Free Computer Consultant ………. Daily Insights

I have been using Ultimate Boot CD recently to give myself convenient access to a hard drive that will not boot Windows for one reason or another. And while convenient to use, Ultimate Boot CD might not be the best all around tool to have on hand simply because the antivirus definitions are not very recent (a new beta release changes that but they will go out of date too naturally).

Many people don’t follow my advice for safe computing or to install competent auto updating internet security software and end up with problems requiring a rescue boot cd to clean their PC.

So when I saw some of the free rescue cds profiled in another letter recently, I thought I would highlight them here. There are pros and cons to each of the four, and rather than rank them as others do, I will just list them and let you look for yourself.

I really hate rankings unless one is head and shoulders above the rest. Reason being is that I know as soon as I write something in this business, someone has updated their software and what I wrote is out of date.

The first is Avira’s rescue CD. Avira’s AntiVir kind of jumped on the scene recently with some good scores in their free antivirus solution.

Bitdefender is a well known name and you can find theirs here. Beware that this is an .ISO image that you have to burn to a CD with either freeware or paid commercial software.

F-Secure’s CD is available here.

Kaspersky Rescue CD here. (This also an .ISO)

The nice thing about the rescue CDs mentioned is that they have a variety of tools on them, not just virus and malware cleaning tools.

Have these available ahead of time, before the problem rears its ugly head. That way you don’t have to borrow a friends CD and worry about whether his CD burner works or what software he has available to burn an .ISO image to CD.

Yesterday I was doing some installs and upgrades of Comodo’s free antimalware software BOClean, now version 4.27.

While I don’t expect anything to go wrong, here’s what I did anyway.

• Quick System State Backup just because these workstations haven’t had one in quite some time. That updates the C:\Windows\Repair directory with current copies of the important registry hives.
• Created a restore point, labeled it “Before BOClean 4.27″
• Shutdown any current copy of BOClean running
• Uninstalled old version of BOClean
• Installed new version

Fortunately nothing did go wrong, but it never hurts to protect yourself with a few simple, free insurance policies against a current or future problem.

I have how to videos for the system state backup and restore point if you are unsure how.

With Windows operating systems it is common practice to have to reboot the server or workstation from time to time just to straighten things out. Add to that the times you reboot because you installed or updated a program and you can be rebooting quite often.

Don’t Touch That Dial!

I think the narrator in the TV version of Batman used to yell that out, but I could be wrong. What I mean is this: Don’t reboot without considering that the computer may not come up after the reboot.

When was your last backup?

Before you reboot, make a quick backup of at least the work you know has changed since your last good backup. Also think about your contingency plan in case the server or workstation chooses not to come alive again.

It’s just a fact with computer hardware that any time it’s running, it might be the last time. Does this happen frequently? Thankfully, no. But over the last couple of decades I have received enough frantic calls when it hasn’t to warrant mentioning it here.

Then there is the Windows operating system.

Just last week a client called me to say that their Windows 2000 server had a BSOD (blue screen of death) with 0×0000007B “Inaccessible Boot Device” on the screen. Not good.

Everything was working just fine except that a vendor support person couldn’t get in with pcAnywhere (an old as the hills remote control program). Why they haven’t joined the 21st century by using a product like PCNow for tech support access is beyond me. So, without thinking about the last 3 nights backups that did NOT complete successfully, they rebooted.

After spending about 3 hours following all of Microsoft’s suggestions and Googling for any other hints, I punted. With a Windows Server 2003 CD at arms reach I couldn’t justify spending any more time trying to fix Windows 2000.

Fortunately, Windows 2000 Server was all that was corrupt; the data was all good (sigh of relief here). This is a client that does NOT hire me to monitor their server and such items as backup - that may change. A new Dell PowerEdge Server has also been ordered.

So before you click on Start | Shutdown | Restart - ask yourself what you will do if it doesn’t restart; and do a quick backup first.

Sometimes when your computer is acting sluggish or a program like Adobe Acrobat Reader appears to hang or freeze, the problem could be excessive Windows temporary files gumming up the works.

I have seen instances where Microsoft Word will lock up or otherwise misbehave and the solution is as simple as cleaning out excessive Windows temp files.

Microsoft doesn’t exactly make that easy to do.

By default, Windows buries the temporary folder in a hidden portion of the User Profile directory. Further, the tool Disk Cleanup is buried in the Start Menu under All Programs | Accessories | System Tools and by default does not delete temp files.

