New Variant of Downadup
According to
PC World, Symantec, the antivirus and security company has issued a warning. A third version of the
Downadup has been identified by Symantec. This new variant can give already infected machines more power to disable antivirus software and anaylsis tools along with out actions.
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I talked about the latest version of the
Kindle by Amazon.com.
COMPUTING TIPS VOL. 2
I skipped this tip on the show but I wanted to include it in the notes.
Q: In windows XP I keep connecting to my neighbor’s Wifi network
A: You can right click the Wreless icon in your system tray and choose ‘view available networks’, In the Windows wi-fi control panel you will be able to remove the WiFi in question from the list of preferred networks.
Instead of removing it, you can make sure that your network is at the top of the list.
Additional Tip:
Windows XP wireless control panel or the one that came with the card.
Wireless network cards usually come with their own control panel, however, I usually recommend using the Windows XP one. It is usually easier to deal with in certain situations especially with multiple networks all around you.
Q: What to use for Video editing.
A: Adobe Premier Elements It’s about $80.00 but well worth the price. You can also get it bundled with Adobe Photoshop Elements
Recommendations for keeping your Windows computer running at peak performance
1. Have a good antivirus.
2. Re-install Windows every 6 – 12 months. Use recovery disk that came with your computer.
3. Use Defragmenting software
Password TIPS:
- Don’t use any part of your username, full name, address, birthdate or other personal information
- Don’t use english or even foreign words
- Make sure your password is at least six to either characters long. The longer the better.
- Use different kinds of characters in your passwords.
- Don’t use the same password for multiple sites or recycle them.
- Don’t write down your passwords and post them around your computer workstation.
- If you nee to keep a repository of passwords, use a program like Robofom (www.roboform.com).
- Use pucntionations and number for letter substitutes
- Use a passphrase ( a group of words, as opposed to a single word).
Low on Virtual memory:
Q What do I do to fix the virtual memory when it is too low?
A. Check the following
1. Available hard drive space. In windows Explorer, right-click the drive icon and choose properties. If the amount of free space is under 10 percent of total capacity, you’ll need to free up some space. Use te Disk Clenaup button right next to the free space indicator or manually move some files to another storage device. You can also uninstall unneccessary applications. The key here is to get more free space.
2. If low drive space is not the issue, the virtual memory settings may be wrong.
a. Right Click My Computer and choose properties
b. Click the Advanced tab.
c. Click the settings button under the performance section.
d. look for the system managed size option and make sure it’s selected.
Cleaning out the clutter in your Inbox
Over time you could have hundreds even thousands of emails in your inbox. But that many can hinder the performance of your email application and can also hinder your productivity when you are viewing emails.
1. Create folders for different types of emails. For example: Family emails, Jokes, Financial etc.
2. Move emails to their corresponding location. If you didn’t creater a folder for it, either create one now, or delete the email.
Remember, the key is to clean out your inbox, so the goal is to have NOTHING in the inbox when done.
3. After all is cleaned, to sustaint a clean inbox, move messages out of the inbox as soon as you have either read them or acted upon them.
Q: What is the quickest way to maximize a window.
A: Press ALT-SPACE and when the control menu in the upper left of the window opens, press ‘X’ To restore the window Press ALT-SPACE and then press ‘R’. You can also click on the boxes in the upper right of the window.
Q: I’ve have a file with the extension .ISO. How do I get this onto a CD or DVD?
You can also browse what is on the ISO file by using a tool called DAEMON Tools.
www.daemon-tools.cc
Q: What are Windows Updates and do I need to worry about them?
A: Windows Updates or Microsoft Updates are patches for your version of windows. Usually critical updates pushed out the 1st tuesday of every month.
If your system is setup to install automatic updates then you do not need to worry about them as much as if you are not setup to update automatically.
1. In XP Right click on my computer and select properties.
2. Go to the Automatic Updates tab
3. If automatic (recommended) is selected then you just need to tell it what time to update. The default is Everday at 3AM which is usually fine.
4. If it is turned off, then you shoudl probably go to Widowsupdates.microsoft.com and get all th critical updates immediately.
Q: How do I sort my IE favorites so that they are easily found?
A: Vista does this for you automatically, however, Windows XP does not.
1. OPen your favorites.
2. Right click on any favorite (not a folder of a favorite) and select ‘Sort by Name’
Listener Comments:
DaveAC: Dave wanted to add that firefox has had several security issues lately and urged that you make sure you have the latest version, which as of this show was version 3.0.7. Go to help menu and select check for updates. The Safari browser version 4 is supposed to be quiet faster and might be time to give it another go.
For Windows Vista, the SP2 release candidate has been released. We do not recommend installing a Release Candadate of a SP. I will get that installed and talk about it in the future.
Remember the original disk that came with your comptuer might not have a service pack. This was a reminder that it is a good practice to install the Service Packs in the correct order to stay safe.
Slipstream disk will have all the latest service packs so that it is that much quicker to install the Operating system. I added to this that you can use the program called Offline-Updater. Go to google and search for Offline-Update, you shoudl be able to find it there. This program will allow you to download all the critical updates for an Operating System or Microsoft Office version and put them on a DVD. When the time comes you just run this and it updates whatever is missing.
Keep in mind if you rebuild your machine, download the latest drivers from your computer’s manufacturer’s website.
Thank you Dave!
