Woops! The Dallas Cowboys have been having some problems with their giant displays lately, first a blocked punt, and now a failed Windows shutdown… for the whole world to see. Lovely isn’t it?
![DSCN1008[1]](http://eastbaypcrepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/DSCN10081.JPG "DSCN1008[1]")
via Gizmodo
![MalwareBytes-Anti-Malware-Logo[1]](http://eastbaypcrepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/MalwareBytes-Anti-Malware-Logo1.png "MalwareBytes-Anti-Malware-Logo[1]"){kind=logo}
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!
Tags: guide, information, malware, PC Repair, tips, Tips and Tricks, Utilities, viruses, Windows, Windows XP
![lock_windows_sessions[1]](http://eastbaypcrepair.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/lock_windows_sessions1.jpg "lock_windows_sessions[1]")
Discovered this from the boys at ghacks.net…
Using a nifty utility installed on your USB flash drive called Predator you can:
A Windows session would be locked by simply removing the connected USB drive from the computer system. Connecting the USB flash drive again would unlock the system.
The user needs to specify a backup password as well. This backup password can be used to unlock a session if the USB flash drive is damaged or not available at all.
The screen will go black whenever the user removes the USB drive from the computer system.
Predator will write events to a log file that can be used to analyze attempts to access the computer system. The software will also change the keys on the USB drives frequently to prevent that a copied keyfile can be used to access the system.
Tags: Downloads, flash drive, free, Freebies, Portable Apps, security, tips, Tips and Tricks, usb, Utilities, Windows
From downloadsquad.com
Making a bootable USB flash drive for Windows Vista and Windows 7 isn’t all that tricky, but it’s always nice to find an app that simplifies things. Not only does WinToFlash make the process about as easy as it can get, but it can also create Windows XP, Server 2003, and Server 2008 installers.
The default options make it easy to roll a silent Windows install, or you can flip the custom switch and specify the exact setup parameters you want to use.
The handy app also has one more trick up its sleeve: moving Windows Preinstall environments. PE discs can be extremely handy for troubleshooting and repairs, and being able to painlessly zap them over to a USB flash drive means not having to burn a new copy every time someone’s haggard old optical drive decides to chew up your CD.
WinToFlash is a free download and is totally portable. It’s an excellent tool to add to your USB-related utilities.
Download WinToFlash.
Tags: Downloads, flash drive, free, Portable Apps, Tips and Tricks, usb, Utilities, Windows, Windows 7
For Windows Microsoft Office Only:
If you’re like me, you can’t live without tabbed browsing in Firefox. What if you could bring tabs into Microsoft Office?
Well now you can. Using this Microsoft Office plug-in OfficeTab, instead of having separate windows for each open document, you can have tabs for all your open documents in either Word, Excel or Powerpoint.
As Lifehacker points out, you’ve got to wonder why Microsoft doesn’t include this feature by default.. maybe something to look forward to in the next version of Office?
The Lifehacker article also warns of a Visual Studio prompt, however, after installing it on my machine I had no such errors and it works problem free.
To download it you can visit the Google translated download page at OfficeTab or alternatively I have provided a download link here. (OfficeTabv1.20.zip)
via Lifehacker via DownloadSquad
Tags: Downloads, Freebies, lifehacks, microsoft, office, productivity, Tips and Tricks, Utilities, Windows
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Get Rid of those Fake Antivirus programs with Remove Fake Antivirus If you work on computers, you’ve undoubtedly encountered a rogue anti-virus program. These programs disguise themselves as real antivirus programs, trick the user into installing them, and claim the user has viruses all over their system.
