Computer Security : How not to get Infected.

In my [intlink id="3999" type="post"]previous blog post[/intlink] we talked about how the computer would get infected with Malware. Now on this blog post we will discuss how you can prevent most to all of these from ever happening again on your system.

Now let's face it we are more and more going to be on the internet.   This is almost a necessity for a business or individuals.  You see Businesses have built there product around the internet and that is why it is necessary to be on the internet.

What program not to use to Surf the web

You should consider getting away from Internet Explorer,  I don't say this lightly.   It may take Microsoft Months to fix a hole in something that involves [intlink id="2301" type="post"]ActiveX or Something like that[/intlink].  We know how Microsoft will only[intlink id="1951" type="post"] push out the really big security holes[/intlink] out of Cycle but keep the minor ones in Cycle.   [intlink id="2301" type="post"]Hackers have jumped on exploits[/intlink] before when it comes Internet Explorer and use them on Black Wednesday, not less than 24 hours after the patches have been released.

Although these examples I showing doesn't mean that they haven't been fixed they are showing you how long it takes sometimes to fix them.

What you should use to Surf the web

One of te ways to prevent getting infected is keeping your browser up to date as quickly as possible, and I believe Mozzila Browser which is called FireFox is the answer.   One reason I recommend this to anything else is it is a community based browser and that means there is no waiting for a fix to come out when you know about it they have been working to fix the security hole.

They don't wait till next month to send out a patch they usually only take a week or two to come up plugging the hole.   So that is why I always recommend to my clients to use FireFox instead of Internet Explorer.

I have 3 Addons that I would recommend along with FireFox, these addons help stop some of the most common ways to exploit your system.   The first one is called NOSCRIPT it is good to prevent scripts from being used on the web or on your system.  The next Addon I would recommend is Bit.ly Preview this is good for any shorten URL that is out there and will show you where it is really going.    It will also work well with Twitter web interface really well and let you know were a url is actually going to easily. Finally the last on I would recommend to my customers is AdBlocker Plus, this one is really good to use for like Facebook or other social sits where there might be a scareware redirect advertisement.  This will prevent some of those Notorious attempts at getting you to click a fake ad.

Also you may want to consider also installing some [intlink id="2205" type="page"]Firewall and Antivirus[/intlink] software to better protect your system from getting a virus in the first place.

On my next post I will talk about some common ways to trick you into installing a virus or scareware on your system. So stay tuned.

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5 ways to get more followers in Twitter

I've been doing something different in Twitter and I would like to talk about it.   I have learned so much today it and yet after the end of the day I've gotten even more followers.   I've gained over 123 so far today alone and I want to share with you some ways to increase your followers.

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1. Provide Great Value -- This one I learned today finding some great articles and retweeting the good articles.  This is essential Twitter tactics.   If you don't do this your just going to be keep who you have and not grow.


2. Be Funny -- Don't be funny just to be a class clown, that will draw followers but it can also hinder your likely hood of engaging in good conversation.   Twitter is a stream of Conversations that doesn't do well with constant funniness  and if your always being the class clown, you will have a hard time keeping a conversation.   Now that being said it doesn't mean to not be funny but to be funny in your way.  People like to laugh people are drawn to people who want to communicate about the topics at hand.


3. Ask Others question -- This is important because if you ask people question that means you want to start a dialog and will grow to understand how people react.   Sometimes it is good just to ask something provocative and see what your followers have to say about it.  This gives your followers a chance to feel like they are important and gives you a chance to learn something new today.


4. Retweet Other's People stuff --  This is sometimes the most obvious but if you retweet others stuff they will reciprocate and thank you.  In turn their followers will see what you did and maybe want to start receiving your updates.  All you have to do is add "RT @Username" and then the message.  This makes those users feel important and helps provide great value to others.


5. Answer people questions -- Just like asking if you know something that will provide value to a user this will get them to notice you and follow you.   I have some search terms up and running in Tweetdeck in case someone tweets something that I can answer.  This will provide those followers who are interested in stuff you are interested in.  Also it helps create a connection with that user and also opens up a dialog for even more great stuff.

