Scared Again

And again I received a well meaning “warning”. It went like this:

New  Virus (NO JOKE)
This is  legitimate. Please pass this along to your  friends.
The newest virus circulating is the UPS/FedEx/DHL Delivery Failure.
You will receive an email from UPS/Fed Ex Service along with a packet number.
It will say that they were unable to deliver a package sent to you on such-and-such a date.
It then asks you to print out the invoice copy attached.  
DON'T TRY TO PRINT THIS… IT LAUNCHES THE VIRUS!
Pass  this warning on to all your PC operators at work and home.  
Snopes  confirms that it is real.
http://www.snopes.com/computer/virus/ups.asp

True, that IS a known scam to distribute a virus program. BUT:

1. If nobody in the household ordered anything that we expect through UPS/FedEx/DHL it can only be a scam, right?
2. And again, if we are observant of what we are doing we will see that the link in the email does NOT go to a legitimate UPS/FedEx/DHL web site.
3. AND: Even children should know that these three carriers will NEVER notify any recipient via email. If they can not deliver a package they always leave a paper notification.
4. And NO, but absolutely no recipient of a package can ever print an invoice through the freight carrier’s service. Only the buyer of the merchandise can do that on the merchant’s web site, right?

So really, only when we are un-observant we would fall for a dumb social engineering trick like this in the first place. I don't think anybody I know is in that category.

Everybody out there, PLEASE do not forward such tracts to me.

And still, there is a lesson to be learned here:

This curiosity impulse that makes a person click “to see what is in the package” (?) is all the hacker wants from us. This one click will lead to a maliciously programmed web site that may attempt to coax us into revealing personal information, that may immediately download malicious programs into our computer and so on – unless we actually use our common sense before we click – or forward a message like this.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

What To Do After A BSOD

The dreaded Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD) can have way too many reasons for specific advice. But there are some reasons that are more prevalent than others like these three examples:

1. A BSOD can be an indication of a corrupted or incorrect device driver (software that controls some piece of hardware like a printer).
2. A BSOD can be caused by a faulty memory chip.
   Yes, they worked yesterday; but sometimes they get weak over time and then, all of a sudden, they throw a BSOD.
3. Some other hardware failure on the motherboard; mostly very bad...

The remedy for number 1 can be time consuming but generally it is possible to correct these errors.

Number 2 can be tested for in relatively little time, usually less than half an hour. Whether I happen to have a suitable replacement memory chip along is dictated by the luck of the draw.

Number 3 can be very tricky to trace, especially if it occurs randomly. I am neither qualified nor equipped to do that and would in such a case refer to a local hardware repair store; luckily I know a good technician who has a store in the area – and on top of being good he is honest; that is a rare combination in this field. As always with computers you should carefully consider all options. If the computer in question is more than three years old I usually advise to at least consider a new machine versus the vagaries of a motherboard repair or replacement.

You can help a great deal if you please would collect some information from the BSOD before you send me an email asking for advice. Here is an example of a BSOD.

Please look for the marked portions of this example and write down what appears in these locations when you see it. If you call me right away have this information available when we talk. Or please send an email with this info once you have three or four occurrences documented. Caution: This info may or may not be present; please note if it is not present; it may be in different places and/or sequence as well. In above example we have in this sequence:

1. The name of the file that caused the problem,
2. a textual error code,
3. a so-called stop-error code and
4. again the file name of the driver that caused the error.

The stop error code and if available the file name are most important to trace errors in a BSOD and to get at the root cause! The stop error code always begins with “0x” and should be in every BSOD.

I know, recording these details is tedious but I hardly can stay at your house and wait for the next BSOD to happen.

Let's cooperate to get at the root of this and "Thank You" in advance!

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

.

Windows 7 First Impressions - Updated

Tonight I installed Windows 7 Home Premium on my notebook, previously running XP. This machine is slightly over two years old and the graphics chip does not support the Aero Glass feature – which I would have turned off anyway. The installation was pain free and clearly faster than XP and Vista installations were.

And believe it or not: Subjectively the little notebook with Windows 7 feels faster than with Windows XP! That indeed is a welcome surprise.

For the transfer of my data files and settings from the XP environment into Win7 I used Microsoft’s program Windows Easy Transfer. I had to transfer three user accounts with all their files and settings. The worst part was that writing the migration file took 1.5 hours, certainly because I had about 11.5 GB of data in my account alone. The migration file had a total size of over 14 GB. Restoring all this took a little less than one hour.

My opinion about Widows 7? I love it!

I know Microsoft products since long before the first PC was released – and that was in fall 1981! This is the first time I see a major Microsoft product being released that is useable from the day of the release on. Congratulations, Microsoft. 

I will report back after I have done the first in place update from Vista to Win 7.

October 30 2009: That has happened in the meantime. Here is a brief summary.

