I just read an article that the Cryptolocker Virus has been blocked and The Gameover Zeus Virus has been stopped. These were the two worst viruses I have seen in a long time. Customer after customer had fallen prey to the cryptolocker virus. Some had paid the ransom and gotten their data back, while other people paid the ransom and never got their data back. Here is a link to the article I just came across http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/fed-cyber-sleuths-stop-gamover-zeus-cryptolocker-crime/story?id=23964827 . Just paste it into your address bar and press enter.
Apparently Britain had been issued a warning by this criminal that the Gameover Zeus virus was going to be released on June 2nd 2014. The FBI went into operation and has taken care of business. This virus was apparently started by a criminal gang based in Russia. I think they should have a whole section like men in black assigned to the extinction of every one of these scums and bring them to justice.
I still advise everyone to keep their virus cleaning software up to date. If you get the message that your virus software has expired either renew it or uninstall it and install at least one of the free Antivirus programs such as Free Avast or Free AVG. Both of these are excellent virus programs. If you decide to go with a paid version I say go for it. I would also install free Malwarebytes from malwarebytes.org, if you already have it make sure to update it at least once a week. Scan with it at least once a week or once every two weeks. I would also suggest to download the current spybot 2.4 and install it. You can scan with it once every two weeks. Another program I would suggest having is Super Anti Spyware. It does a pretty good job. You can set it so it does not run in the background and run it manually. Here is a good link to information about the free antivirus software http://www.techradar.com/us/news/software/applications/best-free-antivirus-9-reviewed-and-rated-1057786 . I myself prefer this website because they seem to be unbiased http://www.av-comparatives.org/ .
Thank You for reading
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Use A USB Flash Drive To Store Small Amounts Of Data
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| 32GB USB Flash Drive |
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| Heart Necklace Flash Drive |
USB Flash Drives have come a long way in the past few years. They started out at about 1gb of storage space and at a good price. Today you can buy a usb flash drive with storage space from 1gb up to about 256gb. That is a lot space to save data. My advise is to go with a usb flash drive somewhere between 4gb to maybe 32gb or 64gb. I would only go with the larger usb flash drive if you have a very large amount of data to save. For example if you were writing a book you may store your work on the flash drive to be able to take it wherever you may be going. |
| 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive |
If you are a computer technician they definitely would be handy for saving and transferring the customers data. This may be a case where a 256gb usb flash drive would be extremely handy. Another good use for a usb flash drive for a technician is to install programs on to troubleshooting such as Hirens 15.1 or 15.2 . I have had a lot of times where the cdrom drive does not function. You can set the system bios to boot off the usb flash drive and then run whatever program you. Also if you are doing this you can store your other programs you may need such as Combofix, Malwarebytes, Spybot 2.4, Super anti spyware portable or any other program you may be using in the cleaning of viruses, malware, spyware or adware. It is much easier to carry a few flash drives then trying to carry a bunch of Cd's or maybe even an external hard drive.
I have seen some people use the usb flash drive as a back up drive. If you are going to use the usb flash drive for backing up a system, then you will need at least a 256gb drive. Another use of the usb flash drive is students in high school or even college. Just store your homework, projects or study material on them. That way if you come home for a holiday you can keep working and won't have to take your desktop back and forth. If you are using it with your desktop or laptop you have the advantage of having your data in more than one location. In other words if your hard drive in your desktop or laptop crashed you will have your data in a second 
location. I am not saying to give up using an external hard drive. I am just saying this is an easier way of keeping your data safe.
As far as brands of usb flash drives go I have not seen one better than the other. The best thing is to check out the reviews on the particular model and brand before buying. The best way to purchase a usb flash drive is through Amazon or Ebay, but you can buy locally as well. I would just give the advise that most of the time the local computer stores do not sell the larger usb flash drives.Thank You for reading.
Saturday, July 19, 2014
It Is Very Important To Backup Your System With So Many Computer Viruses Today
I thought it would be very important to talk about backing up your windows 7 operating systems with so many computer viruses going around. I have seen too many times where a system has been infected with a virus and it has totally corrupted the system so it does not run properly. Even after running various repairs and cleaning the system it still does not function properly. Especially with viruses such as the Cryptolocker Virus. All data with this one is generally gone. The only course of action is to wipe and reload the operating system, drivers, updates and other peripherals.
So many times I encounter friends as well as other people who have no idea on how to back up their computer. The first thing is to understand what it means to back up your computer. The back up and restore program in windows 7 can be found in the control panel. It is usually in the top row of icons. This program will make a complete image of your hard drive exactly as it is. It will also back up all of your documents, folders and data.
