Your Home Computer Guide

Since the dawn of the internet there have been people writing malicious programs intent on ruining your computing experience.

In the beginning viruses were like teenagers spray-painting walls. They seemed to arise out of boredom and had no other purpose than to bother you. For the most part these early viruses were pretty easy to get rid of.

As time went on and the internet became more popular the people writing the malicious code had only one thing in mind, using their programs to steal your money.

Recently I read that creating spyware, viruses and trojans is a very profitable business. Seven billion dollars a year is stolen from people like you and me by people who can’t seem to make a living any other way. They certainly aren’t making a positive impact in the world in which they live.

Emailing their destructive code has been their method of choice for several years. They figure, all they have to do is get you to open your email and they win. How much easier is it for them now that they’re able to spoof their email address so it looks like it’s coming from a Fortune 500 company.

In the past couple weeks there have been two very large companies who have put out warnings to not open email from them. First there was UPS who put out the following warning:

We have become aware there is a fraudulent e-mail being sent that says it is coming from UPS and leads the reader to believe that a UPS shipment could not be delivered. The reader is advised to open an attachment reportedly containing a waybill for the shipment to be picked up. This e-mail attachment contains a virus. We recommend that you do not open the attachment, but delete the e-mail immediately.

And just yesterday Northwest Airlines issued the following warning:

Northwest Airlines on Friday warned e-mail users to watch out for phony messages using the company’s name that may be infected with a computer virus. The Eagan-based carrier said the e-mails contain fake ticket confirmation and enrollment information and infect the user’s computer when attachments are opened. The e-mails thank the recipient for using the new service “Buy flight ticket Online” on the airline’s Web site. It states an account has been set up and gives the e-mail user an account number and password.

For a long time email users have been warned about opening email attachments. The first virus I ever encountered was from a friend who emailed me a cool video. I thought it was so cool I forwarded it to my parents. Unfortunately we all got infected with a computer virus… Thankfully it was pretty easy to rid our computers of it and we all learned a valuable lesson.

Unfortunately, people are still learning this same lesson every day and are more likely to have lost some money in the process.

Thankfully, there are some pretty simple ways you can protect yourself.

1. Install antivirus software that checks your email if you use an email client like Microsoft Outlook. A very good free antivirus program that does this is AVG. If you’d rather pay for antivirus software, use Eset’s Nod32. Most of the major web based email portals like Gmail and Yahoo mail have antivirus software on their server that checks attachments.

2. Delete email from anyone you don’t know or the subject line seems strange. Don’t even open the email message.

3. Even if an email message appears to come from someone you know or a business be skeptical of it and don’t click any links or open any attachments unless you’re absolutely sure it’s legitimate.

Sorry that I haven’t had a chance to write in a while. I live in a place where you only have a few months to enjoy the nice weather outside :).

Happy computing!

-Bert

I recently started following a blog by Terri Gruca from our local WCCO news station. Terri’s subject on making your money stretch is quite popular in this tight economy.

On May 31st Terri blogged about Restaurant.com and how you can purchase a $25 Gift Certificate to eat out for only $10. Our family loves to eat out and save money so of course I checked it out! I wasn’t expecting to find any resaurants around where we live since we’re about an hour North of Minneapolis and are in a very small town.

To my suprise there were a few restaurants that popped up when I put in our zip code, including Peake’s at Pebble Creek restaurant, on a golf course nearby. So last weekend I purchased the $25 Gift Certificate for $10 and we headed out for supper. Restaurant.com accepted my payment online and quickly provided a Gift Certificate to print out.

We were seated at a table next to the windows overlooking a beautiful golf course. I told the waitress right away about my gift certificate half expecting her to not accept it or the level of service to drop when she saw it. Once again we were pleasantly suprised with excellent service and a great dinner.

Our daughter had a pizza off the children’s menu, my wife had a House Tenderloin Fillet and I had a New York Strip grilled to perfection. The portions were generous and the food was superb!

You’ll never believe how much it cost…

I had to do a double-take when I saw the bill for $22.75, and that included the 18% gratuity! Of course you have to add back in the cost of the Gift Certificate that cost $10. So the grand total for a fabulous dining experience was $32.75.

