Hello everyone,

This video and song express what I believe to be the true meaning of Easter. Enjoy the day!

Professor Randy quotes Clarence W. Hall: “Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there.”

Hello everyone,

In the past year and a half or so I’ve repaired over 350 computers. In this series I’m describing the very repair tools that I use daily. If you would like, you can see the entire series (up to this point) by following these links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8, part 9, part 10, part 10.1, part 10.2, part 10.3, part 10.4, part 10.5, part 10.6 and part 11.

Part 12: Third Party Program Checkers

It used to be that if you were diligently keeping your system updated by using the Windows Update Service, you could be sure that your Operating System was protected against vulnerabilities to malware and security exploits. But no more…

Windows Update does a great job, but it isn’t enough anymore. Hackers are now attacking your system through third party applications. In my area of the country I estimate that as much as 80% of the infections I see are caused by vulnerabilities due to outdated or unsecure third party programs.

Just last month (February 2013) alone, consider the following, mind boggling third party app scenario:

Adobe Flash: Multiple vulnerabilities

Adobe Reader & Adobe Acrobat: Two vulnerabilities were being exploited in the wild

Adobe Shockwave Player: 2 vulnerabilities

Google Chrome: Multiple high risk vulnerabilities fixed

Mozilla Firefox: Multiple high risk vulnerabilties fixed

Mozilla SeaMonkey: Multiple high risk vulnerabilties fixed

Mozilla Thunderbird: Multiple high risk vulnerabilties fixed

Oracle Java: 55 security fixes!

Opera: Security enhancements

And that’s just the month of February!! How in the world is a person supposed to 1) know about all of these third party vulnerabilities and 2) get the latest vulnerability fixes? This is what I suggest:

1) Secunia PSI 3.0: The Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI) is a free computer security solution that identifies vulnerabilities in non-Microsoft (third-party) programs which can leave your PC open to attacks. It then supplies your computer with the necessary software security updates to keep it safe. The Secunia PSI even automates the updates for your insecure programs, making it a lot easier for you to maintain a secure PC.

2) SUMo: SUMo (Software Update Monitor) keeps your PC up-to-date & safe by using the most recent version of your favorite software ! Unlike built-in auto update features, SUMo tells you if updates are available before you need to use your software.

3) Lumension Patch and Remediation: Awesome Enterprise Solution: Lumension Patch and Remediation is the world’s leading patch management solution, and is available as a modular offering on the Lumension Endpoint Management and Security Suite. With Lumension Patch and Remediation, IT administrators can automatically identify and patch vulnerabilities across heterogeneous operating systems, Microsoft and non-Microsoft applications, and endpoint configurations – all of which is seamlessly managed through a single console.

Professor Randy says: Don’t forget about your third party programs! Check them and update them regularly by using one of these great checker/updater programs. You’ll keep your computer secure by staying one step ahead of any attack!

Hello everyone,

Then FBI MoneyPak virus is still going strong and continues to reek havoc whenever it can. In a previous post I told you how I removed this nasty virus, but I must tell you that the virus has many variants and has morphed greatly since it first appeared.

So, I got a call the other day from a frantic client who was extremely nervous about going to jail. He told me that the FBI had confiscated his computer and was demanding that he pay $200.00 or else face going to the “slammer” for four to twelve years.

I went over to the clients house, turned on his machine, and sure enough the FBI screen popped up and audibly told me over and over again of  the illegal activity, and that arrest was 72 hours away if I didn’t “pay up”. I knew that this was going to be a “tough one”, so I took the clients computer to my shop and here is what I found and what I did:

1) I turned on the machine and started tapping the F8 key in order to boot the machine into Safe Mode. This did not work! The virus had rendered Safe Mode unusable! But I wasn’t too worried because I had some other tricks up my sleeve.

