Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 1:18pm UTC
Hard Drive Failures are Common
It could happen like this: You turn on your computer and you see “A disk read error occurred Press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart”. You try to restart it and you just get the same error. This may indicate your hard drive has suddenly failed. The message can vary but the result is the same, your computer will not boot.
The hard drive is the heart of your computer, it holds every program and file in your computer. Hard drives have spinning platters and a read head similar to how a record player has a record with its arm and a needle. These moving parts are very delicate and when something goes wrong, your data can be lost in an instant.
Do not use system restore disks. Reinstalling Windows does NOT fix this. Do not try to fix it yourself because you have a higher risk of losing your precious photos, documents, and music.
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Tags: Hardware
Posted in Hardware | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 12:08pm UTC
Trojan horse small bog
I had this issue today on a customer’s computer.
In late July 2009, there was an issue for users of AVG Anti-virus and iTunes. AVG, one of the most popular anti-virus programs, caused confusion by wrongly identifying iTunes files as Trojans. After updating its virus definitions, the anti-virus software finds up to 181 “viruses” in iTunes: attempting to quarantine the files prevents iTunes from working. The supposed virus name is “trojan horse small.bog”.
Symptom:
You try to open iTunes and get an AVG Alert telling you that iTunes.dll and iTunesRegistry.dll are infected with “Trojan horse Small.BOG”.
Cause:
AVG was giving a false positive: there was no actual Trojan in iTunes. AVG could have quarantined the files, that will break your iTunes install.
Fix:
The problem with AVG was quickly resolved with an automatic update. If you encounter the symptom:
Open AVG and click “Update Now”, then re-install iTunes. Your music files will still be there.
Spyware & Virus Removal
I have the tools to remove spyware or viruses and the knowledge to keep you safe in the future. Spyware is the most common reason that your computer will act strange or start operating slowly. You may be receiving annoying pop-ups or maybe your hard drive is constantly working. These are a couple of signs that your computer could be infected with spyware. Let me help. Call Mike to arrange an appointment. By Mike Challis
Tags: anti-virus, itunes, viruses
Posted in Software | 5 Comments »
Thursday, August 20th, 2009 11:12pm UTC
For Windows 7, 64-Bit will be more common
For Windows 7, 64-Bit Will Be More Common
I found a good article about why 64-bit Windows option will be more common with Windows 7. If you purchase a new computer this fall and want good performance, look for one with Windows 7, 64-Bit, and 4Gigs of ram or more.
Consumers have had the option of 64-bit Windows computing since the release of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition in May 2005, four years after the release of Windows XP 32-bit. At the end of 2006, Windows Vista 32-bit and 64-bit versions were released simultaneously. Yet chances are you’re currently using a machine that runs the 32-bit version of Windows.
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Tags: Microsoft, windows 7
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 10:08pm UTC
Are Bad Capacitors Killing Your Computer?
Every time I work on a computer I clean the dust and visually inspect the innards. One of the things I look at inside the computer is the capacitors on the main board. There is a known common problem that is causing some capacitors to leak and fail.
The Problem
The first flawed capacitors were seen in 1999, but most of the affected capacitors were made in the early to mid 2000s, and while news of their failures (usually after a few years of use) has forced most manufacturers to fix the defects, some bad capacitors were still being sold or integrated into designs as of early 2007.
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Tags: performance, repair, tune-up
Posted in Hardware | 1 Comment »
Saturday, July 4th, 2009 1:48pm UTC
Michael Jackson E-mail Worm
There is a new email worm going around which claims to come from sarah@michaeljackson.com and uses a subject “Remembering Michael Jackson” to try to entice you. The worm sends out spam emails with an attachment named “Michael songs and pictures.zip.” The .zip file contains another file called “MichaelJacksonsongsandpictures.doc.exe,” which is a copy of the worm that is executed on the user’s machine when the file is opened. It is important to keep in mind that this worm spreads not only through email, but also via removable drives using autorun.inf.
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Tags: e-mail, worm
Posted in Security | No Comments »
Friday, June 26th, 2009 3:08pm UTC
What's New in Firefox 3.5
Firefox 3.5 is the fastest Firefox ever.
Today I tested Firefox 3.5 RC3 (a pre-release candidate) and so far it looks great. Currently I use Firefox 3.0.11, but version 3.5 is going to to be released sometime around the first week of July. How Fast is It? Firefox 3.5 is two times faster than 3.0. And ten times faster than 2.0.
What’s New in Firefox 3.5
Firefox 3.5 is based on the Gecko 1.9.1 rendering platform, which has been under development for the past 10 months. Firefox 3.5 offers many changes over the previous version, supporting new web technologies, improving performance and ease of use, and new features for users.
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Tags: firefox, open source
Posted in Software | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 19th, 2009 11:43pm UTC
Bozeman City job requirement raises privacy concerns
The city of Bozeman, with a population of 25,000 people in southwestern Montana, likely isn’t one you heard of recently. However, it’s in the news after a city job requirement has drawn heavy criticism over possible privacy issues.
An anonymous citizen who applied for a city job alerted local media that he or she had to provide log-in information and passwords for any and all social networking web sites they use while applying for a job with the city.
Along with the normal background check, criminal history, education and employment past, the following is written into the Bozeman city employment waiver statement:
“Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”
The application also gives room for three different web sites, account names and passwords, according to the applicant. … more
Full story at: Daily Tech
Tags: Privacy
Posted in Privacy | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 6:43am UTC
Bing.com a New Decision Engine
Microsoft has a new search engine called bing.com that is designed to replace Live Search. It’s a solid improvement over the previous search product, and it beats Google in important areas. It will help Microsoft gain share in the search business. It’s surprisingly competitive with Google.
I have been a Google fan for many years, I use Google several times a day. I wonder how they compare side by side? Which one should I use?
Here is a site that lets you try Bing and Google side by side in a face off: http://www.bingandgoogle.com/
Try them both for awhile, let me know which one you decide on and why. By Mike Challis
Tags: Microsoft, search engine
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 6:10am UTC
OpenOffice.org - Free Office Software
Did you know there is a very good free office program available?
I used to use MS Office until I found the free OpenOffice.org office suite software about 5 years ago. I work on computers every day and I run my own business. I need to be able to write letters and faxes. I need to be able to open documents made in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and so on.
Why I tried OpenOffice.org and like it.
I was using MS Office and was getting annoyed every time I had to install a service pack for it. The service pack would be a huge file to download and when installing, it would ask for the program CD every time. Once I put in CD #1 it would complete half way, then ask for CD #2, sometimes even ask for CD #1 again! Why did it need the CD? What a pain. Also, there are critical updates available frequently to address vulnerabilities so you have to repeat this monotony almost monthly.
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Tags: open office, open source
Posted in Software | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 15th, 2009 2:28am UTC
Windows 7 E-mail Options
What happened to the Windows Mail I was using in Vista? I can’t find it in Windows 7?
Windows 7 does not include an e-mail program. Outlook Express was left behind at WinXP. Windows Live Mail is now the successor to Windows Mail and is available free. Download Windows Live Mail.
There are other options for an e-mail client program such as Mozilla Thunderbird or MS Outlook.
Many people are now using web based e-mail like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, etc. A major advantage of web-based e-mail over application-based e-mail is that a user has the ability to access their inbox from any Internet-connected computer around the world. However, the need for Internet access is also a drawback, in that one cannot access old messages when not connected to the Internet.
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Tags: e-mail, windows 7
Posted in Microsoft | No Comments »
