Techs-on-Call Computer Blog Keeping you informed about the world of computer issues

Hackers Compromise Jerusalem Post Website

Yesterday hackers attacked the Jerusalem Post website and planted malware on it. While it appears this attack has nothing to do with the recent events between Israel and the Gaza strip, this does highlight the tactics used by malware creators. They want to target as many people as possible, which is why Windows is attacked and why popular websites are attacked. They also run ads for real well-known companies by actually carry malware. Malware is highly profitable and effective. And unfortunately, the bad guys have the time and ability to study every little weakness in every system. They are always two steps ahead. Greed does that the people.

The tricks malware creators use are both direct and indirect. Hacking a website is an indirect way of planting malware because they must exploit a system to secretly install the malware. These attacks are harder, but more difficult to shut down and trace. Direct attacks involve tricking you into carrying out some action. These attacks exploit the weakness of the person.

One of the most effective tools against Malware is to use the FireFox browser along with the NoScript add-in. NoScript is complex, but when used it can block just about every form of indirect secret attack on your computer. FireFox sometimes warns you when a website is compromised; a warning is a great defense against malware.

Sophos labs has a report on the Jerusalem Post attack.

0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 4:51 PM - Categories: Malware | News

Microsoft Ending Bing Cashback

Microsoft announced they were ending Bing cashback. Microsoft states that the program ends on July 30.

Bing cashback was started in 2008. Microsoft loves to take someone's work and try to make it their own. Bill Gates did not make MS-DOS, he bought it from someone else. Microsoft did not invent the graphical user interface idea, they copied it from someone else. And so on. Sometimes Microsoft makes someone's idea better. Internet Explorer was much better than Netscape. Microsoft Office is still far superior than anything else on the market. And Windows 7 is, in my opinion, the best operating system ever. Microsoft had their fingers in many pies. But one very lucrative market Microsoft did not have was the web advertisements. Google was king there because Google married ads with their search engine in a non-annoying manner. Because Google was able to have effective and simple ads all the while providing a great way to search the internet, they started making money hand over fist. Microsoft wanted that.

So Microsoft started Live search. If people would begin to use Microsoft search, they could copy Google's profitable model. The problem was, Live search couldn't find ice at the north pole. So Microsoft changed the name to Bing, called a decision engine, and offered a financial incentive to switch. The problem was Bing still was an inferior search engine and people like me only used Bing to shop all the while using something else to search the internet. (In fact, I was able to find what I needed off Microsoft's website better using Google than Bing.) Now the cashback program is ending.

Microsoft has many failures. In my opinion, those who do everything do nothing well. I think Microsoft should focus on Windows and Office and leave everything else alone.

0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 1:24 PM - Categories: News

June 2010 Technology Update

A big announcement was made by Intel recently, but other than that, the three most important hardware companies for your personal computer -- AMD, Intel, and NVidia -- have been silent. No new significant advancement have been made this year, but in about 12 months from now, AMD is introducing a new CPU that may change how low-cost and specialized computers are made. Then again, it may not and it may not ever happen. This blog will describe what the three big hardware companies are up to and how it applies to you, the average person. We are going to start first with the company that is in sore straights, NVidia.

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Posted by Wade Burchette at 8:00 PM - Categories: General | News

Fake Antivirus Group Wants To Hire You

Need a job? Well, a fake antivirus group posted a job on freelancer.com. This is more proof that fake antivirus software is big business. And it shows how confident they have become that their business will continue. Or they are very stupid. Or maybe they are both. Probably both bold and stupid.

So how much does such a job pay? Between $30 to $250. But it appears the "company" hiring has a great rating. One reviewer said "Nice buyer, hope can work for him again in the future." Which, of course, has all a trait of being a bogus review because it is only glowing. Besides, how trustworthy can a company be if their main source of income involves scamming people? Be that as it may, the major fake antivirus players, of which this is not one, do pay people based on the number of computers they infect.

The biggest threat today is not viruses, but malicious software (malware). The biggest malware threat is fake antivirus. It is successful and it is very profitable. When you take down one, five more appear in its place. Few people will give up easy money without a fight.

For more information, and a snapshot of the listing, visit The Register's article about this.