Thank you Terri for the great post, thank you Restaurant.com for a great service and thank you Peake’s at  Pebble Creek for a great evening!

If you’re ever in the Becker, MN area, be sure to check it out Peake’s. I hear they have a great Sunday buffet. Maybe we’ll see you there.

Regards,

-Bert

AV-Comparatives.org just published the results of their most recent Anti-Virus testing. They tested 16 different Anti-Virus program’s ability to proactively detect malware threats. New viruses, trojans and other malware are being created at an alarming rate of 1,000 - 2,000 new threats every day!

This recent test is important because it tested the ability of the anti-virus programs to detect malware that hadn’t been added to the program’s virus definitions files. AV-Comparatives took 11,509 new threat samples found in a period of one week and only used the on-demand function of the various programs to see how many threats were detected.

The only two programs to get the highest rating of Advanced+ were Avira and Eset’s Nod32. AVG, Mcafee, Microsoft and AVK received the second hightest rating of Advanced.

You can read the full report at AV-Comparatives.org.

If you’re looking for free anti-virus protection Avira and AVG can’t be beat. And if you insist on paying for anti-virus software Eset’s Nod32 is a great option.

If you think you have a virus on your computer get a free scan at http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

Over the years, I’ve run into several situations where I needed remote access to a computer. Before I found a solution I can remember frustrating conversations with my parents, who live about 3 hours away. They’d call because they were having a computer problem and I’d listen to what was happening and try to walk them through solutions. Many times the problem wouldn’t get resolved and we’d all be frustrated because of the difficulty of trying to troubleshoot without being able to see the problem.

Thanks to some excellent companies who provide free remote access software I can now log into their computer, see their desktop and remotely control their computer to quickly resolve the problem. If you’re concerned about security, both programs I recommend use a secure connection and authentication so you never have to worry about someone else logging in.

I’ve found two different situations requiring remote desktop control and the perfect piece of free software for each. The first is when you want to remotely access a computer when nobody is on the other end. Maybe you need to access a file or your email on your home computer from work or while on vacation. I’ve remotely accessed my home PC on more than one occasion and emailed myself a file I needed. I also work with a couple computers at church that I sometimes need to access from home.

For situations like these the perfect free solution is LogMeIn.com. The process is simple. From the computer you want to remotely access, go to LogMeIn.com and on the home page click the link to Download LogMeIn Free. Fill out the short signup form, download the software and install it on the PC. Once that’s done you can remotely access that computer from anywhere as long as it’s turned on. From any other computer just go to LogMeIn.com, log in to your account and very quickly you’ll have full remote access to that computer.

The other situation is when a friend or relative calls and wants you to help them with a computer problem. In these situations you probably haven’t had the opportunity to install LogMeIn on their computer and quite possibly they wouldn’t want you to be able to access it at any time anyway. As long as their computer has internet access and they can take a couple minutes to get their PC ready there’s an excellent free solution for this type of situation as well. TeamViewer is a fairly new program but I’ve used it several times and really like it.

Have the person needing help go to TeamViewer.com and from the home page click the Start Customer Module link. When they click the link they’ll get the option to either Run or Save the file. They can just click Run. The file is a little under 1MB so, on a broadband connection, it should only take a couple seconds to download and install. Once installed, the program will present a window with an ID and a Password. They’ll need to give you both of these in order for you to connect to them.

At this point you’ll also want to go to TeamViewer.com and click the Start Full Version link. This will download and install a program that’s just a little over 1MB. Once it’s running, it’ll allow you to enter the ID and Password the person on the other end gave you and, within seconds, you’ll have full remote access to their computer desktop.

Please keep in mind that the free versions of these programs are for personal use only, but if you want to use them for business purposes, both companies sell a commercial version.

Thank you to both LogMeIn.com and TeamViewer.com for providing free software that has made remote computer access simple and made frustrating troubleshooting phone calls a thing of the past!

Regards,

-Bert

LogMeIn Tutorial:

 

In a recent article I wrote about the importance of protecting your computer from viruses, trojans and other forms of malware. Once a computer gets infected like attracts like and you can quickly find our PC so badly infected that getting back to a clean state will either be a time consuming or costly experience.

