for a week, and come back for a lifetime. You will not be disappointed.

BOOTHBAY REGION FOR RENT BY OWNER

MSE

I have several posts on this blog about Microsoft Security Essentials. (MSE). I use it on my Windows 7 laptop. (You can use the Search option on the right side of this blog's home page to view the other MSE posts.)

This machine is now my "home" computer, the one I use most, the one where I have all of my data (pictures, videos, music, documents, spreadsheets, etc.), and the one that has the latest bookmarks.

I have had MSE installed on this machine from the get go, as I recall. It's been a while, and I am very happy with the product. As a review, this replaced my AVG Free Anti-virus and Microsoft's Windows Defender. It is a very low overhead product, it would seem. I hardly even know it's installed. I have a full scan scheduled for 2 AM each day, so if the machine is powered on (it usually is) that scan is done. MSE is free, is totally a non-intrusive product. There are no marketing messages or pop-ups as there are with AVG Free. I have never noticed a slowdown on my machine due to MSE.

It is very easy to download and install, and it now has earned my blessing as a fine replacement for AVG Free and Windows Defender. I don't take recommending such a product lightly as you know, and feel I have tested it long enough to recommend it.

If  you are interested in trying it, you can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/

Oh, by the way, Windows 7 is an excellent product, and nothing to be afraid of.

Spam mail and rogue programs

I found this e-mail in the junk folder of one of my e-mail addresses. I include it unaltered except that I have removed the link where it says "get report". The link was for a site registered in South Korea. Most of these spam e-mails come from outside the US.

Many people follow these links, and this is just one of many, many examples of how you might get infected by one of the rogue programs I write about so often. I do this so often because I continue to get phone calls, nearly every week, from yet another customer who has been infected.

PLEASE, be careful out there!

It is unbelievable to me that anyone would follow such a link coming as it does within such a piece of trash.

• Note the e-mail comes from "Tax Comissar". WHAT????
• Look at the Message ID# at the bottom of the note!

Just amazing that anyone would fall for this, isn't it? By the way, our tax folks at the IRS will NEVER send you an e-mail like this:

-------Original Message-------
From: Tax Commissar
To: brfrbo@brfrbo.com
Subject: You are in a higher tax bracket
Sent: 13 Feb '10 01:21

Dear taxpayer,

The Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.).

You're in a higher tax bracket because:
- your annual income for the last tax year has increased.

Please review your annual tax report immediately at:
get report


Message ID#QB9FO8SA3WENMRU6MMTBKG1H21CYLX3KEDW7QT0WY0R
ZJTFGWB8N38EDQ7Z52Z84ZELOCIJ

Rogue antivirus program comes with tech support

I include the entire article from computerworld.com because I think it is very important to my customer base. I have seen so many of you, with incomplete or outdated security suites, fall for such rogue programs. Most of these rogue programs have been rather difficult to eliminate from your systems. Please refer to my earlier posts on securing your systems and be very careful. Read this entire article as a refresher for those of you who have seen and been infected by a rogue, or for those of you who haven't been infected yet, a word to the wise.

 Rogue antivirus program comes with tech support 

 

"February 12, 2010 (IDG News Service) In an effort to boost sales, sellers of a fake antivirus product known as Live PC Care are offering their victims live technical support.


According to researchers at Symantec, once users have installed the program, they see a screen, falsely informing them that their PC is infected with several types of malware. That's typical of this type of program. What's unusual, however, is the fact that the free trial version of Live PC Care includes a big yellow "online support" button.


Clicking on the button connects the victim with an agent, who will answer questions about the product via instant message.


Symantec says the agent is no automated script, but in fact a live person. This lends an "air of legitimacy" to the program, said Marc Fossi, a manager of development with Symantec Security Response. "Obviously if they've got live tech support, it must be real," he joked.


The tech support doesn't help much, though. According to Symantec, the support staff simply try to convince victims to shell out between US$30 and $100 for the product.


This isn't the first time a fake security product has been spotted offering tech support. Another company called Innovative Marketing operated a call center to support its security products, including a program called WinFixer. According to security experts, Innovative Marketing's tech support technicians acted in the same way as Live PC Care's, trying to reassure victims that they were buying a legitimate product.


These so-called rogue antivirus products can sometimes lower security settings on a victim's computer. At best, they offer a false sense of security because the products never protect computers from the latest security threats.


Rogue antivirus has been a major headache for users over the past year. It is often installed via annoying pop-up ads that try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their PC. Symantec tracked 43 million rogue AV installation attempts between July 2008 and July 2009."

An ounce of prevention

What I do each month, as noted in prior posts, is download Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT), and run a Full Scan. This may be redundant since Microsoft may already be doing this in the background after one downloads the latest updates, but until I know for sure I continue with this monthly run. As noted earlier, this takes a couple of hours or more, but I prefer to err on the side of caution and let it run.

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

Happy Saint Valentine's Day all.

More Big Brother: Feds push for tracking cell phones

It's been a good week for Big Brother. We all should be aware of what is going on in Washington and its impact on our own privacy. There are big pluses for doing what the Feds want to do, as in the story in the article from cnet.com. There are also, of course, big negatives, as in invasion of our privacy.

Here is how the article starts out:

"Two years ago, when the FBI was stymied by a band of armed robbers known as the "Scarecrow Bandits" that had robbed more than 20 Texas banks, it came up with a novel method of locating the thieves.
FBI agents obtained logs from mobile phone companies corresponding to what their cellular towers had recorded at the time of a dozen different bank robberies in the Dallas area. The voluminous records showed that two phones had made calls around the time of all 12 heists, and that those phones belonged to men named Tony Hewitt and Corey Duffey. A jury eventually convicted the duo of multiple bank robbery and weapons charges.

