Dealing hard to remove viruses on one's PC!
In days where PC viruses are not that hard to remove, a free version on any anti virus product will fairly do the job well. But as hardware and software advances, so with this criminal who are developing viruses that is hard to detect, even with those paid versions of those popular anti virus software.
If you suspect that your PC is infected with a hard to detect unknown virus, and your not yet ready to reformat your hard drive, you can try the following method:
1. Remove your hard drive and full scan it on another virus free PC with updated virus definition.
2.Another method is to download a rescue disk on some popular anti virus product(Kaspersky, bitdefender, avira,Norton...etc,), you can google it and its free.
Method 2 is more comprehensive than method 1 but its more tedious.
The concept behind using a rescue disk is to create a bootable disk out of the downloaded image and use it to scan you system.In this case you can full scan your hard drive without booting at the infected system thereby preventing hard to detect viruses(rootkits) to load at startup.After downloading use Daemon tools or PowerISO software to create the bootable CD.
Take note, downloading and creating the rescue disk must be done on a clean and virus free PC.
I am using a Kaspersky Rescue Disk but other anti virus rescue disk will also do the thing.
Click here to download Kaspersky Rescue Disk
If you suspect that your PC is infected with a hard to detect unknown virus, and your not yet ready to reformat your hard drive, you can try the following method:
1. Remove your hard drive and full scan it on another virus free PC with updated virus definition.
2.Another method is to download a rescue disk on some popular anti virus product(Kaspersky, bitdefender, avira,Norton...etc,), you can google it and its free.
Method 2 is more comprehensive than method 1 but its more tedious.
The concept behind using a rescue disk is to create a bootable disk out of the downloaded image and use it to scan you system.In this case you can full scan your hard drive without booting at the infected system thereby preventing hard to detect viruses(rootkits) to load at startup.After downloading use Daemon tools or PowerISO software to create the bootable CD.
Take note, downloading and creating the rescue disk must be done on a clean and virus free PC.
I am using a Kaspersky Rescue Disk but other anti virus rescue disk will also do the thing.
Click here to download Kaspersky Rescue Disk
One of the culprit of system slow down!
Have you ever notice that your OS and other applications seems to perform sluggish or slow, in spite you done all the necessary tweaking?
Before you think of reformatting your hard drive, try to uninstall your anti-virus and check if system performance has improved. Many problems I have encountered in the past in as far as system slow down is concern can be attributed to a problematic anti virus application.
Re-install the same anti-virus or a different one, if problem still exist, its time to reformat your hard drive to restore your PC's performance.
Have a nice day!
Before you think of reformatting your hard drive, try to uninstall your anti-virus and check if system performance has improved. Many problems I have encountered in the past in as far as system slow down is concern can be attributed to a problematic anti virus application.
Re-install the same anti-virus or a different one, if problem still exist, its time to reformat your hard drive to restore your PC's performance.
Have a nice day!
One way to stop viruses/worms propagation in one's PC!
As hardware and software advances in the last couple of years so was the crooks who are creator of hard to detect and delete viruses in one's PC, and as the internet is very much affordable as ever it only give this criminals easy way to propagate their evil wrongdoings.
As technical support for the last decade I witnessed some of the variety of viruses that bring damage to one's PC and believe me containing some of those viruses is getting harder everyday.
One of most easy way this worms/viruses propagates is via a USB Flash drive,when you insert a device via usb connector your system perform an autorun function prompting you to choose an options what to do next.This is were this viruses attempt to infect your system and if your anti-virus software is not good enough to detect such an attempt your system will be infected in an instant, making your PC to perform slow or your PC to hangup.That's why choosing a good anti virus software is also an important key to combat such an attack and I will discuss this topic on my future post.
Disabling autorun on your system and FD(Flash Drive)is one way to help prevent stop virus propagation,disabling autorun on your system can be done manually but if you are an end user it maybe unsafe to open the system configuration and some are afraid to do it for the reason that they might do it the wrong way.
The easy way to disable autorun on one's system is to use a small utility software, there are lots on the net and its available for free, the one I used is from a reputable anti virus company, if you want to download it you can click the link below.
