Computer Software
Hard Drive Monitoring Software
by atomike on Jul.30, 2010, under Advise, Computer Software
Even though hard drives come equipped with monitoring sensors, like SMART, the average user does not know how to check the “health” status of their hard drives. Sometimes people find out their hard drive is malfunctioning because they hear a clicking noise. By then it is too late, and recovering data is very difficult at that point.
Thankfully many companies have come out with software to monitor your hard drives. Most Linux distros already have this feature, but OSX and Windows do not come with hard drive monitoring software. The software I have been testing for the past two months on some of my clients computers is Acronis Disk Monitor. It warns you about potential hard drive failures and determines the health status of your hard drive based on SMART flags. best of all, it is FREE.
I recommend anyone to install it on their Windows machines (unfortunately its not for OSX). Try it out and report your experience here.
Possible Silent Computer Virus
by atomike on Jun.08, 2010, under Advise, Computer Software
This week we received several computer that were acting slow. After further diagnosis of the problem we found they had the following symptoms in common. After installing Malwarebytes, the update fails. If you try to install an antivirus, the install wizard reports that Windows Installer is not running.
This other symptom may be unrelated, but the frequency of computers arriving with the same problem on the same day is higher than usual. These computer all have the dreaded BSOD (Blue Screen of Death). Simply running CHKDSK /r in windows recovery console allows the computer to enter Windows again, but then the symptoms described above are exibited.
At this point performing a Windows repair fixes the system. Running tools like COMBOFIX, WINSOCKFIX, and WINDOWS RESTORE do not fix the problem.
We will continue to conduct an investigation to confirm that these symptoms are the result of a virus. We will post any results here.
Installing Windows on a Laptop with SATA Hard Drive
by atomike on May.11, 2010, under Computer Software
Intalling Windows on a computer with a SATA hard drive may require drivers and|or changing the SATA mode in the BIOS.
Senario 1: You insert the Windows CD and the hard drive is displayed, ready for installation.
In this case you have a good chance of having a sucessful installation. Sometimes you may get a blue screen after the installation, if this happens follow the steps on senario 2.
Senario 2: Hard drive is not dectected.
In this case download the SATA/IDE driver for you motherboard. The driver is sometimes a standalone driver or it comes with the chipset drivers.
- For Vista and 7, place these drivers in a flash drive, insert the flash drive in the computer you will install Windows on, and when you get to the formatting options screen select Load Driver. Locate the drivers on your flash drive, select it and press Next.
- For XP, install a Floppy disk drive and place the SATA/IDE drivers in a floppy drive. Insert the Windows XP CD and press F6. Follow the instructions on the setup to add the SATA/IDE drivers. In case you do not have a floppy, then you need to create a slipstream cd using nlite.
In the rare event installing the drivers still gives you a blue screen, and you already scanned your ram using Memtest, and tested your hard drive with the vendor’s diagnostic utility, then the problem might be related to the version of Windows (i.e Reatail vs OEM, SP1 vs SP3, etc). Different versions of windows can be made using nlite.
Fix Corrupted Network Location Awareness
by atomike on May.07, 2010, under Advise, Computer Software
This is a problem related to the Fake Alert trojan virus. Some antivirus programs delete, quarantine, or modify windows system files when they get infected or are errouneously identified as a virus. When this happens, Windows services wont start properly because their files have been compromised.
For this particular problem, namely when the Network Location Awareness is corrupted, the solution is to reinstall Windows service packs. Follow these steps to reinstall/install the service packs for your operating system.
- Identify which service packs are installed (Windows XP: Right click My Computer->Properties. Vista or 7: Right click Computer->Properties)
- Remove currently installed service packs (Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs)
- Reinstall the service packs ( Download the service packs for your operating system )
This problem can also be fixed, if only a few files have been deleted erroneously, by following the steps here.
How can I get protected from virus attacks?
by atomike on Jan.19, 2010, under Computer Software
So you got infected with spyware eventhough you have antivirus and antispyware protections, or maybe you have become skeptical of how effective anti-malware software is at preventing and removing viruses (or viri) from your computer. In this article I will describe three different setups that are effective at preventing virus infections. Each setup is aimed at a particular type of user. You can then choose which setup best suits you.
First up is Windows protected by anti-malware software. This setup is best for users who want the ability install hardware and software they can find in the store (the kind that is mostly compatible with Windows operating system). I recommend using Kaspersky Antivirus, and Malwarebytes Free Edition. The effectiveness of preventing a virus infection on this setup depends on keeping Windows and the anti-malware software up to date.
Effectiveness 85-70%
Lets move onto a similar setup. Windows protected by OS restoring software. This setup is best for people who want to keep the compatability with popular software and hardware but make little changes to their system. I recommend using Faronic’s Deep Freeze. With this setup, once you have installed all the software and hardware you want to use, you then “Freeze” the system to prevent any further changes. Any changes that occur while the system is in the “Frozen” state get deleted when the system is rebooted. So if you catch a virus, no problem, restart and you are like new. Data is best saved permanently using this system in external media, like flash drives, external hard drives, or optical media.