Even though police are tapping into the locations of mobile phones thousands of times a year, the legal ground rules remain unclear, and federal privacy laws written a generation ago are ambiguous at best. On Friday, the first federal appeals court to consider the topic will hear oral arguments (PDF) in a case that could establish new standards for locating wireless devices.

In that case, the Obama administration has argued that Americans enjoy no "reasonable expectation of privacy" in their--or at least their cell phones'--whereabouts. U.S. Department of Justice lawyers say that "a customer's Fourth Amendment rights are not violated when the phone company reveals to the government its own records" that show where a mobile device placed and received calls"

Read the entire article here

MVPS HOSTS file Update Available

If you have followed my advice and installed the MVPS HOSTS file on your system, you need to know that updates become available on a fairly regular basis, and that you have to go out and get the updated file and install it yourself. Once you understand the process, it shouldn't take you more than 10 minutes.

The important thing is that the updates will help you block the latest bad guys. I urge you to bookmark the HOSTS news web site, http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/default.aspx and to visit it once a week or so, looking out for the latest update. As we have seen and discussed herein, some of the bad guys just rename their programs, for example "2009 bad guy" is probably being renamed "2010 bad guy", and the updated HOSTS file will catch this.

There is an update available today. Go get it!

"PDF My URL"

This is a nice little web site. They perform a very unusual service. It's fast and it's free. I am not sure where you might want to use this, but I think it's a handy site to bookmark and have available for possible future use.

I recommend you go to the site, http://pdfmyurl.com/ and try it. Simply key in a url and click on the icon at the end of the line and presto, you'll get a pdf image of the web site.

FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited

Big Brother 2010! This article can be found in full at the link below.

"The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller supports storing Internet users' "origin and destination information," a bureau attorney said at a federal task force meeting on Thursday.

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do."

More.............

Office Software Alternatives

I am writing in response to a reader's request to discuss this topic. Specifically, the discussion revolves around Microsoft (MS) Office 2003, MS Office 2007, and Open Office (http://about.openoffice.org/). In this case, the writer has MS Office 2003. Most people, I find, have the Student and Home Edition of MS Office 2003. This is/was a fee product ans most users got it to have MS Word and MS Excel.

If I had MS Office 2003 and Windows XP in place, and I had no plans to go out and get a new computer, I would stick with 2003 and XP. Remember, Windows XP will be supported through 2014, and Office 2003 should work just as well until that time. There is no reason you need to upgrade or change. Chances are good that Word & Excel are working well now, are compatible with the new version of MS Office 2007, and there is a free program from Microsoft that will let you read MS Word 2007 documents (Exchanging files between previous releases of Microsoft Office and the 2007 Microsoft Office release).

If I did not have Office 2003 but needed an office package, I would recommend Open Office and, if necessary, the above referenced compatibility pack.

Your input

I am glad that so many of you are visiting this blog as often as you do. I believe I can make this a more valuable resource for you if I could get some input from you all. Please consider letting me know of any questions or issues that are important to you, and I would hope others, that you would like to see me address on this blog. Just below the Blog Archives on the right side of this screen there is a CONTACT THE PC DOC link. Or, please write me directly at pcdoc at brpcdoc dot com. In either case, please use the subject "Suggestion for blog". Thanks.

Writing a daily (weekdays) blog can be tough. I sometimes think I am being redundant since I have been at this for so long and my memory ain't what it used to be! :-)

Of course, you can always write a comment to any blog post just by clicking on COMMENTS below each post.

Moving your Outlook data files

Are you a Microsoft Outlook user? If you are, do you back up your mail folders regularly, so that if your hard drive failed or became corrupted you would still be able to recreate your e-mail environment without losing much?

For several years I did not even know how or where Outlook stored my mail files and address book, or contacts as Outlook likes to call them. Once I had figured all of this out, I got to thinking and realized tht even though I was backing up My Documents to an external hard drive, I had not taken any steps to ever back up my e-mail. I asked around, on online forums and such, and found out that the nearly hidden, very hard to find, location of my e-mail could be changed. Changed, in fact, to a location such as a folder of any name I chose within the My Documents folder if that is what I wanted. It turns out that this is exactly what I wanted to do. With all of my e-mail stored within My Documents in a separate e-mail folder (I call it My Outlook Mail Folders), it would then be backed up on a regular basis whenever I backed up My Documents and all of its contents. This is such an easy thing to do that I recommend it for all Outlook users.

You can read about it here: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HA011124801033.aspx

Hands on with the Apple iPad

 

The Apple iPad was finally announced this week and the industry is all abuzz about it. I am providing a link below to a high level review of the iPad from a guy who got is hands on one on announcement day. I am sure we will get far more detailed reviews of it in time as we learn more about it, but I can't just ignore it at this point. There had been so much press in anticipation of the announcement.

Hands on with the Apple iPad  

Reliability & Service: Technology's Most Reliable Brands

From this article at pcworld

Reliability and Service rankings for Desktops, Laptops, and Printers. Click on any image below to see a larger version. Also included in the article, but not here: Cameras and HDTVs.

  

 

Rogue Programs

Rogue programs continue their relentless attack on our systems. Read this note (which I edited for the sake of brevity) that I received yesterday from a customer, and then read my comments below it:

Hi Tom:

A new attack on PC's has arrived.

Late in the day I received a notice that an update was available from Windows and that my machine had many high risk viruses. I was then prompted to scan which supposedly revealed the files that were infected. Again, this appeared to be a Windows program and offering. When I queried about removal, a message said that for $49.95 I could receive the software upgrade. Been there, done that, not twice fooled.

The name of the software is Internet Security 2010.

AVG obviously missed this, but perhaps the fee-based version would not have. I proceeded to use CCleaner and then Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. The latter picked up a lot of problems.

I also ran SuperAntiSpyware and picked up an additional virus (Trojan.Agenct/Gen-InternetSecurity[Fake]. Process).