Note:Make sure to disable autorun feature both your PC and your USB Flash Drive to lessen the risk on infection.
Good Day and Happy Weekend!
Disable Autorun Utility
USB Vaccine
As technical support for the last decade I witnessed some of the variety of viruses that bring damage to one's PC and believe me containing some of those viruses is getting harder everyday.
One of most easy way this worms/viruses propagates is via a USB Flash drive,when you insert a device via usb connector your system perform an autorun function prompting you to choose an options what to do next.This is were this viruses attempt to infect your system and if your anti-virus software is not good enough to detect such an attempt your system will be infected in an instant, making your PC to perform slow or your PC to hangup.That's why choosing a good anti virus software is also an important key to combat such an attack and I will discuss this topic on my future post.
Disabling autorun on your system and FD(Flash Drive)is one way to help prevent stop virus propagation,disabling autorun on your system can be done manually but if you are an end user it maybe unsafe to open the system configuration and some are afraid to do it for the reason that they might do it the wrong way.
The easy way to disable autorun on one's system is to use a small utility software, there are lots on the net and its available for free, the one I used is from a reputable anti virus company, if you want to download it you can click the link below.
Note:Make sure to disable autorun feature both your PC and your USB Flash Drive to lessen the risk on infection.
Good Day and Happy Weekend!
Disable Autorun Utility
USB Vaccine
System takes time when opening the save path drop down list!
The unit is actually a Pentium Dual Core Processor with 1 GB DDR2 Memory, the system actually runs normally except when you try to save or save_as a file(particularly in Word and Excel), the saving path takes some time to appear(around 2 min) and that the user becomes impatient especially if he is in a hurry in his work.
I troubleshoot the problem, I tried everything from replacement of application program to virus check up, I even suggested that we will reformat it, but the user insist that reformatting should be the last option since they have a very important application that is difficult to restore.
I spent a little more time in troubleshooting the problem and I found out that the cause of it all is a non existing network drive,what happen is that application tries to locate the missing network drive causing it to stack for a while when you click the Save path drop down button as seen it the picture.I remove the non existing network drive in the system and everything backs to normal.
Next time you encounter same or similar problem make sure to check if there is a dead network drive mapped in your system, it may solve the problem.
God Bless!
System hangs up when starting at Windows!
Have you experience a system that hangs up just after Windows XP logo appears on the monitor screen but works fine when set to safe mode? Try the solution presented here,it may fix the problem.
Try to start the unit at safe mode,go to system properties and remove the graphics card device and re-start the system, XP will try to re-install the driver of the graphics card and will continue on your desktop and Windows is now back to normal.
In cases where you can't enter safe mode,try re-installing Windows, if still does not work refer to my previous post "Windows XP Perform Endless Reboot"
Note:
This solution will be applicable also on system that graphics resolution is hard or cannot be set on higher colors.
Try to start the unit at safe mode,go to system properties and remove the graphics card device and re-start the system, XP will try to re-install the driver of the graphics card and will continue on your desktop and Windows is now back to normal.
In cases where you can't enter safe mode,try re-installing Windows, if still does not work refer to my previous post "Windows XP Perform Endless Reboot"
Note:
This solution will be applicable also on system that graphics resolution is hard or cannot be set on higher colors.
Windows XP perform an endless reboot!
Have you ever encounter a problem that Windows continuously restart just after the Windows XP logo appear on the monitor screen? And that when you try to re-install from an XP installer, it will appear that its already an unknown partition.
Now your thinking of reformatting your hard drive? Not yet, I suggest to try this action before re-formatting. Try installing the problematic hard drive to a different system and let Windows on another machine repair the corrupted partition, you will be surprise that you can now access all your data.
Once you are able to access the problematic hard drive,back up all the important files and then reformat the hard drive and install new Windows XP.Their are lots of hard drive recovery software available in the net that may also able to fix the mentioned problem, but if you don't have time to look for such utilities, you can try my solution and it might save your precious data from extinction.
Now your thinking of reformatting your hard drive? Not yet, I suggest to try this action before re-formatting. Try installing the problematic hard drive to a different system and let Windows on another machine repair the corrupted partition, you will be surprise that you can now access all your data.
