SOME COMPUTER HEALTH - TOOLS

[robl27]

here's the list of my free things (with the exception of one)

http://www.cband.info/top-10/PCTIPS.html

-Rob

[GreatOwl]

here's the list of my free things (with the exception of one)

http://www.cband.info/top-10/PCTIPS.html

-Rob

What????   nothing free for me!!!!!

I hope some of those help users.  I use to use both Mac and PC years ago.  The PC was always getting scrambled.  Now it is just my wife's PC that I have to keep cleaning.  She finally purchased a back up drive for files and it is so economical now that everyone should do it.

[Sister]

Compared to everyone else's very technical questions -- mine is probably found in the book Computers for Dummies.  Sometimes when I open an e-mail with an attachment (from a known person), the attachment will not open and gets sent to my documents.  Once there I still can't open it.  Any thoughts?  TIA

[GreatOwl]

Compared to everyone else's very technical questions -- mine is probably found in the book Computers for Dummies.  Sometimes when I open an e-mail with an attachment (from a known person), the attachment will not open and gets sent to my documents.  Once there I still can't open it.  Any thoughts?  TIA

Nothing is a minor question when it comes to computers.  We all have our problems at times.  Our computers don't always do what we want them to do and so it is always wise to get opinions and views from others.  There may be no one way of doing this.  Perhaps someone with a bit more know of PC attachments might wish to chime in.  It might also help us if you could tell us what type of attachments they are.

It all depends upon what type of attachment it is.  Your e-mail should indicate that somewhere.  I am more familiar with Mac than PC, but have owned both and still have both in the house.  If it is a photo file then make sure that extension stays in tact when the file is transferred.  (.gif or .jpg)  If it is a document file it may just have a .doc extension.  If it loses that extension you can replace it manually.  Normally you just have to highlight the file name and put the extension back on.  Once the file is downloaded to your computer rather than clicking on the file open the appropriate program.  You should have a basic photo viewer and also some sort of text reader on your computer.  If not I believe that through a cnet.com you should be able to find a "free" program or "orphan" reader.

Sometimes it is just a matter that some versions of "word" or other text documents may not be compatible with what you have on your computer.  It happens to all of us. 

[Sister]

Great Owl, thanks for responding.  What I think is happening is I use the word processing called Word Pefect.  Many of these attachments are coming in Word 7.  What the senders are doing:  letter.cover    My word processing does not recognize the .cover as a program, which it isn't, but I guess others can open it and I can't.  I sure don't want to have to buy another word processing program just to open e-mail attachments.  What is a "zip" -- does that convert?
Again, thanks for responding.

[GreatOwl]

Great Owl, thanks for responding.  What I think is happening is I use the word processing called Word Pefect.  Many of these attachments are coming in Word 7.  What the senders are doing:  letter.cover    My word processing does not recognize the .cover as a program, which it isn't, but I guess others can open it and I can't.  I sure don't want to have to buy another word processing program just to open e-mail attachments.  What is a "zip" -- does that convert?
Again, thanks for responding.

Ok, that helps a great deal.  I am not familiar with all the websites and free program for the various windows OS's.  However, if you do a google search for "free shareware" or "free readers" etc.  you should find several web sites to download a free application to help you out.

http://www.word-reader.com/

This is the type of application you are looking for.  I don''t use PC so I am not familiar with all the current applications.

again, CNET.com has a search engine you can use.   Also, I know there are many other sites out there for free PC papplications, it has just been a while since I have had to use them so I do not have them marked right now.

.zip is a compression application designed to save space when mailing documents.  What you need is an unzip program.  Again search for a "free unzip" application

http://www.pc-shareware.com/unzipwiz.htm

I have just given you examples of the types of websites you need to search on.  I am not an expert when it comes to knowing which PC application is currently the best.

Again, perhaps someone who uses PC and windows could give you some input.  Often, especially with PC's, you do not need to spend a lot of money to find these applications for free or at least for a very small cost in shareware.

keep writing if there is anything else I can help with.

