Computer Help & Tips

[omnifinite]

Ween yourself off of Microsoft products. Best tip I can think of.

[BlueDragon1981]

Microsoft is easy to use....dont hate the company because Gates used the right time to market his stuff. I like some Microsoft product and dont like others. Linux is suppose to be coming out with a windows type OS and Unix is also releasing new things. I would like to get into those. AOL is the biggest rippoff in my mind. Netscape is getting worse with its browser. It graphics are cool but 6.0 netscape has screwed up some systems. I dont really like Microsoft but it is the easiest to use. I have to explain to people now how to use things with Microsoft. Just imagine explaining Linux.....ohh that would be a treat. Specially if they had and old OS of linux.

 

Windows XP is not a good upgrade for microsoft in my opinion. Specially since you have to register. If you have to reformat then you have to call them and get your key unlocked. You have to register also or it will not work correctly. MSN also isnt very good in my opinion. Remember these are my opinions.

 

Here are some help sites:

 

http://www.supportmechanic.com

 

http://www.iinet.net.au/support/index.html

 

I have more if you want them. These deal with both Mac and Windows. I dont have a great one for Linux and Unix yet.

 

Linux and Unix by the way for you people who dont know offer more security levels but they dont have a really good Operating system yet (OS). Also your internet servers probably use Linux or Unix because of the securtiy. Unix still has a lot of coding like DOS. Linux is trying to make a good OS. Red Hat is suppose to be a good upgrade from there others. Linux and Unix also tend to cost a lot less or may even be free. The Mac OS 10.2 Jaguar is selling pretty fast with Mac users but I have never seen it.

 

Things too look for when purchacing a computer:

 

Do not buy anything that is intergrated if you plan on upgrades in the future (HP and Compaq and Gateway are bad for intergrating items. Dell only intergrates lower end pcs.)

 

Get lowest proccessor speed you can if customizing (with dell its 1.6 ghz)

 

Get higher RAM. 256 or 512. 128 at the lowest.

 

Dont get any software you dont think you will use. It comes preloaded and will bog down your system. (if you dont use office dont get it.)

 

Recommended things are either a cd burner or a zip drive. (Zip drives really arent to popular with home pc users but are nice. They have 100 mg storage and 250 mg., Much better than 1.44 mg)

 

Get at least 32 mg video Ram. Recommend 64 mg

 

Here is the order I recommend for brands: Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway. (if you know how build your own.)

 

[BlueDragon1981]

Kickers advice is nice to know. It wont work though if you deleted your temp files and cookies before you remembered to look... . I have done that before. Since I delete them frequently.

[BlueDragon1981]

If you have dialup and your computer is taking forever to log on then go and uncheck the log on to network in the dialer.

 

1. Click on My computer

 

2. Click on Dial Up Networking

 

3. Click on the name of your dialer once and then right click.

 

4. Go down to properties and click on it

 

5. Click on the tab at the top that says Server Types.

 

6. Uncheck Log on to network. NetBEUI and IPX/SPX (should only have TCP/IP and Enable software compression checked)

 

7. Turn Computer off and turn back On.

 

There you go it should log in quicker. (not for faster connection, I mean if it seems like it takes forever to verify username and password and log on to network.)

[moobrack]

HI all,

 

I know a bit about cpomputers and i will be here to offer handy tips and help to people who want or need it, i might not know enough to help but i can sure try.

 

Part One

 

If you have Windows 2000 NT pro installed on your computer and you access the internet through this computer, you may want to take into consideration two things.

 

A Firewall

 

Usually the best one is Zone Alarm Pro, try and download the trial version but for the good one buy the full version, it isnt too expensive.

 

And

 

Windows 2000 Service Pack 1

 

This is also for security, and it optimises the files on your computer for higher speed while accessing files on the computer and also downloading webpages. It also closes automatically some of the opened ports on your computer which dont need to be open. Hackers access computers through open ports.

 

Also make sure that if you download from a site or download a plugin - do not check the box saying 'Always trust content from.....'.

 

This is a bad move - as some pirate software crackers and hackers make software which is used to see your computer - e.g subse7en trojans are masked with names such as MSN corporation and Macromedia Inc, it is hacking and illegal.

 

If you check that box you are saying that if you enter a site which has that hacking software or subse7en built in that it can automatically install its way into your computer and it may later on cause you major problems.

 

Thanx for your time!

[BlueDragon1981]

For those interested Unix and Linux are working on new OS that they hope will compete with Windows. User friendly in other words. Mac has come out with another OS 10.2. It is nicknamed Jaguar. It is the fastes selling OS for Mac. It hasnt been out all that long.

[KickChick]

A word on new and current viruses:

 

"The latest threat to crash the p2p-party is the VERY annoying Duload worm. It spreads via p2p networks like KaZaA with different filenames, all with the .exe extension. So look out for those files disguised as hacks, cracks, screensavers and the like when searching your favorite p2p network. Damage is low once you're infected, but it still has to be removed as it'll download other malicious backdoors and Trojans, and create several copies of itself with different names in your Shared folder in order to spread. Manual removal is a really tedious process so you better get that antivirus a-working if you've caught this one.

 

"Klez" is hanging in there - it's still the most common virus. MessageLabs have intercepted different variants of the worm almost 600,000 times in the month of August, making Klez far more common than the runner-up, Yaha, with only approximately 200,000 occurances. Klez has been No. 1 since it was first spotted in April this year, and it continues to surge. August meant an increase of app. 100,000 Klez interceptions compared to July.

 

According to British news website The Register, this is due to the fact that somewhere, a group of professional spammers have had their computers infected with the virus and are distributing it along with their spam mails.

 

June is still this year's most virus-infected month according to MessageLabs, but September could easily set a new record if Klez continues to hitch a ride on spam email.

 

Osama's Digital Transport

 

An email with a new Visual Basic worm will bring you this rather cryptic message:

 

"I'm 19 years old. I would like to introduce my new transport called OsamaBinLaden Digital Transport. I write this message cause I want to explorer in the whole world using Digital transport. So, where I arrive now?"

 

On a first glance very few would probably credit the author with being able to construct a working and dangerous threat to a pocket calculator - or even put together a sentence in the English language... But this thing -- called VBS.Melhack@mm -- actually spreads itself and wreaks havoc as it goes along. First, it will make new registry values and keys in your system folder, causing it to run when you start Windows. Next, it will fetch a Trojan called W32.Kamil. After that, Melhack creates a series of folders in your Windows registry, some of them with names relating to the American war on terror (Who'd have known that "G.W. Bush Will Be KILled" ?). To top it off, Melhack copies itself and replaces files in your documents folder and on your desktop, it changes your mIRC script if you have one, and finally sends itself to all your Outlook contacts."

 

.... just another thing to worry about!

[BlueDragon1981]

Klez is also another virus that is an email virus. Tomorrow at work I will try to get my link to look up viruses. I dont remember it offhand and it is only on the computer at work so I will have to post it from there. But it is very useful and tells you which viruses are dangerous and which ones are hoaxes. (hopefully I remember to do it tomorrow. )

[BlueDragon1981]

http://www3.ca.com/virus/encyclopedia.asp

 

Here is the good virus lookup site like I promised

[KickChick]

Here is another

 

http://www.mcafee.com/anti-virus/virus_glossary.asp

 

I am posting this one because I noticed when I went to look up a trojan (actually not a virus) I caught a couple months ago (JS Seeker) it wasn't there.

 

I still have it in quarantine (the torture chamber!)