When it comes to our computer security there is no silver bullet. There’s not a single product on the market that can detect or clean 100% of the known malware.

Most antivirus programs use a database of signatures to identify malware. ThreatFire, on the other hand, looks at the behavior of the programs on your PC and effectively identifies the malicious ones and stops them in their tracks. With the number of new threats increasing daily using a behavior based anti-malware is essential to catch the ones your antivirus program doesn’t have definitions for yet.

There are a lot of things I really like about ThreatFire. It literally takes about one minute to install, the default settings are more than adequate to stop the bad guys, updates are installed automatically, and it has a very small footprint so you won’t even know it’s there until you need it.

Although ThreatFire does an excellent job of stopping malware from installing on your PC it shouldn’t be used to clean up an infected computer, nor should it be your only line of defense. Using a firewall and having a definition based antivirus program running will do well to round out your PC security. See my Computer Security article for suggestions.

WARNING: Since publishing this article I’ve installed ThreatFire on 4 PCs with Windows XP Home edition and in every case it caused the PC to lock up continuously. All of the PCs had to be restarted several times and the problem was only resolved by uninstalling ThreatFire. I tested ThreatFire on Windows XP Pro and Windows Vista and didn’t run into any problems. I reported the problem to the ThreatFire developers but haven’t gotten a response from them.

I won’t be loading ThreatFire on any more computers until I’m satisfied the issue has been fixed and I can only suggest that you do the same.

I’m currently evaluating the new version of AVG and will give it a review soon. If you’re currently using AVG and have been told you need to upgrade, getting to the free version can be a little tricky. Use this link to save some time & confusion: Download AVG Antivirus.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

For a long time about your only option for easily taking screen-shots was to buy Snag-It. Although I’ve seen some folks who are very good at using the Windows built in PrtSc and Paint I find that too cumbersome for the average computer user. I’ve been a Snag-It fan for years but at $40 per license and 4 computers in the house it’s hard to justify it. I think most people would only have an occasional need for such a program so once again, why spend $40 if there are other options?

Today, I was working on our new laptop and needed to take a screen-shot so I went looking for a free alternative on Download.com. After reading a bunch of reviews I decided to try ScreenHunter 5 Free. It’s a small application at 3.5MB so it was a quick download and install. The only part of the installation I changed was to NOT install the browser toolbar. If I installed the toolbar for every program that asked to install one I’d probably have about a dozen toolbars taking up space and resources so I normally skip that part.

One thing I noticed about ScreenHunter 5 is that on Download.com it didn’t say anything about it being compatible with Vista. I’m using Vista Home Premium and didn’t have any problems with the install or using the application.

Like Snag-It, ScreenHunter 5 gives you some options. By pressing the From button you can choose what key should be pressed to trigger a screen-shot being taken (the default is F6). You can also choose what to capture, the active window, full screen or a rectangular area. My favorite is the rectangular area because I can capture anything I want, anywhere on the screen. (The screen-shots below were taken using ScreenHunter 5)

By pressing the To button you can choose to save the captured image to the clipboard, which is great for just pasting the screen-shot into an email or a Word doc. Or you can automatically save them as a file.

Overall ScreenHuner 5 is super simple to use and I highly recommend it.

Regards,

-Bert

According to Symantec’s recent Internet Security Threat Report  the number of malicious software (malware) detected has surpassed the one million mark. Unfortunately the number of new viruses, trojans and spyware is increasing at an alarming rate, with nearly 70% of the existing malware being created in 2007. Trojan Horses lead the pack of infections by a large margin.

Not only are malicious programs on the increase, they’re also becoming more tenacious. It’s becoming harder for the average computer user to clean up their computer after it’s been infected. In many cases malware quickly multiplies from one infection to dozens, making restoring the computer to a clean state extremely difficult without professional assistance.

In the past the most common way your computer could become infected was by opening an email attachment. Today, the most common way to get infected is by visiting an infected website. Since most people own a computer to surf the internet and email the chances of your computer becoming infected are very high. Panda Security, in a recent test, found that 23% of computers with up to date security solutions are infected with malware. Depending on the source, anywhere from 70-90% of computers that aren’t running a current antivirus program are already infected.