[Sister]

Thank you so much.  I will now try unzipping myself
 

[GreatOwl]

Thank you so much.  I will now try unzipping myself
 

[Lovinlife]

Has anyone had any experience with Gumblar?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10244529-83.html

TIA, Lovinlife

[GreatOwl]

Has anyone had any experience with Gumblar?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10244529-83.html

TIA, Lovinlife

I have not heard of it being an issue in this part of the country.  It does not attack the Mac system and my wife's PC has not run into and websites through google that have attempt to force a download on her computer either here or at work.  I know that it is a phishing attack program, but I honestly haven't spoken to anyone who has even had to repel it.  I think most of the "holes" in java script and flash films have been plugged by now.

[Lovinlife]

Thanks GreatOwl for your response.  We have 5 websites that have become contaminated with it.  At least that is what tech support says .  I was interested if anyone knew any more about it.  I guess it was a rare occurance.  I have tried to read some forums and 99% is so over my head that I didn't have any luck.

Why do all of the hackers & virus makers attack PC's and not the Mac?  Is it a Bill Gates thing?  I've always wondered.   

[GreatOwl]

Thanks GreatOwl for your response.  We have 5 websites that have become contaminated with it.  At least that is what tech support says .  I was interested if anyone knew any more about it.  I guess it was a rare occurance.  I have tried to read some forums and 99% is so over my head that I didn't have any luck.

Why do all of the hackers & virus makers attack PC's and not the Mac?  Is it a Bill Gates thing?  I've always wondered.   

To answer the first part, I think the reason there is less impact at work is that most companies have set their firewalls so that employees can not access most sites that they would at home.  I know when I will sometimes send a link I find during the day to my wife, she has to wait to get home to view it.  Javascript seems to have the most holes so many of those sites have been blocked by companies.

The second part, would be that it is just a reality that most businesses operate using PC's and are very good at handling the business portion of a companies operation.  A company may have Macs in their advertising or marketing departments if they are large, but do not often deal with company sensitive data.  While Mac is increasing its share of the commercial market, it still is only in a minor percentage.  There are probably a fewer percentage of hackers who operate on PC's so that affects what viruses are developed.  We have only recently begun to use a few microsoft developed programs and those are pretty much partitioned off so that any viruses do not affect Mac code.

Heck, they even stopped making an Internet Explorer browser for Mac.  Many browsers can be used on both PC and Mac but the coding is different.  Two I can think of are Safari and Firefox.  Google chrome is having trouble putting out its browser for Mac and I suspect it has a great deal to do with the difference in code.

Long story short.  You probably don't see the same worms in an orange as in an ear of corn.  Why waste your time crashing a small number of computers when the hacker can have 10 times the impact for the same amount of work with PC's.

[2NJSons_Mom]

A few days ago, I rec'd an email from a friend and many of our mutual contacts were also cc'd.  The subject line and content were definitely suspicious looking, with subject greeting out of sender's character and content text stating she'd bought a laptop through a Korean company (again the grammar and phrasing out of character)....with a link, which I did not open, of course.

I knew immediately that she had not sent the message and while in her company yesterday, with others who'd been copied,  we found Google had advised her that since her account had been comprimised, she should just abandon it and open an entirely new email account.  If one of our friends had not used that email to ask a question totally unrelated, she'd never know that her email was being used by someone else for this purpose.   I, too, had sent her a note, but she closed her account before seeing it.

She has been using an Apple so wasn't concerned so much about viruses...just the email.  She had pictures and other personal things in that account which were lost.  Google rep told her that if they had her email account they also had her personal pictures, etc. 

Having read a little about this before posting, advice to prevent this type of thing can be as simple as changing your password frequently or making it more difficult for someone to figure out. 

I wanted to post this because there are a lot of tech savvy monkeys out there who may have more info or advice to share. 

[GreatOwl]

I know many use gmail for their primary account.  I have found that it has the poorest security of any of the "site" e-mail accounts.  Hotmail, Yahoo etc. are not much better.  We all have used those types of accounts as a means of protecting identity.  Unfortunately, they have deteriorated in quality since being established.

I have accounts with all of them, but rarely use them anymore.  My gmail account gets as may as 200 spam messages a day.  Not all end up in the spam folder.  Some may say that this is good so many end up in a spam folder.  I can not share those sentiments.  The problem with having that many spam messages in a separate folder is that you always need to check to make sure that one of your own legitimate e-mails is not hidden there.  It takes time.

What I have ended up doing is just letting everyone and anyone contact me through my primary e-mail account.  I have this with Roadrunner.  The difference with me is that I have installed firewalls and separate virus/spam reporting programs and I can immediately send automated abuse messages out for any message that is inappropriate.  The program opens the header automatically and identifies all the servers a message may have been routed through.  It is not unusual for a spam e-mail to have been routed through 8-10 different servers before reaching my mailbox.  An abuse message goes out to all locations and servers.

I still get e-mail in my junk mailbox and even some I suspect are virus carriers.  I have found that I have reduced the amount of junk mail by about 90%.  When I first began using my primary e-mail account, I found a few prank e-mails from individuals who just wanted to be cute and abusive.  They ended up being automatically reported to their isp's as abusive and a couple did lose their accounts.  I no longer get those types of messages.

You really do not need to have a vast knowledge of computers to keep yourself safe.  You only need to investigate and spend a little time initially to protect yourself.

[Lovinlife]

Can anyone explain to me how to set up an rss feed? TIA, Lovinlife

[Lovinlife]

Can anyone explain to me how to set up an rss feed? TIA, Lovinlife

Nevermind.  I figured it out all by myself!!!

[Shell]

I need some help...please!

I was using IE...and it kept lagging crashing
I then switched to Mozilla/Firefox....still lagging and crashing
Switched to Google Chrome, which I really like (it is user friendly, in my opinion)

The message comes up...Google Chrome crashed...and it shows that the add on Shockwave Flash caused it to crash.

I have deleted and reinstalled Adobe Shockwave....and Adobe Flash several times and it keeps happening. Frankly, I am not finding the words Shockwave Flash used together anywhere except in my crash info.

I just used Malware Bytes and it found nothing.

I switched from AVG antivirus to Avast...AVG found a trojan a couple of weeks ago...but did not turn up anything since, and Avast said all was okay.

Anybody else have troubles with Shockwave/Flash? I play some games on FB and they require Adobe Flash to work.

[Leroy]

I need some help...please!

I was using IE...and it kept lagging crashing
I then switched to Mozilla/Firefox....still lagging and crashing
Switched to Google Chrome, which I really like (it is user friendly, in my opinion)

The message comes up...Google Chrome crashed...and it shows that the add on Shockwave Flash caused it to crash.

I have deleted and reinstalled Adobe Shockwave....and Adobe Flash several times and it keeps happening. Frankly, I am not finding the words Shockwave Flash used together anywhere except in my crash info.

I just used Malware Bytes and it found nothing.

I switched from AVG antivirus to Avast...AVG found a trojan a couple of weeks ago...but did not turn up anything since, and Avast said all was okay.

Anybody else have troubles with Shockwave/Flash? I play some games on FB and they require Adobe Flash to work.

I hope someone answers this because I'm having the same problem!

[Rob]

some new and old tools to help your system out. All free. This will help you with all the clog that occurs with forum posting.

Below is one of the best tools I have found. Download and follow the instructions as usual. There is a free RAM application. I use the tool in order - Maintain Windows, then Diagnose System and then Individual Utilities. I use internet booster and set my setting to 1 gig. It will not hurt your system to allow this setting. I know many do not have this setting / speed, but an open portal is best. Your connection speed will improve. I have Fios and 79mps but still set it to 1 gig.

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

That is best free overall tool I have seen.

Steven Gould's Clean Up - we have been using this for years, and I think it was snoopy that brought it over. This is a great tool and wipes out all junk files and obsolete video, and text files.

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=69

[MisGivings]

some new and old tools to help your system out. All free. This will help you with all the clog that occurs with forum posting.

Below is one of the best tools I have found. Download and follow the instructions as usual. There is a free RAM application. I use the tool in order - Maintain Windows, then Diagnose System and then Individual Utilities. I use internet booster and set my setting to 1 gig. It will not hurt your system to allow this setting. I know many do not have this setting / speed, but an open portal is best. Your connection speed will improve. I have Fios and 79mps but still set it to 1 gig.

http://www.iobit.com/advancedwindowscareper.html

That is best free overall tool I have seen.

Steven Gould's Clean Up - we have been using this for years, and I think it was snoopy that brought it over. This is a great tool and wipes out all junk files and obsolete video, and text files.

http://www.stevengould.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=69

((edit - we don't want to advocate getting software for free that is normally paid for - removing the KEYS that Misgiving posted))