After several instances at client locations where the fix to a problem software program was to clean out the Windows temp folder, I thought I should do a short screencast video explaining the problem and the solution:

How and Why To Clean Out Windows Temporary Files

Please remember that it is ALWAYS wise to have a good backup of your computer before performing any system maintenance or deleting any files.

When it’s all done, you may find your computer or some particular software program runs faster or more reliably than before.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) is now available and will even show up with automatic updates. While there really isn’t anything earth shattering about SP3 for XP, it certainly streamlines the process of installing Windows XP from scratch, such as when needing to reinstall Windows.

For the most part, SP3 is just a convenient rollup of all prior patches since and including Windows XP Service Pack 2. If nothing else, it allows a person to keep their PC a bit cleaner since each individual update will many times leave behind and uninstall directory - compressed, but still unneeded.

I have seen some users warn that after installing XP SP3 their computer wouldn’t even boot, even couldn’t get into the BIOS screen. That may be true, but a coincidence. I know of no way for the installation of a Windows Service Pack to prevent the PC from presenting you the option of entering the BIOS screen. If that isn’t happening, you have a hardware issue.

Certainly, if it works don’t fix it. I see Windows XP Service Pack 3 as a faster way of setting up new PC’s, not a way of fixing old ones.

If XP is sluggish and you decide on a reinstall (after a complete backup, better yet - 2), SP3 will make your life easier and the process quicker.

But if it works, don’t fix it.

I wish I weren’t such a nice guy. A gal that works for one of my clients asked where she could take her laptop to for cleaning.

There wasn’t anyone I really felt comfortable recommending and I figured “how bad can it be?”

“Bring it to me”, I foolishly said.

It’s an IBM Thinkpad, which is good, with a Celeron processor, that’s bad.

Even though it has a Windows XP Pro license sticker on the bottom, XP Home is installed - Strike two.

And this thing is so polluted you can barely move the mouse pointer. There was no working antivirus software, although I finally found some program shortcuts for Norton 2003. No sign of the software though.

Internet Explorer is absolutely useless, well, more than usual. Unless you like infinite exploding popup windows. So after cleaning out the registry and everything else that was easy to find, I loaded BOClean antitrojan, antimalware and Firefox. BOClean has found only 1 item so far (and killed it).

Firefox runs, go to Google and do a search, no problem. Try to navigate to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and the program closes.

Using a USB flash drive I copied adaware 2007 (free version) and ran it twice. Found quite a bit and cleaned it. Now it refuses to run.

Using a USB flash drive I copied SysClean from another PC where I downloaded it. It gave me fits too, but finally I was able to make it run.

Also from a USB flash drive I copied the free antivirus from Comodo. It found nothing, although much had already been cleaned.

Searching for RootKits I used F-Secure’s Free (expires Oct 1st) BlackLight. It found nothing.

The persistent file I find, loading from the registry is PRX.exe in C:\Windows\System32. Googling it brought up nothing of any use.

I keep threatening to blast the whole thing, format the drive and reinstall Windows XP Pro from scratch but:

• I’m stubborn and see this as a challenge
• The owner says there is nothing she wants on the machine, but I’ve heard that before
• I can save C:\Windows\inf off to USB before I blast it, but I still fear the potential hassle of finding all of the drivers I will need for a laptop this old

Folks, surf wisely. Check out my User Behavior page on my website. Use SiteAdvisor. Run a competent antivirus program and BOClean for malware. Don’t open suspicious emails.

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Update

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• McAfee’s rootkit tool found nothing
• Trend Micro PC-Cillin would not install.. reported corrupt installation file. Installs fine on other, known clean, PC’s
• Navigating to Avast.com or AVG in Firefox caused the browser to immediately close
• Even if left unattended, at some point IE windows would open at a furious rate trying to go to www.llehs.com

Final resolution: Wipe Drive and Reinstall Windows XP.

Ever notice that it takes 4 or 5 times longer to tell someone what they don’t want to hear than to tell them what they want to hear?

I had a conversation with a cheap (not inexpensive) Dell desktop computer owner today. He bought this “good deal” 13 months ago. It came with a 1 year warranty. It came with RAID 1 (mirrored hard drives) to help protect his data.