The dangers of an infected computer are scary. Besides the annoyance of pop-up windows and a slow computer much of the current malware is designed to monitor your surfing habits, display advertisements for bogus software promising to remove viruses, and record your login usernames and passwords for sites you visit, including banking and credit card sites. “Increasingly, Symantec has observed that malicious activity has moved away from targeting computers and towards targeting end users themselves. Specifically, attackers are targeting confidential end-user information that can be used in fraudulent activity for financial gain.”

Many people are quick to degrade Microsoft because most malware targets their operating system and web browser. But since 90% of computers in use today run a Microsoft Operating System it’s obvious why they’re the main target. That being said, if you have no intention of insuring your computer is protected from malware you should either buy a Mac or switch to one of the popular Linux Operating Systems, like Ubuntu.

If you continue to use a Microsoft Operating System, like Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, then your only choices are to either insure you’re properly protected or become a victim of malware. Here are some things anyone running a Microsoft Operating System should do:

1. Turn on Microsoft Automatic Updates and set them to install automatically.

2. Insure you have System Restore turned on in case you need it.

3. Back up your important computer files like tax files, resumes, etc..

4. Run antivirus software with current updates. If you’re antivirus definition updates have expired the program is useless. Here are some great options.

Free Programs - If you use Microsoft Outlook run AGV Free Edition. If you don’t use Outlook, run Avira AntiVir.

Paid Programs - Use NOD32 or Avira Antivir.

5. Run antispyware software with current updates. If you’re running a free antivirus program or your antivirus program doesn’t protect against spyware make sure your running one or two of these free programs as well. Spyware Terminator, Windows Defender, ThreatFire.

6. Consider using Firefox or Opera instead of Internet Explorer for web surfing.

7. Don’t open email from people you don’t know. Even the pictures shown in emails can infect your computer.

8. Never respond to an email that appears to be from your bank or credit card company asking you to go to a website to verify any personal account information. If you get an email like that delete the email and call them using a phone number you have on file for them.

9. Insure you have your Windows firewall turned on, or an even better option is the free Comodo firewall.

10. Don’t install free programs unless they’re from a reliable source like download.com.

11. Don’t use P2P file sharing programs like BitTorrent, Limewire, Morpheus, etc..

The stakes are high when it comes to your computer security and protection. There are now over one million malicious programs out there intent on stealing your identity and financial information, invading your privacy, and destroying what should be an enjoyable computing experience. Following these 11 computer security tips will help you to be safe and not become a victim.

Happy Computing!

-Bert

Have you ever been reading something on your computer and thought, “wow, that font size is so small it’s making my eyes hurt”? There’s a really easy way to increase or decrease the font size. Simply press the Ctrl key on your keyboard and use the scroll wheel on your mouse to increase or decrease the size.

If you don’t have a scroll wheel on your mouse you can press Ctrl and use the + and - keys on your keyboard. Pressing Ctrl 0 (zero) will set it back to the original size.

I’ve found this works in both Windows XP and Vista in nearly any application. It’ll even increase or decrease the size of your desktop icons. Give it a try!

Regards,

-Bert

Have you ever bought something online and had the opportunity to enter a coupon code to get a discount? Seems like everytime I buy something online I see that and had often wondered where people get those codes.

Just because you’re given an option to enter a coupon code, there might not always be a sale going on. Here are some websites that collect and distribute these coupon codes. It it might be worth it to check a few of these websites to see if you can get a discount:

BradsDeals.com
RetailMeNot.com
CurrentCodes.com
CouponCabin.com

Regards,

-Bert

Time is quickly running out for Windows XP. If we had a better option than XP I’d be all for it but if you follow this blog you know that Vista still has a long way to go before it gets my vote.

On June 30th Microsoft plans to stop selling Windows XP so please click the link below and sign the petition to save XP.

http://weblog.infoworld.com/save-xp/

If you’re currently running Vista beware of installing SP1. Here’s an excellent article about it:

Windows Vista Service Pack 1 infects, wrecks computers

Regards,

-Bert