Category Archives: Notes

The annual contest is under way. PCMag has early results here.

Avast screwed up today with their latest virus definitions. Reporting viruses found on systems when programs were created with Delphi. Skype, Spybot Search and Destroy, Spyware Terminator, and many more are being reported as having a virus. This is a false positive. Choose to ignore warning or disable Avast until a fix has been implemented.

Spyware or virus removal is easy huh? Fire up your favorite spyware or virus removal program. Update the program with the latest definitions. Remove the found threats. COOL! Later you shut down your computer. The next day you go to turn your computer back on, but wait…the PC does not boot. NOT SO COOL! What happened? More than likely your favorite spyware or [...]

Windows Guru Ed Bott states his case against registry cleaners. The article was written in 2005, but the recommendations are still as true today as the day he wrote about registry cleaners. Please take registry cleaners out of your routine PC maintenance. View article: here

Looking to register or re-register the Free version of Avast Anti-Virus? Watch this video: here

I am often asked if the upgrade from XP or Vista to Windows 7 is worth it. Yes…I love it. Faster, more secure, cooler. To see if your system is capable download Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Run the advisor and follow the instructions. Windows 7 has made my old laptop new again.

There is a simple way to test to see if your computer is infected with the conficker worm. If you can visit http://www.symantec.com/ then your computer is not infected. Conficker has blocked internet browsers from going to security sites such as Symantec, the maker of Norton security products. Please keep your Windows operating system up [...]

InfoWorld’s Roger Grimes Computer Crime Gets Worse,  Patching is still Trouble -The article about Computer Crime is truly revealing about 2009 and beyond. Roger also wrote a great article about home PC security. NetworkWorld’s Andreas M. Antonopoulos On botnets, encryption and mega-worms Interesting point about the escalated need for security while budgets are shrinking. PC [...]

Sort your start menu programs alphabetically on Windows XP. View: StartMenuSort

Problem: Bluemountain.com won’t allow you to log in. The error message says you must allow cookies. But you have checked your security settings and everything seems OK. Solution: This problem typically occurs because spyware prevention programs can block sites it has determines are exhibiting bad behavior. Programs such as the highly recommended “Spybot Search and [...]