Q. I want to make and edit a video but i don’t have a program to do it.

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

If you have a Macintosh, it came with iMovie which is a basic and easy to use movie editor.
How to use: http://www.apple.com/support/imovie/

Recent Windows machines came with Windows Movie Maker
Win 7:  http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker?os=other
Vista: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-Movie-Maker-Windows-Vista/3000-13631_4-10729231.html?tag=mncol;3
Win XP: http://download.cnet.com/Windows-Movie-Maker-Windows-XP/3000-13631_4-10165075.html

Open source video editing programs

OpenMovieEditor http://www.openmovieeditor.org/
CineFX  http://www.cinefx.org/downloads/
VirtualDub http://www.virtualdub.org/index.html
List http://osafw.blogspot.com/2008/05/open-source-video-editing-tool-in.html

Review of commercial programs
http://video-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

Adobe Premiere Pro: http://www.adobe.com/products/premiere.html
Adobe Premiere Elements:  http://www.adobe.com/products/premiereel/

Apple FinalCut Studio: http://www.apple.com/finalcutstudio/
Apple FinalCut Express: http://www.apple.com/finalcutexpress/

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Q. How do I change my IP address? What are the risks?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

It depends what you mean by changing your address, and what your network configuration is.

When you are browsing, the IP address that the outside Web sees you as coming from is the WAN IP address assigned to your broadband modem by your ISP (Cable or DSL)  You cannot change this assignment of IP address.   A dynamic address may last for several weeks or months but will change periodically as they reassign a number to you out of their pool. You may be able to trigger a change if you power-off your broadband modem. This WAN IP number will be part of their assigned block of addresses and you cannot control what you get. So your computer will still be identifiable as, for example, a Comcast cable customer from Philadelphia PA.

If you are talking about using your computer’s internal network settings to change its IP address, then it depends how your network is configured.  In a typical network, the router or the broadband modem performs NAT (network address translation) and automatically assigns your computer an internal network address. This address is within a restricted range of non-public addresses reserved for internal network use, such as 192.168.0.xxx (different brands of routers have different default gateway addresses).  If your computer is set to get the address from the router or modem by DHCP, then the router or modem automatically issues your machine this address.

You can set the network settings of your machine to enter your own IP address manually.  If you do so, it must be within the range of the router’s internal addresses.  So you could change from 192.168.0.101 to 192.168.0.150, and all would be OK.  But if you changed to 175.1.0.101 or even 192.168.2.101, then your Internet would stop working because you would no longer be in the same subnet as your router.

But whatever you change your internal address to, makes no difference in the way the external Web sees your public IP address, which will still be the one that the ISP has assigned to your modem.

If you want to be anonymous by using a different public IP address, you will have to make use of a proxy, which is a way to ‘bounce’ your Web requests off of another, outside computer system.  Before you go down this route, you should know that many services that require to know your IP address, like online streaming TV from Hulu, are well aware of proxy systems and continually block proxied addresses.

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Q. I am getting a screen on my Mac which tells me it is infected with viruses. I had visited a movie download site – do I have a virus?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

That is a phony virus alert from a web page (or banner ad) which pops it up.  Your Mac does not have a virus.

But it MAY have some trojan horse malware that you installed — did the video site say you had to download and install a “codec” or some other software to play the movie? http://www.malwarecity.com/blog/top-5-malware-for-mac-os-x-users-should-know-about-996.html
If so, you shouldn’t have done that, you gave explicit permission for a trojan horse to install itself.  Antivirus software can’t protect against user permitted actions.

If you have a redirect trojan on your machine, the first thing is to clear your browser caches.
In Safari, go to the Safari menu and select Reset Safari, make sure everything in the dialog box is checked, and click on Reset.
in Firefox, clear your cache and cookies – http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/How%20to%20clear%20the%20cache

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Options%20window%20-%20Privacy%20panel?s=Mac+clear+cookies&as=s

Then consider disabling popups in your web browser, and/or installing NoScript for Firefox or AdBlock Plus for Firefox, Thunderbird and Chrome or Safari Adblock.