This isn't even hitting the mark but is a good starting point.   Now I want to talk about some good tools to help you manage your newly joined followers.   These tools will help trim and help you find those who might be of interest to you:

• Huitter -- Is good for following everyone or unfollowing those who aren't following you back.  You can also unfollow all if you like.   This is good for those accounts that aren't following you back or if you have a bunch of people who are following you and you don't have time to go through and follow them manually.  This little tool will help automate the follow process for you.


• FriendOrFollow -- This is good to sort through the number of followers who you aren't followering.  This little will show the number of Fans, Friends and Followers.  You can use this to find those inactive accounts by sorting through there last tweet.   You can also figure out who you want to follower or who your want to unfollow.   There are so many good uses for this that you will just have to play with it to find all the good stuff.

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• Mr. Tweet -- This one is one of my favorites because it will find those recommendations based on your friends response to people in there group.   If you have someone who you talk to alot this will help you find out who else talks to this someone and gives you a chance to follow them.  This will help you find relavant Twitter users to follow and gives you a chance to offer recommendations to your followers.  This is great for the power user because it shows who has recommended who and why.   You can do so much with little tool.


• We Follow --  This isn't really a tool you can use but is one of those you should put your name in because it allows people to find other people who are interested in what they are interested.  You only can put up 3 tags but this is really to allow people to find you so they can follow you.

I am sure someone else can come up with others but these tips and tools will help you develop those followers who have so much in common with your ways.  If you follow these suggestions you will start to grow you Twitter account to even more.  I am going to keep doing what I am have done today to see how fast this will grow my account but only time will tell.   If you like what you've seen hear please tell people about this post and encourage them to visit.

trojan.zlob removal tricks!!

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Aliases:
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qyl (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzs (Kaspersky)
Trojan-Downloader.Win32.Zlob.qzn (Kaspersky)
Trojan.Zlob.CPP (BitDefender)
Puper (McAfee)
SystemDefender (Symantec)

Trojan:Win32/Zlob.G is a component of Win32/Zlob that downloads rogue security programs, adware, and additional Win32/Zlob components.

[Via Windows Live OneCare]

[ad#ad2-left]This one just popped up today on my radar it seems to be a very low threat on everyone's radar according to my sources say "Trojan.Zlob.G is a Trojan horse that may download and execute remote files and redirect the Internet Explorer home page and search page."  So to remove this little Trojan you would want to download one an Anti-virus and firewall.   Once you install the software the program should fix the problem for you.   This one seems to be really easy to fix.   So Please read my post on how to better protect your self if you want to prevent this in the future.

sinowal.trojan Problems.

Trojan-PSW:W32/Sinowal.CP drops and loads a password stealing component on the infected system and tries to steal account information from it. It also tries to steal information that is required to access certain online banks' and online payment systems' websites.

[via F-secure]

[ad#ad2-right]It seems to be a very hard virus to remove but there are ways to get rid of this virus.   Some tips and tricks to get rid are:

• Check out my Anti-Virus Page


• Computing.net


• The Geek Police


• How to Detect Sinowal

This are the beginning steps to get rid of a Virus but it will be a really hard virus because it wants to stay in your system.  You should also Restart in Safe mode and Try to remove that virus that one.   You will also want to disable your system restore due to the fact that it will be in there and might come back if you restore your system.  Just some simple tips to help keep you safe on the net.

Avg detected Trojan Horse Generic 12.htc?

Just got a warning from AVG about, trojan horse generic 12.HTC, haven't heard of it, anyone out there hear if this one? apparently it infects explore.exe, and after months of explore.exe crashing I'd say it's a legit virus.

[Via Answer Bag]

Some tricks and tips to remove this little virus is quite simple. It is embedded in your system so how do you remove this threat? Easy follow these steps and you will have a better chance of getting rid of the virus:

1. Find out all you can on the virus -- Finding out the extent of where the virus lays is really a good idea.  Just because you found one place doesn't mean it isn't also hiding some other place.  Some good ways to figure out where it might be is to download Hijackthis and Then onces you download it and install.  Run it, and when you get the LOG file you will want to go to HijackThis Log Analysis Site 1 and HijackThis Log Analysis Site 2, and see what it says.



