One on One Computer Consultants (www.1on1cc.com)
February 2008 eNewsletter

New Computer Technologies and General Information

Who’s Choosing Windows XP over VISTA?

Bowing to pressure from major PC manufacturers, Microsoft has agreed to keep supplying the Windows XP Operating System until June of 2008. My guess is that the pressure will continued to be applied and that date will be extended. Dell, HP, and Levono (formerly IBM) continue to offer Windows XP as an option on their computer systems. According to Dell’s database, while consumers seem to have accepted the VISTA operating system, business clients still prefer Windows XP about 2-to-1 over Microsoft’s new operating system.

 Everex to sell $399 notebook through Walmart.com

The Everex Cloudbook is designed for Internet usage, email, and word processing, not for heavy duty graphics applications. It will come with software or links to many popular applications including the FireFox browser, OpenOffice 2.3 Suite, and many Google based programs. In fact, the open source-based operating system, gOS V2 Rocket, will make most of your computer experience happen through Google applications. The Cloudbook will include a 7-inch TFT screen with 800 x 480 video resolution, has a 30 GB drive and 512 MB of DDR2 533MHz SDRAM memory. For connectivity it offers 802.11b/g wireless and Ethernet. For more information, go to: http://www.everex.com/

Virus/Spyware/Spam Warning & Updates

Trojan.Mebroot (Rootkit)

The latest attack on PC users hides in the Master Boot Record (MBR) and can’t be detected by most anti-virus software. According to the Wikipedia definition, “A rootkit is a program … designed to take fundamental control … of a computer system, without authorization by the system's owners and legitimate managers.” The MBR resides in the first sector of your hard drive and basically controls loading of your operating system. If the MBR is replaced by a “Rootkit”, then the “Rootkit” can control how your operating system performs. The infection can’t be removed while the operating system is running, but can be removed through the System Recovery Console on the Windows XP installation CD. If your system has the capability to make the MBR “read only”, it would be a good time to assign the attribute. You should check with the manufacturer of your anti-virus program to see if they offer a specific removal tool for this infection.

“You’ve won a Great Prize” – Spam Alert

One of the latest spam email frauds tells the user that they have won a great prize or they can receive a high valued product for completing a survey. What they hide in the “fine print” is that you have to sign up for 3 or 4 of their “sponsors” offers for a “trial” period. I don’t know of anyone that has received the “prize” or “gift”, but I do know a lot of people that are flooded with spam email messages after they complete the survey. Don’t be fooled by the offers. Once the spam email starts coming, it’s almost impossible to stop.

"Free" Software Downloads

Glary Utilities

Offers many tools and utilities to fix, maintain, speed-up, and protect your computer. Some of features include a Disk Cleaner, Registry Cleaner, Program Uninstaller, Empty Folder Finder, and many more. Use the “1-Click Maintenance” feature to easily clean up your computer. Go to: http://www.glaryutilities.com/

Autoruns V9

This utility has one of the most comprehensive knowledge of programs that are configured to run during boot up and startup of your computer. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys and are shown in the order that Windows processes them. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, and auto-start services. The utility can be a valuable asset in troubleshooting spyware/malware attacks. Go to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx

Tips & Tricks

Repair, Replace, or Upgrade?

You will come to a point where you will have to decide to repair, replace or upgrade components in your computer system. Many people will try to replace those parts or just get by with the least expensive options. This could be a big mistake and jeopardize your system stability. Many computer “lock-ups” or “freezes” can be caused by an inadequate power supply capacity and/or heat. If you have added expansion cards or other peripherals, you might have exceeded the limit of your power supply. Heat can be fatal to your CPU and/or motherboard. You should monitor the CPU temperature and add ball-bearing fans, which is always a smart investment. Replace that surge protector with a battery backup unit. If you’re a video game player, then you should have a dedicated graphics card (not the one built into your motherboard) with plenty of memory. Newer DVD burners are relatively inexpensive, run at faster speeds, and allow you to copy data to CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+R, and DVD-RW media. Hard Disk drives fail! If your’s is noisy and sluggish, then replace it with a larger capacity, high speed drive. Seagate and Western Digital hard drives have a 5 year and 3 year limited warranties, respectively.

Speed Up Diagnostic Programs

If you’re going to run a disk error checking program, defragment your hard disk drive, or scan your system for viruses or spyware, you can decrease the amount of time it takes by deleting certain files from your computer. First, go to Start, Run, and type “%temp%” (without quotation marks) and delete as many files as you can. Some, usually with today’s date, you won’t be able to delete. Next, delete your Temporary Internet Files, Cookies, and History files. You’ll find that you can complete your tasks in a lot less time.