The more serious of these trojans also alters the DNS Hosts files on your machine, so they can’t be cleared just by clearing caches, history and cookies. Here is a removal tool if you have the DNSChanger trojan http://www.dnschanger.com/

If you want to be sure you have no virus remaining, here are some virus scanners
Here is a backgrounder, and a review of 5 programs
http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/5-mac-antivirus-tools-for-os-x-and-do-we-need-them/
PC Tools has a free antivirus
http://www.iantivirus.com/
As does Sophos
http://www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-antivirus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx

Of course if you have installed Bootcamp (or Parallels or Fusion) and Windows on your Mac, the Windows side will have to have up to date Windows anti-virus and anti-spyware installed like any Windows machine.

Posted in Computer Questions and Answers, Mac questions, Viruses and malware | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Q. I’ve been offered a job online working from home. Can I really make money working from home or filling in surveys?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

Read up on employment scams so you know what to watch out for. Google “Employment Scam”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job_scams

Google the company name to see if there are reports and forum discussion

The basic rules are:

  • Do not pay anything to someone offering a job
  • Do not give out any personal information at all, including phone number
  • Do not reply to or click on links in any unsolicited emails

A legitimate employer does not ask you to pay an upfront fee to get a job, or to buy ‘materials’ or a ‘kit’ other than in some cases a uniform where required. A legitimate job does not depend on you ‘recruiting’ or ‘signing up’ a number of other people in order to make money. (Google ‘pyramid scheme‘)  Check with your local government Employment Standards or Business Standards branch.

http://www.workathometruth.com/work-at-home-not-recommended-data-entry-typing-companies.php

http://us.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=113&id=1869d6a9-82aa-49a1-8419-40a8251fa916&art=408

Survey filling risks you handing over a lot more personal information than you should be, and this you agree to be shared with their ‘partners’ – the identity of whom you have no idea. Although you are offered payment for filling out surveys, you may find that the payment is held by the site as points or ‘survey bucks’ which you may find is difficult to get paid out in actual cash, you may be forced to take it out in overpriced merchandise, or wait many weeks for a payout cheque.

Sign-up Offers where you sign up to different programs (and/or get a bunch of your friends to sign up) to get a free computer, iPad or some other merchandise usually do not end up getting you anything.  Either the requirements to get the prize are too complex to ever be met, or you and your friends have to pay to subscribe to magazines or services you don’t want or need, or the entire operation is a fraud. Many times, these schemes are more about collecting your name and information to sell to advertisers and spam operations.

Do not be tempted by offers to sell goods on eBay on a ‘drop ship’ basis – where you advertise and sell things, keep a portion of the money and send the rest to the ‘company’ who will ship to your customers.  What will happen, either immediately or after a honeymoon period, is that the company will take the money and never ship the goods. YOU are the one who will be on the hook to the banks and charge card companies for the customer refunds and potential criminal charges for mail fraud. PayPal will drain your bank account and you will get a world of trouble.

Do not ever direct-deposit money to a company’s bank account or send a wire-transfer.  These methods are untraceable and unstoppable, and you will not see your money again.

Do not respond to job offers or purchase offers from out of town on a local Craigslist or Kijiji ad. Local classified ads are for face to face, cash transactions only. There is only one reason for someone from out of town to contact you on your local ad, and that is to scam you.

Do not ever accept an overpayment for something and send back the ‘change’, you will be ripped off.

Do not send a deposit for rental of an apartment or house to somebody out of town. They will turn out not to be the owner or landlord, but thieves.  Only give a deposit once you have been physically INSIDE the property and have been handed a key.

Do not participate in any moneymaking schemes or money laundering plans where you get a ‘cut’ for handling money or goods.

Do not send money to a company you know nothing about.  Research them first.

Do not buy music, movies or software online that are steeply discounted from regular price. They will be pirated versions, and your charge card details and identity will be in the hands of the pirates.

The bottom line is: Nobody offers you money for doing little or nothing. You can’t get stuff for free or for pennies on the dollar. You won’t make money clicking on websites, and you risk your finances, privacy and identity with some of these schemes.

