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Having suffered the little "Windows Not Genuine" notice for so long, after reading your article, I can't believe how easy it was to sort out my version of Windows is not genuine
Maureen K..
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Thank you for helping me sort out my Skype sound problems. It WAS the sound driver, I followed your instructions and everything is back to normal. Hooray! I can Skype again
Hillary W..
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• Connecting my PC to a TV •
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I have tried to connect my PC to my TV and
I just couldn't get it to work. Your step-by-step guide did the trick. I just wanted to let you know that I followed it and I've done it!
Chris T..
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Thank you for helping me with my slow computer. I followed your instructions and now, everything is back to normal. It is running much faster. A first class service!
Jean F..
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Thank you for the link to the specialist malware removal tool. My problem is no more. It saved me the price of a HDD format and re-install of Windows
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• Ask any question about computers •
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Browse through our computer articles to search for a solution to your particular computer problem.
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We have succesfully built an internet based business by offering the best customer service available - FREE!
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We have helped thousands of people (worldwide) with their computer problem - it doesn't cost anything so, why not give us a try!
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If you can't find a solution to your computer problem, use any of our quick contact forms to submit a question to us. We will search through our articles and, if one of them answers your question or, solves your problem, we will send it to you FREE!
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Alternatively, use this form to tell us about your particular computer software, hardware, Windows' configuration or, any other type of computer problem. We will liaise with you personally and GUARANTEE that we will provide a solution to your computer problem.
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Everday, we receive email's of thanks from our customers. Let's see what some of our customers have said about the service that we offer:
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• Ask a question, send a message •
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• Our areas of computer expertise •
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Our computer articles concentrate on the most common problems that computer users may experience with their computers.
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• Sorting out a computer sound problem
One of the most common things that our
readers write to us about is a problem with
the sound on their computer.
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• Connecting your PC to your TV
Slowly but surely, our TVs are merging with
our computers, get ahead of the race by
connecting your PC to your TV.
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• Sorting out a problem with Windows
Some Windows problems are difficult to
solve. Many readers write to us looking for
help with a problem that they can't solve.
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• The installation and setting up of wireless
routers
To the novice user, a wireless router is a
complex device. Making sure that they are
secure is very important.
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• A problem caused by malware or, a
computer virus
One minute everything is OK, next minute, a
big problem! We help you to sort out your
computer and offer advice on best practice.
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• Troubleshooting a problem with internet
connectivity
We explore the most common causes of
problems with internet connectivity.
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• Speeding up a slow computer
We take a look at some of the things that
you can do to make your computer run
faster.
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• System and Data recovery and back-up
Computer crashed - lost all your
grandchildren's photo's? We take a look at
ways to get lost files back.
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• Sorting out an email problem, configuring
Outlook Express or, Window's Mail
Problems with email is another big topic. We
take a look at some of the most common
email associated problems.
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• Helping you to configure your computer to
watch LIVE UK TV - from anywhere in the
world
Got a good internet connection? It doesn't
matter where you are in the world, you can
watch LIVE UK TV. We show you how.
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We can also remotely set up, configure, troubleshoot and support, proxy, vpn, ftp and voice over internet protocol servers and billing systems.
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• This week's computer article - 21st August 2010 •
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What happens when your computer becomes infected with malware?
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It's not going to be easy in the limited space of this column, but this week, I am going to explain to you, exactly how easy it is for your computer to become infected with a malware virus and what happens when it is infected.
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Malware (short for "Malicious Software") is a piece of code that infiltrates your computer usually, without your knowledge or, consent, that has been developed and is distributed with the intention of causing harm to your system/data or, for the purpose of using your computer system to carry out certain nefarious activities.
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Last weekend saw the discovery of one of the biggest malware attacks from a single source. Industry experts aren't quite sure when the attack first started, but speculate that it could have been as far back as January 2010.
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What is certain is that Network Solutions (one of the biggest domain name and website hosting companies) has acknowledged responsibility for the attack and has taken steps to stop further propagation.
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No one quite knows how, but one of Network Solution's web widgets (a portable piece of executable code) that is automatically served up to newly registered web sites (parked domains and domains under construction), was infected with malicious code (malware). The web widget has been installed on a minimum of 500,000 domains, but could have been installed on as many as 5 million domains in the last 8 months.
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The worrying thing, is that at some point or, another, in the last 8 months, we have all clicked a link that took us to a website that is "Under Construction" or, to a "Parked" domain (a registered website with no content). Well, if you have, and it was one that included Network Solution's malware infected web widget, that's all that you needed to do to infect your computer system. This type of attack is called a "drive-by" attack - you don't have to do anything or, click on anything to become infected!
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Prior to its discovery, Virus Total (a web site where you can analyze suspicious files and URLs and a service that I brought to you in a previous article), reports that only 21 out of the 42 main virus programs recognized the attack.
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Hopefully, now that the problem has been discovered, whatever virus protection you are running, should have been automatically updated with definitions that will recognize the attack - albeit, after the event, but for you, it may already be too late!
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So, what does lsass.exe (the malware) do, once it downloads itself on to your computer system?
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First of all, it creates a new user profile for itself then, installs three new components into your "programfiles" directory before adding a new registry key to enable itself to auto start after a computer re-boot.
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Any activity in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Opera Web browsers is monitored and any searches in Google, Ask, Yahoo!, AOL, and Bing, are automatically re-directed to another website where its own search results are displayed on searches for any of the following keywords:-
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cialis, pharma, casino, finance, mortgage, insurance, gambling, health, hotel, travel, antivirus, antivir, pocker, poker, video, baby, bany, porn, golf, diet, vocations, design, graphic, football, footbal, estate, baseball, shop, books, gifts, money, spyware, credit, loans, loan, dating, ebay, myspace, virus, film, ipod, verizon, amazon, iphone, software, movie, mobile, bank, music, cars, craigslist, game, sport, medical, school, wallpaper, military, weather, twitter, fashion, spybot, trading, tramadol, yobt, flower, cigarettes, doctor, flights, airlines and comcast.