By the way, 33 years ago today, the first Star Wars movie was released. And not coincidently, 27 years ago today, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi was released.

0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 5:59 PM - Categories: News | Security

The "I'm a Mac" Commercials Are Over

Perhaps you remember the "I'm A Mac" commercials with commedian John Hodgeman, from The Daily Show, and actor Justin Long. Well, Mac Rumors confirms that they are indeed dead. All good things must come to an end eventually. I still miss the Taco Bell chihuahua. And my favorite commercial ever was the Leith automotive badger.

The idea behind the "I'm a Mac" commercial was that PC's were stodgy un-cool devices and Macs were hip and so much better. They did help Apple's image at first. But later on it turned into an anti-PC diatribe full of slander and misinformation. Not only that, people liked John Hodgeman better. The message was lost because people like the antagonists more than the protaganist. When that happened, the only people who the commercials were effective for were people who already worshipped at Apple's temple. The commercials were preaching to the choir, as it were, and thus not helping Apple's cause at all.

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0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 3:19 PM - Categories: News

In-Place Upgrade of Windows Vista,7, Server 2008

One of the nice things about Windows XP and Windows 2000 was what Microsoft called an in-place upgrade. It was also commonly called a repair installation. This very powerful feature would fix many problems that could not otherwise be fixed. This process completely rebuild Windows while preserving your files, programs, and settings. The method in which this was done was the same method used by upgrading the operating system from an older version. That is why Microsoft calls it in-place upgrade.

An in-place upgrade can still be done in Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and all versions based on the Vista kernel. This blog entry will show you how. But first, here are some things you need to know:

• You will need time, lots of time. Once started, the process cannot be stopped and it will take hours. Plan to have the computer down for no less than 2 hours and likely more than 3 hours.
• An in-place upgrade must be done while Windows is running. This means that if your Windows will not start and the startup repair procedures do not work, you will have to start over.
• Be sure to have a backup of all your documents. You never know, you need to be safe.
• Also have a backup of your drivers, especially the one for your network adapter and modem (if you do not have high-speed internet).
• You cannot perform an in-place upgrade unless you have the same version DVD or make your DVD version free. If your current installation is Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, you must have a 64-bit version-neutral DVD or a Windows 7 Professional 64-bit DVD. If you do not have the appropriate DVD, Techs-on-Call can make you one for a small fee. But you must already have a valid license to use Windows. The DVD requires your license code, which is either a sticker on the computer or in the retail box. If you have a retail or OEM DVD direct from Microsoft, follow these directions to make the DVD edition neutral.
• You must re-activate Windows after the process. Activation may fail if you have installed Windows within 90 days, in which case you will be required to call Microsoft. They are very friendly, just tell them you did an in-place upgrade.
• All security updates must be re-installed.

With that, here are the steps to take.

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0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 1:40 PM - Categories: Computer Repair Notes

Windows 7 Freezes When Resuming From Standby

This was a problem that I had a lot of trouble with. When I first installed Windows 7, I could put the computer in sleep mode and resume without problems. The nice thing about sleep mode is that the computer uses only 1W of electricity but and awaking, or resuming, from sleep mode takes less than 10 seconds

When I first installed Windows 7, I had an old hard drive installed. Unfortunately, Windows chose to install all the boot files on that hard drive. I bought a new 2000 GB hard drive and removed that old hard drive. (This actually has a bearing on the problem, but I did know that at the time.) The startup repair took several hours to install the boot files on a new hard drive. After it did that, then I started having problems with Windows 7 coming out of sleep mode. I would get three STOP code on the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD): 0x00000077 KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR, 0x0000007A KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR, and 0x000000F4 CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION. What was weird was that everything would act normal for a few seconds, and then suddenly one of those BSOD appeared. Since the problem occured after I removed my old hard drive and installed a 2000 GB hard drive, I thought it had something to do with fixing the boot files of Windows. I tried searching for the problem with no success. I tried searching for 0x00000077, 0x77, 0x0000007A, 0x7A, 0x000000F4, 0xF4; I tried adding the words Windows 7 and sleep in the search along with all 6 of codes, but got nothing relevant.

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0 comments - Posted by Wade Burchette at 8:20 PM - Categories: Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) | Computer Repair Notes