Castellini on Computers - Computer help for beginners » update

Why use free security software?

Rick — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:39:02 +0000

A customer asked me a question that I get asked quite often on our show and when I'm making my house or office visits. Why do you use free products versus the larger commercial pay products for keeping a computer secure?

My answer can be summed up in word; effectiveness. Time and time again, the products we currently recommend prove themselves 'in the field' as being thorough, effective, and unobtrusive programs. Unobtrusive is a big one for me these days as the 'leaders' in security software (Norton, McAfee, etc) bloat their software beyond recognition and slow down even the fastest, newest machines. Security software is extremely important and necessary in today's connected environment, but it also shouldn't slow down or inhibit a computer users ability to use the computer. I don't sacrifice effectiveness for cost either. All the products Adam and I recommend protect and clean admirably.

Learn to stay safe with your email

Rick — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 22:47:16 +0000

Adam brought to my attention this email that came to his inbox with a virus attached. It looks official at first glance, but read my comments on how to dissect an email for authenticity.

Like any medium, we all need to keep a discerning eye on the information we read on the Internet and in email. You don't believe everything you read in the newspaper or see on TV do you? The Internet is no different and tends to breed more fiction because its tools are so readily available.

First and foremost, keep an anti-virus software running on your computer at all times and make sure it is updated at least weekly. Remember, keeping a virus program updated is completely different than the program doing a weekly scan of your computer files. I favor AVG Antivirus on mine and my client's computers, but whatever you use, keep it updated.

System Engineer fed up with Windows vulnerabilities

Rick — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:03:03 +0000

Interesting article from a ZDNet author, Christopher Dawson, who also works full-time as a school district computer engineer. Despite locking down Windows computers with security software, tweaking firewalls, and making sure all Windows updates are up to snuff, threats still sneak into their computers. I understand the frustration he exhibits in the article regarding the [...]

Cleaning and removing Antivirus 2009, PAV and others from your computer,

Rick — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:37:50 +0000

Preventing your computer from becoming infected is infinitely easier and less stressful than cleaning up after an infection. Search my site for tons of information on setting up your computer for security and techniques to avoid scams. However, if you are already bit by one of the most recent nasty forms of software, Antivirus 2008 or Antivirus 2009 (software I call extortionware that installs itself on your computer and then poses as legitimate software you have to pay for to get rid of the problems. Problems they caused), follow the steps at this site to get back up and running and then come back here and learn how to prevent it from happening again.

Two other links that will be helpful in cleaning this and related malware off of your computer are ComboFix and Malwarebytes.org. Some of the first actions these rougue software products accomplish when on your computer is disabling your antivirus, windows updates, and system restore. They also prevent you from visiting legitimate web sites like I have linked in this article to make it harder for you to remove the pests. You are probably best served visiting my site on a non-infected computer, download the two products, change the original file names (this is important because the rouge software will also disable known products from running at all), copy the two tools to a flash drive and then take them to the sick computer and run them. I suggest running the CombFix first and then run full scans with your antivirus software and malwarebytes.org's product as well.

I'm linking to BleepingComputer.com's article because they do a good job of giving you a safe download site and thorough instructions on how to delete Antivirus 2009 or 2008. Even if you aren't infected, it's worth visiting the site to see what kind of work is required if you do get infected. It might motivate you to read my site more often and follow the advice I give to keep you safe and productive with your computer.

Photo by Jim Grandy

The Castellini Approach to Internet Security

Rick — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:18:44 +0000

The Castellini Approach to Internet Security

This past week I saw way too many people who aren't taking advantage of the free information we give out on the show and the web site. Their computers were suffocating from a preventable disease...viruses and spyware. Yes, preventable, almost 100%. And fighting the war on our home computer security front does not have to be costly or time consuming.

We talk about this subject quite a bit on the program and the web site because of its rapid growth worldwide. In today's tip, I am providing you with links to information that we have on this site that has been up for months to years that contain the essential information about protecting your computer.

Important Newsletter Information!

Rick — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:21:52 +0000

If you are a weekly newsletter subscriber, please read this information. After two weeks of soul searching, research, and web browsing, I decided to move the email newsletter subscribers to my FeedBlitz service. Feedblitz picks out my newest articles and delivers them to you in an email. The service works great and I will be moving [...]

Windows 7 – First Impressions

Rick — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:28:08 +0000

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 applications was like walking through molasses. I can say that my expectations were pretty low, but I am pleasantly surprised...so far.

It took exactly 21 minutes from

1-click access to your favorite websites – Video Tip

Rick — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:30:16 +0000

Please DO NOT use the address bar as a repository to return to sites you use all the time...eventually they will get lost. The address bar history maintains a small amount of your recently visited site and can easily be wiped out via an update or disk cleaning and maintenance tools. Instead, use the Favorites (Internet Explorer) or Bookmarks (Firefox and every other browser). Favorites/Bookmarks are designed to save and give you quick access to your most used sites and sites you just want to keep track of for later use. Also, you can back them up easily. If you are like me, you visit a handful of web sites every single day and sometimes multiple times per day. Having bookmarks to these sites works fine, but that requires a minimum of three clicks to reach your favorite sites. In this video, I describe how to get 1-click access to your favorites using the extremely underutilized Links toolbar (Internet Explorer) and the Bookmarks toolbar (Mozilla Firefox). This tip requires no downloading and no installation of extra software. Everything is built-in to the browser and available to you right now. So watch the video and learn how to take charge of these extremely useful tools you never knew how to use!

Correcting some spyware infections with an often overlooked tool

Rick — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:35:15 +0000

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 program if you have them installed.
Then go to the accessories menu and run System Restore. Choose a date at least two weeks prior to the infection and restore the computer.
After the computer restarts, IF the restore was successful (and it will tell you so), run a full disk scan with your antivirus software and any anti-spyware software you have loaded
Restart your computer again, and this time connect back to the Internet
Update your antivirus and antispyware products and run another full scan

I have had good success with this routine if the infection is caught quick enough (usually within a day or so).

Acer Aspire One Netbook

Rick — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:45:26 +0000

Today, I had my first opportunity to get some hands-on time with Acer's entry into the netbook craze, the Acer Aspire One. The young lady I helped bought a blue Aspire One on Black Friday for just over $300. Sporting a 120GB hard drive, an extremely nice 8.9" screen, 1 GB of RAM, and Windows XP, this little unit was very impressive to look at and use. After some discussion with me, she decided that she didn't want to leave the Windows XP on it and have to maintain security updates, anti-spyware software, anti-virus software, etc. She planned on using the netbook for traveling mostly and some email, Internet, and downloading her digital photos from time to time on it.

I decided to try installing Ubuntu's new Netbook Remix (UNR) operating system for her. After doing some research, I discovered that before