If you have to transfer any of the following

• many files
• Firefox settings, bookmarks, extensions and so on
• Thunderbird email settings, mail and address book
• and/or more than 1 user account

plan for several hours and use Microsoft’s utility Windows Easy Transfer. This little gem of a program is still quite minimal but it does the job AND it allows you to select additionally to it’s standard selections any folders of your choice, for example Thunderbird, Mozilla (Firefox settings) and others according to your needs. Be aware that programs can NOT be transferred to Windows 7, they always need to be re-installed. And naturally you need a sufficiently large external storage device; I recommend to finally buy that external disk drive you always wanted. You get good Seagate FreeAgent drives for well under $100 and finally have no more excuse not to have a usable backup as well.

If you have to transfer only one user account AND if your system is well maintained, that is temporary files deleted, virus free, completely up-to-date AND if it is a relatively recent Vista system, maybe less than 6 months old, you can try an in-place upgrade. Caution: The very last phase of the process takes quite some time; go have a Starbucks or jog around the park. I have done already two of those and they were pain free.

Personally I prefer a clean complete new install (Microsoft calls it Custom) for any system that has had some use already; for XP systems it is a must anyway. Beware, this install completely wipes all old content from your hard disk. Do you have a recent or current backup of your files OUTside of your computer? If not you got to do some homework before you can install Windows 7.

And another experience: If your computer is more than 6 months old download and run Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. Heed it’s warnings and do your homework BEFORE you attempt the upgrade to Windows 7.

You may ask “My XP system runs ok, why all that trouble”? If your computer meets the requirements for Windows 7 you will love the result. IMHO Windows 7 is faster and MUCH safer than XP; it is MUCH faster, somewhat safer and MUCH less annoying than Vista! Again, applause to Microsoft.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

32-bit or 64-bit System?

If you found yourself thinking “Will this 32-bit software run on my 64-bit operating system?” or “Will this 64-bit software run on my computer?” or "Should I buy that 64-bit system?" or if you just would like to know more about the difference then read on.

I will try to answer these questions and help you understand the 64-bit and 32-bit concepts of hardware, operating system and applications.

32-bit systems have been part of consumer computing for more than a decade since the time of the Intel Pentium, also known as 80386 architecture or sometimes x86 for short. Most software and operating system code written during this time is 32-bit compatible.

32-bit systems can address up to 4 GB of memory. Some modern applications require more memory to complete their tasks. Progress in chip fabrication technology and demands of high power applications led to the development of 64-bit processors for mainstream computing.

Here is the problem: Most of the software available today is still 32-bit code, but processors have migrated to 64-bit and operating systems are catching up quickly. Eventually even the applications will catch up. Thus we have to cope with many possible combinations of 32 and 64-bits hardware, operating system and applications.

Consider these three factors to be three layers with the processor as the lowest layer and the application as the highest layer:

To run a 64-bit application, you need support from all lower levels (64-bit OS and 64-bit processor).

• To run a 64-bit OS, you need support from its lower level 64-bit processor; it will NOT run on a 32-bit processor.
• A 32-bit OS will run on a 32 or 64-bit processor without any problems because 64-bit processors can emulate a 32-bit processor.
• 32-bit applications will run on any supported combination of OS and processor. In a 64-bit OS this is possible due to software emulation, a feature of 64-bit operating systems.
• Device drivers run parallel to the operating system. Emulation happens only at the operating system level; it is available to the higher layer only, that is the applications. Thus it is not possible to install 32-bit device drivers on a 64-bit machine.

Answers to common questions:

Will a 64-bit CPU run a standard 32-bit program on a 64-bit version of an OS?
Yes it will. 64-bit systems are backward compatible with the 32-bit counterparts (see the warning below).

Will a 64-bit OS run a standard 32-bit application on a 64-bit processor?
Yes it will because of backward compatibility. Please see the warning below.

Can I run Win2K and WinXP on an 64-bit CPU and use old software?
Yes, a 32-bit OS like Win-2K and Win-XP will run on 64-bit processors. You can run "old software" on these 32-bit OS and 64-bit processors (see the warning below).

Will my devices (printer, scanner and so on) work when I buy this fancy new 64-bit machine with 64-bit OS?
Here you have to do your homework! Before you buy the fancy new 64-bit computer with 64-bit OS you have to verify that 64-bit drivers are available for all devices you plan on to keep using!

A warning: Many times 64-bit programs may contain bits of 32-bit code; old 32-bit programs can contain 16-bit code. Be aware that 16-bit code will NOT run on a 64-bit OS.
This is one reason why some old 32-bit programs will not work on a 64-bit OS.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

Mozilla Disables Firefox Add-on From Microsoft

Please read this short blog entry at the Technibble blog. Here is the same link in full text: http://www.technibble.com/mozilla-disables-firefox-add-on/comment-page-1/#comment-10249
You may want to follow the link to The Washington Post for some background on this story.
THANK YOU Technibble.com!

To all my customers:

In Firefox click Tools, Add-ons. In the add-on windows check for Microsoft's Net-Framework Assistant and the Windows Presentation Foundation entries. If you find them highlight them (one by one) and uninstall them, even if the entry is already greyed out.