You will need to have an external hard drive so the the data can back up to it. I would suggest that you have an external hard drive with 1 terabyte to at least 3 terabytes of space. External hard drives in this size range are not as expensive as they were when they first came out a few years ago. I would expect to spend somewhere between $95 to $135 dollars. These can easily be bought online through Amazon or Ebay. There are a lot of resellers on the internet so just be aware of where you purchase it. Always check reviews on the person or place it is coming from. I would also check reviews on the name brand that you purchase. Generally brands such as Western Digital and Seagate are good brands to stick with. Some external hard drives can be the size of a laptop hard drive or some can be the size of a standard sata hard drive.One thing I would stress if you buy from your local computer store make sure the package is sealed properly. I have seen instances where a place of business has used a drive in their repair department to save data on and then wiped it out and placed it back on the shelf when they were done. If I found this out I would never do business with any company using such tactics. I have also seen companies selling items such as memory or hard drives where they use no esd protection and they place a sticker on the open pc board right across the components. Basically the component may be damaged and will fail at some point while out in the field. Stay away from places that use this type of approach in their business practices. Make sure exposed pc boards are in static bags and handled properly. Some times you can take a tour of a company. Be aware of how things are placed on benches. Are they on static mats that are actually grounded and are the technicians wearing static wrist straps when handling exposed pc boards whether it is a memory stick, hard drive, motherboard or any pc card.
Okay back to the back and restore in windows 7. DO NOT BACK UP YOUR SYSTEM TO THE RECOVERY PARTITION OR THE DATA PARTITION. It is usually too small for the large amount of data you will be backing up. Connect your external hard drive and pay attention to what drive letter it has. Double click the back up and restore icon. Choose to let windows run the program. You can set it for a schedule with a certain day and time. Just make sure your computer is on at the time. It will initially run the first back up and tell you it was successful. By default it will be set at Sunday at &PM. You can change this setting to whatever you prefer. It will also indicate when the next back up is scheduled to run. Just be aware that it may take awhile for it to run.If you ever have to use the back up to restore your computer you will have a few steps to perform first. For example if your hard drive suddenly failed. You would install the new hard drive in the computer. Next you will need to reinstall the windows 7 operating software, install drivers for the system and activate windows 7 using the product license number. It is usually on the bottom of the laptop or on the back, top or one of the sides of the desktop computer. Most manufactures with windows 7 are placing the product license key number under the battery in most laptop computers. You would then connect your external hard drive and the system will recognize it. Next go to the back up and restore in the control panel. You will see a choice to recover your system. Run that and follow what it tells you to do. I have run this at least two to three times on customers computers and it has worked every time. Just make sure your back up is kept up to date.
Thank You for reading and remember Backup, Backup and Backup and Stay Safe.
How Do I Back Up My Windows 7 Computer
So many times I encounter friends as well as other people who have no idea on how to back up their computer. The first thing is to understand what it means to back up your computer. The back up and restore program in windows 7 can be found in the control panel. It is usually in the top row of icons. This program will make a complete image of your hard drive exactly as it is. It will also back up all of your documents, folders and data.You will need to have an external hard drive so the the data can back up to it. I would suggest that you have an external hard drive with 1 terabyte to at least 3 terabytes of space. External hard drives in this size range are not as expensive as they were when they first came out a few years ago. I would expect to spend somewhere between $95 to $135 dollars. These can easily be bought online through Amazon or Ebay. There are a lot of resellers on the internet so just be aware of where you purchase it. Always check reviews on the person or place it is coming from. I would also check reviews on the name brand that you purchase. Generally brands such as Western Digital and Seagate are good brands to stick with. Some external hard drives can be the size of a laptop hard drive or some can be the size of a standard sata hard drive.
One thing I would stress if you buy from your local computer store make sure the package is sealed properly. I have seen instances where a place of business has used a drive in their repair department to save data on and then wiped it out and placed it back on the shelf when they were done. If I found this out I would never do business with any company using such tactics. I have also seen companies selling items such as memory or hard drives where they use no esd protection and they place a sticker on the open pc board right across the components. Basically the component may be damaged and will fail at some point while out in the field. Stay away from places that use this type of approach in their business practices. Make sure exposed pc boards are in static bags and handled properly. Some times you can take a tour of a company. Be aware of how things are placed on benches. Are they on static mats that are actually grounded and are the technicians wearing static wrist straps when handling exposed pc boards whether it is a memory stick, hard drive, motherboard or any pc card. Okay back to the back and restore in windows 7. DO NOT BACK UP YOUR SYSTEM TO THE RECOVERY PARTITION OR THE DATA PARTITION. It is usually too small for the large amount of data you will be backing up. Connect your external hard drive and pay attention to what drive letter it has. Double click the back up and restore icon. Choose to let windows run the program. You can set it for a schedule with a certain day and time. Just make sure your computer is on at the time. It will initially run the first back up and tell you it was successful. By default it will be set at Sunday at &PM. You can change this setting to whatever you prefer. It will also indicate when the next back up is scheduled to run. Just be aware that it may take awhile for it to run.
