petef

Thank you, Seth. I will make good use of those options. BTW: I'm cleaning most PC's these days using SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes. In recent weeks, MalwareBytes is the superior tool, but we all know this can change from month to month or week to week. On the really tough malware, I'm removing the HD, and scanning it from another PC, then reinstalling it and repeating all the scans. Antivirus 2009 seems to be the biggest threat these days. It used to be relatively safe to browse the Interent if you stayed away from "bad" sites such as Gambling, Porn, or Peer to peer networks. HOWEVER, in recent weeks, I find that you can encounter malware such as Antivirus 2009 by simply researching legitimate topics and visiting what seem to be legitimate sites. I recently changed the advise I give regarding people, who upon browsing, run across a bogus malware alert. I used to tell them to simply "X" it out and get off that website. Now I advise them to close the browser entirely, shut down the computer, re-start the computer, and perform all scans to ensure it was not infected. ---pete---

Everyone, Whether we are talking computer problems or global financial problems, I don't believe in band-aid fixes. In other words, if the PSU in my computer is displaying signs of heat failure, I am not going to fix it by simply adding additional cooling fans. When it comes to the current financial crisis, I tend to listen to those who have warned us in the past that we were headed for big trouble. Ron Paul is one such person. I'm no financial expert, but the way Ron Paul explains things it seems evident that the bail out is a band-aid type fix that will eventually lead to a catastrophic failure. I found these videos below on youtube proving that the current financial crisis was predictable and some very good insights on the bail out and how it's going to change things for all of us in the future. Ron Paul predicted the financial crisis a year ago (7:19) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04B3W...eature=related Ron Paul on the bail outs (5:14) YouTube - Ron Paul on the bail outs Ron Paul 9/21/08 on bail outs (7:44) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSNne...eature=related Bottom line, we need to listen closely to those who predicted this financial crisis would happen. ---pete---

I have not seen this first hand but it's been reported that the latest breed of malware is has gone so far as to create a screen saver with bsod's and reboot scenarios. It tricks you into thinking that the system has crashed or rebooted, when in fact the scans are still running normally. Make sure you disable the screen saver when performing scans, or if you do get a BSOD or reoot screen while scanning, hit the space bar or move the mouse to ensure it's not a bogus screen (screen saver). ---pete---

Seth, are you bringing most computers back to the shop now as opposed to cleaning onsite? I haven't tried it yet, but the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows seems capable of running Avira, SuperAntispyware, and others. This might be an alternative to slaving the infected drive if we need to clean onsite where slaving is not practical. ---pete---

Wolfey, it's difficult to prove with precision because it's such a complex issue. There are various aspects of a security suite to consider and I know of no single anti-malware product that rates high on all tests. The two organizations that I rely upon for analysis of anti-malware products are AV-Comparatives and Anti-Malware Test Lab. AV-Comparitives is more difficult to interpret so let take a look at some recent reports at Anti-Malware Test Labs. Anti-Malware Solutions Test Results | Anti-Malware Test Lab At the above link you will see the results of various tests performed on the most popular Anti-Virus products. No single product comes out on top for all tests and NOD32 actually fails in one area (RootKits) and did poorly in another test (treatment of active infections). Evaluating anti-malware products is extremely complex, but it seems evident that taking a multi-layer approach that utilizes anti-malware products from different vendors *could* be more efective than relying upon a single vendor/single product. Practically speaking, the average user may find the multi-layer or multi-product approach too complex or too expensive and they would much rather go with a single product such as a security suite. That might even suit their needs, but they would probably be more secure taking the multi-layered or multi-product approach. However, they could also do even worse if they chose the wrong combination. Unfortunately, there are no easy answers. I can see advantages and disadvantages for either approach. Personally, I prefer the muti-layered or multi-product approach. If usually means more work, but it's like getting a diagnosos from multiple doctors. ---pete---

Yeah, I get a kick out of those stats that show MS losing ground to Linux or IE losing ground to alternate browsers. It's not that I want to see MS go into the ground, but rather, I'm hoping for the day when MS will wake up and give more consideration to what we want and need. ---pete---

