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Quote of the day:
Computers used to take up entire buildings. Now they just take
up our entire lives. - Unknown
John Barker opened the meeting at 10:00
AM with a few funny jokes and stories.
There were 38 members in attendance.
Bob Young (2) brought in a motherboard
that had been fried when a customer installed memory improperly.
One of the members brought in a newspaper
article describing a Trialware program called Backup Manager Pro from www.genie-soft.com and
a freeware version called Genie Games Backup that can back up more
than just games. Give it a try and let us know how you liked
it.
John then opened the floor to questions:
Name |
Q&A |
Details |
OS |
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
For the last little while, my XP machine hangs when shutting down,
any ideas what to look for? I use Norton System Works. |
XP |
| Bob Young 2 |
A |
It
may be caused by a recent Windows Update, a Norton Update or
an updated device driver. Try to open Norton and (Right-click)
then “Exit” all modules, then try to shut down.
If
this works, Norton is the culprit, if not, go to Windows Updates
and review your update history and look for recent hardware driver
updates, record the Update number and then use Add/remove programs
to un-install the suspect driver. |
|
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
A
few weeks ago, we discussed an excellent Registry cleaning program
that is a good (free) alternative to Easy Cleaner.
What
was it called? |
All |
| John
S. |
A |
It's
called ccleaner and it is extremely fast and free. You
can get it from www.snapfiles.com (use the Search Tab) or google for it.
Tip: Do
not use the “Find Duplicate Files”
feature unless you know what you are doing, it can crash Windows. |
|
| Ron |
q |
I
have an “acquired” version of Windows XP. The
last time I went to Windows Updates I was forced to use the Windows
Genuine Advantage validation tool and failed the test.
Help? |
XP, 2000 |
| Bob
2 & John S |
A |
You
should still be able to get Critical Updates, but that's about
it.
Options:
Buy
a legal copy of XP or Re-install 98 or Windows 2000; Microsoft
doesn't seem to care if these are legal. You could
also switch to Linspire (Linux) ($27 from Tiger Direct).
Another
member mentioned that Microsoft stores the test result in a “cookie” on
your PC. Find it and delete it and you may be OK. |
|
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
I
use the Windows Login screen to log into Windows for security
reasons. After logging in, I try to install a new program
and Windows says I must have Administrator rights to install
it.
How
do I change my rights to Administrator? |
XP |
| Bob
& John |
A |
Go
To: Start > Control Panel > User Accounts and choose your
user name. Click on “Change my account type” and
click on the Computer administrator “radio button” and
Click on
“Change account type” button to save the changes. |
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| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
Sometimes
when I download an Email attachment and try to open it, I see
two file extensions, e.g: "
Filename.jpg.exe" or something like it.
What
is going on? |
All |
| Bob & John |
A |
By
default, IE hides “known file extensions”, that's
the letters and numbers to the right of the dot. Many viruses
use double file extensions. Can't see them?
For
security reasons, open Windows Explorer, go to Tools > Folder
Options and click on the View tab.
Set
the 3 items as shown below:
Then,
click OK.
Stop
reading and do this NOW!
Now
that you can see double file extensions, right-click on the suspect
file and scan with AVG Anti-virus.
If
infected, delete the file! If not infected, right-click
on the file and choose “Rename” and remove the incorrect
file extension. Windows will warn you about changing file
extensions, ignore it. Then double-click to open the file. |
|
| Stan |
Q |
I
don't have a printer installed on my Win98 machine. How
can I capture an image from my computer screen to Email to
friends? |
All |
| Bob
& John |
A |
To
save a full screen image in Windows, hit the PrtSc key (to the
right of the F12 key) to save to the “Windows Clipboard”,
trust me. Open Programs > Accessories and open MS Paint. Click
on Edit > Paste to see the screen capture. Save it to
the desktop and attach to your Email.
Tips: Use
Alt+PrtSc to save only an open window. You can also paste
directly into Microsoft Word. |
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11:00 AM: Virtual Coffee Break
Re-convened at 11:15AM.
John Sturges gave a mini-tutorial
on Ad Aware Personal Edition. See the attached at the end of
the minutes for the presentation.
Go here for
an excellent article on Windows security basics with definitions, etc.
Tip: In IE, type “ask-leo” without
the quotes, then hold down the Control key and hit Enter. IE
will automatically add the “http://www“ before and the “.com” after
the term “ask-leo”. Try it out. Note: It only
works for websites that end in .com.
John Sturges explained that his notebook
had been infected with a “Root Kit”. To find out more about
them go to: http://reviews.cnet.com/.
He downloaded a recommended program
called Rootkit Revealer (google for it) and found the culprit. But
the culprit knew that it had been discovered and corrupted the hard
drive's Master Boot Record. The PC wouldn't reboot and has no floppy
drive. He tried to restore the MBR using a utility called the
Ultimate Boot CD unsuccessfully, so had to reformat and re-install
XP.
Questions continued:
Name |
Q&A |
Details |
OS |
| M.I.G.S. |
Q |
You
often talk about Ad Aware, Spybot Search & Destroy, Spyware
Blaster and Microsoft Anti-Spyware (XP only). What is the
best Anti-Spyware program to use? |
All |
| Bob
& John |
A |
No
single program can find and remove all spyware, but tests have
shown that running AAW, Spybot and MS-AS will catch 99% of malware.
Tip: These
programs can be run on your PC concurrently to save time. Don't
run them until your Anti-virus program has finished – they
don't play nice.
Spyware
Blaster stops spyware from getting on your system in the first
place.
NOTE:
Mini-tutorials
are coming soon for MS-AS and Spyware Blaster. Next meeting's
tutorial will be on Spybot S&D. |
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To keep abreast of Windows
Security issues, check out ask-leo,
the Langa List and Cnet
Threats. Some offer free newsletters that help avoid problems
before they happen.
Stan Black recommended www.masteryourcomputer.com that
allows you to sign up for twice monthly “Micro-tutorials” to
your Email in-box. There are hundreds of impressive How-To's
that deal with just one topic, be it Windows, Word, Excel, Outlook,
etc. Please let me know your favourite learning websites via
Email (see below) and we'll try to put a list up on our website.
It is with great sadness that we announce
the passing of long time member Joan Sprague who died on October 22nd . Our
deepest sympathy to her family. She will be missed.
11:57AM: Meeting adjourned.
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