More info: Is this company legitimate?  http://guides.macrumors.com/Buying_Online_-_Is_This_Company_Legitimate%3F
http://us.bbb.org/WWWRoot/SitePage.aspx?site=113&id=9c2460f1-4c8d-415a-a55d-2da54c5d4f40

http://www.releases.gov.nl.ca/releases/1996/gsl/0501N01.HTM

http://www.rileyguide.com/scams.html

Resource industry employment scams:  There are apparently a lot of scammers offering jobs within the oil industry, this link has some good general precautions and a list of known bad operators www.oil-offshore-marine.com/bewarejobscams.php#7

More info on Scams

BBB Scam Source: www.bbb.org/canada/scam-source/

RCMP Scam and Fraud page: www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/scams-fraudes/index-eng.htm

Canadian Anti-Fraud centre: www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/english/home-eng.html

ABC Fraud quiz: www.abcfraud.ca/

Financial and investment fraud – BC Securities Commission:  www.befraudaware.ca/fraud-warning-signs?gclid=CKSr7uWFvrQCFQ_hQgodJ3IAMA

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Q. I can’t open .WPD WordPerfect Files

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

.WPD is the file format used by WordPerfect word processing program.  FileInfo list of file extensions Rarely, WPD is used as an extension for other programs’ word processing documents.

WordPerfect was the dominant word processor software in the 1980s and early 1990s, but lost the market battle to Microsoft Word eventually. WordPerfect was purchased by Corel Corp. in 1996.

In general, you need to open the files in the program that created them, or convert them to a format that is usable by other programs.  If you have access to WordPerfect, open the file, and then save it as RTF (Rich Text Format), which Word can open.

Microsoft Word can open WordPerfect word processing files of version 6 and earlier
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HP052742911033.aspx
http://www.columbia.edu/~em36/wpdos/wptoword.html

ABC Amber Standalone WordPerfect converter (Commercial – 30 day free trial) http://www.thebeatlesforever.com/processtext/abcwordperfect.html

NeoOffice for Mac can open WPD files http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
as will OpenOffice (Win, Mac, Linux) http://www.openoffice.org/product/

You can download a trial version of WordPerfect Office from Corel here
http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1152796555406

List of converters to HTML from many different file types  http://www.w3.org/Tools/Word_proc_filters.html

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Q. How can I get copyright protection for my work on a CD?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

If you are the author of the material on the DVD/CD (or in writing, or on the web, or any other form) then you are automatically granted copyright on your work as soon as you create it.  But you need to protect your rights, and that starts with asserting your copyright on the work.

Make sure there is written on the CD itself as well as on the external case:  (c) 2011 by {Your name} {Your contact address}. You can use the copyright symbol ©, the C in brackets, or the word Copyright. The address is optional, but it’s pretty darned hard for someone to contact you without it. Make sure this is a permanent address, or one that you will have some way of receiving years from now when a movie producer wants to license your song for their latest blockbuster.

It’s not a bad idea, if it is a data CD, to put a Readme.txt file on the disk stating your copyright, the terms and conditions of use, and contact information.

There are various things you can do to register your copyright, this will vary by the country you are in and what type of materials you are publishing.

If it is a song, you should consider registering with a Performing Rights Organization
BMI (USA): http://www.bmi.com/career/entry/533748
ASCAP (USA):  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASCAP
SOCAN (Canada): http://www.socan.ca/
Others worldwide: http://www.socan.ca/jsp/en/resources/around_world.jsp

Now physically, what can you do to stop someone who possesses the CD from copying it, or copying the materials on it? Not very much. There are CD copy protection schemes, but they are designed for mass production, not for low volume individual use.

If your material is in text or print format, then you can make it into an Acrobat PDF file that has copy and paste disabled, and password protection if you wish. Even that is limited though – anything that can be displayed on a computer screen can be copied with a simple screen print.

US: http://www.copyright.gov/register/
Canada: http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/ac-ca/progs/pda-cpb/faq-info/reg_e.cfm
Australia: http://www.copyright.org.au/information/introduction/registercopyright.htm
UK: http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p04_copyright_registration
Tips for Songwriters

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Q. Is there any Internet security threat if I only visit reputable sites?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Trevor

Yes there is a threat even if you only visit ‘safe’ places.  You could get a virus through emails, which redirects your links from what you thought was a reputable site to a phony site.  Banner ads on a reputable site can be poisoned with popup windows or drive-by download code  that can infect your machine.