All of my previously reported issues have been corrected and the machine is working close to optimal.

I hope this helps others.

I am very grateful that this customer sent me this note. You should note, and can probably tell, that this man is a very technically competent PC user, and managed  (1) to avoid falling for the scheme and did not pay any money, and (2) recognized it for what it is - a scam - and immediately took corrective actions to rid his system of the rogue.

Security is an ongoing process. In my case I choose to use free programs to protect my systems. These are all well documented in this blog. Start out with my blog post of December 21, 2009, which can be found here: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/securing-your-pc-revisited.htmlhttp://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/securing-your-pc-revisited.html

One of the most valuable tools I recommend is the MVPS HOSTS file. In January 2009 I wrote a series of 5 (I think it was) posts on the HOSTS file. The first can be found here: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/hosts-file-post-1.html

If you do not make use of the HOSTS file, you should. Even if you do, remember that you are responsible for updating it. Frequent updates are available for this. Check out this site for the latest news on the HOSTS file: http://msmvps.com/blogs/hostsnews/ and visit it once a month or so and then download and install the latest update. Don't forget to disable the DNS Client service as instructed.

As you can see from the customer's note above, there are constantly new bad guys coming after us, so it is important to keep up to date, and it is YOUR responsibility to do so if you want to run a clean system free of problems.

Interesting list presented at Yahoo Finance. 

10 Things Not to Buy in 2010

Kim Komando Tip: Dump Internet Explorer for Firefox

The following comes from the Kim Komando web site. I like to check out Kim's site every day, and find the Tip of the Day to be the part I like best. The following was Kim's Tip of the Day on 1/23. Those of you who follow my blog know that I am a Firefox user, and have been for a long time. Firefox is free and virtually fully-compatible with Internet Explorer. My favorite download site these days is FileHippo.com, and you can download Firefox there.

"Internet Explorer is the default Windows browser. It’s also the most popular browser in the world. In fact, you may be using it right now.

But it’s plagued with security problems. And as recent news from China makes clear, they’re dangerous.
The Chinese found a flaw in Internet Explorer. They used it to wriggle into Google’s system and grab dissidents’ e-mail.

Microsoft quickly patched the flaw. But it is only the latest in a long list. Germany, France and Australia have recommended that citizens switch browsers. I second that.

My favorite is Firefox. You can get it right off my site. This switch is easy. You can keep your stuff—bookmarks, history and stored passwords.

When you first launch Firefox, it will automatically run the Import Wizard. Under “Import Options, Bookmarks, History, Passwords and other data from:” select Microsoft Internet Explorer. Click Next.
Decide whether to import your home page. You have two options. The first, labeled “Firefox Start, a fast home page with built-in search,” is the default home page. The second is “Import your home page from Internet Explorer.” Choose one, and click Next>>Finish.

You’re probably most worried about importing your bookmarks. All are transferred. But some may be in different places. Bookmarks stored in the Favorites Bar will not be moved to Firefox’s Bookmarks Toolbar. You’ll find them under Bookmarks>>Links.

The Import Wizard might not appear automatically. No problemo. Launch it manually. Click File>>Import.
The first window is the same as above. Under “Import Options, Bookmarks, History, Passwords and other data from:” select Microsoft Internet Explorer. Then, click Next.

You’ll get a list of items that can be imported from IE—Internet Options, Cookies, Browsing History and Favorites. Check the box next to each one you want. Click Next>>Finish."

Mozilla launches Firefox 3.6, calls it 'world's best browser'

I installed Firefox 3.6 this morning. As usual, the installation was simple and very fast. If you use Firefox,you can do the same at anytime. Simply click on Help in the Menu Bar up top and click on Check for Updates. I had been version 3.5.7 prior to the upgrade. I can also say that the 3.6 screen looks the same as the prior release, and I consider this a good thing. The last thing I need as a user is to have to learn how to use a new browser.

Of course, you can change the look and feel of it if you wish, but I wanted to start out simple, i.e., with no obvious changes.

 

Here are a couple of links if you wish to study up before upgrading:

Firefox 3.6 Brings Performance Improvements, a Few New Features

Mozilla launches Firefox 3.6, calls it 'world's best browser'

 

Patch arrives for IE hole targeted by Chinese

Look for this patch from Microsoft today (or soon) and be sure to install it!

From Windows Secrets:

"As of this writing, Microsoft is scheduled to release on Jan. 21 an update that fixes the Internet Explorer vulnerability behind the recent, highly publicized cyberattacks on Google and other major corporations.

The sophisticated "Aurora" exploit is delivered through common file attachments or links — typically in e-mail or other messages that appear to come from trusted sources — but proven security measures and a little common sense can negate all such threats.

The first reports of the cyberattacks that prompted Google to threaten withdrawal from China were alarming indeed. So was Microsoft's first official response, in MS security bulletin 979352, which described the scope of the newly discovered IE vulnerability.

The flaw permits remote code execution by what Microsoft describes as a "specially crafted attack" that affects most versions of Internet Explorer:

• IE 6 SP1 on Windows 2000 SP4
  
  
• IE 6, 7, and 8 on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2"
  

Lots of luck with that! Didn't they try this once before? I know they have been near bankruptcy, but somehow manage to keep going. I for one wouldn't pay a nickel for this service let alone their paper. It'll be interesting to see if they really go forward with this or if they are convinced that they are out of their minds and decide to leave almost well enough alone.

New York Times plans to charge for some online access

Maine Vacation Rentals

My Maine Vacation Rentals web site has been updated by a very talented woman who has added color and life to the site. In addition to an ever-growing list of Maine homes for rent, the site now looks great! If you have ever had any interest in spending some time in Maine by the sea, please take a look at the revised site and check out our many listings.