If you ever have to use the back up to restore your computer you will have a few steps to perform first. For example if your hard drive suddenly failed. You would install the new hard drive in the computer. Next you will need to reinstall the windows 7 operating software, install drivers for the system and activate windows 7 using the product license number. It is usually on the bottom of the laptop or on the back, top or one of the sides of the desktop computer. Most manufactures with windows 7 are placing the product license key number under the battery in most laptop computers. You would then connect your external hard drive and the system will recognize it. Next go to the back up and restore in the control panel. You will see a choice to recover your system. Run that and follow what it tells you to do. I have run this at least two to three times on customers computers and it has worked every time. Just make sure your back up is kept up to date.Thank You for reading and remember Backup, Backup and Backup and Stay Safe.
Sunday, July 13, 2014
People Always Ask Me Why Didn't My Antivirus Software Stop The Virus
This is one of the most common questions I get asked these days. Basically no Virus Software is 100% . All I can say is BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER and ALL DATA ON A REGULAR SCHEDULE
Usually the virus program may not have what are called the dat files or definition file and therefore will not be able to detect the virus or infection. In a sense a door is opened and all the nasty garbage gets in and goes from bad to worse. Usually an infected computer has at least four types of infections. They are Viruses, Malware, Spyware and Adware.
Each item caries it's own nastiness and can just ruin your day.
ALWAYS KEEP YOUR VIRUS SOFTWARE UP TO DATE
Thank You For Reading and stay safe.
Usually the virus program may not have what are called the dat files or definition file and therefore will not be able to detect the virus or infection. In a sense a door is opened and all the nasty garbage gets in and goes from bad to worse. Usually an infected computer has at least four types of infections. They are Viruses, Malware, Spyware and Adware.
Each item caries it's own nastiness and can just ruin your day.
ALWAYS KEEP YOUR VIRUS SOFTWARE UP TO DATE
Thank You For Reading and stay safe.
What Is Malware and What Is A Virus
On a daily basis I have to try and explain to someone what Malware is and then what a Virus is. Some people do not know what Malware is. Basically they recognize that their computer is not acting right. It may be slow or when they are on the internet it goes somewhere else. Basically it is being redirected to a website where someone may try to sell you something. One tell tale sign is just look at your desktop. You might see some shortcuts to programs that you did not install. Two of my favorites are pc optimizer or PC Tech 24/7 . If you see these you are infected with malware.
So Malware is a program that is on your computer telling you that your computer is infected with thousands of infections. It may also be a program telling you that your registry is corrupt or your system is corrupt and needs to be repaired. They want you to either buy their program, which is nothing but all false positives. In other words it is telling you things that are not true. The common problem is that they want you to pay for something that really does not exist, because they just want your money.
This may be a little annoying, but it gets the point across
Now a Virus does not do the things mentioned above. A virus will basically spread on it's own and do its dirty work. It may look for other computers on your network, so it can then spread to other computers. It may infect your email so that when you send an email to someone it will in a sense hitchhike and place and infected email into someones email so when they open it their system will become infected. This can go on and on, so more and more computers will become infected. There are some viruses that will basically lock your computer up and hold it hostage. There may be a fake FBI warning that comes up on the display wanting to to pay a fee to unlock your computer. The cryptolocker virus will encrypt your hard drive so your data is gone and the only way to get it back is by paying a fee in a certain amount of time. Most of the time it does not work and all is lost. Some viruses infect your address book and send emails with infections to everyone so that they will be infected. I have seen some that will corrupt your internet connection by putting ip addresses in your tcpip settings or corrupt your winsock so you can not go on to the internet. Some just plain want to steal your information or get your bank information to steal your money.
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| This would be an example of a virus |
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| This would be an example of Malware |
So my final advise is BACK UP BACK UP and BACK UP SOME-MORE. Thank You for reading and stay safe.
