Protecting Your Computer From Viruses and Spyware

Posted on Jul 18, 2007 in Security, Windows | 1 Comment

Security has become a huge concern for many users, especially if you are online on a frequent basis. It is important to ensure that your computer is as secure as possible to prevent unauthorized users from poking around in your computer.

There are many steps that you can take to ensure that your information is safe:

  1. Use a hardware firewall with a strong password associated with the administrative account. Many routers have a built-in firewall.
  2. Install a good software firewall, such as ZoneAlarm.
  3. Install a good anti-virus. Retail products include McAfee, and Norton from Symantec. A good free alternative is AVG.

    4. Note: Only install one anti-virus software on your computer. You could run into problems if more than one is installed.

  4. Install anti-spyware software such as Ad-Aware and Spybot – Search & Destroy. Both of these can be installed on the same computer.
  5. Install all security updates for your operating system. The updates can be set to automatically download and install.
  6. Update your anti-virus and anti-spyware software. The updates can be scheduled or be done manually from within the software.
  8. Schedule your anti-virus and anti-spyware software to run at least once a week. You should also run them manually if you suspect a virus or spyware has infected your computer.
  9. If you have children, setup parental controls on your firewalls (both hardware and software). This will help prevent your children from visiting less that ideal Web sites.
  10. Don’t open e-mails from individuals you don’t know. Just delete them.
  11. Don’t click a URL link in an e-mail. Instead, copy and paste the link into a Web browser manually to ensure you open the correct Web page.

Connecting Multiple Computers to Broadband

Posted on Jul 16, 2007 in Networking | 7 Comments

Broadband, or high-speed, Internet connection is what many users currently use in their home. Along with high-speed Internet, many users may also use a router to allow multiple computers to connect to the Internet. This post will describe how a router is used to connect multiple computers. To make it easier to understand, I will use where you live as a comparison to how your computer is connected to the Internet.

Click to continue reading »

Myth: 72dpi for Web Images

Posted on Jul 13, 2007 in Digital Cameras, Digital Photos, Scanning | 2 Comments

Every time I read articles or tutorials about saving images for Web pages or sending through e-mail they always mention saving the images with a resolution of 72dpi or Dots Per Inch. The interesting fact about this suggestion is that a computer monitor doesn’t deal with dots or inches, but rather with pixels.

The resolution of a monitor is indicated as two numbers: [number of pixels for width]x[number of pixels for height]. For example, resolutions are indicated as 800×600 or 1024×768. You notice no mention of dots or inches because a monitor only cares about the number of pixels. This means that when creating images for viewing on a monitor it is important to pay close attention to the size of the file in pixels.

Let’s see an example of how this works. Below you will see two images from the same image. The top image has a print resolution of 300dpi, while the bottom one has a resolution of 10dpi. You will notice that when displayed on the monitor, they are identical. With regards to monitors, both are the same size: 225×300.

A 225×300 pixel image will always be displayed as 225 by 300 pixels regardless of the screen size in inches.

Summary

Unlike printing, DPI as no affect on how an image is displayed on a computer monitor. When resizing an image for Web sites or e-mails it is important to resize the image based on the number of pixels, and not DPI.

Broadband Internet Connection – Troubleshooting

Posted on Jul 11, 2007 in Networking, Windows | No Comments

Many times as I connect to the Internet I realize that I don’t establish a connection. My modem and router (Linksys BEFSX41) are on and connected, but still I can’t reach the Internet. The purpose of this post is to discuss the steps I take to bringing my modem, router and computer back online.

Note: This post assumes that you know how to log into your router and know where specific settings, such as the IP addresses are displayed.

Reset the Equipment

Before changing the settings, you should first reset all equipment as the first step. The following steps describe the order to reset the equipment:

  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Turn off or unplug the router.
  3. Turn off or unplug the modem.
  4. Wait 5 seconds.
  5. Plug in the modem and wait for it to come back online.
  6. Plug in the router and wait for it to come back online.
  7. Turn on the computer and login.
  8. Click Start->Run.
  9. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  10. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  11. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you can’t get an Internet connection then continue on to the next section.