Sidenote: RAID 1 protects you if 1 hard drive dies. Period. If the controller goes bad gradually (bad thing, rather have it die outright), or if a hard drive just starts scrambling data, you will likely end up with either 2 hard drives of either mismatched garbage or matched garbage.

For $39, Dell helped him get the RAID array re-mirrored. 24 hours later, the array is again being reported as “degraded”, i.e., both drives not matched. Windows is locking up and certain program files are being reported as corrupted or “damaged”. Want to take a guess what his data files are like?

The user tells me all of this, then carefully explains what error messages his browser reports when surfing a local news website. It takes 15 minutes to tell him to quit worrying about Windows until he has the hardware working solidly.

I tell him that after he gets the hardware repaired and squared away - I recommend he ask Dell for an extended service contract, they might do it at 13 months - he will likely have to reload Windows from the Dell Recovery CD that came with his PC. A Windows Repair install is probably not even a good idea at this point.

Oops. This was one of those “today only” super specials (that you can get every day) and, in order to offer such a good deal, Dell decided they couldn’t afford the 39 cents it would cost them to include a recovery CD.

I’ve said before, I say again, there are few reasons not to get a 3 year warranty on computer hardware:

• You pride yourself on being penny wise and pound foolish
• You are using the PC’s to run a political campaign and the election is less than 1 year from now
• Your doctor gives you less than 1 year to live and you have no heirs
• Your wealth makes Bill Gates and Warren Buffet look like middle class citizens

Think about it. The (r)e-tailer thinks so highly of the product that they are only willing to stand behind it for a year. Why should you think it will last longer than that?

If you buy right and your needs change little (my clients still use Microsoft Office 2000) that PC you buy today should cover your needs for at least 3 years. My clients typically get 5 - 8 years from PC’s.

I could fill a book with stories of computer hardware that had a 1 year warranty that died after 13 months. The name Gateway stands out in this category but Dell would find its name there too.

Don’t buy without a 3 year warranty. If you do, please don’t call me when it pukes after 13 months.

I think it no coincidence that some PC’s have been locking up the last couple of days. Here in the Midwest, temperatures are above 90 degrees (F) and humidity is somewhere north of 100%.

Unfortunately, dissimilar machines are exhibiting almost identical behavior. These PC’s, some W2K Pro and some XP Pro, boot to the blue GUI (not the BSOD blue), the mouse is active, but they never display the login prompt.

Naturally, these computers are poorly ventilated in the first place, and filled with dust bunnies in the second place.

One W2K machine responded nicely to an XP Pro upgrade; the XP Pro box, while giving a “Data Error Reading” when I try to select recovery console from the boot menu, seems unwilling to let SpinRite detect and fix the read error.

Frustrating and time consuming. If you have any similar stories, please post a comment with the details.

Adobe Acrobat Reader v7.08 is a pretty stable program. My advice is to ALWAYS go into Edit | Preferences | Updates and check “never check for updates”.

Adobe Acrobat update will want you to download and install v8.1.

Some people are reporting that as soon as they update, and reboot - naturally, they are told by the Adobe updater that they need to reboot, again. Then after they reboot, they are told they need to reboot, again. Seeing the problem?

If you have this problem, check out Adobe’s TechNote 332745, and hope that their infobase isn’t down.

If you own Dell stock and are less than pleased with the performance, I’m afraid that it’s partly my fault.

You see, it’s almost daily that someone asks me whether the remedy to their slow pc is to buy a new one.

“How old is it?”, I ask. If the answer is 4 years or less, then I can presume that:

• They probably have a Pentium 4
• They probably don’t have Windows ME
• They probably can add RAM real cheap (Rambus excepted)

Case in point over the weekend.  Pentium 4 1.7, 512MB RAM, decent 7200rpm hard drive. Windows 2000 Pro was installed, along with all kinds of picture and photo printer garbage. Ran like a hog with no legs.

I backed up all of the data, twice, and did a clean install of Windows XP Pro. Be innovative and you can pick up a copy of XP cheap, if not free. Possibly even legally

Ok, just kidding. I don’t recommend pirating software, but between extra open license copies, cheap OEM licenses, legitimate educational copies - you get the idea.

At 512 RAM, this machine didn’t even need any money spent on it.

After the clean install of Windows XP Pro and just the needed software, no extra garbage, and this PC came to life.

Unless you are running the latest and greatest high intensity software, chances are that a clean install (after 2 backups!) will give you back that new PC performance you haven’t had in years.