Really Nice Gaming Computers
If you are looking for a good gaming computer then the Cyberpower PC Gamer may be just for you. It is what I would call a starter Gaming Computer. In general the computer is not that bad. The only drawback I have seen is that the power supply is not very good. One solution is to just replace the power supply with a better power supply. I would probably replace the power supply with a nice corsair 725 Watt or 600 Watt supply. The prices are not bad at all and the reviews are very good. The reviews for the most part are pretty good.
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 The next computer in the PC Gaming category seen above is a CybertronPC Borg-Q GM4213B Desktop PC.It has a review rating of 4.5 out of 5 gold stars which is very good. You should not have any problems running the newer games on this machine. It is running a an AMD Quad Core Microprocessor and uses DDR3 memory for a good front side bus speed. Once again if you feel the power supply is not sufficient enough then you can replace it. The system does carry a 1 year warranty. Here is some information below on the system.
Finally I would just like to say that these three gaming systems are not the only gaming computers out there on the internet. I would definitely check out the other systems on amazon and see what the specifications are and look at all the reviews. Always remember to check out the seller for any problems they may have had. Thank You for reading and Stay Safe. Happy Gaming |
Saturday, July 5, 2014
That Evil CryptoLocker Virus Is Still Going Around
I have seen some more cases of the CryptoLocker Virus going around. I have noticed that some people are confusing the CryptoLocker Virus with some of the other Ransom FBI Viruses that are still out there on the internet. The Main Difference is that the CryptoLocker Virus encrypts the hard drive resulting in the owner not being able to get at the data. They try to get you to pay a ransom price to unlock the drive. Sometimes that does not help and all is lost. The FBI Ransom Viruses generally just keep popping up the fake FBI Warning not allowing you to run any programs. This virus however can be removed without the loss of any data. Here is a very good video below about the CryptoLocker Virus.
CryptoLocker Virus Explained: The Tech Guy 1026
by twit
Here is a video below on removing the fake FBI Ransomware virus. I am not sure how well this will work. I my self download both Hiren 15. and Hirens 15.2 ISO files. I burn them to a couple of cdr disks. I also download Combofix, Malwarebytes, TDSS Killer.exe, Super Antispyware Portable Tech Version, Eset Online Scanner Portable and copy them to a flash drive. I reboot the computer off the Hirens 15.1 disk and choose mini windows environment. Make sure your ethernet cable is connected to the system. Click on the internet explorer and make sure you have in internet connection. I insert my flash drive and copy the files to a folder I create called virus programs. I first run malwarebytes and update it. DO NOT UPGRADE IT TO THE CURRENT VERSION. STAY AT THE 1.75 VERSION, BECAUSE THE NEWEST VERSIONS WILL NOT RUN. Make sure you update each program as you run them. Reboot the system pressing the F8 key. Choose to go to the safe mode with the command prompt. Once at the dos screen go to the directory you saved the programs in. Now you can type for example combofix.exe and press enter. Follow the prompts to run combofix and reboot when necessary. Generally when this has been run you can enter the system to the normal mode and run any other virus programs. I would suggest downloading the current versions of Malwarebytes and Spybot, install them, update them and run them. Delete and remove whatever is found. Malwarebytes put them in a quarantine file and you can delete what is found. Spybot will find infections, they can be selected and they can be removed.
This is the newer Malwarebytes Program
FBI Scam !! Moneypak Virus removal easy technique 100% Working Method.
by sandeep singh
Well I hope this information is helpful. Thank You for Reading and stay safe.
CryptoLocker Virus Explained: The Tech Guy 1026
by twit
Here is a video below on removing the fake FBI Ransomware virus. I am not sure how well this will work. I my self download both Hiren 15. and Hirens 15.2 ISO files. I burn them to a couple of cdr disks. I also download Combofix, Malwarebytes, TDSS Killer.exe, Super Antispyware Portable Tech Version, Eset Online Scanner Portable and copy them to a flash drive. I reboot the computer off the Hirens 15.1 disk and choose mini windows environment. Make sure your ethernet cable is connected to the system. Click on the internet explorer and make sure you have in internet connection. I insert my flash drive and copy the files to a folder I create called virus programs. I first run malwarebytes and update it. DO NOT UPGRADE IT TO THE CURRENT VERSION. STAY AT THE 1.75 VERSION, BECAUSE THE NEWEST VERSIONS WILL NOT RUN. Make sure you update each program as you run them. Reboot the system pressing the F8 key. Choose to go to the safe mode with the command prompt. Once at the dos screen go to the directory you saved the programs in. Now you can type for example combofix.exe and press enter. Follow the prompts to run combofix and reboot when necessary. Generally when this has been run you can enter the system to the normal mode and run any other virus programs. I would suggest downloading the current versions of Malwarebytes and Spybot, install them, update them and run them. Delete and remove whatever is found. Malwarebytes put them in a quarantine file and you can delete what is found. Spybot will find infections, they can be selected and they can be removed.