2. See if you can remove the Hidden Virus -- After you find out what the extent of virus may lay.  You will need to download these programs.  Run whichever ones you like to see if you can locate and delete the virus.  You may also consider using one of the several onine services to see what they might suggest or see if they can find this virus.
   


3. Check your services and reboot sequence -- After you think you've gotten rid of the virus, reboot and do a rescan.  Usually the Virus will respawn after you reboot, some of them have a command in the reboot sequence.   You may want to check your reboot sequence, by check with MSCONFIG.  Sometimes it is hidden but if you check through the MSCONFIG for any files that might not need to load.  Also check the services tab and see if there is any services that may not be needed.  The best bet is to google search each service or program that is in there and see if that might fix the problem.



4. Might be time to re-install Windows -- Although this is the hard for people, this can sometimes fix the most challenging virus.  You need not have to loose your important data.  The only thing to remember when you back up is when restore you data after you re-install windows.  Just remember one thing, if it is  an .EXE, .COM, .BAT, and .MSI extensions than that might risk you getting the virus all over again.  Although remember that you will need the other tools I talked about on #2 to keep from getting the virus again.

These are some tricks I use to get rid of a virus and now I've shared them with you and now it is up to you do the work.  If you have any tips or tricks to get rid of a virus leave a comment.

Backup your Mozzila Thunderbird profiles

So you have all this mail you want to back up in case something terrible happens to your hard drive.  So here is ways to backup your email and other programs in Vista.  I think Vista has a new way of keeping program profiles in an hierarchical setup.  So what is the HIDDEN directory it is:

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C:\Users\[USER]\AppData\Roaming\Thunderbird\Profiles

Now as you can see your Thunderbird profile is in a hidden directory in the AppData Directory.  You can easily get to the hidden directory by typing %appdata% {enter} in the search bar of Vista.  Now How do you backup and restore.   The program I use to backup is GoodSync.  I send the data to the cloud and when I need it I can restore it back to the directory. Now what about restoring, if you have to do a complete re-install of Thunderbird you can always copy over the back up to the Thunderbird Profiles directory and install Mozilla Thunder bird and it should see it.   If by chance you load up Thunderbird and you have to re add everything you would have to delete everything in that directory and then restore from the back up.

It is also a good idea to backup all the roaming directory from time to time.  This way you have every important program needed in case of a problem with your drive.    These are just a few tips and tricks to keep your data safe from having problems in the long run.

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Fixing the Adobe Problem!!

If your have been having problems with Flash Players stoping after 2 seconds of playing.  I have a few ideas to try to get rid of the problem.  It used to happen all the time with Vista in the early days.  Here's what I did to occasionally get the flash player to work:

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  Cleaning out the Prefetch Directory! -- Having seen this from time to time. If you have programs startup that might need to be refreshed this will refresh them so that they run like new. You occasionally can get programs that will load in a odd way and this will fix that also.

  
  

• 
  

  You want to be more anonymous? -- Cleaning out your cache on your browser can sometimes fix the problem. It's like anything else it can sometimes be corrupted.

  
  

• 
  

  Some Important programs to prevent yourself from having viruses and Malware!! -- Having seen this with my own two eyes, if you have a viruses or malware on your system that too can cause problems with playback of flash media.  So just double check making sure you don't have any viruses.
  

  
  


• 
  

  Adobe Flash tips and Tricks! -- Also having found this out.  Adobe actually keeps the flash video on there servers cached or sometimes somewhat buffered to help with playback.  Clean the cache out at the source sometimes fixes the problem also.

  
  

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Now having used some of these tricks to get flash players to run has on occasion worked for some strange reason or another.  Although I don't know if this will fix the 2 second playing video problem I get the feeling it should since in theory it has everything to do with cache and corruptions of the files. If you can come up with some other tips or tricks to fix the problem let me know!!

Limiting Use of Your Bandwidth!!

With the Recent Comcast deciding to declare how much of bandwidth you can use.  I decided to talk about how to limit your bandwidth.  So Here are some tips and tricks to get the most out of your bandwidth:

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Chapter 1 -- Understanding your Wireless Router : This is a must.  This chapter talks about how to access your router and and how what is an IP!!

