Computer FAQ

April 6 & 13, 2005

Computer FAQ for April 6:

Hi, All!

This Week: My findings on several Anti-Virus/Spyware Programs.

Last week I discussed working on a PC with several viruses. In the process of eliminating the viruses, I tested several different removal programs to find one that would find all the viruses and/or the spyware.

I tested these programs:

Name Found Infections

The free versions do an ok job of finding the most common viruses and Spyware. But to find this rather obscure virus called "Trojan CWS/Combo" I found only one program: "Xsoftspy" from Paretologic, Inc., www.paretologic.com. It costs $39.99 to download but did clean the virus and has all the bells and whistles to protect your PC.

On my PC, to protect it (and make it very slow) are:

and several others that I have tested but do not keep running.

I am probably over protected but so far, I have had each one find something that the others did not.
So what should you use? The free versions of any program work to a certain extent, and I would use them first. Then, if you think you have a virus causing your PC to act strangely, surf the web and search for 'antivirus/spyware' and test them. Most of the companies will give you a free scan. Try them all (or until you get too tired) and then buy the one that fixes your PC.

'Til next week,
(ComputerFAQ#235)

Computer FAQ for April 13:

Hi, All!

This Week: I could use some help with a problem PC again.

I got the following email, and had the problem described therein with a Gateway PC several years ago. After talking to Gateway's tech support, I was not offered any help other than to take it into an authorized repair shop.

"Dear Sir/Madam,
I am having problem with my P-III. I reside in Sydney and I am a student from India.
4-5 times it looked like the CPU started, the fan turned on and immediately it switched off automatically. But then after some time it stopped doing that also. It just doesn't work anymore.
No power, no fan, no boot up-nothing. Just idle.
Please help.
Regards, Kiran Guntur"

At the time, I thought the machine had been zapped with lighting as there had been a thunderstorm the day before the PC stopped working, but I do not believe now that was the problem. I took what I could out of the Gateway and tested them in other PC's (memory, hard drive, video card, etc.), all of which would work in the other machine, but I could not get the Gateway to do anything. So if anyone has any ideas for both Kiran and me, we are open to suggestions.

'Til next week

(ComputerFAQ#236)

Robert

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Index to Past ComputerFAQ Columns:

