Apr 20
Did you know you can specify what happens when you close the lid to your laptop or netbook computer? This short video will show you how to make your system sleep, hibernate or power off completely.
Apr 16
Learn how to put your computer into hibernate mode when you press the power button.
Mar 29
The Windows Desktop. It’s the single largest piece of real estate on your computer. Every time you start the computer, every time you minimize or close a window, there it is. Is it boring? Does it not shout “you”? Why not personalize it?
You can use virtually any picture as an image on your desktop. If you have a picture in your computer that you’d like to use as desktop image, all you need to do is browse to that file’s location, and the right-click on the file. In the subsequent pop-up, select Set as Desktop Background. Easy, isn’t it? Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 18
Viruses, worms, spyware, adbots -all of these nasties fall under the broad category of “malware” – that is, stuff you don’t want on your computer. All of these infect your system, with varying results. Some may simply present a particular banner ad at a website, based on your browsing history. Others may annoy you with unwanted pop-ups. The worst may monitor your keystrokes looking for passwords or credit card info. Much malware is poorly written and interacts badly with your computer, often slowing the entire system down, and in the most severe cases, totally corrupting your Windows installation. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar 10
Take a moment and just look at that desktop! It’s cluttered. I’m surprised you can find anything on it! Look at all that junk. No, I don’t mean the stapler, coffee cups and loose paper clips on your real desktop. I’m talking about all those extra icons on your Windows desktop.
Just in case you don’t know what I’m talking about, the desktop is the screen you see after Windows fully boots up – the one that shows after you close all programs.
While it’s convenient to save items to the desktop, you’ll find that it quickly becomes hard to navigate, due simply to the number of icons on the desktop. So let’s take a moment to clean things up. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 25
Uh oh, you caught a computer virus. The good news is, you used tools that you learned from The Computer Psychic or other sites to effectively remove the virus from your system. Congratulations! However, that doesn’t mean you’re done yet. Once you’ve recovered from a virus, there are still steps to be performed to assure that your data is safe and confidential. Read the rest of this entry »
Feb 18
The Nastiest Virus Out There Today
There’s a particularly nasty virus going around these days. It goes by the name of Internet Security 2010. This virus, if left unchecked, will progressively inject itself into running processes, block internet access, prevent you from accessing certain Windows features, and eventually render your computer unusable.
Internet Security 2010 infects your computer with the Vundo virus. This virus is often missed by the latest anti-virus programs, meaning even if your anti-virus software is up to date, you may still get infected by the virus.
So, how do you know if you’re infected with Internet Security 2010, or another wrapper for the Vundo virus? First of all, you will see a screen showing a fake security scan. This scan will purport to have found several viruses, with an option to activate the program and correct the issues. Don’t fall for it. This screen is a fake. Yes, you have a virus (most likely, at this point, several) but IS2010 won’t fix them. They will take your money and pretend to fix the issues, but in reality, you will be more infected than ever.
Other symptoms of IS2010 may or may not include:
• Your desktop wallpaper changing to simple text telling you that your system has been infected and will be suspended.
• You may be unable to access certain web sites
• Windows update may be disabled
• Your current anti-virus program may be suspended
• You cannot access the registry
• You cannot boot into safe mode
• If you can boot to safe mode, you may receive these same fake virus warnings
• Your firewall may be disabled
Internet Security 2010 often looks different on different systems. Depending on how long it’s been in your computer, you may not see all of the above symptoms. The longer it’s active, the more infected your computer becomes. In addition, it acts as a “gateway” allowing your system to become further infected with other viruses.
So, it’s a nasty virus, it injects itself in many parts of the system. The question is, how do you remove it. Since it disables many anti-virus programs, removal can be problematic.
First of all, try to boot into safe mode. (Restart the computer. While the screen is still black – before it says Starting Windows – press the F8 key. You will see a menu with various safe mode options select Safe Mode with Networking.) If you can’t boot into safe mode, go ahead and boot into regular mode.
Download and run rkill.com by clicking this link. This app will attempt to stop all IS2010 processes.
Now download and install SuperAntiSpyware free edition by clicking this link. Important: be sure to check the option to direct SuperAntiSpyware to automatically download the latest virus definitions and updates.
Once SuperAntiSpyware is installed, go ahead and run a quick scan. Once it’s done it will present you with a list of infections. Click the button to fix the issues.
After SuperAntiSpyware has performed it’s magic, restart the computer, in normal mode. Now run SuperAntiSpyware again, just to make sure everything has been removed.
Just like that, Internet Security 2010 is removed. So, how did you get it, and how do you prevent further infections? The most common way of getting infected is from the internet. You are contentedly visiting a website and you see a popup saying words to the effect of, “Warning. Your computer is infected with spyware or adware. Click here to download the latest version of Internet Security 2010.” (Keep in mind, the message may vary.) There will be two buttons, one labeled OK and one Cancel. Or maybe one labeled Yes and one labeled No. Or Install and Don’t install. You get the idea. There’s one that says Do It and another that says Don’t. The thing is, no matter which button you click on, the virus will be downloaded. The code behind the two buttons is identical. The only way to safely close this window is to click on the X in the upper-right-hand corner of the window. If there is no X, you can use the Ctl-W keyboard combination to close the window. Or Alt-F4 to close the internet.
So, in a nutshell, be aware of what you’re clicking on when browsing the internet. Keep your anti-virus software up to date with the latest virus definitions, and you’ll greatly reduce the chance of getting infected by malware.
There’s a particularly nasty virus going around these days. It goes by the name of Internet Security 2010. This virus, if left unchecked, will progressively inject itself into running processes, block internet access, prevent you from accessing certain Windows features, and eventually render your computer unusable.
Internet Security 2010 infects your computer with the Vundo virus. This virus is often missed by the latest anti-virus programs, meaning even if your anti-virus software is up to date, you may still get infected by the virus. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 28
So, you’ve put in a hard day at the computer – time to put it away and join the “real” world. Did you know you have options as to how you turn off the computer? Depending on which method you use, you could greatly reduce the time it takes to turn on the computer next time. Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 15
Do you have a wireless internet connection at home, or at the office? Isn’t it great? With a wireless connection you can move your laptop from room to room and still access the web and your email. But keep in mind that by its very nature, a wireless connection is slower than a wired connection. Having said that, if you’re concerned that your wireless internet speed isn’t what it should be, there are things you can try to speed it up Read the rest of this entry »
Jan 07
Yes, I know advertising pays for all that great web content that we get for free. But between animated banners at the top, columns of ads at the left and right, plus ads interspersed in the midst of an article, some web pages are just plain cluttered. All you want to do is read an article, and these ads are yelling at you – distracting you – can’t they just leave you alone?!?
Along comes Readability (http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/). This little gem sits in your bookmark toolbar. When you want to read an article without all the clutter, just click on the bookmark and Readability will remove all superfluous content, leaving just the text you want. Best of all, it’s free! Read the rest of this entry »
