New Years Resolutions for Your Computer

New Years resolutions are a popular topic this time of year, so I thought I'd give you some suggestions for keeping your computer healthy and happy in this coming year.

Jump to individual sections using the links below:

Avoiding Infestations
Signs your Computer is Hijacked
Popups / Spyware / Malware / Adware
Virus Protection
Computer Cleaning
Backups - are you protected?
>> Our New Remote Access Service <<
Windows Updates
Are you in AO-Hell?

Avoiding infestations of all kinds (Viral, Spyware, Hijackers, etc.)

At the very top of the list for keeping your computer intact is not letting your kids touch it. I don't have anything against kids, but for the most part they are fearless and will click on anything. Think back to when you were an adolescent. If you were 'normal' you thought you were indestructible -- and your kids think exactly the same thing. This means it rarely, if ever, occurs to them that something bad will happen to them (or their computer). Alternately, they reason if, by some incredible coincidence, something bad actually happens, Mom (or Dad) will fix it -- and they're right.
Therefore, if you want your computer in one piece, get the kids their own computer and password-protect yours. Don't put the kids' computer in their bedroom, either. Put it in a public area where you can see what's on the screen when you walk by. This cuts down on abuse and increases accountability.

Getting down to the nuts and bolts, there are two primary ways people infect their computers:

1: Free anything

• Free Software (Warez),
• Free Music (Morpheus, Limewire, KaZaa, etc.),
• Free Games (Poker is an excellent example)
and… (I'm certain none of you are involved in this, but I have to include it)
• Porn
All of these vastly increase your risk of infection from Viruses, Trojans, Worms, Hijackers and Spyware in general. Avoiding these practices greatly improves your odds of keeping your computer out of our shop.

"There's no free lunch."
You've heard that expression, right? If you're getting something for 'free', someone's getting something from you in return - you're just not fully aware of what it is you're paying with. You're sacrificing information, privacy, system performance or all of the above. Be wary of anything 'free'.

2: General searching via Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.

Most of us do a web search and just start clicking on all the links, one at a time. This was once a safe thing to do. In the immortal words of Inspector Clouseau… "Not any more."
Before you click on that link, evaluate the actual location it "resolves" to before you click on it. Make sure the destination makes sense. When you perform a search on any topic, eventually there will be some bogus results. Depending on the search term, most of the results can be dangerous. Some of these can be fatal to your computer.
On two occasions I have personally witnessed these results myself - where simply clicking on a link causes more Spyware than you've ever seen in one place being downloaded and installed faster than you can even "pull the plug" and stop it. The end result is completely reinstalling Windows to fix the problem.

Here's an example:
Let's say you're trying to disable the WGA nagware in Windows, so you do a search for the solution. At the top of the first page of results in a Google search is the following:

Disable Windows Genuine Advantage Validation
Disable Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Defeating WGA.
home19.inet.tele.dk/jys05000/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages

The link this is actually going to (home19.inet.tele.dk/jys05000/) is bogus. I wouldn't assume this link is safe and neither should you.

Make sure the link you're clicking on makes sense in reference to the search term you entered and you'll be much safer.
These are all actual Google results:
If you search for Pink Panther, for instance, www.abc.net / www.allposters.com / www.americancinematheque are probably safe.
However… www.asciiartfarts.com just might not be. If you want to be safe, don't take chances.

The bottom line: Don't click on everything you see and your computer will be healthier.

Signs your computer is hijacked:

1: When you boot your computer, the desktop wallpaper (whatever picture you're used to seeing) has changed and you can't change it back.
2: When you launch your browser it takes you to a different page than you are accustomed to -- and you can't change it.
3: When you 'Search' for something on the Internet you get strange search results, popups, search pages that are unusual, etc.

If you get these symptoms you have been Hijacked and should contact a professional (not a Geek) immediately to get your computer cleaned. Don't leave it like this for any longer than necessary, as this behavior is frequently found in conjunction with infestations that steal your personal information for illicit purposes.

