Windows 7 – First Impressions

I just finished installing the Windows 7 Beta version released by Microsoft on Friday. I installed it on my Toshiba Intel dual-core processor with 4 GB of RAM. It was running Windows Vista which took more than 4 minutes to fully boot (I consider the boot up process to be finished when the hard drive stops spinning and I don’t have to compete with a still booting computer to do what I want to do), and running any...

Correcting some spyware infections with an often o...

Some of the nastiest spyware infections can be dealt with easier than previously thought if you try the following steps immediately after becoming infected: Shut off your high speed modem OR simply unplug the Ethernet cable connecting your computer to the modem or router Restart the computer in Safe Mode and attempt to run a disk cleanup from the Accessories –> System Tools menu or use the CCleaner or Cleanup...

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 0...

Discussion this week included problems receiving the Castellini on Computers newsletter, virtual memory questions, Mac G5 and two button mouse, Antivirus 2009 malware and much more. This week’s episode is brought to you by: Roo-Man, Craig, Karl, Debbie, Maci, Anne, Laureen, and Harold. Enjoy and keep the questions coming! ...

What kind of computer do 3 teenagers use?

An extremely slow and sick computer! Today, again, I ran across a family who has multiple teenagers (3 in this case) who use a computer that has become polluted with spy and adware. I see this situation again and again, week after week. This computer was less than 2 months old! Give the typical teenager a Windows based computer (doesn’t matter if it is XP or Vista) and within weeks (sometimes hours) the computer is...

Rick answers his email – Videocast 010

In this edition of my videocast, I answer questions about wireless problems with Ubuntu, sending faxes via the Internet, WinAntivirus 2009, and many others. Take a look and listen…I’m starting to integrate more video with the answers so the answers have even more meaning. ...

Solution for computer users who can’t print ...

Since I use Firefox exclusively for my browsing, I haven’t seen this problem yet, but today I ran into a computer that could print from anywhere but Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). Turns out that, in her case, the upgrade to AVG 8.0 caused the problem. A standard installation of AVG 8 installs a security toolbar in Firefox, if you use it, or Internet Explorer 7. The toolbar is meant to help users from clicking on potentially...

Researchers back up my claim with scientific proof

I subscribe to the school of practical and applied knowledge, but I still like to see my acquired knowledge backed up by some scientists every now and then. For years, I have been preaching the laurels of Mozilla Firefox and how it with AVG antivirus can keep your computer extremely safe. Today, an article by Stefanie Hoffman at Channel Web talks about a Swiss study that showed the security effectiveness of Mozilla Firefox....

Warning: Your computer may be infected with viruse...

Extortionware? What is extortionware. I have seen at least 10 computers in the past two weeks that have recently been infected with extortionware – viruses and spyware that infect your system by pretending to be an antivirus or other security program. With names like Windows Antivirus, WinAntivirus, XP Antivirus 20008, etc. these programs appear to look and feel official. However, they are some of the worst virus or...

AVG is still FREE!!!

This just in…  AVG has not discontinued its free version of AVG. The new AVG 8.0 can be downloaded from their website or from download.com. Beginning today, we have posted a free video that demonstrates how to get the free version of AVG. So, before you buy the version that they are trying to sell you, give this version a shot. It is the version they don’t want you to know about. WATCH FREE VIDEO and...

AVG Free Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade – Video Tip

AVG released a new version of their popular AVG Anti-virus on Wednesday. An alert web site visitor alerted us to this yesterday, and I immediately downloaded and have been testing it since then. Here are some important facts you need to know about the upgrade. Do NOT use the Upgrade feature in your current version of AVG Free, as it will take you down the road to their pay version. The pay version is good, but if you plan to...

Take control of the AVG Scans – Video Tips

As you know, we whole heartedly recommend and use AVG Antivirus. It is unobtrusive, fast, and most importantly effective. However, one irritating function it has is the default full system scan at 8:00am. Many people are working on their computers at 8:00am and full system scan slows down the system enough to be highly annoying if not unusable in some cases. You don’t have to wait for the scan to finish. Just RIGHT...

Avery website offers great way to make labels easi...

There are certain tasks that you would expect to be done simply on a computer. At the top of this list is making labels. In my opinion the number of label making programs on the market should rival the number of digital photography or antivirus programs on the market. For some mysterious reason, there are hardly any good label programs out there. They are either too simple and limited in features or they are too complex and...

Worst excuse for keeping Norton: I have already pa...

If you search for the word “Norton” using the search engine in the upper right corner of our website, you will discover that our advice to dump Norton branded software is echoed by dozens of other visitors to the site. This week I saw a computer that took 27 minutes to completely boot up. It was an older system with 256MB of RAM and a 1.6ghz processor. Even at that, 27 minutes was a long time. I noticed that they...

AVG Antivirus 8.0 Upgrade Advice

The past few days calls and emails started filtering in about the new AVG 8.0 version folks have seen appear on their free versions of AVG Antivirus. The common query is, “Should I upgrade?” No, home users of AVG Antvirus do not need to upgrade at all. The current free version of AVG will continue to be updated and as it has been for years. The new 8.0 version is the newest commercial product from AVG...

Another parental reminder

We mention this tip as often as possible on our show, but I felt it was necessary to bring it to the attention of our web visitors again: Parents, please install and use only Mozilla Firefox for your web browser. Kids, especially teens, plus Internet browsing with Internet Explorer spells disaster. Too many Internet degenerates target their spyware and virus spreading programs at teens and teen related web sites. Also, teens...