Checking Router Connectivity

In this section we will check to ensure that the router has an IP address from your Internet Service Provider (ISP).

  1. Open up a Web browser and navigate to your router setup.
  2. Once the setup loads, navigate to the page that displays the IP address assigned by your ISP. For my Linksys router is shown by clicking the Status menu item.
  3. There may be buttons or links to release and renew the IP address. First, release the address, and then renew it. For my Linksys router, I first click the DHCP Release button and then the DHCP Renew button.
  4. An Internet or IP address should now be displayed in the page. If it doesn’t, then check to ensure that the router is connected to the modem and perform the previous step again. If you still don’t get an IP address then skip the next steps and continue directly with the next section.
  5. Click Start->Run.
  6. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  7. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  8. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you can’t get an Internet connection then continue on to the next section.

Computer to Modem Connection

This section will determine if you can actually get an IP address from your modem, which would mean that there is a problem with the router. Follow the next few steps to perform the connection:

  1. Disconnect the cable connecting the router and the computer from the computer.
  2. Disconnect the cable connecting the modem and the router from the router.
  3. Connect the cable from the modem directly into the network card in your computer. Plug the cable into the same location as the router was connected into.
  4. Click Start->Run.
  5. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  6. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  7. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you don’t then call your ISP technical support number and inform them of a problem. If you do, then there may be an issue with your router. Continue to the next section to see if the router problem can be fixed.
  8. Before continuing, however, ensure that you plug in all the cables as previous to following the steps in the section. This means that the connection should be: modem->router->computer.

Troubleshooting the Router

Up to this point we have reset all the equipment, tested the router, and the modem. It has been determined that the problem may be with the router. This section will attempt to solve the issue.

  1. If you closed the Web browser from a previous section then open a Web browser and navigate to your router’s setup.
  2. Navigate to the page containing your Internet Setup. For my router it is the first page that is displayed.
  3. Your setup hear depends on your ISP. Since I have cable as my Internet connection I make sure that setup is set to Obtain an IP automatically. If you have broadband dialup, you may need to select PPPoE and specify a user name an password. Check with the documentation provided by your ISP to determine which setting you should use.
  4. Ensure that DHCP on the router is enabled.
  5. Ensure that the number of IP addresses managed by the router can accommodate the number of computers that will be connected to it.
  6. Save any setting changes you made.
  7. Click Start->Run.
  8. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  9. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  10. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you can’t, then continue to the next step.
  11. At this point you should try resetting the router to factory defaults and try the previous four steps again. Please read the documentation that came with your router on resetting it.
  12. If it still doesn’t work then there could be a hardware issue with the router. If you just bought it, return it to the store and get a new replacement. If it is an older router, you may need to buy a new one.

Summary

This post described how to troubleshoot a broadband Internet connection. I hope that the tips provided here have help to solve connection issues that you may be having.

Windows Explorer Won’t Load – Advanced Solution

Posted on Jul 9, 2007 in Windows | 2 Comments

In a previous post, I described how I was able to solve my Windows Explorer problem. I didn’t go into great detail on how I managed to find the solution, so I thought I would expand on that and describe steps you can take.

First, let me say that not having Windows Explorer running is not the end of the world. Your computer can still function, as Windows Explorer is just the Graphic User Interface (GUI). Of course, you would like to get it back (preferably without reinstalling Windows), so I’m hoping this post can help. Keep in mind that some of the steps described below can be very advanced, but may be needed to troubleshoot the problem.

List of Needed Software

Before we begin, we will need the following tools installed:

  • Anti-virus software. Try one of these if you don’t have any installed:
  • Anti-spyware software. Download and install the following two applications:

  • Filemon. We will use this to see what files Windows Explorer is accessing.
  • Regmon. Similar to Filemon, except it will show the registry keys.

As we research the problem, there may be more tools to install, however, this is a good start.

Installing the Software

The first step to determining the problem is to download and install the tools. If you are not on the machine with the Windows Explorer problem, please switch to that machine, turn it on and log in.

Perform the following steps:

  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to display the Task Manager.
  2. Click File->New Task (Run…) to display the Run dialog.

    Note: As an alternative to the above steps you could type WINDOWS KEY+R. From this point on, when you need to run an application, use this method.

  3. In the Run dialog enter iexplore.exe, and then click OK. This will open Internet Explorer.
  4. Navigate back to this page, and download the necessary software by following the above links.
  5. Install each software application on you machine. Remember where you installed the software since you will need to manually run each application.

Once the software has completed, continue on to the next section.

Checking for Viruses and Spyware

Most likely the cause of your Windows Explorer problem is a virus or spyware. The first thing that we will do is to check the machine for both.

  1. First execute you anti-virus software. Take any action to remove any viruses on the computer.
  2. Next, run the Ad-Aware software to find and remove any spyware.
  3. After Ad-Aware has run, execute Spybot to also search for spyware. Take the necessary action to delete any spyware.
  4. Reboot you computer and see if Windows Explorer loads and if it doesn’t then continue on to the next section.

The above tools may not have found any viruses or spyware, but there still may be some existing on your computer. When my Windows explorer failed to load, I ran both the anti-virus and anti-spyware applications and neither reported any problems. I had to dig deeper to find the cause of my problem. In the next section, we will dig deeper and see what Windows Explorer is doing.

Examining the Windows Explorer Process

This section requires you to execute the Filemon utility. This is a more advanced utility, but I’ll try to make it as easy as possible to understand. Follow these steps to look at the files accessed by Windows Explorer:

  1. Open the Filemon utility by executing the filemon.exe file. This will open the Filemon window, which should start filling up with information.
  2. Stop the capturing by pressing CTRL+E. We will only be capturing the Explorer process to make it easier to find the problem.
  3. Press CTRL+L to open the filter dialog.
  4. In the Include text box type explorer.exe. The next image shows the filter set to explorer.exe.

  5. Click the OK button to save the filter.
  6. Click Options and then Advanced Output to display even more information.
  7. At the main Filemon window, press CTRL+X to clear any results in the window.
  8. Now we should begin capturing. Press CTRL+E to start the capture. Since Explorer is running, there shouldn’t be anything appearing in the window.
  9. Open the run dialog, and enter explorer.exe and press OK. At this point Windows Explorer will attempt to load but will fail. That’s OK because the Filemon window will now be populated with some information.
  10. Once the capture has completed, press CTRL+E again to stop the capture.
  11. Scroll to the first item in the Filemon list and press CTRL+F to find specific results. In the Find window type FAILURE and press Find Next.
  12. If you found a record with a FAILURE result, look up that filename on the Internet, such as Google, or an anti-virus Web site. If that file is listed as a virus or spyware, search for a file to remove it.

    For example, when I had problems with Windows Explorer, Filemon indicated that Windows Explorer failed when writing to C:\Windows\System32\yycdd.tmp2. I performed a search on the file, but couldn’t find any information. Next I searched for yycdd and came back with some links. You may have to perform the same search technique for your files: first the whole name and then part of the name.

  13. If you need more information, you can also execute Regmon using the same steps as Filemon. They are similar tools, but Regmon displays registry keys accessed by Windows Explorer.
  14. If you are having difficulty with Filemon, or Regmon, then press CTRL+S to save the results to a log file, and then send them to me at admin@technicallyeasy.net and I will analyze them for you.

Summary

The above steps are the ones that I followed when I solved my Windows Explorer problem. They are more advanced than simply executing programs, but sometimes computer problems can be complex. There are other tools available that may help, such as HijackThis, so you can try running those as well to see if they pick up anything. As always, you can contact me for more information.

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