The Protector

Why don’t people backup their data? It use to be a pain in the butt but not anymore.  Removing viruses for a living has taught me to back up your vital files on a daily or weekly bases.  You never know if you are going to need a backup until it is too late. 

If your computer is already infected than backing up your data could be risky.  You do not know when your data was actually infected. You may bring back a infected file if you are not careful.  Since I have been removing viruses I have never infected my PCs’ with any of my customers’s infected hard drives.  How do I do it.  I make sure my main system is protected.  I use a Avast Free Home Edition, you can get it by clicking here now.   I also use the full version of Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, I am running Windows 7 Ulitmate and it is running great.  Click here for Malwarebytes Anti-Malware special pricing.  This software is great, they have a free version also which can be used to clean computers of infected files, without this great software my service calls would take longer to complete. Okay so we these two programs your computer will be safe.  However that does not prevent you from losing data if your hard drive fails.  I have had 2 hard drives since 2005 that have not failed.  I recently upgraded to a 1.5 Terabyte and I hope it is just as reliable as the older drives.  So do I backup my data. YES.

I use a three phase approach.  If you are just a home user than any one of these options will do.  However if you run a business like me, I suggest to use all my suggested methods.  Here is what you need.

1. USB key 8 GB or more.
2. External hard drive 500 GB or more.
3. Online data backup account.

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A USB key is vital for me because I work on so many customers computers that it makes it real handy and quick. I keep all my vital files on it so I can fix most computers infections with that.  I recommend keeping your important docs on it keeping it in a safe place.  Personally I wear mine on my neck. Click here to see my picture.  Yea I am a geek. What else do you need on your USB key, you need to keep all your drivers that make your PC work.  If you only keep two drivers you need your network drivers so you can get back on the Internet if your hard drive fails and you have to restore Windows and your video and sound drivers.  How do you get those drivers you might want to know.  Depending on your PC maker you can go to their website.  Put in the model number of your PC and find the current driver.  Download the drivers to your USB key. Easy to do, take less than 15 minutes.

Using a external USB or FireWire hard drive is very easy to do.  Just plug it in to the USB/FireWire port and your PC should automatically see the drive.  Some of the external hard drives comes with backup sofware. If not just bring up two Windows Exploreres windows and make click on drive C on one and the other Window can be the external hard drive.  Now just select the files that you need/want to back up and you are done.  What do you need to back up.  Most of the time users do do not change the orginal layout that Windows setups up.  So clicking and dragging you My Documents folder will get all your personal data.  If you have any music like iTunes or anything else you need to get the files from that folder. For example your iTunes music should be saved in the iTunes folders. Just drag and drop that folder to your external drive.  Update that this weekly, what I mean by this is attach the external hard drive and drag the files again.  If there are any changes, Windows will prompt you to let you know this file is newer than the older one.

Online Data Backup,  you will have peace of mind knowing your mission-critical data is safely stored offsite automatically each night. I use this and it works flawlessly.  Set it and forget it.  If you need your data you need to invest into this.  I just worked on a customers PC and he lost his hard drive.  When I confirmed it was gone.  He got upset, well I told him he should not get upset with me or the hard drive.  He should of take action before now, you can pay now or later.  It also better to pay now.  This company offers a 30-day free trial and has many features that will keep your data safe and secure.  Check it out click here.

Here is another issue that I recently resloved. Customer had a Dell computer and it was several years old. I think about 7 years old. It had a old dial-up modem which means it came with dial up software so you could get on the Internet. Back in the late 1990 and early 2000 not that many people had broad-band/high speed Internet at home. All we had was AOL and dial-up, unless you were rich or had the right connections.

So your hard drive is kind of confuse. You need to uninstall all of your all dial up software. That includes AOL, SBC and or Comcast. Just go into your control panel and bring up the add/remove software and go thru the list select it remove it. Reboot and you PC should be working better.

This customer had SBC and they had installed a version of CA Computer Associates that was loading and just flashing at the bottom of the right side of the screen. It was not updating so I did not know what it was doing, besides slowing down the computer. Anyway I removed it and the computer started running as expected. No more lagging when getting on the Internet. I am not a programmer but I am thinking that the old dial up software was still trying to access the Internet in the background along with the Broadband connection. I also recently found out that most cable companies installlers have no knowledge of PC’s and
how to troubleshoot speed issues, other than making sure your connection is live and your signal is strong. Normally they will put on a Anti-Virus program that will in fact slow down your computer. You may already have protection on your computer. So if this has happen to you and the cable company is telling you that is a Microsoft problem or you have a hardware issue and to call a tech out. Save yourself some money and contact me at 1.512.364.5711 or click on my badge below.