More importantly, NO LEGITIMATE VENDOR will solicit personal information from you via email. Neither your bank, nor ebay, paypal -- or anyone else legitimate will contact you asking you to verify your account information. If you receive one of these it is a 'phishing' scam. Delete these emails immediately

Pop-up warnings:

No legitimate product will advertise itself to you. In other words, if you see a popup on your screen saying your computer is INFECTED and you absolutely MUST download / buy their product to remove the infection, do NOT respond.
The bad news: You are already infected and you will probably need a professional to undo the mess.
The good news: There are products that can fix most of these infections.
More bad news: There are more bad products than good ones out there. At last count, out of all the Spyware-removal products on the market, 325 of them either Contain Spyware or ARE Spyware!

We understand you'd rather try and fix the problem yourself before giving up in disgust and bringing it to us -- or scheduling a house call, so here are some guidelines to at least keep you from further infecting yourself in the process:

1: Avoid products that contain the following in their names / titles:

Error
Win
Free
Fix
Spyware
Nuke
Blast
Anti(just about anything)
Ultimate
Guard
Remove
Sheriff
Cop / Cops
Shield
Kill / Killer
Assassin
Adware (not AdAware - an excellent product)

(long list, isn't it?) Here's the full list.

2: There is NO single product that will completely clean your computer. Malware is much too complicated to succumb to a single scan. We use up to a dozen different products when scrubbing an infected computer -- and then remove the rest manually - frequently booting the computer with an immune Operating System to undo the mess. Other shops would have either given up and formatted and reinstalled your drive by now - or given it back, declaring it 'fixed'. We don't consider it 'fixed' until it's CLEAN.

Virus Protection:

If you have any of the following and think you're protected, you're wrong:

1: McAfee (Network Associates)
Poor performance, buggy code and it misses enough viruses to be a bad decision for your protection.

2: Norton / Symantec
Terrible performance, doesn't catch a significant number of infections - and the frequency of going corrupt (won't scan / update / uninstall) is very high - as much as 70% of installations for some versions.

3: Panda
High incidence of performance issues, slowing computers to a crawl, etc.

I could go on ad nauseum about Trend Micro, eTrust, etcetera, but the bottom line is that the majority of the "Internet Security" suites on the market hog your computer's valuable system resources, slowing it down to the level where it cannot protect itself. All Anti-Virus / Internet Security products are NOT created equal. Some are better than others. Don't assume the product that came with your shiny new Dell / Sony / HP / Toshiba / eMachine is even remotely adequate.

No one else will tell you this, but here's how virus protection works:

The software itself (Symantec, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc.) doesn't do the actual work of protecting you. The processor (Intel or AMD) in your computer does the work - the software tells it how. If the software responsible for protecting you is slowing down the processor so much it cannot respond to an attack quickly - you become infected before the processor can do anything to protect you.
Simple, isn't it?
Therefore, you want a Security Product that protects your computer with minimum impact on performance, right? Our research indicates AVG Products from Grisoft to be the best choice for this purpose. That's why we've used, recommended and installed it since 2004. Investigate AVG's Products for yourself and then decide.

"But all the magazine reviews rate (blah, blah, blah) as the best…"

Let me explain something to those who don't understand the advertising business. No magazine review will ever "blast" an advertiser's product, no matter how badly it performs. It's bad for business.
You probably never thought of it in terms of advertising dollars before, but if you depended on advertising revenue for your livelihood what would you do?

Cleaning:

There are two types of cleaning your computer needs:

1: Physical cleaning of the interior and exterior surfaces.
2: Getting rid of the debris that accumulates in your data.

Dust and Dirt

Your computer needs to be cleaned occasionally. How often depends on your environment. If you have a small (or large) fur-bearing critter that likes to sleep right in front of your computer, you'll need cleaning more often than some other folks. If you smoke (editorial comment not included here) you'll need more than just the average level of cleaning - and more often, as the tar from cigarette smoke sticks to every inch of your computer, both inside and out - and wreaks havoc on moving parts.