If the Uninstall button is greyed out too, that is if you can't click it then the add-on already is inactive and you don't need to do anything. 

Update November 7th 2009:

The problem has been resolved by Microsoft. Just keep the add-ons in Firefox up-to-date.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

Microsoft Security Essentials Officially Released

Without any fanfare Microsoft released their new security offering Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) earlier last week.

I read about the release in an informational third-party newsletter I receive, not a single word about it in Microsoft's own publication about new downloads. Hardly believing I went to microsoft.com, searched for "microsoft security essentials" and got to this MSE home page with a working download link. What a change to former MS tactics of having a lot of fanfare and sometimes flaky or questionable stuff in the end.

First time I wrote about MSE July 22nd 2009. A follow-up was published August 22nd 2009. In the meantime I have taken to install MSE on my customers computers; it replaces 4 (FOUR!) other security related programs that the customer had to run manually about once very week.

On one machine MSE found and removed a clear leftover from some malicious stuff that the other programs had overlooked and on yet another machine MSE removed a Trojan horse virus that had so far escaped any detection. I know this is not representative and only anecdotal but nevertheless it again points in a very positive direction.

If you use MSE all you have to do is have any eye on it's little icon in the system tray.As long as this tray icon is green all is well.

If it ever turns yellow or orange double click it and the program window will tell you clearly what to do and have a big fat yellow button right there for you to click.

If the icon ever turns red you better give it immediate attention; double click it and the program window will tell you clearly what to do and have a big fat red button right there for you to click.

I am expecting "official" comparisons between MSE and other security suites to be available in a few weeks time. Here is a first example from The Washington Post.

If future results are anything only close to that good I will definitely keep using MSE and recommend to my previous customers to switch over. The ease of use IMHO is unsurpassed. 

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

How Do Viruses Get On My Computer?

One of the most asked questions I get when I work at a customer's computer is "I am very careful when I am on the Internet. How do these viruses then get on my computer?".

Today I found a pretty good article that answers this question in quite some depth. Before I give you the link to this article let me mention that no matter how careful you are your computer will eventually get "nailed" by some malicious software; it's unavoidable.

Last year a significant number of web servers have been cracked by hackers and infected with very tricky software that will attempt to infect EVERY visitor of any of the web sites stored on the web server. This infection is really deeply rooted; "disinfecting" the computer would disable the server and thus all web sites stored on this computer for several days. So it gets done only very slowly - if at all.

With this background in mind you may want to read this article if you want an answer to the title question.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

McAfee Siteadvisor behaving VERY Badly

Just a few minutes ago I clicked on an INTERNAL link in my blog, that is a link going to another post in the same blog and McAfee Siteadvisor popped up this warning:

When I clicked the Back button of the browser (Firefox 3.5.3) I was taken to ANOTHER page in my blog, not the one I had been on!

In my humble opinion this is total bogus. But bogus capable of scaring the living daylight out of an unsuspecting visitor.

McAfee, what are you doing to a good and immensely valuable service?

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

On Incomplete Emails the 2nd

Once more I got an email that kind of “pushed my button”. Here is the full text minus the individual’s name of course.

Subject: Re: McAfee Sight Adviser

Eike,
The McAfee sight adviser shows up grey in the lower tool bar. The sight adviser also does not work when using the search engine.
Is there an easy fix?
Signed with name

“What to do with an email like this” I thought for the longest time.
Finally I chose this reply:

Xyz,
With the information you provide there is no fix because
- you don't give any detailed info on what program you are using,
- what version this program is, 
- what you are doing and
- why you draw the conclusions that you draw.
You stir up questions hat I need answered before I even can address the matter at hand.
- How do you tell that it does not work?
- What search engine are you using?
- Have you checked if you have the latest version?
- Have you turned on "Highlight search results" in it's General Settings?
And by the way, it's called McAfee Siteadvisor.
Regards
Eike

Now, what are the lessons to be learned here?

1. Simply give as much detail as humanly possible if you want answers.
2. Send me a screen shot instead of re-typing lengthy messages.
3. Spell names correctly.
4. And let me know that you appreciate the free email advice that I offer.

Am I asking too much? Frankly, I don’t think so.

I get many request every week. If I were to remember all technical and environmental details of all the many installations I see every week there wouldn’t be space left for anything else in my scatterbrain.

Please comment with your thoughts right here in the blog.

Thank you in advance.

MUCH More Important Than Computers

If you have grandchildren, small children, any children, if you care about another person's or maybe only your own health, you NEED to take 45 minutes out of your busy schedules and listen to these four videos, each about ten minutes long.

If the link does not work for you go to Dr. Mercola's web site at http://www.mercola.com/. There you search for "swine flu shot"; you get this or a similar result. Search for and click the link that I marked in this picture red. 



We are being lied to in the most primitive way and with one of the most primitive motivations, corporate greed.

I wonder if President Obama's daughters will have to take this so called "flu shot".

And here is a nice poster with top 10 swine flu facts:

 
As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog.

Please note that for this post comments with inappropriate language and personal attacks will be deleted.

Thank you in advance.