Because it is a "For Rent By Owner" site, you can contact the owner directly and save money. There is no middle man!

Check us out at Boothbay Region For Rent By Owner

Thanks for looking!

MSRT

For those of you who, like me, may want to do an additional check of your system for malicious software, the January version of the Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (which I call MSRT) is now available. If you have Automatic Updates enabled, it will be (or was) downloaded this week. I like to go out to the MS web site and download this program every month and do a Full Scan, one I can see and view the results of. MS says the tool, if downloaded thru Automatic Updates, runs in the background and will report IF it finds something. I guess it has never found anything on my systems because I have never seen any reports at all from its having been run for me. So, being a Doubting Thomas (funny, but I really am) I let it run its 3+ hour course and then see the results (always nothing found). If you want the extra insurance, at no cost other than your time, download the MSRT to your desktop, double click on it, select Full Scan, and let it do its thing. After it runs you will see the report that says what it found and fixed, if it found anything, or it will tell you it found nothing. Afterwards, close the report and delete the tool from your desktop (or from wherever you downloaded it to). You can download the MSRT here:

Download MSRT Here 

Back in town

Family trumped business for me for the past 4 days. I went to Atlanta to visit family last Friday and returned Monday. Other than finding a sub-freezing spell there which followed one inch of snow, the trip was perfect. It was so interesting to see how the inch of snow crippled the whole area. Schools were closed and there were many accidents. More interesting to me, patches of ice remained on the roads for all 4 of my days there, refusing to melt in the sub-20 degree weather. Apparently Atlantans do not make use of salt or sand or gravel down there as the icy patches continued to slow things down and probably are still causing the less careful drivers to slide out of control and hit something!

I was very pleasantly surprised by AirTran. I really didn't even know anything about them, but I experienced two non-stop, low cost, on time flights between Boston & Atlanta. I will fly them again.

Make tech rebates work for you, not against you

This article can be found on the Windows Secrets web site. Have you ever had trouble getting rebates when purchasing some tech item? I have. There is some good advice in this article.

Make tech rebates work for you, not against you

Facebook

I wonder if most of you are Facebook users. I have been a member for quite a while, and as more and more people join it gets more interesting. I just "discovered" through their Search facility a young woman I worked with at IBM in 1968-1975, so the last time I even saw her or heard from her or of her was 35 years ago. In her profile I learned that she went on to other companies and became a Vice President of a major tech company! How great for her. It was fun to see this and to send her a "hello" message with congratulations after all of these years. I think she was about 27 then. She too is retired now and enjoying her grandchildren, much the same as I am enjoying ours. What a nice thing this Facebook system can be when used like this. I look forward to discovering many other classmates and friends and co-workers whom I haven't seen or heard from in many, many years. It's a nice way to share and relive some good old memories.

Google Nexus One

Well here it is, the Google Nexus One, sure to be a big seller and competitor of Apple's iPhone.

The price tag is $530, or $180 with a 2 year T-Mobile contract.

Google Nexus One

This is a Computerworld.com story. If anyone out there has one of these Droids, please consider sharing your experience with it by commenting to this post. Just click on Comments below this post. I am quite interested in this myself, and I imagine others will be too, especially since service is provided by Verizon, the one servicer we all love to hate.

Google's own version, Nexus One, will be coming out soon, but I hear it'll only work through T-Mobile. Are they even available here in the Northeast? Please comment if you know.

Verizon sold 100,000 Droids over first weekend, analyst says

Happy New Year!

I wish you and yours a very happy 2010.

At a NYE dinner party someone at the table said he was in his 10th decade. I knew he was 80, and that he was born in 1929. So he had lived during the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, and now the 10s decades. Count them up. That is indeed 10 decades.

I didn't like that idea but of course had to check my own, and found that I am entering my 8th decade! Now that is not a fun way to look at this new year, in which I hope we all may find peace, health, safety, and good times and memories with our families.

Happy New Year!

12000

I started this blog back in February of 2008. That's about 2 years now, and there have been over 12000 hits, or views, of the blog. That is more than 500 a month, or about 17 views a day. That is small potatoes for many web sites, but pretty good for a local PC Doc.

So I say thank you to those of you who are faithful regular visitors.

I have about 300 customers on my address list, however, so this number also shows that most are not regular visitors. I wish I could get more of my customer base to check in more regularly. A lot of what I post has to do with preventive steps we users can take to avoid problems, so the more one views the blog, the fewer problems one will experience. Please encourage others to look here once in a while. There are 5 posts on a page, so visiting once a week will show the viewer the past week's posts.

Search this site

I am happy to say that Google has finally made a fairly good search engine available for searching this blog. Just to the right of this post you will see a small Google search window. You can now enter a search argument and you will get all hits that are on this blog. Those of you who, like me, have had to go through the archive list, also to the right and lower down, to fine an old post, can now just use the new search facility. Note that when you do the results will be displayed with 3 tabs up on top. Be sure to check (view) the contents of all 3 tabs.

SeniorNet of Vermont Class Schedule

SeniorNet of Vermont has posted its schedule of computer classes for January & February. This is a great opportunity for seniors 50 and over to catch up with the younger generation in their use of computers! Classes are inexpensive, taught by volunteer professionals, and definitely worth checking out. View the offerings and register online at:

SeniorNet of Vermont Class Schedule

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

This pretty much says it all for me:

I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

(The photo is of the Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Boothbay Harbor, Maine and was taken by Kevin Burnham of the Boothbay Register staff).

I will be taking a few days off from blogging to enjoy the holidays. Thanks for visitig here.

Top 10 Cell Phones

Wow, what a great article this is. All you would want to know about the top 10 cell phones available today. This comes from pcworld.com, and could be very timely for many of us. My only concern about all of this is twofold: initial cost of the phone and the ongoing monthly fees. I admit to feeling a bit hypocritical saying this after buying an Apple MacBook Pro.