Once you are able to access the problematic hard drive,back up all the important files and then reformat the hard drive and install new Windows XP.Their are lots of hard drive recovery software available in the net that may also able to fix the mentioned problem, but if you don't have time to look for such utilities, you can try my solution and it might save your precious data from extinction.
Simple steps in deleting WGA notifications!
Good day to all my readers!Its been quite a while that I have not updated my blog,cause I been kinda busy for the past couple of weeks.
Today I will discuss a solution to one of the most common problems end-users and PC repairman encounters in a PC and this is the WGA(Windows Genuine Advantage)notification.Huge volumes of PC around the globe(especially from 3rd world nations)has an unlicensed Windows XP installed in it,and some of it automatically downloaded this small WGA apps from Microsoft server informing you that "you may be a victim of piracy.....blah...blah..." during startup and its annoying.
There are options in combating such situation,you either buy a license copy of XP(expensive one),reformat your hard drive and re-install everything(long process) or delete this notification thing and everything will be back to normal(recommended).
Their are different ways in disabling WGA notifications but some of them are confusing and has hard to follow steps, making it difficult for an end user to perform.Just recently I just found out an easier way to get rid of WGA notifications and I will share it with you(in case you don't know yet).
Following three simple steps, now you can get rid of this bugging Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) notifications:
1. Reboot Windows in safe mode (hold the f8 key while booting and you will get the option to boot in safe mode-just after POST)
2. Open Registry Editor (regedit.exe) and search for wgalogon folder and delete it. IMPORTANT-You should backup up the registry beforehand, in case something goes wrong.
3. In your windows directory search for files wga* and delete them(all).
You are done,reboot your system and everything should be back to normal.
'Till on my next post,happy weekend!
My way of dealing computer viruses!
As computer hardware advances so was the viruses that infect our PC and sometimes its very difficult to remove such viruses, in spite of the advancement of different anti-virus programs,and still end-user and even technicians end-up in reformatting one's hard drive just to get rid of particular virus(es).
It will be hard to disinfect a computer virus when it loads up at start up(and even if you start in safe mode). Trojan are the most common type of virus that infects everyone's PC worldwide(Window base OS), it(the virus) sometimes disable the functionality of some key Windows utilities(regedit,msconfig,task manager, folder options...etc) to avoid from being deleted or disabled from loading.
As PC repair technician I have deal almost all kinds of computer virus on a PC that is Window base, and often times it is a lot tedious spending time cleaning a PC infected with viruses than just reformat the whole thing and re-load the drivers and needed software.
But, their are situations that a PC has a special programs installed that the owner don't have the installer and need to be preserved, In situation such this one you have no choice but to try everything to clean the virus and have his current installation be preserved by all means.
The best way to clean an infected HDD is to pull-out the hard drive from its CPU and have it scanned by a known clean and well protected PC, normally I suggest installing at least two effective anti virus programs to have a good chance of eradicating the infection(s)of a particular hard drive, and make sure that the virus database of all your anti virus or spyware programs are up to date before inserting a hard drive that is infected with virus.
After being certain that the infection has been removed, install back the hard disk to its CPU and check if its working fine, check also if restrictions on some of the utilities mentioned above has been restored, if some of it are missing or still disabled I suggest that you download a restrictions removal tool(RRT) to solve the problem(search the net).Also don't forget to update virus pattern(s) of your anti virus and make a full scan to check if there was no more infections left.
If in any case after 2 or 3 days the same virus re-appear and mess up your PC's configuration all over again, you have no choice but to re-format the hard drive and loads a fresh copy of your OS and application softwares.
Viruses can be avoided if the user itself is cautions in dealing files coming from the net, FDD, Flash Drives, CD...etc. Plus make sure that its anti-virus pattern(virus datatbase) is always up to date and perform a regular scan at least once every week.In my experience, a lot of end-users dont care if there anti virus database is up-to-date, what most users believed that as long that they have an anti-virus program installed on their PC they are already safe.
A well informed PC user will have lower risk of a virus infection in their PC, compare to PC users that don't have proper know how in dealing computer viruses.