With Zero Day Java exploits, I recommend disabling Java from your Web browser now unless it is absolutely needed for specific websites

Keeping your Web browsing safe:

Install the antivirus program and antispyware program of your choice to do continuous scanning, and make sure you keep it up to date. https://computer-answers.ca/2012/computer-questions/windows-questions/q-what-is-the-best-anti-virus-program/

I recommend using Firefox, and not Internet Explorer, because Firefox does not have ActiveX which is a vector for malware to get into Windows machines.

Turn off popup windows in Firefox’s Options, and install the NoScript add-on http://noscript.net/getit

Always keep your Windows, web browser and Java software up to date – frequent patches are released to plug security holes.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/149298/10_quick_fixes_for_the_worst_security_nightmares.html

SecuniaPSI will scan and alert you to out of date software
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial174.html

Keep up to date
Whichever browser you use, update it to the most recent version and keep it updated, and block popup windows, update your web browser’s plugins, add-ons, Adobe Flash Player and Adobe Reader to the latest versions from the official sites only (do not run updaters or installers from unknown sites or from an email link).

I recommend that you do not install any more browser plug ins, add ons or search bars than you absolutely need.

Beware of software installers that piggyback browser toolbars or search bars into the installation.  Make sure that you check or uncheck the options as appropriate to prevent this additional software from opening.  Search companies make revenue from advertising when your searches are directed through their site, and they pay shareware companies to bundle their installers. So there is a lot of incentive for them to sneak the software onto your machine. Some of the search software is malware and extremely hard to remove.

Consider disabling Java or at least keep it completely up to date. A number of viruses, trojan horses and web drive-by downloads attack your system through vulnerabilities in Java.  https://computer-answers.ca/2012/computer-questions/windows-questions/new-java-based-trojan-attacks-mac-windows-and-linux/

Blocking popups in browsers – instructions vary a bit depending on the version of your browser:

Firefox: Go to “Tools” or the “Firefox > Options” drop down menu, and choose “Options…” then in that window click the “Content” tab, then check the “Block pop-up windows” checkbox. support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Pop-up%20blocker

New Internet Explorer: Go to the “Gear” or “Tools” menu icon (or hit Alt-X), choose “Internet Options”, then choose the “Privacy” tab, and check the “Turn on Pop-up Blocker” checkbox. windows.microsoft.com/en-US/Windows7/Internet-Explorer-Pop-up-Blocker-frequently-asked-questions

Older Internet Explorer: Go to “Tools,” then “Pop-up Blocker.” Click the “Turn On Pop-up Blocker” checkbox.

Older Internet Explorer in Win XP:  support.microsoft.com/kb/843016

Safari: Choose the “Safari” tab at the top of the window. Click on “Block Pop-Up Windows.”

Chrome: Go to the “Chrome” or “Wrench” menu icon. Choose “Preferences” or “Options”. Click “Under the Hood.” Under the “Privacy” heading, click the “Content Settings” button. Click “Pop-ups,” found in the menu on the left side of the page. Click the second radio button under “Pop-Up Settings” or the “Do not allow any site to show popups” radio button. support.google.com/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95472

More resources
Spyware Blaster blocks the URLs of known malware sites from your browser www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23106/description.html

McAfee Site Advisor flags websites security risks as you browse: www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,62594-order,1-page,1/description.html

MyW0t (Web of Trust) allows you to search for reviews of particular sites www.mywot.com/

Scamadvisor.com collects reports of domains which are connected with scams or unethical business practices.

More on browser security
www.jack-brennan.com/?page_id=15

General Computer Security tips
http://www.pcworld.com/article/149298/10_quick_fixes_for_the_worst_security_nightmares.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/254369/10_commandments_of_windows_security.html

Blocking adult or other unwanted websites

Posted in General Computer, Internet and Networking, Security, Software, Viruses and malware | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Q. I received a PDF file but I can’t get it to print

Posted on May 10, 2011 by Trevor

A PDF (Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format) file should be openable and printable on any machine with PDF reader software, regardless of operating system.