Need a break from your laptop? These productivity phones offer a lot more than the ability to make calls. Here are the 10 best smartphones available today.

Edited by Ginny Mies, PC World 

Top 10 Cell Phones

Tip of the day: Move the My Documents folder - an oldie but a goodie

A customer asked how to move her MY DOCUMENTS in Windows XP to an external hard drive. It seems her C: drive was getting rather full, and she had aleady bought a large external drive.

I thought I had blogged on this. It is something I have done. I can't, however, find the blog post, so I am blogging it here today for those of you who may wish to do the same thing. This blogger offering I am using is from Google. Google bought blogger.com some time ago. Would't you think therefore that there'd be a good way to search my (or any other) blog? I guess Google doesn't see the payback in improving the search facility, which is practically useless.

In any case, if you would lie to move your XP MY DOCUMENTS, it's very straightforward. It may take a while if you have a lot of documents because they all have to be moved!

Use this link for the show me instructions: Tip of the day: Move the My Documents folder

A "thank you" and a tip of the hat to Ed Bott for having posted this on his blog.

Securing Your PC - Revisited

Protecting your computer from attack by viruses, rogues, malware or spyware is not rocket science. I promised I would re-post this information in response to several inquiries. On March 9 of this year, I posted all of the components I use to combat the bad guys and to keep my machines running smoothly.

Here is the link to that post:  http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/securing-your-pc.html


I have been experimenting lately with Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) as an alternative to AVG Free. I have expressed my disappointment with AVG's marketing techniques in this blog, so I have no problem leaving them behind. If you are using AVG Free and feel the way I do about them, you can try MSE as well. Simply go to microsoft.com and download it there. It is free!

In answer to other questioners, YES, using a HOSTS file is an integral part of a good security package. The one I recommend is considered the best by many people, including me.

All of the software on my March 9 list is free.

My new MacBook Pro 17"

So what I did last night was finally bit the bullet and got myself a Mac. Quite a few of my PC customers have switched, and even I had recommended to several that they consider a Mac. I have heard so much good about them, and I wanted to be in a position where I could begin servicing them. Heretofore I have just responded "sorry" when asked if I could help with a Mac problem.

I bought a new MacBook Pro with a 17" screen. For those of you not familiar with the Apple product line, this is a laptop. Here are its specs:

• 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB
• 500GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
• SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
• MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display
• None
• Backlit Keyboard (English) / User's Guide

It is really a slick machine. I played with one at the Apple Store in Natick, MA before making my decision to buy. I always recommend getting hands-on before making your decision.

I still balk at the price. One of my sons replied that you could buy 5 Corollas for the price of a Mercedes! :-) Hmm.... For sometime I will be wondering if I did the right thing.

The Apple Store

Tonight I visited the Apple Store at the Natick (MA) Collection (Mall). Tomorrow, when I am sober (just kidding) I will tell you about my experience and what I did.

Shock

One of my laptops took quite a shock today when I dropped it. It was on a chair and had power cord attached. I lifted it up by the top of the open display with one hand. I inadvertently stepped on the power cord and that caused me to lose my grip on the laptop. I was really concerned. I have seen laptops get destroyed with lesser shocks, but this one survived and seems to be running well.

So thank you Acer. This TravelMate 4220 was my first Acer, and we now have 3. It was a risk when I bought it. It was one of the less expensive machines, and I figured that I, with my PC expertise, would be able to keep it running, and I have. However, I never expected to ever drop it, and I wouldn't have expected it to survive the shock it has apparently absorbed. So Acer, thanks again, and a tip of the hat!

MSE

Microsoft Security Essentials, that is. A while back I said that I had installed it on my Windows 7 machine as an experiment. It was very easy to install and so far seems trouble-free. I have also installed it on a customer's Vista machine, and likewise, a very easy install and seems to run well and SEEMS to do the job. I capitalized the word seems because I don't feel that I have enough experience to recommend it to anyone - yet.

So if you have been waiting for my comments on this product, I'd ask you to wait for a more definitive recommendation down the road a piece. If on the other hand you are anxious to try it out and ready to do so, I would not discourage you. As a security package, it has these things going for it: it is easy to install, it does in fact keep itself up-to-date, it seems to have less overhead than say Norton or McAfee, and it is free!

FBI: Rogue antivirus scammers have made $150M

Quite a few of you know what that subject is all about. I have spent many hours in 2009 working on your PCs that had become infected with one of the so-called "rogue programs", and I thank you for your business. I have developed a formula for ridding systems of these rogues, and so far the routine I use has worked 100%. Here is a surprise for you: all I use are the programs listed in my recommended security suite. Tomorrow I will repeat that list of programs that I recommend in another blog post.

In the meantime, I highly recommend this Computerworld.com article. Please take a few minutes to read it. Between this article and tomorrow's post, you have the opportunity to avoid these rogues and save yourself an emergency call to your PCDoc.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9142160/FBI_Rogue_antivirus_scammers_have_made_150M

Backing up your data

I have been preaching data backup forever, it seems. Still,  I have customers who do not back up their data and risk losing some or all of it.

Yesterday a customer asked me about a subscription service which, for a modest annual fee, will automaticaly back up all of your data on an ongoing basis. When you start with them, they will take a day or week or longer, whatever it takes, to backup all of your data over your high speed internet connection. They will do it gradually if you permit them, so that your system will not be down or extra slow while they do this backup. Thereafter they will do incremental backups, meaning they will back up your data that has been updated or added since the last backup. They will store your data in an encrypted format at some remote location of theirs. As far as I am concerned, this is all goodness. Having your data backed up and stored elsewhere at a reasonable cost is a good thing.