Everyone, Most webhosting services allow you view statistics of your own website. Below are some stats from my website (Jun 2008) that show the usage of my visitors regarding the OS they use and their choice of browser. These stats indicate that Microsoft is losing ground in both categories. My website is a tiny fraction of the Interent but these stats do seem to coincide with recent articles I've read on this topic. http://www.htworkshop.com/public/os_browser_stats_2008_06.JPG ---pete---

If you think of it, send me a link when you get it all setup for viewing. I'd definitely be interested in viewing it. ---pete---

My guess, is that it will take a several more years for the majority of people to upgrade to Vista. Reason being, it will take that long for the majority of older computers to break down beyond repair or become obsolete due to incompatibility with new hardware or software. Especially now, with such a bad economy and increased expenses for gasoline and food, most people don't have the money for new computers and since Vista won't run well on the old hardware, people are going to stick with XP. Microsoft always pushes the envelope by creating a new OS that requires an upgrade in hardware to operate efficiently, but with Vista they may have pushed it too far which is now being reflected in extremely low sales of Vista. Of course there are other factors, but that is a major reason why people are not converting their current XP computers to Vista. For most people to be motivated to buy a new PC with Vista, they have to feel that there will be a considerable advantage. Unfortunately, whether it's true or untrue about Vista being a bad OS, Vista has aquired a bad reputation that will be hard to overcome. That's why I say it's going to take a while for most people to convert to Vista and only when their current computer breaks or becomes too obsolete, will they buy a new one with Vista. ---pete---

Map of Phillipines Map of Philippines I see that Boracay is centrally located in the Phils. I have a good friend who lives in the Tacloban area. What made you take a trip to the Phils? Those are some terrific pics that show what a beautiful country it is. I appreciate that you posted them. ---pete---

Exerpt from article... "Based on these results, we can see that the average owner of a high-end computer system spends about $100 per year in electricity bills, if the computer is left on 24/7. " Seth, That sounds about right. I always figured it would cost the average user about $60 to $100 in electricity per year to keep the computer turned on all the time with power saving modes enabled. But electricity expenses are just one factor to consider. I wrote a detailed article on this topic that covers various other aspects such as suseptability to power line conditions, higher risk for failures, thermal stress, etc.. SHOULD I KEEP MY COMPUTER TURNED ON ALL THE TIME? HTH-FreeInfo_ShouldIKeepMyPcTurnedOn ---pete---

For anyone interested in FREE TV using the new over the air Digital TV broadcasts in the New Jersey area, you may find this post useful. I recently purchased a DIGITAL STREAM DXT950 analog to digital converter box for use with my analog TV. Below is a brief summay of my test results and a link for more details. DIGITAL CONVERTER BOX TV RECEPTION - DIGITAL STREAM DXT9950 Using a large outdoor VHF/UHF antenna with a mast mounted antenna booster of 20 db gain. Antenna is located in Fieldsboro, NJ and pointed at NY where the Twin Towers used to be. Antenna is 25 miles from Philadelphia, PA and 60 miles from New York City, NY (transmitters). Summary of the new Digital Reception I'm getting 25 TV Channels on 11 different frequencies in both the VHF and UHF bands. 15 TV Channels are ones I'll actually watch which require both VHF and UHF Antennas All channels are coming in with a crystal clear picture and good sound. The DIGITAL STREAM DXT9950 converter box was simple to setup. After initially hooking up the cables and turning the unit on, a setup wizard took me through the setup procedure and in about 3 minutes it was done scanning and detecting all the channels. Operation of the converter box is all done via the remote. There are no front panel controls or displays other than the power LED. Everything is displayed on the TV screen. The most useful features on the remote are the METER (shows current CH signal strength), EPG (shows current CH TV schedule), Vol+/Vol- (adjusts volume level), MUTE (toggle sound ON/OFF), and A/D (toggle between Digital TV and the old Analog TV) The remote also had a FAV button. In the MENU system it allows you to EDIT the channels to select any channels to be on the Favorites list. The FAV button will then cycle through all your favoite channels. Very nice feature. Overall, the DIGITAL STREAM DTX9950 is a very good product and works well. Old Analog TV Versus New Digital TV The difference between the old analog system and then new digital system is dramatic. I'm now getting 8 more channels than before and all are crystal clear instead of most being snowy with other interference and ghosting.. Of my favorite channels that I watch frequently, I now have 14 Channels which is 4 more than I had before. For more details on reception and to see how my old analog system performed, see the link below. What's the Scoop on Those New Digital TV Converter Boxes? HTH-FreeInfo-Digital_TV_Converter ---pete---

