Feeling a Little Slow?

If you are wondering why your computer is slow doing whatever it is you are doing on the net, there are a number of things that can cause sluggishness.

Defragmentation is a normal result of using your computer. Files are written all over your hard disk and your computer becomes defragmented. Running disk defragmenter puts them all close together on the disk.

Run scans on your computer to make sure that you are not infected. Always click on update before you run a scan.  Many times attacks are new ones and if you don’t get the newest definitions, they you are not protected against the new infections. Don’t install anything free from the web before fully checking it out. Free is sometimes costly!

If you think that your connection is slow, you can do an internet speed test.  There are many websites that provide free internet speed tests; toast.net is an example of a free speed test site. Keep in mind that speed test results are not in megabytes; they are in megabits. 1 megabit =1024 bytes.  So a megabit is about .125 megabytes.  If you get a speed test result of 1 mbps, and you multiply .125 by 60 (because there are 60 seconds in a minute), the result is 7.5 megabytes per minute. That’s not too shabby of a network speed.  If you get anywhere around 1mbps consider that  well and look for other things.

Wireless theft can slow you down. Zamzom wireless tool will tell you if anyone is stealing your wireless.  I have my SSID (the name of my network) hidden  (in technical terms, SSID broadcasting disabled) and still I check Zamzom periodically to see if anyone is using my network. You can download Zamzom from cnet.com for free.

Website congestion can fool you into thinking your computer is slow. I recall a time when I was downloading from a site and thought my internet provider was ripping me off. After a speed test I found that it was the website I was downloading from was heavily congested. 

The most common cause of slowness is overstuffing a computer. Every month you add new files and new programs without taking the old ones off.  Luckily, this one is the easiest to rectify. Get rid of the programs and files you don’t use.  Burn files and photos you may need to CD or store them on flash or online storage.

I hope this helps!

If Firefox 5's Release 1 Month After 4 Surprised You......

Then hold onto your hat! They are planning to release a new Firefox every month. Developers are scrambling to future-proof their apps so that they don't get blind-sided again. If you are frustrated with an app that doesn't work with Firefox 5, don't abandon the ship.

Check out http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/channel/ for beta versions of upcoming releases and get an idea of what is in store for future Firefox releases.

Overall, I'm still feeling that Firefox is a good choice for your general browsing habits. It's definitely safer than using IE.

How to Avoid a Russian Phish

According to Kaspersky labs, Russia is the world  leader for spreading malware. (USA was number two). Phishing is on the rise again it was up 2.1%. How do you avoid a phish?

If you receive an email in a language you don't read, it's probably a phish.

я поздравляю вас время осел фишеров.

Notice the backwards R (Ya), the 3 (which is a z), the square with feet (a D), the circle with a line thru it (F) and the strange W (SH). All these characters are distinct to a cyrillic language. Even I read Russian and I won't open emails in Russian because they are either porn vendors or phishers. If you can remember any one of these characters or the general rule not to open foreign-language emails, it will help you.

That being said, some phishers are writing in English. Look for spelling errors, punctuation errors and grammatical mistakes. I spent more than one year over there and their English isn't polished. Even the English teachers, who I spent a lot of time with, make many mistakes. So mistakes are a clue that the email didn't originate in the US. 

A big, red flag should be raised when you are asked for your password in an email. Who does that???

 Credit card information should never be asked in an email.  


If someone asks for other personal information: social security numbers, phone numbers, addresses, or spouse names, it's probably a phish.


Don't reply to phishes. Resist the urge to reply with "you *&^%%$ phisher I'm not giving you anything!!!" If you reply, the phisher knows he has reached a maintained email address and will try again, but probably from a different email address and with a different angle. Replying is like painting a target on your back.

Surviving a Bootkit Infection

Infections on your computer are bad, but some infections are worse than others. A rogue antivirus may seem impossible to you, but to a technician it's a cold whereas a bootkit infection is more like a malignant tumor. Microsoft recommends reinstalling Windows after you've had a bootkit infection and so do I.  There's no fudge factor here. Even a really savy tech probably won't get all of the infection.

When a virus gets into your boot sector, it's so difficult to remove. It's a time consuming and tedious process to find infected files and you can never be sure that you got them all. That's why it's so important to have everything backed up on a daily basis. That way if you do get infected you lose only one day's work and not months' worth of work.

