Monday, November 10, 2014

In Search Of Interesting Web Sites For Repairing Computers

  I am always searching the internet for interesting websites for repairing computers. I came across one that had a number of flowcharts to follow in the repair of a computer. I believe that these could become very helpful for the technician starting out or just the general person at home trying to repair his or her own computer. Why take the computer to a service shop only to pay a rather large repair price when you could do the same job for a lot less. Here is a link to the website I came across http://fixingmycomputer.com/ . I would say check it out and see if it helps.
 Another web site that has become extremely helpful in the cleaning up of viruses is Bleeping Computer and the link is http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ . They have alot of information on many different viruses and how to remove them. They have plenty of virus removal tools to download and use. There are many different web sites on the internet for repairing computers. The information can be for desktops and laptop. You can also find videos on youtube for repairing a particular laptop brand and model. My only advise is be aware  of the website if they want money or they try to install some kind of junk program like pc optimizer pro.
 There are also plenty of books available on computer repair. It is best to do some searching and determine what you may want.
  Thank You for reading. 
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Current Virus Alerts November 2014

                       Here is some information on current viruses as of November 10 2014.
                          Threat Activity
  As of this date it seems as though the best free virus programs to clean up viruses are TDSSKILLER.exe, Combofix, Free Malwarebytes, A-Squared, ESET Online Scanner, Clam Win Portable, Spybot Portable and Adware Cleaner. These can all be gotten from Bleepingcomputer.com  here is a link to the website http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/. They do provide and excellent amount of information and help when it comes to virus cleaning. Just remember that all virus cleaning should be done in the safe mode. I generally set the computer to always start in the safe mode with networking. Just remember to set it back to normal boot when you are done. I also use a free program called Adware Removal to correct the web browsers that are corrupted by the infections.
  I would advise to check out some of my other posts for help.
  Remember to keep your antivirus software up to date. I would install Free Malwarebytes and Free Spybot on your computer to run when needed or at least once a week. As far as paid virus programs go I would use one of the following, Bitdefender, Kaspersky or paid Avast Antivurus. I am not as fond of Mcafee Antivirus as I used to be and the same goes for Norton Antivirus. They are okay, but they don't seem to be stopping as many viruses these days.
  Well that's all for now, so Thank You for reading.
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Software For Testing A Solid State Hard Drive

  Usually I have not seen too many problems with solid state hard drives. Although that may not always be the case. I have seen some that seemed to be having problems. Early on we did not seem to have any tools to test them to verify if they were defective or failing. There are some tools out there that I have seen as of late for testing the solid state hard drive. I am sure more will come out as time goes on and solid state hard drives come down in price and become more popular.
  I looked around the internet and found a few different tools to test the solid state hard drives with. The first thing I would recommend is going to the manufacturer of the ssd hard drive itself. Some common brands are western digital, corsair, seagate etc.....  The second place I found was from Intel. Intel has a toolkit for testing the solid state hard drives. It can be found at this link https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=18455 . It looks like it may do a pretty through job of testing and giving good information. My advise before doing anything is to back up your data to another hard drive. You could use a program like acronis to clone the possible failing drive to a known good hard drive. Here is some information on it from Intel below.

Detailed Description


The Intel® Solid-State Drive Toolbox (Intel® SSD Toolbox) is drive management software that allows you to:



* View current drive information for Intel® Solid-State Drives (Intel® SSDs), including:
- Model number, capacity, and firmware version
- Drive health
- Estimated drive life remaining
- SMART attributes (also available for hard disk drives and non-Intel SSDs)
- Identify Device information (also available for hard disk drives and non-Intel SSDs)
* Optimize the performance of an Intel SSD using Trim functionality
* Optimize the performance of an Intel SSD in RAID 0 using Trim functionality Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST) 11.0 or greater.
NOTE: Trim on RAID 0 is not supported on Windows 8* or Windows Server 2012
* Obtain proactive notifications of new Intel SSD Toolbox software versions for Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems
* Update the firmware on a supported Intel SSD
* Run quick and full diagnostic scans to test the read and write functionality of an Intel SSD
* Check and tune your system settings for optimal Intel SSD performance, power efficiency, and endurance
* View your system information and hardware configuration, such as central processing unit (CPU),
chipset, controller name, and driver versions
* Run Secure Erase on a secondary Intel SSD


  My best advise is to go to the intel website for further information. This software is only meant for certain solid state hard drives.
   
   Here is another link to some hard drive testing software that will also test solid state hard drives. Just be aware I did see advertisements on their webpage for file opener and download manager. These are known programs that sometimes come in with malware, spyware and adware. Here is a link to the websight http://hddscan.com/ .
  Once again I would check out the manufacturers websight first, because they will probably have some kind of software to test the solid state hard drive as well as others. Western Digital is a good example with their Data Life Guard Diagnostics software. This software will test most any hard drive. Here is a link to the website http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp .
  Thank You for reading and I hope this information is helpful.
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