I interpreted the SAS article as written from a developer looking out for his own interests as well as the average user. He's basically saying that no single anti-malware product is as good as the multi-layered approach of utlizing 2 or more products from various vendors. I totally agree with that philosophy. The other major point he's making is that the typical security suite does not play well with security products made by other vendors. This is probably his main concern if his product get locked out of the market due to incompatibility issues, but it should also be a concern to the averge consumer because it limits which products they can run along side of their security suite. Personally, I like "individual components" over "complete systems" and that applies not only to security suites, but also home entertainment systems, computers or anything technical in nature. With a complete system such as a security suite there is bound to be a weak link or component and you may be stuck with it if the system is not designed to work well with other vendor's products. I've been burned too many times with SONY products due to this kind of thing. The same concepts apply to security suites which is why I prefer to use multiple products from various vendors. Similarly, security suites tend to act like "proprietary" systems that will often NOT allow the consumer the freedom or control to obtain the best perfomance possible. Sure it can be more expensive to buy multiple products or more complex to setup, but it does offer the best protection and gives the user more control over the individual components of his security system. With all that said, I agree writer of the SAS article. ---pete---

The quote above tells me that most people can be tempted to pirate music but most would be willing to pay if the price is right. I firmly believe that the solution to the majority of piracy issues is to sell the product at very reasonable rates and then prosecute those who get caught, but make it a reasonable penalty that can be easily enforced and collected. Sell unprotected MP3 files for $0.25 per song that can be played on any device, but embed the the buyer's name in the file. Now it's tracable . Impose a fine of $1.00 per song/file if the files with the buyer's name are found to be distributed to others. Don't even bother to proscecute anyone unless you can prove that they had thousands of files distributed to others. Allow P2P networks to operate and use it as a means to target the biggest violators of piracy. Of course, there will always be a minority of folks who pirate large quantities of music and those are the ones you go after to make an example of and to keep most people in line.At $0.25 per song most people could afford a nice collection of music and will not risk being fined for participating in file sharing piracy. If the fines were reasonable they could be enforced and collected easily instead of having court cases that go on for years. At the same time, many people will share their MP3 files with their friends and continute to pirate on a very small scale. No big deal because they probably would not be buying any extra MP3 files anyway due to having no more money in their budget. Jusy my 2 cents :) ---pete---

That's an easy one to figure out. Cracking down on file sharing sites has potential in the end to bring millions of dollars to those pushing for the crack down. Whereas, cracking down on child porn sites has no real potential to make much money for anyone. It's all about money and how money motivates people. That's life. ---pete---

I found some answers. At rhapsody.com they recently started offering MP3 music downloads in unprotected (DRM FREE) format for 0.99 USD / 0.50 GBP per song. The downloaded files will play on any MP3 player including the ipod and you are free to move them between any device. I did the currency conversion to BGP, but I'm not sure if this service is available to anyone on a global scale with any currency. Excerpts from article at link below: Indeed, Rhapsody has decided to sell digital rights management (DRM) free MP3s to users that will finally be able to play on the popular mobile music device. The decision to go DRM free opens up the service to users who want to own the music they've paid for and have the freedom to play it on any device they choose. Rhapsody also takes a shot at Apple's iTunes store by matching price: individual songs can be purchased for $.99 and whole albums can be bought for $9.99. Rhapsody In Bloom With Verizon, DRM Free Downloads July 01, 2008 Rhapsody In Bloom With Verizon, DRM Free Downloads - The Channel Wire - IT Channel News And Views by CRN and VARBusiness ---pete---

What is the current status of Music Downloading? I'm not heavy into downloading music and I know there has been much controvesy over piracy issues and the various protection schemes as well as peer to peer networking that involves illegal sharing of *.mp3 files. A few questions come to mind... Have any peer to peer networks gone legitimate? What is the current status of cases against average people caught downloading pirated music files? What are the typical fiines or punishments? Is it true that you can now download music legally in MP3 format which would allow you to play the music on any device of your chosing? If true, which sites would you recommend? I recall that many were boycotting iTunes and DRM protection schemes, but has anything new developed from that? Does iTunes now offer MP3 files for download? What are the various options for downloading legitimate legal music files these days? What much does it typicaly cost to download legitimate music files these days? Are there any time limits on music related to copyrights? In other words, if a song is more than x number of years old does it become public domain? Answers to any of the above questions would be greatly appreciated. ---pete---

