Tiplet expert tips & tech support

May 1, 2009

Commercial Antivirus Software Versus Freeware

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

Q: Norton wants me to renew my subscription for another year at $55. Can I pass it up and rely on free antivirus software? — Becky

Yes. Next question, please.

OK, long reassuring answer: yes, if you are a typical user who is not being specifically targeted by Russian Mafia hackers or a crazy ex-spouse. You’re safe enough with a $30 deadbolt lock on your front door, right? You’re not Britney Spears; you don’t need eight bodyguards and a $20,000 home alarm system. Likewise, you don’t need to pay anyone for perfectly adequate antivirus protection.
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April 22, 2009

Spyware Remover

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 4:00 pm

by David Hakala

Computer security firm Symantec Corp. recently reported that it identified two-and-a-half times more malicious software programs in 2008 than in the previous year: more than 1.6 million different examples of malware that is trying to invade your computer. The most common functions performed by malware are:

1. Remote access software
2. Programs that export user data
3. Keystroke loggers
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April 18, 2009

Free Spyware Removal

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 5:00 pm

by David Hakala

Spyware is software secretly installed on one’s computer that monitors its activity and reports back to a remote listener. But spyware can do more than monitor. It can quietly download and install other malicious software. It can sniff through your email and personal financial software for sensitive information such as Social Security Numbers and passwords to bank accounts, and transmit that to bad guys. It can alter computer settings to redirect Web browsers to the wrong sites or slow down your Internet connection. Spyware is not something you want on your computer.
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April 14, 2009

How to Keep Your Computer Secure and Private

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by David Hakala

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Many people fail to take the time to secure their computers against malware, only to lose many days struggling to eradicate viruses, Trojans, pop-up ad servers, and other vicious things from their computers. The irreplaceable data they lose hurts even more. The best cure for infection is to avoid getting it in the first place. But don’t go overboard with automated protection, and don’t rely on it alone.
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April 11, 2009

Free Antivirus Download Options

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 8:00 am

by David Hakala

Even though there are dozens of free antivirus programs just waiting to download, many people don’t install or use these vital protections. They have all kinds of excuses. What’s yours?
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April 8, 2009

Free Virus Scan Offers May Not Be Safe

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

Quite often, you will see an ad on a Web page, in a pop-up window, or off to the right of Google search results offering a “free virus scan.” A virus scan is good, and a free one is better, isn’t it? Not necessarily.
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April 4, 2009

Dealing with the Error: rundll32.exe is not a valid win32 application

Filed under: privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by David Hakala

Q: How do I fix the error: rundll32.exe is not a valid win32 application? — Ashok

This error message is a sure sign that your computer is infected with malware of some kind. Something has replaced the valid rundll32.exe file with an identically named file that does who knows what. Whatever did it is probably hiding somewhere else on your machine, waiting to do it again if you simply replace rundll32.exe with a clean copy from your Windows installation CD.
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April 3, 2009

What You Should Know About the Conficker Virus

Filed under: privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 1:00 pm

by Tina Gasperson

You’ve probably already heard about Conficker, the April Fool’s Day virus that was purported to take control of infected computers on that day in 2009. Experts say that the virus didn’t act in as widespread a manner as first thought, but the virus is still out there and may even be circulating in a mutated variety, so don’t let your guard down yet.
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March 7, 2009

Help, My Task Manager Is Disabled

Filed under: computer performance,data storage and recovery,privacy & security,Windows — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

Windows’ built-in Task Manager is a pretty useful tool. It can help you shut down programs that are frozen or misbehaving. It can even shut down background processes that may be causing problems. Many people use Task Manager almost every day, so they are startled when they click on the Taskbar or press Ctl-Alt-Del and get something like this:

“Task Manager has been disabled by your administrator.”

If you work in an office that has a systems administrator go talk to him or her about the problem. But if you don’t have an administrator, how did Task Manager get disabled and how can you turn it back on?
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February 27, 2009

How Can I Avoid Being Fooled by Internet Myths?

Filed under: Internet,privacy & security — Tags: , , , — admin @ 6:00 pm

by Gabe Goldberg

The Internet is often like a big echo chamber: some yodels never die out — they echo from user to user, growing ever fainter, until someone sends them to a new mailing list or set of friends and they come roaring noisily back to life. Google “Craig Shergold” for an example of something that was real, is long outdated, and which keeps circulating.

If you’ve been online for a while, you likely receive abundant email every day, including jokes, spam, hoaxes, and alleged urgent warnings of terrible danger. But how can you tell a real threat from a bogus hoax?
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January 23, 2009

Uninstall Outlook Express The Easy Way

Filed under: applications,e-mail,privacy & security — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 2:00 pm

by David Hakala

You may want to get rid of Outlook Express if you do not use it for email. It is a weakness in your system’s security perimeter, a favorite target of hackers. Much malware targets Outlook Express because Outlook Express has been around since 1998, is installed automatically on every machine running Windows 98 to Windows XP, and is so devilishly difficult to remove that very few people take the trouble. To remove Outlook Express manually you must:

Rename three folders, for every user account on the system
Find and delete seven registry keys
Rename 17 files twice, for they are in two folders

Most people would rather pull out their toenails one by one. Outlook Express consumes a trivial 190 KB of disk space so they leave it alone. The back door for hackers remains open and unnoticed. Here is how to close it easily:
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