Well if  you are like me you need the fastest connection you can afford at home. I am with Time Warner Cable, Road Runner High Speed with Turbo Power Boast.  My current download speed which is my main concern is 18,233 kbps.  The advertisement states that you will get speeds of 15,000 kbps. So I am getting my money worth.  What about you?  You can test your Internet access speed here. 

Here are some ways to make your Internet work faster.  I use them and I recommend all of them.

1. Make sure your PC is not infected.  Get this program, click here, it’s FREE.

2.   Optimized your operating system with Ccleaner.com.  Why,  it’s Free and CCleaner is my system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. Click here for a free download and a no cost tool.

3.  If you do not have a current Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware you can get one that I use here.

4. Optimze your hard drive with Defraggler.  It is also a free also.  Get it here. 

5. Change your DNS server settings, why?  DNS is such an integral part of our Internet life working behind the scenes every time we connect to a website. In most situations, our Internet Service Provider specifies the DNS Server address that we key into the browser network settings or the router. Unfortunately, this can prove to be the weakest link in the entire workflow. For example, if the DNS server of your ISP is slow, the time it takes to resolve the web address adds up to the overall loading time of the website. To solve this problem, I looked at a simple and reliable service called OpenDNS that speeds up your Internet connection and also handles some other very important issues. There is no software to install, it’s very easy to set up and the price is just right – $0.  First go to www.opendns.com  if you want to find out more about OpenDNS. To change your DNS, click on start, control panel and then click on the network card and then click on properties, go to TCP/IP and then select properties under general. Leave the Obtain an IP address automatically as you find. Change the Use the following DNS Server address: and insert Preferred DNS server: 208.67.222.222 and Alternate DNS server: 208.67.220.220, click OK and reboot your computer. 

6.  If your comptuer is still still slow and you need and want it to be faster.  I recommend more memory.  Most computers that I work on, only have 256 MB or 512 MB. You need 1024 MB for Windows XP or Windows Vista, for Windows 7 you need at least 2048.  Most computers will hold up to 2 or 4 gigs. Upgrading your memory is very cost effective and one of the best things you can do to increase the life your your computer. You can scan your computer here. This utility will show you how much memory is in your PC currently and what you can upgrade to.

Enjoy,

Ralph Walker Sr.

http://www.adjustservices.com

So what is LimeWire, is the world’s most popular peer-to-peer file-sharing program. With over 50 million unique monthly users, the software is downloaded hundreds of thousands of times every day and boasts millions of active users at any given moment. LimeWire uses the BitTorrent protocol and the Gnutella network to provide unparalleled searches and download speed to the user. As always, LimeWire takes the security of its users very seriously and offers the world’s most technologically advanced peer-to-peer software.

I have work on several PC’s that have blue screen, meaning that they would not even boot to Windows XP.  Upon arriving at a customer’s site. I am show the blue screen on the computer.  Well even for me that blue screen is the screen of death, BOD.  I do not even look at the screen.  I just immediately try to reboot it to see if the blue screen  comes back.  Most of the time it does. 

 My next step is to boot to safe mode.  In Windows XP, Vista and I believe 7 you can press the F8 function key at the top of your keyboard as soon as you see the PCs makers logo screen.  You have to be quick so if it goes into Windows it did not work, just try again.  When you get a black and white screen you will be prompt to select the booting options.  Always select Safe Mode with Networking and press enter. You screen will then display a lot of text that you do not need to understand.  It will boot to Windows normally, however it will have a Windows Safe mode on the top of the display and it will inform you that you are in Safe Mode. 

The reason why I am telling you this is because if you or more likely you teenager has installed LimeWire on your PC and now your PC is infected.  LimeWire by defaults wants to start-up when Windows XP starts. Please uncheck this box if you have not already.  If it is installed now you need to go to startup and move or delete it from that box. I do not recommend keeping LimeWire running all the time. Here is why, LimeWire does not keep any record of files being shared on the Gnutella network, nor does it scan any files being uploaded for viruses. Therefore, if you attempt unknowing to download a virus-infected file using LimeWire, you will be vulnerable to any viruses contained in that file. Generally speaking, you should be very careful when downloading files with a .exe or .vbs suffix, since these files are more likely than most to be viruses. Scanning the files you download with some sort of virus-protection software is also a good idea. If you need protection software that works.  Click here, I use it and recommend it.

I can not tell you not to use LimeWire but beware you will get infected sooner or later but if you follow my guidelines at least you can use LimeWire without losing all you data and $300.00 service call. Here are the steps.

