Phoenix PC Users Group Tip Jar

Tips, Tricks, Quips, Clips, Pix, Clix?
WebTour Links, Meeting Topics?

Links we saw in meetings?
Links from the newsletter?

Questions? Answers?
Ideas? Suggestions?

Drop them all in the Tip Jar:
Tip Jar

The newer entries (near the top)
also appear on the Home page

Installing Avast! Anti Virus

Norbert (Bob) Gostischa outlines how to install avast! Anti virus
He suggests you start with a complete uninstall of your current
Anti virus Program and a fresh install of avast!.

A. Help in totally removing your current
Anti virus program can be found at:

http://mysharedfiles.no-ip.org/TipsTrick...

B. Download the latest version of avast! from:

http://www.avast.com/eng/programs.html

1. Uninstall avast from Control Panel first.

2. Reboot your system.

3. Run the Avast Uninstall program downloaded earlier
to remove all remnents.

4. Again Reboot your system.

5. Install the latest version of avast! downloaded in step B.

6. Get your Register Number for your new installation at:

http://www.avast.com/eng/home-registrati...

7. A tutorial on how to insert your registration key can be
found at:

http://www.avast.com/files/tutorials/ins...

Bob in his presentation of Avast! for the Eastside December
meeting created a lot of interest in this Anti Virus program.
For those of us who could not attend we decided to put his
recommendations here on the website.

Holiday Shopping Lists Galore

David Yamamoto recommends the following as great
sources of food shopping list ideas for the holidays.
Just print them and check items off at the grocery store.

Don't forget to Google online coupon sites as well.

http://tinyurl.com/237cgcp

http://tinyurl.com/274oknt

Dangerous Exploit in Adobe Reader

◊

InfoWorld

http://infoworld.com/t/malware/dangerous...

Microsoft Knowledge Base

Great support for Microsoft software

http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv...

Be Careful What You Copy

Copy Machines Contain Hard Drives

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6...

Antivirus Comparison

In the January 2010 issue of PC World magazine
there is an article on the best antivirus programs.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/182539/

Security News and Reviews

See the latest security news and reviews

http://www.pcworld.com/topics/security.h...

IT Expert Voice

Interesting articles by experts

http://itExpertVoice.com/

From 2007

"free apps you can't do without"
(PC Magazine - Summer 2007)

◊

cCleaner

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Clears out/Cleans HD and OS leftover stuff

◊

File Shredder

http://www.handybits.com/shredder.htm

Overwrites a file up to 15 times to "shred" it

◊

WinDirStat

http://windirstat.info/

Graphical HD, and files by size

◊

ZoneAlarm

http://www.zonealarm.com/

Some said the best software firewall ever

◊

AVG

http://free.avg.com/

Excellent free antiVirus software

◊

A-Squared

http://www.emsisoft.com/

Spyware/malware checker

◊

Ad Adware

http://lavasoft.de/

Spyware/malware checker

◊

Hijack This

http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

A spyware method finder. Creates a log file of all
processes. Useful to check for rogue apps running.
Use this only if you know how.

◊

Blacklight

http://www.f-secure.com/en_EMEA/products...

Malware/rootkit finder - use this in addition to others

◊

Belarc Advisor

http://belarc.com/

Comprehensive list of everything on your machine.
Also shows Install IDs for Windows and Office.

◊

SpeedFan

http://almico.com/speedfan.php

Temperature reports and fan controls all in one

◊

Unlocker

http://ccollomb.free.fr/unlocker/

Reveals and can *unlock* files "in use" by apps

◊

Drive Key Boot Utility

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/...

Turns a thumbdrive to bootable

◊

ExplorerXP

http://explorerxp.com/

Windows Explorer - with Tabs!

◊

TrueCrypt

http://www.truecrypt.org/

Encryption without installing

◊

nLite

http://nliteos.com/

Windows installer but with options and update add ons

◊

SpamPal

http://sourceforge.net/projects/spampal/

Adds a -SPAM- tag to email it finds as spam

◊

UD Pixel

http://udpix.free.fr/

Easily find dead pixels on your monitor

◊

Clipboard Recorder

http://lw-works.com/

Record up to 99 copied items, even thru a reboot

services.msc

For a list of Windows services and associated
programs, click Start, Run, and enter services.msc

For more information about a service, or
services.msc itself, search in Google

(Editing services can be dangerous)

Comodo

Having switched to Comodo Internet Security
(see the August 2009 newsletter), I uninstalled
AVG 8.5, as it is not good to run more than one
virus scanner at a time, and found my computer
boots in seconds instead of minutes, and seems
to open programs faster

Barry Rose

Google Data Center

Inside a Google Data Center: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs3Et540-...
Google's Web Servers, Revealed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgRWURIxg...

ATM Skimming
and PIN Capturing

How to Spot ATM Skimming and PIN Capturing Devices: Lauren Bernat article
ATM Card Skimming and PIN Capturing Awareness Guide: Commonwealth Bank PDF

What are cookies?
Are they good or bad or both?
Should I enable or block them?
How can I control cookies?

http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?i...

Tip Jar

All kinds of ideas

Drop them in the Tip Jar:
Tip Jar