Make sure all of your photos, music and documents are backed up. Set up Windows backup if you don't want to do it yourself. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/backupdata.aspx That link will help you with Windows backup. Make sure your contacts are backed up too. Not much is worse than losing all your precious business contacts.

Having an external hard drive is a great way to add a little insurance that you won't lose your data, HOWEVER most folks don't take the proper care to insure that their data on their external hard drive will be safe.

• You must scan external hard drives on a regular basis.
• Disconnect the power and USB data cable from the external hard drive when not in use and, especially, during a thunderstorm. 
• Do not store the eternal hard drive on the carpeting. (You want to keep it in a drawer and out of the way of vacuum cleaners.)
• Don't leave an external hard drive in your automobile. (Greenhouse effects can destroy your hard drive.)

Ok, well I hope this helps you get prepared and scares you into being a safe surfer. If you're not scared of getting an infection, you should be. You carry a spare tire in your trunk so why not a spare drive for your computer? There's lots of sales going on; right now you can pick one up for not much money.

Be prepared..... or be prepared to cry! ;)

Are You Using the Same Password for Everything?

Using the same password for everything is rather dangerous.... especially if it's your name. I'm not talking the nickname your spouse calls you. If your spouse calls you smoogly bear probably no one knows about it. I'm talking the name your mama gave you. All someone has to do is find out your name and email address (piece of cake) and they have access to your personal account information. If your name is Jane and your email address is janesmith@anything.com... it's real easy to hack your account if your name is Jane.  That can put you in a financial pickle real fast.

Using your spouse's name is not a good idea either. That's public record material. I wouldn't advise using your children's names for everything either. That's also public record. Your pet's name isn't public record (unless you've blogged about the pet). 

Instead of using the same password for everything, come up with a password scheme. Here's an example
Google: googly2011
Amazon: amazony2011
Yahoo: yahooey2011

Notice they all contain numbers. They don't have your name. They are different. They are at least 10 characters long for added security.  Nowadays security experts are recommending passwords be 10-12 characters long and 12 is better. With 8 characters, your password can be cracked in a matter of hours. With 10 characters a matter of months. It would take centuries to crack your 12 character long password.

 Ok, it's not fun to change passwords and remember new passwords, but if you come up with a scheme it won't be too hard. You can alter the year in the above scheme so that your password changes every year. Just an example.  


I used to have the same 9 character password for everything. I switched to a scheme of more than 10 characters long so that my passwords are easy to remember and are more secure. If I can do it, so can you. You'll be safer!

You Need a Trim

Ok, your computer can do lots of amazing things, but don't expect your computer to do everything all at the same time. If you do your computer will get sluggish from the excess weight it's carrying. Trim down what you expect your computer to do.

Imagine your computer is a big, hunky guy and each application is a shopping bag. You go to the first store and pick up something: the Tom Tom application. You hand it over to the big, hunky guy to carry and he has no problem carrying it..... because that's all he is carrying. You go to the next store: the Blackberry store and you pick up the blackberry app. The big hunky guy takes the blackberry app from you and says no problem. I'm only carrying two things... this is a piece of cake for him! Next you go to the iTunes store and pick up the iTunes app and Quicktime. You ask the big hunky guy to carry them as well. Still he's having no problem juggling these four things around isn't that difficult. Then you pick up two more apps and hand them over. A few more and hand those over as well. Then you go the next store and as you walk in he gives you a dirty look. Really you need more???? Don't you think you have enough, he says?  He can feel the weight of all those apps and he's not running as fast as he used to. It's kind of a struggle.

The next day you are fresh and ready to get some more apps---but he isn't! He's still feeling it from the day before. When you go to check out another app, he mutters under his breath. His obvious displeasure with your decision to add yet another app to him is rather annoying to you, but HE is the one doing all the work. You are just having fun.

The next week when you suggest going and getting more for your computer, he says no. No way under the sun. Forget it. If you want the app so bad you carry it!

Ok, you get it? Just because the big hunky guy is strong and can carry many things, it might not be in your best interest to overload him with things that you really don't need all that much. If you think that you are starting to load up your computer, start trimming away at the unnecessary fat you have on it.

If you are sensible with what you expect your computer to carry, he will serve you long and well. If you get unreasonable, you can be sure that the days ahead will be full of grumbling!

Be Cheep Cheep (But Not Cheap) With Your Computer

Cheep is very good! Be chicken to click on that link that your friend sent you or open the attachment he/she sent you without scanning it. It's ok to be cheep cheep CHICKEN. Being cheep cheep may save you money in the long run. Before you do anything new to your computer, make a new restore point and back up your files that are important.