1. Never leave LimeWire running when you are not actively downloading or uploading files.

2. Make sure you have both a Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware  and Anti-Malware protection solution. Go here to get yours.

3. Be careful what you are downloading not every file description is accurate and honest.

Take care,

R. Walker Sr.

www.adjustservices.com

I know it not Halloween but this is kind of scary.  I was just minding my own business about to log on to Facebook and I get this pop-up message stating that my computer is infected and that I needed to scan it right now.  I had two forms of protection on my desktop so I clicked on the cancel button instead of OK. 

The program was called Doctor Virus.  It was like I click on OK because my computer immediately started scanning and did not stop until 30 or so minutes later.  Doctor Virus told me that I was infected by all types of 69 different Malwares, which includes viruses, Trojans Horses, worms, adware, spyware and blended attacks, which is a combination of a virus and or Trojans Horses , etc, etc.  Now I know my computer was not infected because I was running Avast Anti-Virus the free home edition.  So what is this Doctor Virus.  Was it some form of online face back protection?  Never heard of it.  Doctor Virus sounded kind of fishy to me. 

Doctor Virus is a form of Bogus ware, scare ware or rogue ware that scares you into purchasing their fake product.  So what are behind these programs and who is doing this.  Experts say that so called gangs or infecting advertisements including fake FREE games, music, P2P sites.  In my cause it was the number 1 visited website world wide Face book.   There have been reported cases of malware found on The very popular New York Times websites.  In some cases, the extent of infection only extends to credit card fraud: users are asked to register for a lifetime product license by entering their credit card information.  However the more aggressive infections malware and scare ware products can and will install hidden Trojans onto the user’s computer unsuspectingly and then log email actions, bank account passwords and other personal data by sending it covertly back to the gang operating the scam. 

So how can I and you can stop any Malware attacks like this dead in its tracks.  Works 100% of time.

I have two solutions.  One is a manual FREE solution.  When something comes on your computer that tells you to scan your computer because it is infected. Do this, do not press enter or OK. This will not help and only allow these type of programs to due their damage.  This works for Windows XP, VISTA and 7.  Press the ctrl-alt-del.  This will bring up the task manager and select the offending program, and then press end process.  You will have to do this every time like I said it is FREE.

Now for a better more pernament solution, you need to get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, click here for a discounted rate.

I hope you enjoy this post and you find it helpful.

R. Walker Sr.

Before I begin, I would like to think everyone that has left all the wonderful comments on my blog. I admit it has been a challenge to keep this blog updated daily but I am trying. Thanks again and please subscribe to the right of this post and you will get an email when I update my blog. Thanks everyone.

As you know by now if you have been following this Blog, I remove viruses for a living. Even if the service calls does not mention that it is virus related. I always check. Most users or unaware that their PC is currently infected and they are not protected. They are also unaware that most PC makers place trial anti-virus or anti-spy-ware software protection on their PC.

My first step is to get Malwarebytes Anti-Malware from the the official site. I highly recommend the professional edition which can gotten if you click here at a great price. This program has save my skin many days. Not to mention the end-user data.  Go ahead and purchase this and install it.  So why this program is scanning, I check out the installed software on my customer computer. I remove all types of expired anti-virus anti-spy-ware software, including Norton Anti-Virus, Norton Live-Update, Mcafee, AVG, and yes I have seen all 4 software programs loaded on the customer PC at once. By removing these out-date programs has an immediate effect on the PC performance.

Another tool I use is called HijackThis, it is a free program yet it is very powerful, you can get it here, click here.  Be careful when you are using this or your PC operating system will be hosed. I will not be responsible for any data loss. If your PC is currently infected and you need to clean it check some of my earlier posts.  Good Luck.

Download it and allow it to install.  You should get 2 screens that pop up. Close down the one that comes up in notepad.  You do not have to save it just close it down.

The other screen should look like this, see below:

Go through the list very slow and carefully, check anything that starts with BHO, check anything that starts with extra content. Also check off anything that has missing file after the line entry.  If you are getting any .dll errors when Windows starts it will show here.  Write down the error and look for that file entry. Once you have everything selected click on fix checked.

Also look for programs that are starting up when Windows starts.  This will elimate a slow booting and or sluggish computer. Almost every program that you install wants to load when Windows starts.  However their is a check box that will allow your program not to start, when you install any program.

Look for my next post on Lime Wire, if your teenager has installed this on your computer and now it is not working you need to read my next blog post to fix or prevent your computer from losing all your data.

Now reboot your PC and see if this works.  You may have to do it several times.  Just read each line and most items are self explained.  Remember almost all PCs’ are virus related.

Thanks

Ralph O. Walker Sr.