Most computers should be physically cleaned once a year - more if you have pets or you smoke.

Moving your computer up off the floor a few inches helps tremendously to keep it from sucking dust off the floor and into its moving parts.

• The correct way to clean a computer is with compressed air - not the canned variety - it's a waste of money. An actual air compressor (not producing 120psi) is the best tool for the job. Vacuum cleaners are better than nothing, but they can't get all of the dust, dirt, critter fur, bugs, gerbils, spare change… sorry, I got lost there for a minute … crap, that's what it is… crap - out of your computer.
Back to business…
• To properly clean a computer, it needs to be opened up. Otherwise you cannot access the most important areas clogged by dust, hair, etc.
• Whenever you open a computer, you need to either be in a completely static-free environment (like our shop) or make absolutely sure you discharge any static electricity from yourself and the cleaning apparatus prior to touching the computer. One little static discharge can destroy your computer. It'll be clean. And it'll be dead. Vacuum cleaners also generate high levels of static electricity when running. The action of compressed air blowing against some surfaces creates high static voltages in the process, so be very careful.
• If you don't feel 100% confident in your ability to protect your computer while cleaning it, bring it to us and we'll make sure it's done right.

Data

When it comes to cleaning up your data, it's easy enough to have Internet Explorer delete all the Temporary Internet Files. Anything beyond that requires knowing quite a bit about Windows' file structure and should be left to those people. Deleting the wrong file will cause your computer to not boot. While we like seeing you from time to time, unnecessary visits to our shop can be avoided by staying out of your computer's file system.

Some people like to use the "Disk Cleanup" function in Windows Explorer.
Others like to defrag their computers on a regular basis.

We don't recommend either one.

Here's why:

1: The Disk Cleanup function has caused quite a few computers to no longer boot, requiring extensive repairs in our shop. We don't know what the reason is - just that it's not worth the risk.
2: Defragging your computer is only useful AFTER you have removed a lot of stuff (that's the technical term for programs, data, temp files, etc.) which creates holes in your data structure. If you haven't been doing massive "house cleaning" in your computer, defragging is a waste of time - and wear-and-tear on your hard drive.

To make your life (and ours) easier…

For those of you who don't want to disconnect your computer and haul it down to our shop, we can either come to you - or connect to your computer via our Remote Access System and fix it remotely. This can be a real time-saver for you - and us - and it saves you time and money. Many problems can be fixed this way and we can determine if this solution is appropriate for your situation when you call for an appointment. It is, of course, necessary to have a functional high-speed Internet connection for this to be a viable choice.

Sign up before January 31, 2007 and save 25% on your annual subscription!

Follow This Link for full details.

Backups

Why should you have a regular backup plan? Murphy's Law. Odds are, if you have a current backup you won't need it. If you don't... I think you get the picture.

Everyone should be backing up their important data, are you? Never mind… I'll bet I already know the answer. Over the last couple of years my duties have shifted to cover primarily Data Recovery and Forensics. This aspect of the business has grown to the point this summer that we separated the business into two separate entities. DFW Computer Investigations exclusively handles all Data Recovery and Forensics operations now, and I frequently recover data from crashed drives (primarily Maxtor drives). Much of this Data Recovery would be unnecessary if a good backup plan had been in place.

We recommend several options for backing up your data:

a.) For small amounts of data you can simply burn a CD and you'll be OK. However… CDs and DVDs are only good for 2-5 years from the time they are burned, after which they start to degrade -- and ultimately fail completely.

b.) Remote Backups are an excellent solution, depending on the amount of data you have to backup, the speed of your Internet connection and your budget (you pay for this service monthly / annually). This approach backs up your data at night over the Internet to remotely-administered servers. You're not involved in the process after the initial setup, so there's no chance of forgetting to run a backup, change a tape, etc. The Human Error factor is removed with this system.
Be VERY careful when choosing a Remote Backup provider, as they are not all the same in terms of reliability, longevity and ethics. We have many satisfied clients using Remote Data Backup for this purpose.

c.) Another very cost-effective solution is to use external USB Hard Drives combined with a good Backup Software application. We build our own USB storage drives using Western Digital 7200 rpm, 8 meg cache IDE drives and solid USB enclosures. We have them in 80, 120, 160 and 250 Gigabyte versions. These drives are reasonably priced, fast and reliable.