Apr. 6 & 13, 2005 Asking Help for a Dead PIII Gateway
Apr. 6, 2005 Various Anti-spywares' Success vs. the Especially Troublesome Virus
Mar. 30, 2005 An Especially Troublesome Virus
Mar. 23, 2005 Deleting Unwanted ID's and Passwords from Messenger
Mar. 16, 2005 How to Block an Email Sender
Mar. 9, 2005 Computer Swallowed Grandma
Mar. 2, 2005 Add New Email Address with Right-Click
Feb. 23, 2005 No Downloads or Games After Updating Explorer
Feb. 16, 2005 User ID's Stored in Cookies by Passport
Feb. 9, 2005 Installing System Monitor
Feb. 2, 2005 Shortcuts to Websites and System Monitor Program
Jan. 26, 2005 Beeps on Startup by Power On Self Test (POST)
Jan. 19, 2005 Where Does MS Messenger Store Passwords?
Jan. 12, 2005 Clean PCI Board Contacts Easily
Jan. 5, 2005 Don't Defrag Too Often, It Can Cause Trouble
Dec. 22, 2004 Try Different Free Anti-Virus Programs to Clean Your Computer
Dec. 15, 2004 A Computer Infested With Over 20 Copies of Trojan Virus Must Be Completely Erased
Dec. 8, 2004 Choosing Folder Into Which Application Will Install
Dec. 1, 2004 Spyware
Nov. 24, 2004 Explanations of Various CD & DVD Formats
Nov. 17, 2004 New User Asks About CD & DVD Drives
Nov. 10, 2004 Windows PC's Hard Drive Crashes, Explanation
Nov. 3, 2004 Question about Windows PC's Hard Drive Crashes
Oct. 27, 2004 Printers and Refilled Inkjet Cartridges Revisited
Oct. 20, 2004 Windows Update Utility
Oct. 13, 2004 Explorer Screen Still Doesn't Refresh Automatically with SP2
Oct. 6, 2004 Yahoo Games Don't Work Without JAVA Virtual Machine
Sept. 29, 2004 More on Phishing, Part 2
Sept. 22, 2004 More on Phishing, Part 1
Sept. 15, 2004 Who are the ISP's in East County?
Sept. 8, 2004 Screen in Windows XP doesn't refresh
Sept. 1, 2004 From India: Computer doesn't start #2, only LEDs and fan come on
Aug. 25, 2004 From India: Computer doesn't start, doesn't show POST Power On Self Test
Aug. 18, 2004 Reminder- Terrorist Computer Attacks Like During Republican Convention
Aug. 11, 2004 More Phishing
Aug. 4, 2004 Three Old Viruses WORM_BAGLE.AF, WORM_BAGLE.AM, WORM_MYDOOM.M
July 28, 2004 Celebrating the 200th ComputerFAQ
July 21, 2004 Sleep, Standby & Hibernation
July 14, 2004 Parts of Windows Screens, such as Status Bar
July 7, 2004 Parts of Windows Screens, such as Desktop
June 30, 2004 Losing the Address Bar and Accurate Communication
June 23, 2004 Spyware and How to Remove It
June 16, 2004 Suggestions for the iMac writer of June 9
June 9, 2004 MacIntosh User Finds Trick to Display Emailed Photos
June 2, 2004 Internet Options "Cookies" Configuration
May 26, 2004 Internet Options Box #2
May 12&19, 2004 Worm_Sasser.B and Clearing Old URL Addresses from IE
May 5, 2004 The F5 Refresh key and other Function keys
Apr. 28, 2004 First Purchase on Ebay and More on Recycling Computer Eqpt.
Apr. 21, 2004 Repairing a Laser Printer and More about Disposing Used Computer Equipment
Apr. 14, 2004 How to get rid of an old PC
Apr. 7, 2004 Another Virus Alert
Mar. 31, 2004 Keeping Both Home and Ebay Pages Open At the Same Time
Mar. 24, 2004 A Complex Alert about a Very Complex Virus
Mar. 17, 2004 A Hoax Virus Can Cause You To Damage Your Computer
Mar. 10, 2004 Should I Reload Windows?
Mar. 3, 2004 HTML Email Viruses: Disable Preview and Receive Only Text Email
Feb. 25, 2004 Spoofing and Zombies
Feb. 18, 2004 Using Spyware
Feb. 11, 2004 Spyware
Feb. 4, 2004 Phishing and the MyDoom virus
Jan. 28, 2004 Microsoft Extends Support for Windows '98 and ME
Jan. 21, 2004 More Keyboard Shortcuts
Jan. 14, 2004 The Lifesaver "Undo" and Other Keyboard Shortcuts
Jan. 7, 2004 Microsoft quitting support for Windows 95 & 98 plus minimum computer requirements for Windows XP
Dec. 24, 2003 The Trouble with Mice
Dec. 17, 2003 System Restore & Windows Safe Mode
Dec. 10, 2003 Backing Up using an external USB Hard Drive
Dec. 3, 2003 SpamSubtract, a good way to reduce spam, also other ways
Nov. 26, 2003 Disgusted about Spam
Nov. 19, 2003 How Vulnerable is Your Computer to Data Theft?
Nov. 12, 2003 Safely Deleting Thousands of tmp Files
Nov. 5, 2003 Finding the Windows Search Button & Misc Program Problems
Oct. 29, 2003 How to Print a List of Files
Oct. 22, 2003 Fall Cleanup Part 3
Oct. 15, 2003 Fall Cleanup Part 2
Oct. 8, 2003 Fall Cleaning of Your PC
Oct. 1, 2003 Explanation of DSL
Sept. 24, 2003 Installing DSL at the Shopper
Sept. 17, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy? Part 2
Sept. 10, 2003 What New Computer Should I Buy?
Sept. 3, 2003 Protecting from Viruses and Worms
Aug. 27, 2003 Current Viruses "Bast Worm" and "Sobig"
Aug. 20, 2003 Does Microsoft Password Make Changing Passwords Easier?
Aug. 13, 2003 Passwords and Passport Part 2
Aug. 6, 2003 More About PassPort and Passwords
July 23 & 30, 2003 Where Are Microsoft Passport Passwords Stored? and More About Passport and Passwords
July 16, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 2
July 9, 2003 Internet Explorer Helpful Hint Part 1
July 2, 2003 Some More Icons Explained
June 25, 2003 Online Ordering
June 18, 2003 Followup on Refilled Ink Cartridges
 
July 05, 2000 Introduction to ComputerFAQ
July 12, 2000 Computer Definitions
July 26, 2000 More Computer Definitions
August 02, 2000 Defining Bits, Bytes and Hex
August 09, 2000 Internet Service Providers (ISP)
August 16, 2000 Backup up your PC
August 23, 2000 Backup Devices.
August 30, 2000 What is the slowest PC for Internet Access
September 06, 2000 PC Nomenclature
September 13, 2000What to do with Mail Attachements.
September 20, 2000What Happens at boot up
October 04, 2000Desktop Areas
October 18, 2000Start Button
October 25, 2000Display Made Bigger
November 01, 2000 More Monitor Controls
November 15, 2000 Right Click Display Menu
November 22, 2000 More on Desktop Menus
November 29, 2000 More on Desktop Menus
December 06, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 1
December 13, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 2
December 20, 2000 Desktop Properties Menu - part 3