East Bay / Tri-Valley PC Repair » information

We’re a Favorite Place on Google!

Dave Bonds — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 03:16:12 +0000

Google recently began sending out window decals to local businesses to promote the usage and adoption of QR codes, as well as to promote Google Maps, and they’re calling these businesses Favorite Places. QR codes can be decoded with most smart phones (iPhone, Android phones and Blackberry’s) and will provide a link to the business listing on Google Maps.

The good news: We’ve been selected as one of the few businesses to receive these promotional window decals!

However, because we don’t have an actual office (I work out of my home), I thought I would go ahead and post pictures of the letter Google sent, along with the QR code window decal.

September 30, 2009 -- PC’s Infected with Malware Up 15 Percent In September
August 19, 2009 -- Thanks for visiting our new website
October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix

PC’s Infected with Malware Up 15 Percent In September

Dave Bonds — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:23:47 +0000

From a report released by Panda Security, makers of Panda Antivirus, the number of PC’s infected with Malware grew 15 percent in the month of September. The numbers are just staggering, showing why you need an up-to-date antivirus AND an anti-malware program installed.

Credit: Panda Security

As you can see from the line graph, the US is just 9th on the list of most infected, with nearly 59 percent of all PC’s infected with malware.

And the following pie chart shows a breakdown of the number and types of those malware infections.

Credit: Panda Security

via CNET News via Panda Security

December 14, 2009 -- We’re a Favorite Place on Google!
August 30, 2009 -- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It
October 19, 2009 -- Get Rid of those Fake Antivirus programs with Remove Fake Antivirus

7 Steps to Make a Bootable USB Thumb Drive to Install Windows 7 on a Netbook

Dave Bonds — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:46:23 +0000

I recently bought a Netbook, a lovely Acer Aspire One, however it came with Windows XP and since falling in love with Windows 7, I couldn’t bear to use XP anymore.

So I went searching for the steps to make a bootable USB thumb drive with the Windows 7 install files on it, and got lucky when I found an excellent 7 step guide on CrunchGear. I’d recommend going to view that if you need the steps explained all along the way. But I’ll put them here, short and sweet.

Since you can’t download the Release Candidate anymore that eliminates the first step.
The second step is to download WinRAR, I use and recommend 7-Zip for all your unzipping needs, and it does the same job we need it to do in step 3.
The third step is to extract the files from the ISO you downloaded (hopefully before Microsoft stopped offering it for download in August).
Next step is to format your thumb drive to NTFS, and you need at least a 4GB thumb drive for the Windows 7 install files.
That was pretty easy right? Now the hard part. Basically copy the bootsect.exe file from the /boot subfolder in the Windows 7 directory you created in step 3 to your C: drive
Open the command prompt and go to the C: drive (or wherever you copied the bootsect.exe file), and type in this command:
“bootsect /nt60 f:”

(without the quotes and replace ‘f’ with the letter of your thumb drive)

That should copy the Windows 7 boot files to the thumb drive, then…
Copy the Windows 7 files to the thumb drive

That’s it. It worked beautifully for me and I’m now enjoying Windows 7 on my new Acer netbook. Everything works great and I can’t wait for the final version of Windows 7 to come out on October 22nd.

Mark your calendars. Mine is already marked.

Read the original 7 step guide at CrunchGear

October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix
August 30, 2009 -- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It
August 30, 2009 -- Lock Windows With Your USB Flash Drive

5 Incredibly Simple Things You Can Do to Increase Traffic to Your Website or Blog

Dave Bonds — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:31:26 +0000

I was asked by the folks at Life In Sherman Oaks to write a guest blog post about how to increase traffic to your website. Take a look at the article on their site titled “5 Incredibly Simple Things You Can Do to Increase Traffic to Your Website or Blog”

You can also follow Life In Sherman Oaks on Twitter at @shermanoakslife

August 30, 2009 -- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It
October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix
September 15, 2009 -- 7 Steps to Make a Bootable USB Thumb Drive to Install Windows 7 on a Netbook

Completely Ditch IE with Firefox Add-on Coral IE Tab

Dave Bonds — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:22:26 +0000

Now there’s no excuse for you to keep running that abomination of a browser Internet Explorer. While yes Microsoft has made alot of progress with the latest version (IE8), they are still no where close to supporting web standards the way that every other browser does.