It will be hard to disinfect a computer virus when it loads up at start up(and even if you start in safe mode). Trojan are the most common type of virus that infects everyone's PC worldwide(Window base OS), it(the virus) sometimes disable the functionality of some key Windows utilities(regedit,msconfig,task manager, folder options...etc) to avoid from being deleted or disabled from loading.
As PC repair technician I have deal almost all kinds of computer virus on a PC that is Window base, and often times it is a lot tedious spending time cleaning a PC infected with viruses than just reformat the whole thing and re-load the drivers and needed software.
But, their are situations that a PC has a special programs installed that the owner don't have the installer and need to be preserved, In situation such this one you have no choice but to try everything to clean the virus and have his current installation be preserved by all means.
The best way to clean an infected HDD is to pull-out the hard drive from its CPU and have it scanned by a known clean and well protected PC, normally I suggest installing at least two effective anti virus programs to have a good chance of eradicating the infection(s)of a particular hard drive, and make sure that the virus database of all your anti virus or spyware programs are up to date before inserting a hard drive that is infected with virus.
After being certain that the infection has been removed, install back the hard disk to its CPU and check if its working fine, check also if restrictions on some of the utilities mentioned above has been restored, if some of it are missing or still disabled I suggest that you download a restrictions removal tool(RRT) to solve the problem(search the net).Also don't forget to update virus pattern(s) of your anti virus and make a full scan to check if there was no more infections left.
If in any case after 2 or 3 days the same virus re-appear and mess up your PC's configuration all over again, you have no choice but to re-format the hard drive and loads a fresh copy of your OS and application softwares.
Viruses can be avoided if the user itself is cautions in dealing files coming from the net, FDD, Flash Drives, CD...etc. Plus make sure that its anti-virus pattern(virus datatbase) is always up to date and perform a regular scan at least once every week.In my experience, a lot of end-users dont care if there anti virus database is up-to-date, what most users believed that as long that they have an anti-virus program installed on their PC they are already safe.
A well informed PC user will have lower risk of a virus infection in their PC, compare to PC users that don't have proper know how in dealing computer viruses.
Keyboard Lock-up at Windows log-in or installation!
Day after day, I encounter unusual problem on the field, such as this one:
The OS: Windows XP
Problem Found: Keyboard lock-up when you you reach at log-in window(Cant type anything), but mouse is functional
Troubleshooting Done: Check keyboard on DOS mode, its working fine. Try to replace a USB keyboard, problem still exist. Try to fresh install OS without reformatting,still the same problem.
Solution: Reformat the hard drive, problem disappear,the problem was cause by a problematic OS.
The OS: Windows XP
Problem Found: Keyboard lock-up when you you reach at log-in window(Cant type anything), but mouse is functional
Troubleshooting Done: Check keyboard on DOS mode, its working fine. Try to replace a USB keyboard, problem still exist. Try to fresh install OS without reformatting,still the same problem.
Solution: Reformat the hard drive, problem disappear,the problem was cause by a problematic OS.
No Sound Outpot(Unusual Problem)
Problem was encountered in Windows XP
Problem Background: Just installed a new OS (Windows XP) everything is working fine, except when you play a sound nothing is heard. I check the audio properties at control panel, it is properly installed. We suspect that it has a defective onboard audio chipset, so we replace a PCI sound card, still the same problem. What I did is reformat the harddrive and repeat the whole installation process, and there you go sound comes back.
Cause of the Problem: Upon studying the case, it was found out that end-user tests Windows Media player in Windows XP without the sound driver installed yet. Windows loads a default sound device which is not its current audio device. Even if you installed the sound driver afterward, it wont revert to the actual sound device.
Note: To avoid this kind of a problem make sure to load the driver of your audio device first, before running Windows Media player
Internet Explorer Indicates Page Cannot Be Displayed
Unit Description: P4 IBM Compatible PC
OS: Windows XP
Problem(s) Encountered: Page cannot be display indicates in the browser, Even if Internet Connection is active(dial-up connection).
Problem(s) Found: System is loaded with Cookies and Temporary Internet files
Service Done: Clear cookies and temporary internet file. At the menu page of your internet browser click tools>internet options> delete cookies and delete files, then restart PC.
Note: If still wont work after restart, then its a different case!