Reason I asked is that a scan via USB drive should be considerably slower than a slaved drive and I was wondering about how much slower it actualy is. If you say 1 hour to scan a typical hard drive, I think that is quite reasonalble because the typical internal hard drive I encounter takes about 35 to 60 minutes to perform a complete scan using SAS or NOD32. ---pete---

I agree because many of my customers seem to learn. My happiest customers are the ones where I do the cleaning on-site and have the opportunity to educate them as the scans are being performed. The ones that tend to get re-infected are more typically the ones who just drop off the computer for cleaning and don't get the benefit of 30 to 60 minutes of ediucation on how to keep safe. The worse case is when they have a house full of young computer users and multiple user accounts on the PC. I can eduucate mom or dad but it so difficult to get the same education to all the family members. This new breed of malware is going to decrease the number of customers I can educate if I can no longer perform the scan onsite due to having to slave the drive for cleaning. That's not a good thing. Again this is another reason why the new breed of anti-malware products needs to be a bootable CD that runs in another OS such as Linux to perform the scans and delete the nasty files and registry entries. ---pete---

I was thinking something similar. There is a reason why the price of oil and gasoline have skyrocketed recently and it goes far beyond simple supply and demand economics. It could very well be be that there are a limited number of years reaming in the fossil fuel business so they are increasing their profits now by raising prices in anticipation of a dropoff of demand/sales in the near future. It's possible that the issues of global warming, alternative fuels, and alternatives to the combustion engine will drive down the demand for oil in the near future. It's also possible that governments of the most powerful nations are well aware of this need to change so they allow things to happen that will eventually lead the people and businesses to accept change and voluntarilly comply. For example, if you allow the price of gasoline to skyrocket, people will change their mindset about the vehicles they drive and many may even abandon the concept of single passenger vehicles and opt for public transportation. The high price of gasoline has the power to change so many things including how people shop and where they choose to live in relation to their places of employment. See, by allowing the price of gasoline to remian high you can effect change much easier than if you tried to make the same changes by issuing new laws. The people would rebel if you tried to make the same changes by taxing them or limiting them with new laws. With all that said, be prepared for high gasoline prices for many years to come. We need to seek alternatives that would set us aside from the masses and that may enable us to find some economic relief. ---pete---

I'll certainly try your suggestions. Main differences being to use MalwareBytes and slaved drive scans when necessary. Just to clarify about my "clean installs" for the past few years, in year 2006 I'd estimate my clean installs to be about 20%. In 2007 about 2%. In 2008 Jan thru Apr about 0%. In 2008 May thru Jun about 25%. In 2008 Jul about 80%. Those are very rough figures but I think you get my drift. The dramatic diference from 2006 to 2007 was due to improvements in my cleaning process. The dramaitic difference in recent months is due to the new breed of malware. ---pete---

I don't think you have to worry about that. Over time the US borders between Canada and Mexico will slowly disolve and one day Mexico, USA and Canada will become one region. No more USA, or Mexico or Canada, just one happy family. By that time, the idea of an engine run on fossil fuels will be obsolete. Hehehe :) ---pete---

Real simple... * Click the desktop icon that looks like a flash drive. A small window is displayed showing all the drives of the computer. * Click the Mount button for the drive you desire to mount and in a few seconds it's mounted and a new icon/button appears for that drive. If you click that new button and it opens an applet similar to Windows Explorer where you can browse the folders and copy, move, or delete files amongst other things. PS: No drives are mounted automatically/initially. ---pete---

Kelly, When you perform a typical anti-malware scan on a USB conneted drive, roughly how long does it take to complete? ---pete---

All your other points I understand and agree with. The one above I haven't seen personally, but I suspect it may have been true for a period of time with older versions. To this day, I'm having good results with Spybot and SAS, but again, SAS is the superior product and I always do the SAS scan first. Thanks for clarifying why you dislike Spybot. I'm just glad you didn't say it leaves giant holes in the registry. Hehehee (inside joke). ---pete---