It is possible that your PDF file was created with a NO PRINT option or a password option, in which case you won’t be able to print it: contact the person who supplied the file.
If you absolutely have to get a printout of it, you can view it on screen, do a screen capture, and print the resulting graphics file.
Mac: http://guides.macrumors.com/Taking_Screenshots_in_Mac_OS_X
Win: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows

Sometimes though, the problem is a result of some corruption in the PDF file itself.  Open it in Adobe Reader and see if you can do a Save As… and then try opening and printing the saved copy.

It may me a more recent version of PDF than your reader can handle – download the latest Adobe Reader http://get.adobe.com/reader/ and open it in that version of Reader

Also, there is more than one way to view and print a PDF. If it doesn’t print from Reader, on a Macintosh you can try Preview (or if it fails in Preview try Reader). There are alternative PDF readers for Windows:
FoxIt Reader from CNet

Occasionally, if you open it and then print to PDF rather than to your printer, it will re-render it and make the resulting PDF printable.  Print to PDF is a standard option in Mac OSX, on Windows you would need to install Adobe Acrobat or a PDF creation utility (see link below).

If you have Illustrator or Photoshop you can open it with them. Or Acrobat Pro, obviously.

Or look for another piece of software that can read the PDF and render it to another image type.
Here’s a list of free PDF utilities from CNet
Mac CNet downloads
Windows CNet downloads

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Q. How do I format an external hard drive on a Mac?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

Before you can use a hard drive, it needs to be formatted, which organizes the data structure on the drive ready to accept data. In addition, a drive can be partitioned into two or more logical volumes, or it can be left as a single volume (one partition) which would be the default.  When you purchase an internal hard drive, it is usually not formatted. A new external hard drive may come pre-formatted (but it may not be in the format that you want for your machine).  For Mac OSX users, a new external drive may appear on the desktop right away if it is pre-formatted for Windows, but it would be advisable to reformat it for Mac before using it.

Formatting or partitioning a drive will erase all of the information on it.  If you have a drive with multiple partitions, reformatting just the one partition will not affect the others.  Repartitioning the drive however will destroy all partitions and their contents, unless you have a program that can do soft partition resizing.

If you are going to be using the drive exclusively with Windows, choose NTFS as the formatting type.  (NTFS can be read but cannot be written to by Mac OSX).

If you are going to be using the drive exclusively with Mac, choose Mac OS Extended (HFS+) as the formatting type.  If the drive is to boot an Intel Mac machine, go into Partition Options and choose GUID as the partition type.  (HFS+ cannot be read or written by Windows)

If you are going to be using the drive between Mac and Windows machines, choose FAT-32 (MS-DOS in the Apple Disk Utility) as the formatting type.  One option is to partition a hard drive in Mac OSX and format the first partition to HFS+, then the second partition to MS-DOS (FAT-32) for shared data.  Note that Microsoft wants you to use NTFS and in Windows limits the formatting of FAT-32 drives to 32 GB. There is no limit on the OSX Disk Utility however, and larger volumes formatted FAT-32 with OSX will work on Windows machines.

http://thelightroomlab.com/2009/01/formatting-an-external-hard-drive/

XP: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/tips/advanced/ntfs.mspx
Vista: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Create-and-format-a-hard-disk-partition
Win 7: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Formatting-disks-and-drives-frequently-asked-questions
OSX: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3509

If you want to read and write an NTFS formatted hard drive on a Mac without reformatting it, you can install some NTFS drivers for Mac

http://macntfs-3g.blogspot.com/

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Q. I have downloaded some programs on my Mac, why do they disappear each time I restart and why do I have to keep reinstalling them?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

If your applications keep disappearing, it’s because you have not installed them properly.

When you download an program, it usually downloads as a disk image (dmg) file. (it may be a zip or compressed file that expands into a dmg). So this is what you have on your desktop when you download.

When you open the DMG file, it opens a window just like if it was a CD that you put into your machine. The installer package is in that window. Follow the instructions for installation – you either run the installer, or more commonly, you drag the package into the Application folder on your hard drive.

Once it is installed in the Application folder, then you can delete the dmg file and any other downloaded stuff from your desktop.

Then to launch the program, open the Application folder and double click on the icon of the program.

