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Firefox

I’m not going to tell your kids what to do but…

I had one of my longest appointments ever today as I cleaned a computer free of almost 15,000 viruses, setup a network, installed a wireless card, removed bad security software and replaced it with AVG, did troubleshooting on a fax machine problem and installed Firefox.

I even left for lunch and to another appointment for a while. The appointment took 5 hours not counting virus scans (I went to lunch and another appointment once I saw that there were more than 500 viruses.)

Of course my client was curious how so many viruses got on the computer. I had to explain that it was all caused by infected files that were downloaded through a file sharing program.

Send this article to EVERYONE you know…

REALLY! The health of your computer, your friend's computer, your neighbor's computer, the government computers, my computer are all at stake. Heck, economies world wide depend on the information I am about to repeat to you and you HAVE to forward it every computer user you know! REALLY!

I cleaned up a laptop today that belonged to a sophomore in college. She readily admitted that she knew very little about her computer and knew nothing about Internet security. After cleaning off some horrific spyware and a couple of viruses, I explained to her how to maintain the standard products I add to all my customer's computer:

  • AVG Antivirus
  • Windows Defender, Ewido, SpyBot Search & Destroy, and AdAware (anti-spyware programs)
  • Mozilla Firefox (an alternative browser to help prevent the problems)

We have talked and written volumes on this subject, so I'm listing for you links to the articles and tips we have written so you can brush up and educate and inform all the computer users you know.

Removing one of the built-in search engines in Firefox

We love the Mozilla Firefox web browser because of its safety, speed, and customizability. One of my favorite customizations is the ability to add sites to the built in search engine that let me quickly search web sites I visit most often…weather, recipes, downloads, movies, etc. Occasionally, it is nice to be able to remove one that I'm not using any further or maybe isn't working at all. Here's how to do that:

  1. Close Mozilla Firefox
  2. Navigate to your Firefox Profiles directory (usually C:\Documents and Settings\<YOUR USERNAME>\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\)
  3. There should be a folder that ends in ".default"; inside it you should open the searchplugins folder (if there are multiple ".default" folders, you may have to look in more than one. These represent different user profiles you have created in Firefox)
  4. In the 'searchplugins' folder, you'll see two files for each Firefox Search Engine you've added. (an image and a .src file). Be sure to get rid of both of them for each of the Search Engines you want to remove

 

The computer glitch fairy is back on duty

I mentioned in one of my articles last week that my calls had slowed way down. Whether is was due to JUCO (Junior College World Series) or the holiday or just a lack of computer problems, I don’t know.

Whatever the reason was, it seems like people’s computers are going nutz in full force. The number of calls today from people needing me to come by their home and fix their computers was in the double digits.

I am writing this just to let everyone know that the computer glitch fairy is out there and she is placing her wand on systems wherever she goes.

She can be thwarted though. I have found that she avoids computers that are running antivirus and antispyware programs. She also avoids systems that are keep cool with plenty of air circulation. She seems to fear computers that are using Mozilla Firefox but she loves computers with Norton Antivirus and AOL.

Why we recommend the stuff we do

Our listeners and subsribers have probably heard me say, "Don't let your kids fix your computer, no matter how old they are or who they work for."

I say this because many of my appointments come as a result of a full grown son or daughter who "works for Microsoft" or  "Is a computer tech for ___________ University" coming home and "fixing" the computer.

I have no doubts that said son or daughter is great at what they do while they are at their work, but there is a big difference between working in a controlled environment like a business or school and working on dozens of computers a week in completely unassociated environments.

I always have my tools with me

Most computer problems have nothing to do with the mechanics of the computer. It is rare that I see a motherboard die, RAM go bad, a video card burn out or a power supply fail.

Almost all computer problems are software related. Among the hundreds of millions of lines of programming code, a few 1s and 0s crash together and things go screwy.

Whether it is a programming glitch or the problem is caused by an intentionally designed virus, the majority of computer problems must be solved by tweaking the software.

Twice today I had people comment on my lack of tools. I walk into a home or office with nothing under my arm. Everything I need is on my person.

Dude, where’s my shotgun?

Rick pointed out to me tonight that I haven’t put up any shotgun articles for a few days. It was at that exact moment that I realized that I hadn’t written any shotgun articles for a few days.

I have some catching up to do so consider this article one of the most important articles I have written for several days.

When I fix a computer I try to always approach the computer and the situation as if it were my own. I work hard at using techniques that allow me to get the best job done in the least amount of time. I ask myself three questions to determine the approach that I want to take.

Moving from AOL isn’t always easy, but it’s worth it

I am currently helping two clients make the move off of AOL after many long years of being AOL customers. While each client is having a few problems making the adjustment, each has stated that they small issues are worth it to get away from AOL.

There are a few things that you need to get ready for when making the switch from AOL. 

1. There is no easy way to backup your address book and move it over. You can print it out and then manually add each address to your new email program. The best way I have found to do it, though, is to send emails to everyone in your AOL address book with your new email address. Ask for each person to send a reply to your new address. Then, as people reply you can click "add sender to address book."

Successful Searching of the Internet

All too often I hear comments like "I can’t find anything on the Internet" or "I’m afraid of getting viruses from the Internet" or "Where do I start". In today’s meetings, we discussed some tried and true methods of searching the Internet successfully and easily.

Google is the current king of web searching and should be your first stop to start any search.

Boolean searching is probably the single best methodology to learn to improve your searching skills. Here’s how it works in a nutshell: