January 6, 2009

What happened this morning

I was composing my Tuesday Teaser photo verification post this morning when my isp gave up the ghost. I did what I always do when that happens. I obsessively clicked “Refresh” and various bookmarked URLs, hoping against hope that something magical would happen and my connection would come back. It didn’t, so I decided to use my time a little more productively and make a run to the grocery store.

This is what I saw when I got near the entrance to my community. Oceanic Time Warner apparently knew that y’all were waiting for me to make a winner’s announcement and they got right on top of their repairs. They must have sent all of their Westside personnel out to take care of me. I had passed a single truck near my house, so there were six altogether, one hauling a trailer. I was feeling the love!

See that coil of nasty, dirty cable on the back of the lead truck? That’s 320 feet of cable - enough to stretch from end zone to end zone, with a little left over - that had to be pulled from the underground conduit.

The field service personnel of Oceanic Time Warner asked me to apologize to you for ruining your morning. They’re very sorry and will try their best to not let it happen again. Aren’t they just the nicest folks? They took about two hours to fix things up. That’s pretty phenomenal in my book!

[tags]cable service, cable service outage, Oceanic Time Warner, nice guys[/tags]

September 21, 2008

Missing my PC

I’m getting used to working at my desk from a laptop that is hardwired to my modem and printer. It’s not very comfortable, though. I’d much rather have my PC back and save the laptop for on-the-road stuff. My beautiful HP desktop computer has been riding around in my car with me for the last week instead. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that Trojan Viruses are “relatively harmless.” They can replicate like mad (like viruses!) and take over your hard drive. My computer geek has been sick, so I haven’t had the chance to deliver my poor, battered PC to him, but we had a long talk on the phone yesterday. He thinks, from what I’ve told him, that he can rescue my computer. He thinks that recovering the data from it is not going to happen. He thinks that he will have to wipe my hard drive completely clean in order to remove the virus. In his words, it would be like having a completely new computer by the time he’s through with it. I want all the files and photos and data I’ve lost, but having my desktop back would be a second-best scenario, even if it comes back as a blank slate. It’s all speculation at this point anyway. There’s a remote possibility that he may be able to bring my old programs and files back intact. There’s a much stronger possibility that the PC is a complete loss and I’ll never use it again. Knowing this, I’ve been shopping online, just in case I need to buy a new computer. Having just spent a small fortune on my new laptop, I’m not going to have much money to work with. I found the bargain linked and pictured above at Buy.com. It’s an HP Pavilion almost identical to the old computer. Transition to working with this computer should be almost seamless because it’s so similar to the computer I lost. You know me - I hate change, so minimizing its impact is important to me. Price is important too, of course, so this refurbished computer immediately caught my eye. It’s on sale for only $399.99, a very sweet price. Actually, Buy.com has sweet prices on everything they sell. The HP Pavilion laptop I just paid $799 for? Buy.com has it for $599. I’ve been lusting after a digital camcorder and thought I couldn’t afford one, but Buy.com has several top brands that I could squeeze into my budget. They aren’t just for electronics, either. They’ve got some great bargains on everything from clothing and jewelry to sports equipment and home appliances. I’ve added Buy.com to my bookmarks so I’ll remember to check them out first the next time I want to do some shopping online. Go check them out and you’ll see why.

[tags]bargains, computers, discount shopping, electronics, online shopping[/tags]

September 15, 2008

Still looking for the perfect antivirus software

I’m still reeling from the shock and frustration of losing my hard drive to a virus. The good news is that I’ve found a computer geek right up the road who thinks he can clean the thing up enough for me to retieive a few years worth of files, photos, contacts and personal writing. He may even be able to make my old computer usable again. The bad news is that it he doesn’t work cheap, but I have a business to run so I’ll pay whatever it takes. The new laptop is fun, but I haven’t adapted well to all the changes. I want my PC back!

I’ve got the laptop connected to my cable modem right now, but I’m very concerned about the increased security risks once I go wireless and start carrying it around with me. No one but me has physical access to my computer today, but that would change if someone stole it from my car or if I got stupid and left it unattended in a coffee shop. It’s too easy for scumbags to steal identities through cybercpace. Imagine the havoc that would ensue if they had unfettered access to my actual computer. I thought the Vista feature that allows easy password sign-ins was pretty nice until I thought about it for a while. Someone with physical access to my computer would only need to decipher one password to have instant access to all of my personal info and passwords for all of my accounts. Sheesh! What were they thinking even offering such a feature? Needless to say, I’m not using it, but I’m also concerned about the increased risk of sharing wireless access with others in public places. I’ve still got a lot of homework to do, but wouldn’t that make me even more vulnerable to intrusion? Ack! So much to learn! The one thing I know without doing any homework at all is that I need to decide soon which Antivirus Software to install. The lappy came with Norton, so I have some protection, but I’ve never been a huge fan of Symantec. I reviewed my problems with them and some other AV softwares when I was telling you how I lost the old PC, so I won’t rehash that now. I’m through with them and am shopping for something that will offer me real protection. Today I’ve been looking at CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0 and I’m liking what I see. You’ll recall that my recent problems started when I opened an application from a “trusted” site? What frustrated me most about the whole fiasco was that I had a supposedly premium service installed. It not only allowed me to open the appliction, it couldn’t remove the virus once it had installed itself. What I need is an antivirus software that is stupid-proof. Let’s face it - I’m pretty naive when it comes to anything involving technology. I need a babysitter to keep me out of trouble. CyberDefender would have scanned, identified, quarantined, and removed the virus with just a few clicks. That’s what I’m talking about! You’ll want to visit the site yourself and do your own homework, but here are some of the features you’ll find with CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0:

Spyware Removal - detects and removes dangerous spyware and adware from your computer. My old protection removed hundreds at a time - but why did it wait until there were hundreds to deal with?

Virus Protection - detects and removes viruses from your computer. That’s where my previous provider failed me!

Spam Killer - blocks email with spyware and viruses. I manually removed a few dozen spam emails this morning, as I do every day - with Norton running! What’s wrong with that picture?

Intrusion Controls - get the latest Microsoft updates and remove personal information stored on your computer. I love this! From the website: “You can help prevent identity theft by using CyberDefenderFREE’s earlyMONITOR to remind you of Windows updates days before they are available from Microsoft.” Updates are good - early updates - early protection? Much better!

Scam Shield - identifies and warns you about phishing sites and other potentially dangerous websites. Would have been nice to know that the “trusted” site where I got the virus was actually a very clever replica of the real thing, don’t you think?

That’s just some of what you’ll get with CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0, which, by the way, will cost you less than half of what you’ll pay for Norton. Go check them out and tell me what you think. What I think is that I’ve found a very good thing!

[tags]antivirus software, computer viruses, computer protection, CyberDefender Early Detection Center™ 2.0[/tags]

September 5, 2008

Creating a comfortable work environment

I told y’all two days ago that using my new laptop has already caused a bad flare of the tendonitis in my hands and wrists. I’ve been gripping tools and using them to bang on the structures I inspect for almost thirty years now. That led to a condition called DeQuerveins, a repetitive motion injury to the thumb. Trying to accommodate the DeQuerveins caused me to grip things awkwardly and I developed carpal tunnel syndrome and tennis elbow. I then tried to work left-handed for a while & the result is that I have all three conditions on both the left and right sides. I work carefully these days and my hands and arms haven’t been giving me trouble until this week. Right now my new laptop is sitting on my desk. I don’t have a wireless setup yet, so I’ve had to place it where I can plug into my cable modem. The top of the desk is too high for keyboard placement, so my hands are giving me fits once again. I bought a wireless mouse and a slant board/cooling fan yesterday, hoping they would help. They haven’t. I need to get myself set up with some truely ergonomic computer accessories that will allow me to return to proper posture and hand positioning. Going wireless will help - I’ll be able to use my laptop at a more comfortable level - but what I’m most concerned with is supporting my wrists and positioning all of my equipment in a way that will reduce risk of injury. I’ve found several solutions at iShopErgonomics.com. That’s the Bakker Elkhuizen Ergo-Q 330 up there at the top of my post. It will pack up and go wherever I take my laptop so I can always have a wrist-friendly ergonomic workstation, no matter where I use my computer. It’s a thing of beauty. I like it. I want it.

You may not have any repetitive motion injuries that require special accomodations. Good for you. Now you need to do something to insure that you stay injury-free and pain-free. Check out iShopErgonomics for all the accessories you need, for your home or office work station and for portable comfort when you’re on the go. It’s the smart thing to do.