This is the newer Malwarebytes Program
FBI Scam !! Moneypak Virus removal easy technique 100% Working Method.
by sandeep singh
Well I hope this information is helpful. Thank You for Reading and stay safe.
How Do I Install That Free Virus Protection Software
One of the common questions I get is how do I install that free virus software. The next question I always hear is can I have more than on virus program installed. Another popular question asked is what is the best free virus software. If you don't feel comfortable trying to remove a virus program and install a different virus program, go to a professional and have them do the uninstalling of the software and install the new virus software.
How To Install Avast AntiVirus Free for PC - Windows 7 - windows 8, XP
by Angelo r.
There are quite a few different free virus protection software programs out there. Usually you will see three main free virus protection software programs. The first one that has generally been on top is free Avast. I use it on my computers and it works very good. You can set a schedule when you want it to run. It will come up with a message to indicate that the virus protection has been updated. Also if there is a new version update for the software it will pop up a message near the time that the update can be downloaded and installed. Some of the virus programs will indicate when they are about to expire, so you can download and install the new version or just do the registration. With free versions you may not have the tech support as in the paid version. There may be some other differences in various features.
The second virus program I like and usually comes in near Free Avast is Free AVG antivirus software. It tends to fight with Free Avast for first place. Free AVG does a nice job. I have seen it on many computers and it has stopped a lot if viruses. It does have some pop up messages, but they can be stopped by settings. This can also be done for Free Avast. Once again AVG does have a paid version called Internet Security and it does a good job. With free AVG you will have to be aware of updates when a new versions comes out. You will have to install it your self.
My third choice in the free category of virus protection software programs in Free Microsoft Security Essentials. This what gets installed by default on windows 8 and 8.1 computers. It is less intrusive then the first two programs. It does not pop up with any messages unless it catches or stops a virus. Honestly I have not always heard good things about this software. I myself have not had any problems with the program. I did read once that the only reason windows 8 comes with it preinstalled is because Microsoft did not want any new desktops or laptops having no virus protection off the shelf. I do believe that this is a good idea especially with all the viruses going around the internet.
Some other free Antivirus Programs I have seen, but not used as much are Avira, Bit Defender, Zone Alarm, Panda Cloud Antivirus and Adaware Antivirus software. No matter which Antivirus program you choose only have one Antivirus Program Installed. Two programs installed will fight each other and slow the computer down.
Thank You for reading and stay safe.
How To Install Avast AntiVirus Free for PC - Windows 7 - windows 8, XP
by Angelo r.
There are quite a few different free virus protection software programs out there. Usually you will see three main free virus protection software programs. The first one that has generally been on top is free Avast. I use it on my computers and it works very good. You can set a schedule when you want it to run. It will come up with a message to indicate that the virus protection has been updated. Also if there is a new version update for the software it will pop up a message near the time that the update can be downloaded and installed. Some of the virus programs will indicate when they are about to expire, so you can download and install the new version or just do the registration. With free versions you may not have the tech support as in the paid version. There may be some other differences in various features.
The second virus program I like and usually comes in near Free Avast is Free AVG antivirus software. It tends to fight with Free Avast for first place. Free AVG does a nice job. I have seen it on many computers and it has stopped a lot if viruses. It does have some pop up messages, but they can be stopped by settings. This can also be done for Free Avast. Once again AVG does have a paid version called Internet Security and it does a good job. With free AVG you will have to be aware of updates when a new versions comes out. You will have to install it your self.
My third choice in the free category of virus protection software programs in Free Microsoft Security Essentials. This what gets installed by default on windows 8 and 8.1 computers. It is less intrusive then the first two programs. It does not pop up with any messages unless it catches or stops a virus. Honestly I have not always heard good things about this software. I myself have not had any problems with the program. I did read once that the only reason windows 8 comes with it preinstalled is because Microsoft did not want any new desktops or laptops having no virus protection off the shelf. I do believe that this is a good idea especially with all the viruses going around the internet.
Some other free Antivirus Programs I have seen, but not used as much are Avira, Bit Defender, Zone Alarm, Panda Cloud Antivirus and Adaware Antivirus software. No matter which Antivirus program you choose only have one Antivirus Program Installed. Two programs installed will fight each other and slow the computer down.
Thank You for reading and stay safe.
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