Chapter 2 -- 10 Ways to keep your wireless router Secure -- This one will help with those pesky neighbors who are leeching of your internet and Bandwidth!

Chapter 3

• Turn off Auto Update to Unimportant programs : Having several programs checking for updates can start to add up.  Although this is a small amount of bandwidth.  It will give your that extra amount.


• When not using your Internet turn off your Modem : This one is the most useful because when your not using your internet just turning off the modem will prevent you from using to much bandwidth.
  


• Use a program like AppSnap to update your programs : Having told you that you should stop auto-updating on some of programs.  Here is how you can update manually.  This little program will check most of what you have installed on your system and will let you know which ones have available updates.  This should be done once a week or every other week!!


• Use a Program like GoodSync to perform backups : Know that some people have backups in the cloud this will greatly reduce the amount of bandwidth your system will use to upload to the cloud.  Get an E3 Amazon account and use the program to back to E3.


• By an External Backup Hard Drive : This option is also good for people who have the need for all the bandwidth possible.  Buying an external hard drive for use as backup is also a good idea so that way you don't depend on your internet bandwidth.   Just remember when you do a backup take it off site just in case of a fire or earthquake or something like that.   Might be time to buy a Safety Deposit Box, and use that.
  

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In an Upcoming post I will be discussing the program or tools you need to  monitor your bandwidth!  This is going to be a must for thos who need to monitor you monthly bandwidth per month.  I will be looking into some of the options available to you for free.

Tips and Tricks to Shut down Windows Vista!

Yes we will be talking about why Vista won't shut down properly.  It is a common problem in all models.   It has been know to cause some issues with boot up.  In the past, Vista when you hit the shut down or you did the short cut Windows key>Right Three Times>Enter, it wouldn't shut down instantly.  I've recently found out how to fix this problem and why it comes and goes.  Here are some great ways to get Vista to shut down properly.

• Boot into Safe Mode --  Yes booting into safe mode will fix the problem to a point.  Here is what you need to do at start up of computer.  Press F8 as soon as you see the screen flicker black and you will be given a choice.  Choose Safe Mode.  Once done booting into safe mode.  Log into you user name.  There you will want to check with Msconfig. Make sure you aren't loading up anything that might stop shut down from happening.  Once done they do the shut down procedure.  By doing it in safe mode you have vista reset all procedures to shut down.  This sometimes resolves the issue.
  

• Don't Shut down Vista improperly -- having seen this from time to time.  If you do a hard shutdown, which you drop power or remove the battery.  This has been know to cause a issue with shutting Vista down properly.  There seems to be a correlation with vista and hard shutdowns.  I do not know how or why, I just seen that with my current Vista machine.
  

• Make sure you exit out of legacy programs before you shut down -- legacy programs are programs that aren't designed for vista but are designed for Windows XP, 2000, 3.1, 3.0.  I don't recommend using programs that are designed for Windows NT and nothing else.  If it's in the list when you buy a program.  NT and Vista are siblings, they both use the same kernel.  Microsoft has said that in the past and I believe it.  So it only comes with reason that NT programs can work with Vista.  I've not tried but I'd be willing to say it could be done.

• Let it think about shutting down -- I find if I tell it to shut down and walk away it will eventually shut down.  I think it has a long wait time before shutting down.  Some program has to time out before it can shut down, or it has to tell vista that it needs to unload a program from memory.

• Try using the registry hack -- I've not tried this one but some say they get Vista to shut down properly and quickly by cutting the wait time out protocol in the registry.  I've seen it done on some Windows XP, it will shut down almost instantly because it doesn't wait for the program to say anything.  It forces the program to quit.  So it could very well help you with shutting down Vista if your in a hurry.  Also try this: Faster Shutdowns using the Run Dialog
  

• Don't put the computer in sleep mode -- This is only good for those who have laptops.  It seems putting the system in sleep mode slows down Vista when you are ready to shut down.  It seems to have a conflict in the system and has been know to cause interference with other shutdown procedures, so I recommend if you are done with your system to either leave it on, or shut it down but not to put your system into hibernation.