Effectiveness 99-95%
This next setup is Linux based. Linux is a public (open source for the otaku audience) operating system. Most Linux distributions are free. This setup is aimed at people who only need to browse the internet. The Linux distribution I recommend for this is called xPUD. It is an operating system focused around a web browser. The chances that someone will write a virus for this OS is minimal because the operating system is so small and contains no valuable data. Other than being very effective at preventing a virus infection, it is also very fast.
Effectiveness 99-98%
There you have it. Post comments to discuss further details about each setup. Tell us what you use your computer mainly for and we will tell you which of these setups or other setups will best suit you. These setups are mainly geared to home and small business users. Corporate users with web servers and domain servers, that is a whole different animal.
How to backup your information
by atomike on Feb.18, 2009, under Computer Hardware, Computer Software
A backup is an important step toward preventing data loss. There are several applications and serveral accessories in the market today to help you with this task. In this post I explain the different types of backup options you will be confronted with when deciding where to save your information. This article is aimed at home users and small businesses. large scale backup systems like those required by large servers are not discussed in this post.
The first thing you have to select is the type of media you want to use for your backup. The options are hard drive, optical (i.e. cds, dvds), solid state (i.e. thumb drives), and remote backup (i.e. internet backup).
- Hard Drive – Pros: Large capacity Cons: Physical size, as big as a small dictionary
- Optical – Pros: Cheap if you have a CD/DVD/Blueray burners Cons: Physical lifetime may only be a couple of years
- Solid State – Pros: Very portable Cons: Constly when compared to the capacity and price of other media
- Remote Backup – Pros: Highest survival Cons: Very slow for people who modify large amounts of data. Security is in the hand of a third party
The second thing you have to select is the type of backup. The options are full backup, incremental, and differential.
- Full Backup – Pros: Saves all your data in one file Cons: With this process all your data is save to a file every time you want to make a backup, this makes the process very time consuming and space inefficient
- Incremental – Pros: Saves all your data created or modified since the last full backup, therefore saving space Cons: When restoring your data, the full backup and all incremental backups are required
- Differential – Pros: Saves all your data to one file, subsequent backups save data that was created or modiefied, this saves space and time needed to make a backup and restore a backup. Cons: Cannot restore data from an earlier backup than the last backup made.
Some closing advise notes:
- Learn the backup process aswell as the restore process
- An automated backup will reduce human error
- Keep the backup and the originals in separate locations as far as possible to make sure they don’t experience the same catastrophic event, such as the building burned down, flooded, etc.
- Save you backups in a standard format so that different software may be used to restore the information in case the original software used to meke the backup became obsolete
How to avoid getting scammed by software
by atomike on Feb.18, 2009, under Computer Software
Ever bought software, then found out it doesn’t do what you wanted it to do? People get targeted every day with advertisement trying to convince them to purchase a particular product or service. But people who do not research before making the final purchase are more susceptible to disappointment and scam. In this article I will demonstrate some very basic resources from where to begin your research. This research should take no more than one relaxed weekend.
I am just going to give a typical example, but the same research applies to any product or service you are considering purchasing. This is how it begins. You get an email that basically says “Buy Mega Antivirus 2009. Rated 9/10. #1 Software Technology*…” Now say your antivirus is expiring or expired and you need to get the best antivirus of course.
The first resource is online reviews. This could quickly save you time if you find bad reviews. Just use your favorite search engine and type the name of your product and the word “reviews” at the end. Compare the reviews of five sites featuring your product. Some third-party websites that sell your product allow customers to post their reviews, read these reviews but be critical. A review that says ” I hate this software. It froze my computer” is not very useful. A review that includes the product’s strengths an weaknesses means the product was given a fair try.
The next resource is forums. Here you will find discussions organized by topics. However most of the discussions are indexed by search engines, and therefore you might find a discussion on a forum that is related to the product you are interested in by searching for you product on your favorite search engine. Your query should look similar to “Mega Antivirus 2009 forum.” Discussions provide you information like future updates (you dont want to buy a product and find out a newer version is being released next week), current issues, and competing products.
The last resource is people you know. Friends, family, co-workers, they will probably make you aware of things you might not have thought about. “I bought Ultra Antivirus 2009 because it has a game mode feature.” Then you should ask yourself, “Do I need that feature? Does my product have that feature?” Again be critical of information the people you know provide you with.
I hope I have enlighten you, and that you will become a “critical customer,” that is a customer who believes in nothing it hasn’t proven (my definition).
Why is my computer slow?
by atomike on Feb.18, 2009, under Computer Hardware, Computer Software
Computers may run slower than usual for many reasons. Here we will try to highlight some of the possible reasons starting with the most common and working our way down a list.
#1. If your computer is fairly new (maximum 2 years old) then the most likely the cause is Spyware, or a virus.
#2. Usually, people are told to install an anti-virus in conjunction with an anti-spyware. This may result in poor performance since every process and file in the computer will be scanned by each program, namely the anti-virus and the anti-spyware. It is recommended that you have both intalled on your computer. However, only run one at a time. This can be a relatively complicated task to achive for someone that is not avid with computers.
#3. System hardware does not meet recommended requirements of the operating system. You should avoid buying a computer with minimum requirements since these computers will usually only run well with the software it came with, adding extra software may slow it down.