If you elect to go this route, you must also take the responsibility to make sure that all of your data is backed up. The emphasis there is on the word ALL. I had one customer who subscribed to a service like this, thought all of their data was being backed up, and when the you know what hit the fan, they found out that all of their 2008 business financial data had not been backed up. They were able to manually recreate the files by entering all of the data from paper back into the computer. They were lucky. At least they could recreate the data. You may not be so lucky, so be sure if you go this route that you are completely covered.

I do not recommend one of these backup services over another because I have no experience with any of them. Conceptually this sounds like a good deal.

My preference is to be in control and not spend money if I don't have to. You can read more about how I manage my backups at this earlier blog post: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/backing-up-your-data.html

Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool (MSRT)

I am a member of AAA. I believe it is inexpensive smart insurance for my wife and me. In October I had a flat tire on my truck and it took a cell phone call and a 45 minute wait to get my flat tire removed and my spare tire installed and I was ready to go. That one call was financial justification enough for me to renew my membership.

When it comes to our computers, I feel the same way. I don't like paying for software, and rarely do I need to do that. A case in point of affordable insurance is Microsoft's MSRT. The price is right. It's free! Microsoft updates this program every month in an effort to keep its customers' PCs running trouble-free. It is distributed with your Automatic Updates. So why do I write about it here?

The answer is this. I just downloaded all of this Tuesday's updates and noticed that the December version of MSRT was included. However, I do not believe that the MSRT, when downloaded thru Automatic Updates does a full scan. I say this because every month I also download MSRT manually and run a Full Scan, and it takes several hours to run! So I suspect, but am really not sure, that the automatic download and install of MSRT  runs only a Quick Scan.

I like to download the tool monthly and let it run a Full Scan. I start this when I can let it run the full scan, maybe at bedtime or when I am headed out the door for a few hours. To me this is high quality and cheap insurance, and it makes sense to me to do this.

You can click on that image above to enlarge it.

The MSRT can be downloaded at http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.aspx. Go to this site and click on "Skip the details and download the tool". 

Apple customer collates 27-in. iMac display problems

Hmmmm.......  On second thought.........

Flickering, shattered screens lead iMac gripes, says data culled from Apple support forum

From Computerworld.com: 

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9141894/Apple_customer_collates_27_in._iMac_display_problems

Mixed Bag

I am sitting here working on 3 different laptops, two of them mine! One is running good old Windows XP, a second is running Windows Vista (a customer machine), and the third is running Windows 7.

I still am not a Vista fan, and again I encourage those of you who run Vista to download and run the Microsoft Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. It's a free utility, and you can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/upgrade-advisor.aspx. See how compatible your computer would be with Windows 7. If you pass the test, then I strongly urge you to watch for sales on Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade. My experience in doing that upgrade is that I shall not look back, and I really like Windows 7 a lot. Oh, and if possible, add 2GB of RAM to your machine first, although mine is running very well (better than it did when it was Vista) in just 2GB of RAM total.

I am not quite ready to upgrade my Windows XP machines, as I did my Vista laptop. I have a lot invested in my XP machines, in terms of applications installed and XP performance. In short, I see no need to upgrade my XP machines, although someday I probably will.

If you have questions about any of this, please comment on this post (click on Comments below) or write me.

Another chance to recycle used computers for Vermonters

Free computer drop-off at new Goodwill store in South Burlington

Cleaning out your closets? Got an old, dusty computer to get rid of? Bring it all down to the new Goodwill store opening Friday, December 11, at 1080 Shelburne Road (on the site of the former Tuscan Kitchen). They'll take it all for free--including the computers! Regular hours are Monday-Saturday 9-9, Sunday 9-7.

The building itself is constructed partially from reused materials salvaged from the former Tuscan Kitchen building, embodying Goodwill's own mission for keeping usable goods in use. It is on track for Energy Star certification with energy efficient heating, air-conditioning, and insulation features. Best of all, their drive-through donation zone makes it a breeze to drop off your lava lamp, broken-in jeans, and that faithful, old Commodore computer!

The new store is in addition to the existing Goodwill location at 329 Harvest Lane in Williston, which also accepts computer equipment for free.

Refurbished and Clearance Apple Items

I think I have posted more than once that I would love to get into and learn the Apple family of, I'm not even sure what term to use, Macs. I am not sure if the term Macs includes all of their "PCs", but that is what I mean for it to indicate. Apple does have a web site where they sell refurbished machines, and there doesn't seem to be a lack of good machines available here:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals

There are also a lot of refurbished iPods at this site.

Hackers quick to exploit Tiger Woods crash

Interesting. Be wary of such sites. This comes from cbronline.com:

Cyber criminals are already exploiting the car crash involving golf superstar Tiger Woods by directing news-hungry surfers to malware-infested websites.

Both Symantec and Sophos have warned users to be on their guard when searching for news relating to the crash, which happened in the early hours of Friday morning at his home near Orlando, Florida.

Sophos has claimed that by early Saturday morning hackers had created webpages claiming to contain video footage related to the incident. Users visiting the infected sites are likely to see their PCs infected by a Trojan horse, which enablers hackers to use the PC to spread spam.

More on Windows 7

Windows 7 continues to impress. A real unexpected bonus is improved performance on this Acer laptop of mine. Even though I had dressed Vista down, using tips to make it more like XP, it was still quite slow. It now has new life, thanks to Windows 7, and is performing much better. I did not expect this at all, and have been pleasantly surprised.

If you are thinking of getting a new PC for Christmas, don't hesitate because of Windows 7. I am quite sure you will not be disappointed.

Like any new PC, it will need some customization, but this is not the fault of Windows 7 as much as it is the manufacturer's desire to generate a little more income by loading up your new PC with trialware and unnecessary programs.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you and yours have a very happy day. Thank you for reading my blog.