When a program opens, an icon appears in the Dock (at the bottom or the side of your desktop). When you quit the program, the icon disappears from the Dock. If you want the program to stay in your Dock, then drag the icon from your Application folder and drop it onto the Dock – this does not move the program, it just makes a permanent alias on the dock which you can use to open the program.

http://guides.macrumors.com/Installing_Applications_in_Mac_OS_X
http://www.ehow.com/how_4523131_install-programs-mac-os-x.html

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Q. How can I stop junk emails from arriving?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

There’s not a lot you can do to stop people (or robots) from sending you junk email. In most cases it is not worth (and not even safe) to use the “unsubscribe” links in spam emails or to reply to request removal. In 99% of cases the reply address is forged anyway. You can unsubscribe from emails and newsletters from reputable companies, you will have to use your own judgment to decide.

Check with your ISP or mail host to see if they have some server-side filtering that you can enable or customize. This will stop the emails from being downloaded to your machine. Be aware however, that if you set the filters too aggressively, you will be blocking some real emails (false positives) and you won’t know about it. See if the ISP also offers a ‘whitelist’ feature, where you can specify senders you know and trust, emails from these addresses will be passed through the filters without blocking.

Once the spam has made it through to your machine, your task is to separate and delete the unwanted mails. Look through the manuals or the Help screens of your mail program to see if you can enable junk mail filters, or for instruction for writing some custom rules to send spam emails to the trash.

Limit the places that your real email address gets given out – particularly on social media sites, online forums, blogs and other public places. However, once your address is out there, the spammers will sell it to each other so you don’t have much control over how your address is spread around and used for spam.

In an extreme case, you may have to abandon your email address and get a new one.

There are some third party programs that can help clean your inbox
Spam Fighter (Commercial, 30 day trial)  http://www.spamfighter.com/
Cloudmark Desktop – free and commercial versions (Win only) http://www.cloudmarkdesktop.com/
SpamReader – open source filter for Outlook (Win only) http://www.spam-reader.com/

You can also access your email account through Google mail with Google MailFetcher, which applies an anti-spam filter.
http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=21288

And there are a variety of services that route your email through another server to test it before downloading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam_filter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail_filtering

If you run your own business mail server, or can control the software installed on your host’s mailserver, there are a variety of business solutions
SpamAssassin (open source) http://spamassassin.apache.org/
ASSP (open source) http://sourceforge.net/projects/assp/
Google Business Apps / Postini http://www.google.com/postini/
plus many others
http://www.idswebhosting.com/blog/web-hosting-stuffs/spam-filter-comparison-who-makes-the-best-spam-filter/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-spam_techniques_%28e-mail%29#Automated_techniques_for_e-mail_administrators
And there are hardware firewall solutions with anti spam and anti virus built in

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Q. What will adding more RAM to my computer do?

Posted on May 10, 2011 by quill

The key to computer performance is having enough RAM memory. RAM doesn’t speed a machine up, however. Rather, adding RAM removes a barrier to speed.  It’s like your car – taking your foot off the brake doesn’t speed it up, but it stops slowing it down. For starters, you need enough RAM to comfortably boot your operating system and start-up processes. For Windows XP, that could be a minimum of 1 GB, for Vista, Win 7 and Mac OSX, choose 2 GB.  However, 4 GB is a more comfortable minimum for modern operating systems.

What won’t more RAM do?
Booting?  more RAM won’t improve boot times
Launching of applications?  more RAM will give no particular improvement *(note)

Why?  The operations above are mostly limited by the read speed of the hard drive, not RAM  Notice how you hear the hard drive chunking away continuously when you boot or launch an app?  As long as you have adequate RAM for the OS and start-up processes to boot, more RAM is not going to get the files loaded any faster.

What more RAM will do for you is to save the machine from having to hit the Swap files (virtual memory file) as often, and this will remove a significant barrier to performance.

When you open more programs and data than your machine has installed RAM enough to hold, then the operating system is forced to write some of the data in the memory space to the hard drive to make room – called swapping.  Then when that data is needed again, it has to write something else to the HD, and read back in the swapped out data.

Because a hard drive is many, many times slower than RAM, this slows the whole machine down while it waits for the data to be swapped in and out.

