Computer Repair Tech

I'm really concerned about a tidal wave of virus infections on campus PCs with the increased use of USB thumbdrives. I'm giving this issue some real thought and trying to come up with some innovative solutions or methods to help us stem the flow of viruses and worms on campus systsms. This isn't a Chicken Little thing! No, my anti-psychotic meds haven't worn off and I'm not having those feelings of paranoia again! Really, this is big stuff! It's obvious that the Symantec Antivirus software running on our PCs is not catching the different viruses, trojan downloaders, and spyware -- PCs are getting infected.

This page provides a list of tutorials (also known as screencasts) I've added to the Textbox.beelybox.com site. Note: the list of tutorials is also available from the Tutorials menu in the left navigation menu.

These tutorials are developed with Wink and are Flash-based with navigation options and timings tuned for your online reading.

Here's a very complete description of the insidious, really nasty virus, Antivirus Pro 2009, that is making the rounds on campus, and I'm sure on a few of your home PCs running Windows. Antivirus Pro 2009 should not be confused with real antivirus software such as Symantec Antivirus, McAfee, or AVG (I personally use this on the two Windows PCs I have at home.) Here's a description from the Symantec Security Response site about the Antivirus Pro 2008 version -- they have nothing posted (or don't know) about the 2009 version yet!

Here's a pretty simple fix to a problem I've seen on two fairly new (6-9 months old) HP DC-5750 tower PCs here at CDO. The problem was the PC tower powered on, but display NO SIGNAL on the LCD flat panel display. Rebooted the system, no change. Couldn't get the HP splash screen to display. I swapped the LCD flat-panel display with another, known working panel -- no change. I tried removing the power cord from the back of the PC and then draining the capacitors by press the PC's power button (this usually helps with DC-530, DC-5150, DC-5000 systems) -- no change.

OK -- not really a "technology" item, but a very useful tip! I'm not one to pimp the services of a major retailer, but Bashas has a great service they offer in their stores. Here's the skinny:

Here's an important news article published by eWeek about another laptop battery recall. We have two of the laptop models listed below, but we'll have to determine if the internal battery is affected by this recall.

Here's another Flash-based tutorial! This tutorial is about setting up an external microphone in Windows XP, changing default settings, and having Windows recognize the microphone. Also covered is changing the settings in the open source audio recording/editing program, Audacity, and a brief overview of doing a test recording with Audacity.

Those nasty spyware/malware buggers! They sneak in when you click on an advertisement on a web site or worse, when you are informed that your computer is infected with spyware! You click on the pop-up window, maybe just to close it and Microsoft Internet Explorer, via ActiveX, lets the spyware install itself on your system. Or you have visited a web site with Internet Explorer and a Java-based script has allowed a downloader to be transferred to your PC, permitting all kinds of future nasties to inhabit your system.

Here's a quick Shockwave Flash tutorial that provides step-by-step instructions on requesting and using a Remote Assistance session with your Site Tech to resolve support issues you might be experiencing with your PC.

Here's another great article from Mindy McDowell of CERT. This article is about Understanding Hidden Threats: Rootkits and Botnets.