Christmas Dreaming

I have to say, after only 2 days, that I still like Windows 7 a lot. Microsoft has done some good things with this new product. I just hope it's stable and I hope that its Security Essentials is high quality and keeps the Windows 7 machines well-protected. It would be nice to have a stable Windows environment, pretty much free of worry about being attacked by the bad guys out there. It does get a little tiring having to worry about installing and maintaining a plethora of programs just to keep my Windows XP machines clean and running smoothly. What say you, Microsoft? More on this as I gain experience with Windows 7.

I can't get my mind, however, off of that 27 inch iMac! While it wouldn't quite fit into a Christmas stocking, it sure would look nice under the tree! But, as indicated earlier, the way I configured "mine", it came in at $3200, so I guess it will remain a dream!

Windows 7 - at last!

I finally have Windows 7 installed. Instead of building up an old desktop to use for this, I sacrificed my Vista laptop. I ran out of patience, and using the Vista laptop was the easiest way to get the job done. Besides, I don't foresee a need to have a working Vista system anymore. I have worked on enough Vista systems to know that I can handle Vista problems without having my own system.

So, on to Windows 7. I never was able to use the first DVD that Amazon sent me, and they sent me a replacement set. Windows 7 comes with a 32 bit version DVD and a 64 bit version DVD. My laptop had the 32 bit version of Vista installed, and everything I have read told me that the 64 bit version is unnecessary at this time because there are so few programs that will take advantage of the technology. The 32 bit version is recommended.

So I tried, but failed. The installation did not at all go the way it was supposed to go. I could not get the 32 bit version installed, and mind you, all I wanted was a CLEAN install, meaning all I wanted to do was lay the new system down on the drive overwriting my old system and destroying all of the data. I did not want tp upgrade my Vista to Windows 7. This latter install is the toughest, I have read, and a CLEAN install is recommended whenever possible.

I then decided to try the 64 bit DVD, and, to my surprise, I was able to get through the install, although not terribly smoothly. There were problems along the way, but I somehow managed to get through it.

Then, and this comes as no surprise, I had to sit through hours of Windows Updates. The DVD set was dated, as I recall, July 2009. Microsoft has been very busy patching Windows 7 since then, and there were tens, maybe even a hundred, updates to apply. Then I had to install Microsoft Office 2007, and it too had many, many updates, some quite time-consuming.

This is the Microsoft way, isn't it? It always has been and probably always will be.

Eventually I had all of the fixes applied, and thought I would try the new Microsoft Security Essentials. I had promised in an earlier blog post that I would give it a try. Supposedly, this one free package will do it all, anti-virus and spyware. The download and install of this package went very smoothly and quickly. Can it be that Microsoft has done this one thing right? I sure hope so.

So there you have it. I have to admit that I LIKE Windows 7. This may surprise some of you after what I have written above. I can and will recommend Windows 7. Microsoft has done a very good job at improving what they had in Vista. They may even have listened to users!

I can recommend Windows 7 to you now mostly because I know you will most likely be buying a new computer that already has Windows 7 installed on it. It is a very nice and user-friendlier interface. I simply can't recommend the upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. I am glad I have gone through it, but I had so many problems that it was painful, and to be honest, I don't even know if the 64 bit version I had to install will run well with the software I want to run. Time will tell.

Bottom line: Windows 7 is a very good product. Make sure your next computer has it. I think you will like it a lot, especially when compared to Vista.

Micro Center

Have you ever heard of the Micro Center? Living a sheltered life as we do in Northern New England, we don't get much exposure to places like this. Micro Center is a chain of 22 stores, and the nearest one to us is in Cambridge, MA. Spending some time in the Boston area as I have lately, one of my sons put me on to this store.

If you are into PCs or Macs (they sell both, and supplies and accessories for both), you may love this store. It is really amazing. Limited as we are up here to Staples and Best Buy plus some other outlets like Radio Shack and maybe BJs or Costco or Sam's Club, this was like entering candyland for me!

I recommend you check it out online and if in the Cambridge area, stop in to see it. It's right on Memorial Drive along the Charles.

http://www.microcenter.com/at_the_stores/cambridge.html

Google rides Chrome OS onto Microsoft turf

In case you haven't heard, Google is planning an operating system, in diect competition with Microsoft. Some of you have tried Google's Chrome web browser, but this takes it further into a full-blown operating system, browser-based. So while we all struggle with having to learn Windows 7, or how to keep our good old Windows XP machines running, or with the Apple vs. PC makers, Google is plodding along with development of their own operating system. It is expected that general availability of the new Chrome OS will be a year from now (in time for Christmas 2010?). In the meantime, we will all be reading about early versions of the Chrome OS. Here is one, for those of you who may be interested, from Computerworld.com.

Google's Chrome OS

Microsoft Answers

Microsoft maintains many, many forums (we used to say fora, but now forums is acceptable?) on Windows 7, Vista, and XP. The categories are listed here on this one page. If you have a Windows Live id (Hotmail, for example) you can even login and post your own questions. But, even without that you'll find discussions on most any topic within the operating system of your choice. It's definitely worth a look and even an add to your Bookmarks (I assume by now that everyone is using Firefox as your default browser, and thus the Firefox terminology). Okay, Favorites, if you still insist on using Internet Explorer!

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories

Spam

These are actual subjects of e-mails in my Junk mail folder at my pcdoc address:

payment request from "Publix"
payment request from "Electric Boat" 
payment request from "Avnet"
payment request from "Nike" 

Unbelievable, but easy to see how one might get in trouble and wind up with a virus if you happened to get just one of these and from a company you do business with. These spammers are actually making money sending this junk out, and stealing from anyone who is gullible enough to open one of these e-mails. And if they don't steal from the gullible, who knows what virus they  may install on your system?