So, if you only ever use one small program, and you have an adequate amount of RAM, then more RAM will likely not change a thing (because you were never overflowing the available RAM to start with.)   But if you do a lot of multitasking, or open programs with a large amount of data, or switch frequently from one program to another, then more RAM should make a noticeable difference in speed (by eliminating some or all of the swapping)

Keep in mind that adding RAM raises the bar, but doesn’t eliminate it. If you load up on many multitasked programs at once, you can push your memory requirements above your new RAM amount. Once you break that level, you can get Swap file slowdowns again. The cure is simple, quit some programs that you aren’t using.

Where more RAM really helps:
Some programs, like Photoshop, graphic production, digital audio, digital video production, large databases, scientific and engineering programs can take advantage of massive amounts of extra RAM to cache data internally, and these programs will run faster as a result, especially with large data sets. The benefit is similar if you have to do a lot of multitasking of large programs. Make sure that you are running a 64-bit operating system and a 64-bit version of the software to take advantage of large RAM installations.

* However, if you have a lot of startup items, or if you already have programs open and you are opening more, then there could be some speedup in booting or launching, simply because your machine is already hitting the RAM limit and starting to page data to the swap file.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/virtual-memory.htm
http://chaseconsulting.blogspot.com/2008/03/benefits-of-adding-more-ram-to-your-pc.html

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Q. Every time I go to a website from Google, it sends me to some different website with advertising

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Trevor

You have a Google Redirect Virus.  It is a type of virus called a Rootkit, and can be missed by antivirus programs.

Restart your machine in Safe Mode with networking (hit F8 at start time)

Disable SpyBot TeaTimer if you have it (ignore this if you have never installed SpyBot Search and Destroy)

Download and run TDSSKiller, follow the instructions here
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-tdss-tdl3-alureon-rootkit-using-tdsskiller

(If you can’t download you may have to get these files on another computer and copy them to a CD or a USB memory stick)

Download these to your desktop
Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
ComboFix http://download.bleepingcomputer.com/sUBs/ComboFix.exe

before running them, change their names
Malwarebytes: mblah.scr
ComboFix: comfix.exe

Then run Malwarebytes (mblah), and clean everything it says.

Then run ComboFix (comfix), and clean everything it says. Do not click the mouse or interrupt ComboFix as it is working  If it tells you to reboot your machine during the process, do so immediately.

Information on DNSChanger and problems with Internet browsing after July 9 2012

Posted in Viruses and malware, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Q. I have an antivirus message popping up on my machine and it is not letting me use programs or download antivirus tools.

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Trevor

Antivirus 2012, Win 7 Antivirus 2011, Win 7 Total Security 2011, XP Security 2011, BitDefender 2011 Antivirus (some of these viruses use the same names as legitimate programs) and many other variants of these names are fake antivirus scanners that you get from visiting poisoned websites.  They pop up alarming messages on your screen saying that your computer is infected.  These warnings are fake, they are attempting to get you to pay money for phony software to remove the infection.  Some of these viruses will alter your system to hide your data folders so it looks like an ‘infection’ has deleted all of your files.  They can also block access to programs and websites, and prevent you from running or downloading a real anti malware program to remove the virus.  Getting rid of these is not easy, because you have to defeat their programming that is trying to block you.

Virus like these morph and change features constantly. Check the website Bleepingcomputer.com for the latest news and removal instructions.

NOTE: Following are general instructions for removing most viruses of this type. Although these steps may be overkill, they are comprehensive and will also take care of 99% of all viruses.  There is a class of virus called rootkits which can be resistant to detection, see the post here.

First download the latest versions of the following tools on another, clean machine and burn to CD or copy to a USB memory stick

Copy these to your desktop and before running them, then change the names of the malwarebyte and combofix files to:

Malwarebytes: mblah.scr
ComboFix: comfix.exe

NOTE: ComboFix is powerful software and if you run it when it is not needed, it could possibly damage your data.  Running ComboFix is optional, you could try it first without ComboFix, and if it doesn’t clear the infection, run through this list again with ComboFix.  If you don’t know for sure if you have a virus, then don’t run ComboFix.

Now, restart the machine in Safe Mode (Shut it down, start it up, and hit the F8 function key as the machine boots up and before the Windows screen comes on, and choose Safe mode from the list.)