If you follow these steps you will find that Vista stops having this shutdown issue.  I had the same problems as others but after doing these steps myself, I've found Vista to shutdown faster and quicker and not hang during shutdown.  If you have any other ideas feel free to email me or make a comment on how to get Vista to shutdown quicker. If you like what you've seen by all means click on one of my ads to show support to my site.

Fighting an endless battle!

Having been perusing my email inbox the last few days.  I've noticed that Gmail hasn't been catching all the spam.  So I've deciding to write an How to fight spam the hard way.   Why write about something people know all about spam. It is the fact that we have come to be complacent and ignore the spam that comes from our inbox.

[ad]To think if we allow this spam to keep coming our way.  So I've figured I show you how to fight back with spam.  It won't be an easy process but if you follow these few steps you too could get what you need done and make a wold difference with fighting spam.  Some people will say it can't be done.  I've done it i n the past and I do it now.  So let's start:

SamSpade.org is the first part of this epic adventure.  I say it's the easiest part because it doesn't take a lot of know how to find out the information you need. So let's start with you get a spam message in your inbox and you want to report this spam to the proper people and make it harder for the spammers to get away with this.

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You would want to look for any domains in the email message such as a (dot)gov, (dot)com, (dot)us, ETC and do a look up with SamSpade.org and find out who to email.  It's going to be one of the following:

• Admin@(domain)


• Postmaster@(domain)


• abuse@(domain)

There are always going to be more, but you get the picture.  You then forward the message to either one or all of them and tell them in the email why you are emailing them.  I usually say something with TOS(Terms of Service).  That way you sound a little more forceful.  If you want to cut down on spam.  I dare you to report one peace of spam a day.  I can pretty much bet.  You will drop in spam in under a week.  On an upcoming article I will discuss why you would report spam.

Adobe Flash tips and Tricks!

Having been using Hulu for the last few months, I've had to tweak the Flash Player and I'd thought I share some tips to get your movies and shows to run smoother on some systems.  I will say this, it is not some times the system but the connection to the Internet.  Bandwitdth, for some shows are sometimes the hardest part of getting to watch the show.

From time to time, Check for updates:

Having updates will sometimes resolve the most common issues with the Flash player.  I've had that happen in the past, a certain version would not work right with my system.   After updating on those occasions, I'd be ready go!!  So here's the website to go to download and install the latest version:

Download and Install Adobe Player


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Why should I have to check it from time to time?

Adobe seems to not want to tell you if you have the lastest version.  So I've got a schedule to check it ever month and see if I have the latest version.  How can you figure that out? By downloading and installing.  If you've got the current version then you do not have to install it again!!

Put more access on storage!

Currently we have Terabyte hard drives, so we can have the system store more information on our hard drive.  I'm not saying that does not come without some security risk, but I do have a better time with streaming video.  By making more space available for the flash player to use, you can sometime cut down on connection speed and reliability.  I've had instances that once I've changed the amount of space for a website, I've gotten better video and watching experiences.  How you may ask by doing two things:

Going to your favorite video website > Run a video > Right Click on Video > Click Settings


Slide the bar to where you want it.  The default is 100 Kilobytes, I've got it set to 10 Megabytes.  I'll let you choice how much.  It just depends on the space and how much your willing to give up.

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Then you have to direct yourself to the adobe website and do the same there.  You have to put add the information to the cloud you could say.  Here's the link, you can always get there by either visiting the Adobe website or clicking on the advanced tab in the settings manager.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.htm

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You would then go to the website storage tab or link and go there and slide the bar to where you've put the other one or give it more.  You then would want to make sure adobe is using your hardware acceleration for playing movies and video.



Make sure yours has the Check Mark!!
Sometimes it is easier just to clear the Cache!

Yes, I did say clear the Flash player cache.  Here is how you do it.  You will have to go the settings manager website. The Cache is in the storage settings manager.  Then click on Delete all sites.  It will ask if your sure.  You say yes, and it's done.

After that you should have some smoother sailing with Hulu and other websites that require flash. It isn't hard to do but it is sometimes a pain because you have to from time to time clear out that cache on the website. If anyone else can come up with some good tips throw them out my way. Share your tips with the world.