[tags]computer comfort, computers, ergonomics, ergonomic work accessories[/tags]

September 4, 2008

I told you I live in the country

It must seem to you like I’ve done nothing but deal with computer problems for the last two weeks. It’s felt like that to me, but I have done a few other things. Last Friday I did a termite inspection for a home right up the coast from me. I enjoyed a little “talk story” time with the very nice local couple who own the home and they introduced me to their pets. That’s Poomba and Wilbur up there, who behave more like puppies than pigs one generation removed from feral. They were pushing their snouts through the fencing to try to check me out, but that made it hard to see their faces. Their papa stepped in and rattled their food bowl so I could get a picture. First thing I noticed about them: they didn’t stink. I’ve been around pigs before and this was a new and different experience. I’m thinking that their pen must be cleaned every day. There’s plenty of mud in their pen for them to wallow and cool off in, so they were muddy, but not smelly at all.

Feral pigs are a real problem in Hawaii. They’re quite destructive to our forests and have contributed to the loss and/or endangerment of indigenous plants and habitats. Hawaii has no indigenous mammals, so all of them that exist here now are intrusive in our fragile environment. Feral pigs are controlled mostly by hunters, a solution which works well because pork plays a big part in local diets. Many of my neighbors are hunters and most of us benefit by having local pork in the freezer year-round. Poomba and Wilbur were found after a hunter took their mother. Not wanting to leave the piglings to fend for themselves, he brought them to my clients, who have been great foster-parents to them and won’t be turning them into kalua pork.

Update on my computer woes: I bought a cooling pad and a wireless mouse today. My wrist is already inflamed after only a couple of days of using the flat keyboard and touchpad on the lappy, so I’m hoping the more ergonomic design will help with that. I also found my tech geek this morning. He’s a guy I’ve known for a while, but I only found out today that he specializes in rescuing damaged hard drives. I’ll take my old computer to him sometime soon & see if he can extract the documents, photos & other data that I can’t access right now.

[tags]computer accessories, computers, feral pigs, feral animals, Hawaii, environment[/tags]

September 3, 2008

I have a lappy!

How did you spend your Labor Day? I was supposed to have lunch with the Table of Contents, including two members who moved a while back but are here visiting. Instead I spent the morning at Office Max. That nasty trojan virus I thought I had defeated a week or so ago? That dragon was not slain, merely resting. It came back with a vengence. At one point there were over 2700 instances of it installed on my computer. I kept cleaning & updating virus definitions & running scans, but on Sunday my poor PC had had enough. The hard drive gave up the ghost. I had done a termite inspection of Friday & hadn’t been able to generate the report that two realtors, an escrow company, a buyer and a seller were waiting on. I needed a new computer immediately. Since I’m going to be traveling soon (for the first time since I got online eight nine years ago) the timing was right for me to buy my first laptop.

I didn’t have time to run all over the island comparision shopping. I’d have done some online research before going out, but … oops! … no hard drive! Office Max is where I’ve been buying office supplies for all the years that I’ve owned my business. They know me there & I trust them. They’re also closer to my home, by at least half an hour, than any other place that carries computers. I bought my last computer and my printers at CompUSA (which was in the same shopping center,) but they’re long gone. Office Max is not an electronics store, so I didn’t have a lot of choices. They only carried six laptops. I liked the one above & was ready to buy it.

When my sales guy (who was also the store manager) went in the back to pull my selection he discovered that he still had this bundle available. Very similar laptop, slightly smaller, but with an Intel Centrino processor (which someone had told me I should get) and also came with some other goodies. I decided to go for it. Sales guy didn’t want me to take his picture, but Priscilla, who brought my stuff to the register and pulled the extra USB cable I wanted (she’s on the left) and the gal who gladly relieved me of a large sum of money (right - don’t remember her name) thought that making an appearance on skeet’s stuff was just fine. The price shown on the Office Max promo was not available to me (things always cost more in Hawaii.) By the time I added Office, the extra USB cable and a super-duper warranty (I always go for the super-duper warranty on electronics) I spent almost exactly $1200. Money I wasn’t planning on spending, but what you gonna do?

Since my sis stubbornly refuses to read my blog it’s safe to tell you this. I was buying her a printer for her birthday. Was actually in the process of ordering it online when one of my crashes occurred last week. The printer that came with my new lappy is an upgrade from what I was planning on sending her. I figure that the only way I’m ever going to see pictures of my two great nieces is to make it easy for her to print photos that she takes with her new digital camera (she’s crawling into the 21st century just a little more slowly than me.) Someday soon I’ll buy some premium photo papers in several sizes and pack this thing up for shipping to Texas. I have an HP Officejet for my own use and didn’t need the extra printer, but it was cool to get a really nice one for Sis in my bundle - two birds, one stone.

My bundle also includes a very cool gear bag. This is probably supposed to be a back-to-school bundle for college kids, but I think it turned out to be a pretty good deal for me. I have an attache’ style lappy bag, but this one is nicely padded and has pockets for all the stuff you need when you go portable. Remember I told you I’ll be traveling sometime soon? I want my new toy well protected from bumps & bruises, so this is how she’ll travel with me.

There she is. As you can see, I shoved everything on my desk aside & set her up there. I suppose I’ll add wireless to my service someday soon, but right now she’s tethered to the desk by a power cord, a printer cord and a USB cable connecting her to my cable modem. Some of the clutter you see behind her has already been cleared away, but I’ll finish tidying up today. I was in a hurry to get things set up so I could get my report out. I finally did that yesterday, three days late. It’s a good thing my clients love me!

I’ve been using my new lappy for about twenty-four hours. The tendonitis in my right wrist is screaming, so I’ll have to figure out the ergonomics of using a flat keyboard. The touchpad is a pain in the butt, but I’m sure I’ll adapt after a while. Right now I’m not liking it at all, so I’ll be adding a mouse for when I’m at my desk. I can’t recover all of the photos and documents & other stuff that I lost with the old hard drive, but I’m slowly downloading the programs I need and refilling my bookmarks and address books. I’m still a technophobe & still hate change, but I’m adapting. I’ll give you an update somewhere down the road & let you know how that’s going. Overall, for right now: still bummed about what I’ve lost, but pretty happy with what I’ve found.

[tags]adapting to change, computer crash, computers, laptop, shopping[/tags]

August 30, 2008

I’m feeling sick

My computer crashed on Friday afternoon. It’s taken me a little more than twenty-four hours to get things back up and running. I was back online briefly earlier today,then crashed again. I was stuck for a while on a DOS page for BIOS ROM chcecksum error - whatever that is. Then I found something called CHKDSK/F running - it deleted some index items, then I finally got a start screen, but one quite different from the norm. I left it open to see what would happen and Windows began re-installing itself. Do you know what that means? Everything I had saved on my computer is gone. I have no documents, no photos, no email, no email addresses, no bookmarks … everything is gone. I can re-intall the templates for my termite inspection reports, but the reports I’ve issued since my last full back-up (about a month ago) are gone. All of my writing is gone - I don’t think I ever backed up my personal stuff. Address lists and mailing labels, all of my BookCrossing labels and bookmarks - gone. Some reference letters I wrote for friends and former co-workers undergoing employment screening - those are gone, too. Looking at my blog in IE is all messed up, too - the text font is different and my left sidebar has dropped off. It looks fine in Firefox, so I know it’s my IE and not my blog that’s wonky, but somehow that doesn’t help much. I feel nauseous and lost and want to bang my head against the wall. If you know of something more productive I should be doing right now, I’d sure like to know what it is. I’m so befuddled I haven’t a clue where to start, except that I know I need to figure out how to reconfig email so I can at least get future mail. It will take forever to rebuild my address book and past experience tells me that some addresses will never appear in my inbox again, so I’ve lost those contacts. Maybe things will look less dismal to me when the sun comes up tomorrow, but right now - yeah, I’m feeling pretty sick.

[tags]computer crash, computer nightmares[/tags]

August 24, 2008

The dragon is slain!

Remember this?

It’s been four long days hunched over my keyboard and I think I’ve developed a permanent dowager’s hump. Four days of stressing and staying up each night “just a little longer,” then finally falling asleep at my desk in the wee hours. Four days of downloading and running various AV software programs. Four days of a computer running so slowly that I was unable to do all of the things I usually do online. Today I announce … SUCCESS! The trojan is dead, and all of his nasty little companions with him!

My problems started Wednesday night when my CA Anti-Virus alerted me to an intruder. Only a Trojan virus, one of the more innocuous forms of malware, but this particual Trojan packs a surprise. The Pupur family of Trojan viruses don’t travel alone. When they come to visit they bring siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles. Several viruses install at once. The reason they’re so pernicious is this: each carries instructions to install the other. Your anti-virus program deletes the first intruder, but before it can get to the companions, they’ve re-installed the one that was already deleted. I was getting pop-up virus alerts every five to thirty seconds as a virus was deleted and then immediately reinstalled. I turned off my alerts in frustration, then went searching for a solution. Here’s the problem with CA: they couldn’t fix it. They were quick to tell me I had a problem, but were not able to get a step ahead of the reinstalls and stop them. After twenty-four or so frustrating hours of research I had enough of a handle on the thing to realize that CA was no longer my friend. What good is an anti-virus program if the only thing it can do is tell you that you’re infected?