A word to the wise: check your spam settings, and if you get an e-mail such as one of these, be sure to mark it as spam - AND DON'T OPEN IT!

AVG Free Version 9

AVG is still free. I had a call earlier today from a customer who was having trouble entering his credit card information in the AVG ordering process. I was very upset. I am so upset with AVG for their aggressive marketing technique, scaring people into buying their product. Shame on them!

AVG is still free. Rather than risk getting to the wrong page on AVG's own web  site, download it at http://filehippo.com or http://download.com.

In both cases search for AVG FREE, with the emphasis on the word FREE! Do not be led into buying their for-a-fee version.

PLEASE do not ever pay for any version of AVG anti-virus. If/when the FREE version is withdrawn, you'll hear it from me here, and I will be quick to point you to another free anti-virus.

Not so fast: Look before you leap!

After marveling at the Apple MacBook Pro 13 inch notebook yesterday, and blogging about it, I measured my own Acer laptop's screen, and found that mine is 15 inches measured diagonally. I would have a hard time adjusting to a smaller screen. The older I get the larger the display I want. I recently bought a 22 inch display for my desktop PC.

I guess the moral of the story is that you should see in person what it is you want to buy before making any important (and expensive) decisions. Touch it, lift it, view it and try it out.

I previously blogged about the Acer Aspire One Netbook I purchased, could it be a year ago? I wanted to find out what the Netbook craze was all about. It's about size and weight. And cost! These tiny machines are real lightweights, and a joy for the traveler, especially someone like me who lugged an IBM ThinkPad around the world. That wasn't fun.

However, the weight, size, and convenience come at a price. The Acer Aspire One's screen is 8.9 inches measured diagonally. I could never use that, traveling or not. I gave the machine to my wife to test, and she is using it to this day as her fulltime computer. She goes nowhere without it, and the fact that it is such a lightweight is probably the single most important factor contributing to her satisfaction. She is in and out of airports and train stations the way I am in and out of Dunkin' Donuts! Oh, and it has Windows XP.

More about the Acer Aspire One Netbook

Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch Notebook

From wired.com, a very nice review of the new MacBook Pro, makes me rethink the affordability issue (as in can I afford to buy one?).

"The littlest MacBook Pro finally gets all the features of its larger brethren, making it pound for pound one of the most impressive laptops on the market today. For starters, the aluminum unibody construction is solid to an extreme: There's no wiggle or shimmy when you lift up this laptop. It's a high-tech brick that, if you gathered enough of, you could probably pave your driveway with."

MORE....................

 

No e-mail prgram included in Windows 7

From Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal:

Q: I have just bought a new computer with Windows 7, and not only can’t I download Outlook Express, I can’t even find it. Is it there? Where?

A: Sadly, Microsoft killed Outlook Express—its free, fast and simple Windows email program—long before Windows 7 came out. In Vista, it was replaced by something called Windows Mail. Now, there’s no email program at all built into Windows 7, unless a PC maker chooses to include one. But Microsoft offers for download a free product called Windows Live Email that is the latest successor to Outlook Express. You can get it, alone or as part of a suite of free “Essentials” programs that used to be routinely part of Windows, at: windowslive.com/desktop.

Review: 3 Windows 7 touch-screen laptops

It will be interesting to see if touch-screen sales begin to climb and ultimately take off or if the concept will fall by the wayside. I have to say I'd like to try one out. Read this Computerworld article at the following link:

Review: 3 Windows 7 touch-screen laptops

New iMac

As I have stated before, I would love to own an Apple computer. I guess their laptops are called Macs and their desktops are called iMacs? I'm not even sure about that, I know so little about them. I have only always known that they are pricey.

Today I went to apple.com and configured myself a nice new iMac with the highly touted 27" display. It starts out at $1695 or close to that, and that's not bad. However, I went step by step through their very nice configurator and wound up with a desktop machine, and I might say a beauty that I would be proud to own, but it came in at over $3200!

Maybe next year.

Windows 7 Update

Unable to get the Windows 7 DVD setup.exe program to run, I decided, after many dead-end trials (I tried to load the program on multile machines and it failed), to return the product to Amazon. I did request a replacement as opposed to a return because I had purchased this at a pre-order price of $49.

My DVD package was sealed and therefore I blame Microsoft for providing a non-functioning product DVD to Amazon. Now I realize that Microsoft probably never came near these DVDs, but obviously they are responsible for ensuring quality controls are implemented.

In the meantime I have decided to install Windows 7, after I get my replacement, on an older desktop unit instead of sacrificing my only working Vista machine.

Nice note from Amazon:

Hello,

I'm so sorry about the problem you had with your Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade.

It is certainly not our intention to ship defective products to our customers, and we will investigate the origin of this problem as soon as possible.

We always appreciate customer input on how we can improve our store, and I've forwarded your message to our shipping department, as I know they'll want to read about your experience.

In order to compensate for the inconvenience caused, I've placed a new order for you at no charge.

Windows 7 Disappointment

Well, my first day playing with Windows 7 didn't go well. I decided to sacrifice my Vista machine to Windows 7, stuck the Windows 7 DVD in the drive, and immediately found that setup.exe didn't work. I couldn't get the program to even begin. 

I quickly went to the appropriate Microsoft support forum, posted my problem, and got one response - all day long - wherein the guy just asked me if I did this and that, and I explained that I did this and that and then even some more!

Day one is a total washout!

Finally!

Well, it finally arrived late last week. Windows 7. After all my complaining about the shipping delay, I have to confess that I am not yet quite ready for it. I have yet to decide the machine I will use for the installation. I had been thinking my Vista laptop, but I only have one Vista machine, and lately I have been spending a lot of time with customers on their Vista machines. It might be wise for me to hang on to my Vista machine so I can use mine as a lab machine to try to replicate or simply explain what has happened when a customer has a Vista problem.