In 2005 I spent three months evaluating Backup Software in response to numerous requests regarding the 'best' backup solution. As a result, we recommend Backup Platinum because:
1: It's FAST.
2: It's easy and intuitive to use.
3: Backup Platinum is reasonably priced ($67.00 downloaded from the Internet).
4: It can store all your files exactly as they are currently arranged on your hard drive, making business resumption in the case of a hardware failure a very easy and quick process.

The backup software bundled with most commercial drives is something we do Not recommend for several reasons.
1: Most commercial backup programs store all the data in one large, compressed file.
2: When disaster strikes, you have to locate the CD for your backup software, install it on another computer - and then figure out how to restore your data to a completely different computer - in completely different locations - so you can get back to work (or play).
3: Performance issues are a major consideration with many products.
4: Many are difficult to use / understand.
5: You get what you pay for.

Whatever backup mechanism you employ, it is useless if you don't make absolutely sure you get ALL your data. For most Windows-based computers, the bulk of your data will be in your "My Documents" folder. Additionally, you want to make sure you get your email, favorites, address book, Desktop (in case you're doing something you shouldn't and storing data on your desktop) and any data stored in atypical locations, such as Genealogy programs and Bookkeeping / Tax products such as Quicken, Quickbooks and TurboTax. Don't forget your music (especially iTunes at $0.99 each) and pictures. If you've got any data stored in other non-standard locations, make sure to included these in your backups. If you're not absolutely certain, we can help you get your backup configured initially and then you're covered. The small consulting fee we charge will be much less than the cost of recovering your data in the event of a crash.

Windows Updates

We turn off both Automatic Updates and System Restore on every computer we work on, and so should you.
Why?
1: On more occasions than we can count, System Restore has been responsible for viruses / Spyware reinfecting a recently cleaned computer when it reboots.
2: System Restore is frequently responsible for Anti-Virus and Spyware Removal programs not being able to remove infected files embedded in the Restore Folder.
3: Automatic Updates may download and install updates that conflict with your system or cause it not to reboot.
4: The only Updates we recommend installing are Security Updates.
5: Driver Updates from Microsoft should be installed with extreme caution, as they have been known to corrupt Windows on many occasions.
6: Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has been causing some strange problems, especially with network connections. IE7, itself, has some nice new features, but the Over-the-top security measures in IE7 can really get in your way. You might want to consider Firefox, Opera or Avant browsers instead.

Last, but certainly not least...

AO-Hell

I'm sure our AOL users are all tired of hearing this, but if you're still using AOL, it's time to stop. If you're 'welded' to your AOL email address, you can send and receive email using AOL's website -- and improve your sytem performance dramatically by uninstalling AOL's invasive software.

I cannot possibly count how many times massive performance problems -- and inability to connect to a broadband provider have been completely fixed by simply uninstalling AOSmell.

Among other things, the Anti-Virus AOL installs is provided by McAfee, the single worst product we've ever seen. It conflicts with any other AV product installed on your computer and exposes you to infection. AOL's Port Magic install (bet you didn't even know it was there) routinely interferes with broadband connections. This might explain why you have intermittent Internet connectivity. Why not make 2007 the year you break free from AOL?

We can even setup your own spam-filtered domain for you, so you have your own personalized email address (i.e. fred@jonesfamily.com) -- and no SPAM. If this sounds good to you, Follow This Link for "the rest of the story."

We hope this helps keep you and your computer happier in 2007.

The Computer Wizard