I used to have Norton on my computer. It’s the gold standard of anti-virus programs, right? I ditched it in favor of CA a while back because Norton protected me so well that I couldn’t see things I wanted and needed to see - things on my blog like widgets in my sidebars and image maps in my posts. When CA failed me I didn’t want to go back to those problems, so I checked out McAfee. It looked good and came with recommendations from friends, always a plus with me. And if installing and running the program doesn’t delete viruses already present, McAfee offers a Virus Removal Service for only $89.00 - that’s a lot cheaper and a lot more convenient than unhooking your computer, carrying it to a local geek, being totally without service for a few days or a week, then paying a hefty bill. I downloaded the trial scan and set it to work. Over six hours later, McAfee was still scanning and hadn’t yet gone through a quarter of my content. What’s up with that? Meanwhile, a Twitter friend suggested that I try Trend Micro Housecall instead. Feeling like I had nothing to lose, I shut down the ongoing McAfee scan and downloaded the trial version of Trend Micro. It took a little over three hours to scan my computer, then removed all of the malware it found, including my Trojan guests and various adware/spyware intruders that CA had not detected and removed.

Happiness is a search that comes up empty! I searched for the Pupar virus and all the companions that accompanied it when it came for a visit. None of them are now present on my computer. Trend Micro sent them packing without the benefit of lovely parting gifts or even travel insurance. I can only hope that they don’t survive the trip to their next unwilling host! I probably don’t have to tell you I’ll be buying the full version of Trend Micro before my thirty day free trial expires. Your experiences may be different, but Trend Micro is what worked for me. I may be a non-geek, but I know a good thing when I find it!

[tags]anti-virus programs, computer virus, getting rid of trojan virus, trojan virus, virus[/tags]

August 21, 2008

I’ve been invaded

This is what appeared in my computer last night (click the photo to view large enough to read.) I was in a search engine and found an entry that was exactly the phrase I had entered. I clicked on it and a video box came up, but with a notice that I needed to install a new software upgrade in order to view the video. I wanted to see the video, so I installed the stupid thing. As you can see from my scan log above, I opened up Pandora’s box.

I guess my AV protection is pretty good. It deleted the Win32/Puper!generic trojan right away. Here’s the problem, though: it keeps coming back. Literally every thirty second or so I get the above pop-up telling me that it’s back but my AV protection has deleted it.

This has happened hundreds of times since it started last night. If I’m typing when the infection alert pops-up (like right now) I have to stop what I’m doing and close it before I can continue. On the info page for this monster I find that:

The file “intmonp.exe” is usually accompanied by the file “popuper.exe”. Both files are used to re-launch the other in-case any of them are terminated. “popuper.exe” also drops “intmonp.exe” if it is not found on the system. It also sets the following registry value in order to execute itself when “explorer.exe” is started:

This registry value is also monitored by the trojan. If it is modified in any way, the trojan sets it again.

So, that explains what’s going on, but doesn’t tell me anything about how to fix it. I’ve found nothing on the CA site that tells me how to block the blasted thing so it will quit coming back. According to what I’m understanding, it won’t even do any good to open my registry and delete it there because it will continue to re-install itself. Isn’t that what it’s saying? I should tell you the idea of opening my registry and deleting anything scares me to death. I’ve don’t even know how to open my registry, much less how to find the right stuff when I’m in there. I greatly fear that I would do the wrong thing and end up erasing myself from the universe.

If you know what I’m supposed to do, could you help me out here, please?

[tags]computer virus, trojan, pupur trojan[/tags]

July 21, 2008

School talk

I know that quite a few of my regular readers have children in school and that a few of your are in education. You’ll be doing your school or school district a favor when you recommend that they consider VoIP Services from one of the largest providers of telephoney services for schools in the country. Trillion will provide design, installation and day-to-day management of your secure broadband Wide Area Network (WAN) and Voice over IP (VoIP) services through Priority One E-Rate funding, allowing your school to free up more tax and tuition dollars for classroom needs. That seems like a sensible plan to me. Check out the link, then forward it to your purchasing officer. Your kids may even thank you for that some day!

[tags]communications, education, school services, VoIP, WAN[/tags]