On the flip side, being cheap is bad. Sometimes folks try to tackle computer projects that they shouldn't and it ends up costing them. Sometimes you need to hire a professional. You'll pay for car repairs, plumbing repairs, but when it comes to computers people think they should pay the purchase price of the computer and then nothing more. That's not reasonable.

Here's my list of what you should do on your own (if you can):

• Clean the inside of your case
• Replace optical drives
• Replace the batteries (cmos or li-ion)
• Replacing the video card
• Replacing the failed hard drive (If you get the exact same one and have a manufacturer's recovery cd)
• Replace the power supply

Here's what you should hire a professional for:

• Upgrading memory (unless you consult with the manufacturer for exact part numbers you'll probably bungle the speed and not follow proper anti-static procedures or buy more than your system board supports)
• Troubleshoot failing hard drives. (you'll probably bungle the job and lose your data).
• Upgrade the processor (you'll probably bungle the cooling system on it or at least skip necessary steps)
• Hijacks that involve a system that has critical data (that hasn't been backed up) on it (you'll probably lose the data if you call in a professional too late)

Some of you are going to look at the first list and say you're kidding I can't do that, so ok hire a professional. I can't cut my hair myself so I hire a professional every couple of months. Some of you are going to look at the second list and say I can do all that. Maybe you can, but probably you won't get it right.  This list is my recommendation only, you can do as you like. Good luck and don't forget to back up your work this week. :)

There's a Method to My Madness

Sometimes when you call a help desk (any one-not just the one I work at), you might not understand why they do things the way they do. I thought I would write up a little post explaining the method to our seeming madness.

1. We might not recognize your voice. So we have to ask you to identify yourself and give enough personal information to verify you are who you say you are. We're not trying to annoy you, but protect your account from being modified by someone who isn't you.
2. We use the scientific method. Always. So what may seem like a bunch of hooey to you isn't just hoops to occupy your time. We need to eliminate all possibilities to get down to the real solution to your problem.
3. We prefer to teach you how to fish rather than give you a fish. We sleep, take showers, go to visit family just like you do. So we have to teach you; it's our moral obligation to advance your skills. If we just do it for you, we are doing you a disservice (unless it's a one-time thing, then it's no big deal). 
4.  We know that we are not the moneymakers in our organization. We are a support team for the moneymakers in our company. We know that. If we say that we can't help you and refer you to another company it's because we can't change passwords on a server we  don't have access to or some other really good reason. A general practitioner always refers out to specialists and sometimes we have to refer out to a vendor of a program because they are the specialists for that program.
5. We like nice people. It's human nature to like nice people. The nicer you are, the more we want to help you! 
6. We might not have your contact number. It's always best to leave it twice speaking clearly and slowly. If your tendency is to want to buzz through your phone number, please remember that someone is writing it down. First and last name is preferred. "This is Kathy; please call me back." probably isn't going to get a phone call back.
7. We're really busy. If we offer to send you the written instructions instead of tell you over the phone how to do something, it's because we want to save time and company dollar. We have already documented the procedure thoroughly so we don't want to waste time when there are so many things that need to be done. 

Hope this helps explain why we do things the way we do.

A Cure or 2 For You Hoggish Ways

Ok, admit it! You have a problem. The first step is admitting you have a problem. Ask yourself are you an email hog. You'll know you are an email hog if the phrase "oh my God" comes out of your technician's mouth when they look at your email problem. Email quota messages from your email provider are another sign that you have a problem hanging onto too much email. If you start making excuses for having too many emails then you already know you have a problem.

Cure 1(only for current Outlook users): Archive. Past 2 gb an Outlook PST goes on strike. They said they resolved this issue with 2003, but not fully. http://janetperkins.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/outlook-email-archiving/
Cure 2: Download Thunderbird. http://www.mozillamessaging.com/en-US/thunderbird/download/ Thunderbird is published by the same folks that give you Firefox.  Your limit for storage in Thunderbird is 4GB per folder. So it's basically limited by how much hard drive space you have free on that drive. Did I mention Thunderbird is free? You can import Outlook, Outlook Express, CSV, TAB, TXT, and LDIF contacts into Thunderbird. You should be sold on it by now, but just in case you aren't: Thunderbird crashes way less than Outlook. Personally, I've never seen Thunderbird crash.

So email junkies or hoggies whichever you consider yourself, my Rx is above. Stay email healthy!