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It also, searches for directories on your computer to do with any of the main Peer to Peer file sharing/downloading programs - "Winmx", "Tesla", "Limewire", Morpheus", "Emule", "Edonkey", "Bearshare", "Grokster", "ICQ" and "Kazaa". If it finds any of them, it duplicates into the directories and re-names itself with any of 86 'legitimate-looking" file names with the intention of tempting someone to download it from your computer across the Peer to Peer file sharing network - thereby, spreading itself further.
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What is the point of all this? The writer of the malware receives payment, in the form of advertising revenue, for generating traffic to the web sites that it displays in its 'hijacked' search results so, if you find that you are being 'mysteriously' diverted to alternative search results - its time to check out your PC!
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• Last week's computer article - 14th August 2010 •
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Software to save power and money - for the cost conscious PC user.
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At the end of July, HSBC announced to the world that it had saved more than £630,000 in annual energy costs - just by turning off their computers! It seems that their employees are in the habit of leaving their computers switched on when they are not being used.
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They achieved this saving by installing a program called "Nightwatchman" onto all their computers. If a computer is left switched on at the end the day or, the end of the week, the program automatically saves data and closes applications before shutting the computer down.
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"Nightwatchman" is designed to be used in large organisations with many computers and comes with a centralised reporting system which can be configured to report back to head office in many ways. It's not really designed to be used on a single PC and therefore, may not be of interest to some readers, but the companies' web site - www.1e.com does include an interesting feature which you can run on your PC to calculate how much power it is using and the cost savings to be made by switching it off when it is not being used.
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I know that a lot of you leave your computers switched on overnight to download 'FREE' movies and TV programs, but use the free energy cost calculator on the web site to calculate how much this is costing you, and you may discover that it is cheaper to nip down to the DVD shop - especially when you take into account the recent increase in the cost of electricity!
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Anyway, this got me thinking so, I decided to have a look around and see if I could find anything else for the cost conscious PC user. It didn't take me long to find another similar, but free piece of software called "Granola" - http://grano.la
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"Granola" is a piece of software that improves the energy efficiency of your PC or, laptop. It achives this by shutting down the power hungry components when they are not being used. This results in cost savings and extended battery life in laptop computers.
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The software belongs to a company called MiserWare Inc. who has decided to give everyone (up to) five free licences that can be used on both private or, business PCs. "Granola" is the size of an average .mp3 file so, it's quick and easy to download and install and there's an informative video that you watch before you decide whether or, not to give it a try.
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Granola says: it "makes computers more energy efficient without slowing them down. Granola is safe, easy to use, and allows your computer to operate with the performance of a Ferrari when speed counts but also with the efficiency of a Prius so you don't waste energy. Help save the world with Granola."
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It also has some interesting reporting features. You can find out how much power you have saved, the actual cost savings and how much C02 has NOT been pumped into the atmosphere as a result of the savings. You can also, sign up and track your savings across multiple computers.
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There are other similar products in the market place which a search on Google will quickly reveal, but the unique selling point for Granola is that it dynamically and automatically adjusts the power consumption of your computer based on CPU demand.
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Think of "Granola" as the equivalent of a dimmer switch for your computer. The program powers back your computer when you are completing a simple task like editing a "Word" document that doesn't need much computing power, but gives full power when you are surfing the web or, checking your emails. The power and cost savings come from the difference between the two.
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• Computer article - 7th August 2010 •
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Microsoft releases an emergency security patch this week
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Microsoft released an emergency security patch this week which addressed the critical Window's shortcut problem currently affecting ALL versions of Windows (including the newest versions of Windows 7) If your computer is set to automatically update, you needn't worry but if not, visit: Microsoft Update to manually update your version of Windows.
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This is an update that you just shouldn't miss because without it, your computer is vulnerable to attack and can be remotely controlled and exploited by an attacker. If you are in any doubts as to the severity of this problem - an emergency or "out of band" security patch (as they like to call them) is only carried out by Microsoft to address the most serious problems.
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Regular readers will recall that a few weeks ago, I informed everyone that support for Microsoft Windows XP (service pack 2) had officially ended. If you are still using Windows XP SP2 and wondered about the significance of this, you should now realise what this means. Users of Windows SP2 haven't received this free security patch and will not receive any future security patches and so, are vulnerable to attack and will remain so - for ever! If you haven't yet done so, now is the time to upgrade to Windows XP SP3.
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I know that there are many users who cannot update on the Microsoft site because there is a problem with their version of Windows, but this vulnerability makes remaining with SP2 far too risky to contemplate. If you have tried to update on the Microsoft web site and can't, use the form on this page to drop us an email and we will see if we can help you to overcome this problem - FREE!
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To check which Window's service pack you are running - simultaneously press the "Windows" and the "Pause/Break" keys on your keyboard. You will find the service pack number under the "System" heading. You can use the Microsoft update link in paragraph one to update to SP3.
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At the very least, all Windows users should be using Internet Explorer 8 which comes with built-in Malware and Phishing protection, and Microsoft Security Essentials which is a free download from Microsoft that offers real-time protection for your PC and guards against viruses, spyware, and other malicious software.
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The links to the program's web sites are very long and therefore, difficult to type into your browser's address bar. Rather than include them here for you to copy, if you want to find out more or, download either program, just type the name(s) of the program(s) into Google and to follow the links in the search results.
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