It’s often a headache for web designers (trust me I know) just to make their websites display properly in Internet Explorer.

Trouble is, some sites refuse to operate in anything but IE. Windows Update being one of them, and many corporate intranet websites, won’t display in any other browser. So at times you’re forced to use Internet Explorer.

Using the Coral IE Tab add-on for Firefox, now you can visit those sites without having to open the detested browser. Even Windows Update works flawlessly. So, quit living in the dark ages of the internet and embrace modern web apps, CSS3 and HTML5 with the awesome Firefox 3.5.

Download Coral IE Tab

via DownloadSquad

October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix
September 20, 2009 -- What Is Digsby?
August 30, 2009 -- Lock Windows With Your USB Flash Drive

MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It

Dave Bonds — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:28:49 +0000

I can’t stress enough how important it is to keep your anti-virus software up to date, and also use an anti-malware program such as MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. These two programs work together in tandem simply because your anti-virus program won’t detect some “malware” programs, as they are not technically viruses, just malicious software.

Often times these programs disguise themselves as anti-virus programs, I’ve had numerous calls about exactly this type of problem just in the last several weeks. Some of the names of these “Rogue” Anti-virus programs are: Antivirus 2009, Personal Antivirus and many more are listed on Wikipedia: Rogue security software

Usually, I’ve found that I can simply run MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM), UPDATE! then run a scan, and it will detect the problem and is able to remove them. However this latest one, Personal Antivirus 2009 (PAV09), was quite a headache and took a while before I could even do anything to remove it. The program would not allow me to install MBAM, so I rebooted to safe mode, however, this program had installed some hook into the OS that prevented me from installing even in safe mode. Stuck.

So, after some Google searching, I found this on BleepingComputer, it suggested to change the name of the .exe to something completely unrelated. It worked. Awesome. Of course, the .exe of the program itself needed to be changed as well. So I changed it to a random string of letters.exe. And it STILL wouldn’t work!

Apparently, this malware is detecting a certain runtime or signature of the executable and immediately killing it, regardless of the name. After a few minutes of thinking, I decided to try an experiment, right click on the exe file (now renamed), and click the “Compatibility” tab, and under compatibility mode (this was Windows XP, but should work in XP or newer) select to “Run this program in compatibility mode for: Windows 2000″. And…

It worked!

So, I guess I outsmarted the malware by tricking MBAM into thinking it was running under Windows 2000, making it undetectable by the malware program. And so, all said and done, MBAM was finally able to remove it, and the PC is working great. Hope this will help some other PC techs out there, when you don’t have the option to just wipe the drive and start fresh!

October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix
October 19, 2009 -- Get Rid of those Fake Antivirus programs with Remove Fake Antivirus
October 18, 2009 -- Microsoft’s Security Essentials : 1.5 Million Installs in One Week. Is it the End for Norton?

Tech Support Cheat Sheet Flow Chart

Dave Bonds — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:51:40 +0000

via Laughing Squid via xkcd

August 20, 2009 -- Technology Explained: How Does A Hard Drive Work?
December 14, 2009 -- We’re a Favorite Place on Google!
September 30, 2009 -- PC’s Infected with Malware Up 15 Percent In September

Last.fm Tips and Tricks

Dave Bonds — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:06:56 +0000

If you’re like me, you love last.fm, the site for streaming music from your favorite artists for free. Well who knew there’s a plethora of tools available to make last.fm the ‘last’ place you need to go for your music? Check out build.last.fm/ for all kinds of tools for your computer, website, social network and more.

Donald Bell from cnet writes:

The site allows devoted music fans from around the world to compare tastes, stream music from their favorite artists, stay up to date on local shows, download free MP3s, and create their own custom radio stations.

Donald has also put together an article (link) and video (below) to help you get the most out of your last.fm listening experience.

September 20, 2009 -- What Is Digsby?
August 30, 2009 -- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It
October 15, 2009 -- Internet Connection Hosed? Try Winsock XP Fix

Technology Explained: How Does A Hard Drive Work?

Dave Bonds — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 02:22:40 +0000

Technology Explained: How Does A Hard Drive Work? from MakeUseOf.

August 31, 2009 -- Fixing a Computer Is Easy, Just Follow This Chart
August 30, 2009 -- MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Won’t Run? Here’s How To Fix It
August 24, 2009 -- Tech Support Cheat Sheet Flow Chart