Consider It Fixed

Black Screen of Death

Does your display suddenly go black and your computer shut off?  If it does, you may be suffering from what I call the black screen of death.  When this happens to most people, they simply restart their computer and move on.  When it happens again, they get confused and often think that they have a virus or spyware infection.   After scanning, and usually not finding much, the computer goes black again. 

Fixing computers requires a fair amount of detective work.  It's very helpful to look closely at the computer's behavior,  and to identify any patterns that appear to repeating.  In this case, the screen usually goes black and the computer powers off.  However, sometimes the screen goes black and there is a small flashing cursor in the upper left corner as the computer does not power off.  If this is the case, the computer doesn't easily restart and unplugging the power cord or holding down the reset button may be the only way to get it to start again.  Another telling bit of information is if the computer is making loud fan noise.  Users often complain that their computers are making a lot of noise.  The typical 'noise' is that of cooling fans blowing continuously, never cycling down.

These are the signs and symptoms of an overheating computer.  Nearly all computers built today have a thermal switch.  When the computer reaches a certain high temperature, it shuts itself down to prevent heat damage.  Without this switch, the computer could be irreversibly damaged, and at high temperatures, become a fire risk.  Computers accumulate a lot of dust and hair around their fans and vents.  This is especially the case with computers that are left powered on for extended periods of time and/or are used around pets that shed.  As the computers collect dust and hair, their cooling systems need to work harder.  So, the fans work harder and stay on longer as they can never reduce the temperature to the point where the fans are instructed slow down or power off.  Hence, the increased fan noise.

Dust and hair are not the only causes of overheating.  Here is a simple list of other causes:

• Defective cooling fans
• Blocked airways and vents
• Unseated or underpowered heat sinks
• Dust and hair accumulations that physically stop cooling fans
• Laptops sitting on pillows and blanket that block their cooling vents

Please post a comment if this has been helpful to you.

Contact Info: info@consideritfixed.com
                    860-985-7300

Password Managers with Cross Platform Support: Where Are They?

It not new news that computer users have too many passwords, key codes, and bits and pieces of important information.  To complicate matters, we often have more than one computer.  Any many of us have computers running Windows, OS X, and increasingly Linux.   My current count includes 266 logins, 104 notes, 3 credit cards, and 2 different profiles.  I could never keep this information organized and safe without a software utility that manages this stuff.  This category of software utility is often called a password manager.  But that's actually a misnomer.  This type of software does much more than just manage passwords.  It manages and auto fills usernames and passwords; fills in web page forms; keeps bits and pieces of useful information; generates secure passwords; and maintains electric wallets.  The good news is that there is a small number of reasonably priced products available that do this well.  Many are now expanding their offerings to include web interfaces and one way support for mobile platforms like Windows Mobile, Palm and iPhone.

My two favorite products are 1Password for OS X and Roboform for Windows.  I use both daily and don't know what I would do without them.  The are well designed, reliable and mature, and do the job well.  But there is one thing that they don't do at all that is starting to make me crazy - neither product offers any type of reasonable cross platform support and synchronization.  1Password does offer very broad support to import password data from a large number of competing products.  Roboform does this too, but is more limited.

This is very useful when you are evaluating their software.  You can get up to speed quickly as you don't have too much information to re-key.  Also, both products offer good ways to synchronize data between multiple computers of the same platform.  And both products offer one way synchronization to popular mobile platforms.  But neither product offers synchronization between Windows and OS X.  This is what I need desperately.  I've been combing the Internet looking for a good solution and I can't find one.  So, I'm asking - Does anyone know of a good password/form filler/data scrap manager that is as good as 1Password or Roboform that is cross platform?  If so, please tell me.  I know there are many of us out there looking for a solution.

Please post a comment if this has been helpful to you.

Contact Info: info@consideritfixed.com
                    860-985-7300

Insidious MS AntiVirus 2009

In the last month, 5 customers have called me about a parasite called MS Antivirus 2009.  MS Antivirus 2009, and others in its sick family tree like XP Antivirus 2008, are infecting Windows computers at an alarming rate.  All of my customers had modern, up to date antivirus programs installed and they still got it. Ouch!

The first sign of an infection by MS Antivirus 2009 is usually this: a window opens on the  computer that looks just like the Windows Security Center and it claims that you have no virus  or spyware protection installed.  This usually gets the user's attention and leads to the opening of a scanner that tells the user that they are infected with a number of things.  This is usually followed by an offer - give some money and this software product, MS Antivirus 2009 will remove the problem.  Two of my customers believed this ruse enough to offer up their credit cards.  And guess what - the problem didn't go away.  It actually got worse.   The result was a computer with disabled menus, no access to utilities in the control panel, the deletion of system restore saved states, popups, and system reboots.  So, you just can't use your computer.

In my experience, one of the best sources of information on a virus or parasite is a Google search.  I can often find loads of useful information very quickly and be well on my way to removing a pesky varmint.   This was not the case with MS Antivirus.  A Google search does lead  to several pieces of information, but many of the hits end up on web sites claiming to be able to remove MS Antivirus but for a fee.  They offer a download link to a free scanner, but when you want to remove the pest, they want money.  Gosh, doesn't that sound an awful lot like the parasite that we just discussed?  Call me paranoid, but doesn't it make you wonder that the vendors detecting this parasite and selling a solution to its removal may just have something to do with the problem.  The availability of these solutions is just too convenient, and for me, hard to trust.

Here's my recommendation:  In the business of fixing computers, I've learned that customers want simple solutions - keep the cost down and guarantee that the pest is gone.  I can't trust these no name spyware scanners.  I can't trust registry hacks and file deletions.  My approach is to fix MS Antivirus infections the old fashion way.   Remove all important data from the PC; format the hard drive; reinstall the operating system, applications, and virus protection; and then put the data back.  All in all, it takes about 2 to 3 hours of work, but I can guarantee a good result.

One additional note: If you see the first signs of an infection which is usually a popup window that looks like Microsoft's Windows Secutiry Center claiming that you don't have virus protection, don't click on anything related to it.  Go right to system restore and restore your PC back to a previous date.  If you can do this, you will be one of the lucky ones like my friend David. 

Please post a comment if this has been helpful to you.

Contact Info: info@consideritfixed.com
                    860-985-7300

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