Follow these steps in order:

Turn off System Restore on your machine, but only until you get this fixed – many of these trojans get copied into the System Restore files, which anti-virus programs aren’t allowed to touch and the viruses could reinstall themselves from there. Turning off System Restore allows the antivirus tool to access the saved Restore files.
My Computer > Properties > System Restore.

The malware actively blocks programs and tools, so before you can start cleaning, you need to get the malware entries out of the registry, and stop the malware’s current processes from running.

Double-click FixExec to run it to clean the registry
Now double click the RKill file (whatever name you downloaded it as) to run it. Wait for it, it could take a while.  If the fake antivirus program throws a warning on the screen and blocks RKill, leave the warning up on the screen and run RKill again.

Do not reboot your computer  If you reboot it will just load the malware in again.

Now run CCleaner (it’ll make scanning faster because it will delete a bunch of temp files and save you from having to scan those.) If the virus blocks CCleaner from running, proceed to the next step.

Now run Malwarebytes (mblah), and clean everything it says.

OPTIONAL: Run ComboFix (comfix), and clean everything it says. If it tells you to reboot your machine during the process, do so immediately.  Do not run ComboFix if you are not sure you have a virus.

Now install and run Avast AV – tell Avast to do a boot-scan – click on “schedule boot-scan” – and restart the computer

Let it start and do the Avast AV boot scan and fix whatever it says

Then do a final Malwarebytes scan in normal boot mode

If you have odd problems with web browser or internet behaviour, there may still be some bad entries in the internet settings. Run Minitoolbox to clear those out.

Then turn System Restore back on.

Now install the antivirus program of your choice to do continuous scanning, and make sure you keep it up to date. If you have your own antivirus, uninstall Avast now.

Comparison of antivirus programs http://www.av-comparatives.org/
Free and commercial AV reviews http://www.pcworld.com/products/software/antivirus_and_security.html
Free AV reviews from PCWorld
List of free antivirus from CNet

Always keep your Windows, web browser, Flash and Adobe software and Java software up to date – frequent patches are released to plug security holes.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/149298/10_quick_fixes_for_the_worst_security_nightmares.html

http://www.pcworld.com/article/254369/10_commandments_of_windows_security.html

If you absolutely cannot boot even in Safe mode, then you may have to configure a universal boot CD or “Rescue Disk”,
Downloadable Rescue Disks
http://dl.antivir.de/down/vdf/rescuecd/rescuecd.iso
BitDefender http://download.bitdefender.com/rescue_cd/
http://devbuilds.kaspersky-labs.com/devbuilds/RescueDisk/

or Universal Boot Cd http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
or BART CD http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/

If you have a Rootkit virus, you may have to take additional measures, check this link:

If you have a Google Redirect rootkit, check here

Information on DNSChanger and problems with Internet browsing after July 9 2012

Spyware Blaster blocks the URLs of known malware sites from your browser
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,23106/description.html

McAfee Site Advisor flags websites security risks as you browse: http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file/fid,62594-order,1-page,1/description.html

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Q. I have some RAR files that were sent to me, What do I do with them?

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Trevor

RAR is a compression format, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAR, and the files you have are compressed archives of one or more original files.  First, you have to decompress the RAR archives. Here are some utilities that can do that

7-Zip (Free, Windows) http://download.cnet.com/7-Zip/3000-2250_4-10045185.html?tag=mncol;1
WinRAR (Shareware, Windows) http://download.cnet.com/WinRAR-32-bit/3000-2250_4-10007677.html
Stuffit Expander (Free, Mac http://www.stuffit.com/mac-expander.html, Windows http://www.stuffit.com/win-expander.html)
The Mac OSX comes with Stuffit Expander.
UnArchiver (free, Mac, Linux) http://wakaba.c3.cx/s/apps/unarchiver.html

If you have a series of RAR files that are names in numeric sequence, it means that the archive was very large and has been broken up into smaller pieces. First, put all of the files in a folder together. Then you can highlight all of them and extract them with your RAR expansion utility, or select the one named filename0.rar and the utility should be able to recombine it with all the others.

After that, how you use them it depends what type of files you have once the archives are uncompressed.

Posted in Mac questions, Software, Windows questions | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment