LKN PC Tune-Ups
Computer Troubleshooting in the south Lake Norman area since 1998 Over 1000 PCs serviced in Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson

QUESTION: My two-year old PC with Windows XP started acting strangely. I am getting pop-up ads plus it seems to be more sluggish than normal. When I opened my antivirus software, the “vault” contains more than 20 viruses. What can I do?

ANSWER: Sometimes a PC tune-up in needed. Here is what we do:

SOFTWARE DISINFECTION: The invasion of viruses and spyware grows more sophisticated every day. There’s more of it, and it’s more malicious (and more difficult to remove) than ever before. We use about ten special programs to remove spyware, adware, Trojan programs and other forms of unwanted malicious software that infect PCs.

MAINTENANCE: Improve performance by uninstalling unnecessary programs from the start-up process. Scan the hard drive for errors, and then run defragmentation.

PROTECTION: Download and install Windows Security Updates, updates to third-party programs, antispyware and antivirus programs to ensure the PC is not as vulnerable to attacks.

REPAIR: Repair or upgrade hardware, as needed. Many older PCs improve with additional memory.

Q. What's the difference between sharing a PC on an Administrator user account and a Limited user account? Any advantage to using one over the other? Windows XP lets each person sharing the same computer have his or her own user account with its own password and certain personalized settings. There are two main types of accounts you can set up: Administrator and Limited. Windows Vista can also handle multiple accounts, but calls the two types Administrator and Standard.

A. The Administrator account is the default type on a new computer, and it is the most powerful kind. When you are logged on as an Administrator, you can add new software and install hardware, set up the system preferences and run utility programs to repair or make Windows system changes.

Someone logged on with a Limited account can't install new software or hardware, or make changes to the operating system that would affect other users. Setting up and using a Limited account does have its advantages. Without the power to install software, Limited accounts are typically safer from malicious software like viruses and spyware that try to secretly infiltrate the PC. Limited accounts can also be helpful when you are sharing a computer with less-experienced users who may inadvertently change system settings.

Administrator accounts aren't restricted. You do need to be logged into one to install new programs, security software and new hardware peripherals. You may be more at a risk for malicious software, though, which can install itself through an Administrator account.

To add new accounts to your computer when logged on as an Administrator, go to the Start menu to Control Panel and click on the User Account option.

Microsoft recommends using Limited accounts most of the time because they are less vulnerable. So do we.

======== From Zonny's Huntersville Herald Column ========

When I turn on my PC a message appears in the middle of the screen that says I have a virus. I cannot remove it or use my PC. Dick, Davidson

My PC has a message that seems to be running an antivirus program called 2009Antivirus. It wants me to purchase
 a program to remove the detected viruses and Trojan programs. Miki, Cornelius

Help! My PC seems to be infected with a virus. I cannot get on-line nor do any of my normal functions. Donna, Huntersville

My associate, Sparky, and I spent several days in mid-December working to disinfect these PCs from malicious software.

Most conventional antivirus programs are ineffective because the latest versions of malware cloak themselves or disable the detection programs. With Dick’s PC we connected the hard drive to another PC so we could run scans against Dick’s infected drive. This is known as a master/slave connection in which one device (known as the master) controls another hard drive (Dick’s drive). Eventually we scanned and removed a number of Trojan programs and a notorious rootkit.

We also ran the master/slave connection against Miki’s hard drive which was infected with a rogue program. We backed-up her documents from her 80 GB hard drive; afterwards it became so corrupted we could not proceed. We discarded the drive and replaced it. From there, we made a clean install of Windows and all the updates.

With Donna’s older PC after backing up her data files, we removed numerous Trojan programs and a rogue anti-virus application with the master/slave method. Then we updated Windows and protection.

Each PC had antivirus software and Windows updates. While we cannot be certain how these PCs became infected, it appears from industry research by security experts at TrendMicro that the majority of the attacks of malware were caused by unsuspecting users surfing to malicious sites and then accepting some kind of download, eventually causing the infections. In addition, a smaller percentage of the infections tracked globally were caused by users opening e-mail attachments. In other words, about two-thirds of all computer infections result from duped users entering situations that put their computers at risk.

 So stay safe out there.

My Dell desktop computer is slow. I do not think it is infected. I am getting messages that the hard drive is full and that it is running out of memory. What can you suggest? Jill, Cornelius

I visited Jill’s house and determined that the PC was not infected, but there were three problems. I took the PC back to my lab where I ran the Windows scan disk utility over several hours; it detected and corrected numerous file errors on the hard drive. Then I upgraded the memory modules from 256 MB to 2GB, which improved performance significantly.

Jill had downloaded a lot of music on iTunes and retained it the 35 Dell GB hard drive as well as on her iPod. The hard drive was near capacity with 34 GB in use. The PC functionality had slowed down because the unused hard drive space was so limited. After Jill purchased a 300 GB external hard drive, we moved most of the music to it. Then we deleted those files from the hard drive to provide new storage space for future music downloads.

I received an email recently which I thought was from Microsoft; it advised me to click on the attachment to install the monthly Windows security updates. Normally these updates install automatically, rather than by email. Has Microsoft changed its procedures? Larry, Cornelius

No. Unfortunately you received a phishing campaign that targets social networking aficionados. Scammers are sending trick emails that claim to have critical Windows security alerts. These fake warnings describe themselves as a new "experimental private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users".

The e-mails then instruct you to download an attachment, which is actually a malicious Trojan horse program. This malware records your passwords and credit cards and sends this data back to the attackers. Microsoft will never send you an executable attachment. If you get an e-mail that claims to be a security notification with an attachment, delete it. It is always a spoof.

Another form of phishing scam derives from the fertile ground of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, which give scam artists and virus writer’s new ways to package tried-but-true tricks. The latest example of this making the rounds is an e-mail that appears to be an authentic invitation to add a friend: A recipient who opens an attached image to take a look at their new friend instead opens the door for hackers to compromise his PC.

The message also includes a fake login form. It gives the appearance that any credentials entered into the form would be sent directly to legitimate provider. But, if the form is a ruse, the scammers intercept the entered credentials as well.

Users should pay extremely close attention to details, such as Web sites names and avoid following links received in e-mail, IM spam or Halloween greetings. Failing to do so might result in stolen log-in credentials.