Don't CC Yourself...Write Someone Else!

CC'ing yourself dates back to the days when email first became popular. Before that was the typewriter and you always kept a printed copy of the letters you sent. Then when emailing came into popular use, people still wanted a copy of that important communication so they started CC'ing themselves.

Nowadays, it's bad form to CC yourself. Why? Because it mimics a spammer tactic. It's possible to raise red flags with your email provider's spam filter by CC'ing yourself. The spam filter looks at the CC and tries to determine if the account has been taken over by a spammer.Some spam filters are smarter than others and some will put you on a permanent iggy if you CC yourself  because it will see your emails as UCE (unsolicited commercial emails). Once you've been blacklisted, it takes work, time and sometimes money to get off.

CC stands for Courtesy Copy and the need to CC yourself has passed out of existence. Every time you send an email you have a copy in your sent mail folder. So if you CC yourself, you will have two copies of the email, thus increasing the size of your email box.

Using Personal Email for Business is Risky Behavior

• What if your email gets deleted/lost? What recourse do you have? Will a free email provider restore it? The answer to all those is: you are in hot water! You can't hold a free email provider legally responsible for losing your email because you agreed to the risk when you signed up for the free email.
• What is your email account gets hacked? Sometimes free emails have the ability to recover a hacked account from an alternate email address, but not always! And you have to specify that alternate account or you are in hot water again! If your email gets hacked and bad things are done with your email, you don't have an emergency number to call to get your account discontinued right away.
• What if your email provider discontinues service? It's so bad for your business if this happens. The major emails have been around for awhile, but you never know what the future holds. A business merger could mean the end of your free email.
• What support do you have with free email? None. Ok this point alone should be the end of your using free email for business.

I always encourage people to use their business email for business. A safe alternative is using your own domain email. Forwarding business email to a free email doesn't make business sense and is risky at best.

On a Shoestring Budget and Need Software?

If you need it free (and legal, of course), then general public license (GPL) software is for you. No budget for software? GPL software is for you. It's free and open source so it can be added to and shared.

• Probably the most famous GPL program is Open Office. Intended to be a substitute for Microsoft Office, Open Office is a completely free suite of applications Open Office isn't a total replacement, but many people find all the features they need in Open Office. You can download it from http://download.openoffice.org/.
• GIMP Photo Editor is a pretty powerful image-editing tool. It has more palettes of tools than most users ever want to learn. Download it from http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
• If the version of Microsoft Office that you have doesn't have Outlook bundled with it, then give Thunderbird a try. I use it for one of my email accounts and am happy with it. It's quite a bit different than Outlook, but the learning curve is short. Download it from http://www.mozilla.org/projects/thunderbird/
• If you don't want to register a media player, then VLC is for you. Because of the multi-lingual thing I have going on I need to be able to open practically anything from any country. So far I haven't found anything it won't open. Download VLC from http://www.videolan.org/vlc/
• I have to be honest, I have zero use for a desktop publisher, but I've installed Scribus before and it looks like a half-way decent replacement for Publisher. Download Scribus from http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus

I hope you try at least one of these programs and come to love them like I do! I'm not sure if it's love for them or dislike for their competition, but I'm always willing to try something new from the open source GPL world. The price is right.  Enjoy your day.

To Pop or Not to Pop: That's the Question!

If you're asking me for my advice, I'd advise not to.We're talking email. POP3 vs. IMAP. At the company I work for, we've got two choices for configuring an email client (such as Outlook or Thunderbird): POP3 or IMAP.

POP3 email retrieves email from the email server. It then erases it from the server while storing it on the local computer. You can choose to keep a copy of the email on the server, but you have to manually go in and clean up your email on the server after you've already cleaned it out of your email client. If your local computer crashes, probably you will lose your email (unless you've backed it up to another location). Once it pops, there it stays! It's stored in a PST (personal storage) folder until you delete it.


IMAP email is stored on an internet server. If the local computer is lost, crashed or stolen, the email is still retrievable. If you want to have your email sent to your smartphone, but still need to access your email on a computer, you'll want to choose IMAP email. With IMAP email configured on your smartphone, you can delete your email once on your phone and it's gone from the server... eliminating the need to delete the email twice. You'll have two PST's on your computer if you configure IMAP email. One PST is for personal storage of anything that you don't want to keep in the IMAP folder and the other PST tells the email client how to get to the IMAP folder on the Internet. It's kind of like an appendix; you can delete it without too many negative consequences.

If you have more than one person accessing a mailbox, you need to decide how you will use that mailbox. If you want each person to see every email in that box, then forward the email popping it down to each person that needs to see it. If you want the person who deals with the email to erase it and eliminate the need for a second/third person to read the email, then you'll want to configure IMAP email.

Some of you may have heard about an email system called Exchange. Many organizations have moved away from Exchange because of the costs and the amount of administration that is required to maintain it. Usually an organization will need a full-time person just to deal with an Exchange server. It's cheaper to pay a third-party to host email. Personally, I wouldn't recommend it unless the organization had more than 10,000 employees. It's a powerful email system, but overkill for most companies. Email is stored in an OST file in Exchange on a company-owned or rented computer.  An OST and PST file are not interchangeable. If you have to go from one to another, a conversion has to be done.

Patch Tuesday Blues

Ok, I know it's Monday, but tomorrow is Patch Tuesday and I'm not caught up from last Patch Tuesday yet. For those of you who don't know what Patch Tuesday is, it is Microsoft's day to release updates to their operating system. The reason it gives me the blues is because I try my hardest to keep everything up to date and then in one fell swoop, I'm behind again. Last week Microsoft was especially evil (or good-I'm not sure) and they released a record-breaking 17 updates fixing 64 security flaws. OMG, a woman's work is never going to get done at that rate.

If automatic updates is enabled on your computer, you can save yourself a lot of hassle. Especially if you have the computer powered on AND logged on when the update is supposed to take place. Most of you are dreaming about days at the beach when this takes place. The default time is 3 am. Laptops provide more of a challenge since they are powered off at 3 am, but you can set them to automatically run still. Just choose a time when the computer will be on with the option to ask before applying.

For those of you with Microsoft Security Essentials, updates to that roll out with automatic updates. So, good choice!

The difference between a service pack and a patch is the size and the scope. Usually a service pack is huge and is almost a reinstall of the program. You are notified that a service pack is available through automatic updates, but it doesn't install automatically. That is because Microsoft recommends that you back up your data before applying a service pack.


Don't forget your patches maties, argggggggggggggggg!

Backing Up Email Contacts for a Rainy Day

OK, it's rainy, yucky weather; what are you going to do????? Why not back up your email contacts? Hooray, sounds like a plan.

In Outlook:

• go to File,
• Import and Export,
• Export to a File and Next,
• choose Comma Separated Values (dos or windows) and Next,
• Browse to Contacts and Next,
• Type in "my contacts", then Next and Finish.  

Great!  You are done! Now you can import your contacts into a web-based mail system. The mycontacts.csv file should be located in my documents (by default).  Import it to at least one web-based mail system or save the file on a flash drive or external hard drive. You'll have some peace of mind knowing you won't lose your email contacts if your hard drive gets zapped by stormy weather!

Is is Adware or Not?

Many computer users download extra items from the net and then experience negative side effects from that software. One of the most common complaints is system sluggishness. Another is inability to connect to any internet site other than the one  where you have to spend money to get hijacked. Let me help clear up some confusion about what is and isn't adware.

Adware is unwanted advertisements that are delivered to your desktop. Here's what adware does:

• unwanted pop ups
• system performance decrease
• browser hijacks
• embeds itself deep into the registry (inner kernal of the operating system) so that total removal is complicated
• sends private information to other computers for malicious use

How do you know what is and isn't adware? Googling is a good first step, but users often look to the wrong sources for their information. The "company" that manufactures the software isn't a good place to obtain your information. Tech sites are a more reliable source, but you also have to get antivirus manufacturer opinions and look at dates on the pages too. McAfee site advisor can tell you if a website has problems, but not the software that you may download from it.

Let's take Smiley Central as our example to look at. If we go to the smileycentral.com home page we see that they are offering a free product (smileys). We won't talk about how annoying these smileys are to our customers, but what they do your system.  If you run Hijack This program, you will see all the "hooks" that this program puts into your computer. Even on a new computer, you can notice some sluggishness after installing it. If you are very familiar with Windows processes, you can pull up task manager and examine the amount of memory the process eats up.

Tech recommendations are also a good way to find out if a software is harmful to your computer or not. Tech websites and antivirus software websites are a good way to check out a program. General user sites and recommendations are not good places to check for recommendations. Reading that it's ok in a friend's blog isn't ok. Wikipedia isn't an OK source.

Stay safe.