2) I got out my trusty Kaspersky Rescue Disk, popped it into the CD drive and attempted to boot up the machine from the CD drive. This did not work! The FBI virus would not allow the Kaspersky Disk to fully load! I wasn’t too worried though because I had some other tricks up my sleeve!

3) I got out my trusty Trinity Rescue Kit CD , popped it into the CD drive and attempted to boot up the machine from the CD drive. This did not work! The FBI virus would not allow the Trinity bootable CD to fully load! Now I was starting to get excited because things were getting interesting! It was me against the virus and I relished the challenge. As a true computer repair tech, I dug in deeper and thought “bring it on” you miserable piece of “crap” virus!

4) I knew that I had to access the infected machines hard drive somehow, so I attempted to boot the machine with Hiren’s BootCD. This did work! Hiren’s booted up and at the Hiren’s boot options screen I choose Mini Windows XP.

5) Once the Mini Windows XP OS screen appeared, I clicked on the HBCD Menu in order to access a list of all the Hiren’s repair tools. From the selection of Antivirus tools, I ran a scan with GMER and Avira AntiVir Personal (I updated these before scanning – internet connection was up and running).

6) After running these two scans, I was able to reboot the machine into Safe Mode. Once the computer had booted into Safe Mode I did a System Restore to a date before the computer had become infected (I chose two weeks earlier).

7) After the System Restore had finished running, the machine booted into Normal Mode and I completed the clean up by running HitmanPro, ESET Online Scanner, and Comodo Cleaning Essentials.

8) Bye, bye, FBI!!

Professor Randy says: I wish there was some easier way to remove this insidious nuisance but different variants are becoming a bit harder to remove as time progresses. In my next post I’ll tell you of yet another way that you can thoroughly remove this plague from your system.

Hello everyone,

Our tech team at school recently received the following question:

QUESTION:

I keep getting a message that says “Another computer on your network is using your IP Address.”

When I received this on Wednesday, I went home and changed ALL of my passwords, put an alert on my credit, and had credit cards reissued because I have used this laptop at school to occasionally pay a bill during plan time.

This morning, I received that same message, so I immediately cleared my history, turned off the WiFi, and shut down my computer.

I am now NO LONGER using this laptop for anything personal  at school, but I do at home. I have plugged in an Ethernet cable.

Am I pretty safe with all this? Is there anything else I can do?

ANSWER:

Each computer, printer, tablet, etc, on the Internet has a specific “IP Address” (IP means ‘Internet Protocol’). Each device’s IP Address needs to be unique on each network. It is how we find you. It is how print jobs find the right printer, etc.

You are issued an IP address when you boot your computer, or connect to the network in some way. The machine that hands you your address is called the “DHCP Server”, and it only “leases” it to you for a set period of time.

Your computer expects to receive its usual, familiar IP address. But sometimes the IP “leases” get wiped out, and someone else may have been given your number because it is now “available”. In that case, your computer says, “Hey, somebody else has my IP Address!”. Not unlike going to your favorite restaurant and finding that your usual table has been given to another customer. The head waiter has to find you another table, but not before you have kicked up a fuss!

It’s not really a problem. All you need to do is tell your computer: “It’s ok, I wasn’t really attached to that number anyway. I’ll just ask for another one”. The process to do that is one way on a Mac, and another if you are on a PC.

If on a Mac, go to: Apple Menu–>System Preferences–>Network–>Advanced…–>Renew DHCP Lease

If on Windows, go to: Start–>All Programs–>Accessories–>Command Prompt and enter the following command: ipconfig /release

then enter this command: ipconfig /renew

In either case, your computer should “pull” a new IP address from the DHCP server, and you are good to go!

Professor Randy says: You will see many networking problems  during your computer repair career. The above fix is really useful for getting your computer reconnected to the Internet or to the local LAN network. Renewing an IP address can also help fix an IP address conflict.

Hello everyone,

This may be old news to some, but if not please take a look. If your credit card has an embedded RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip, there are some security risks that you need to be aware of. I’m not being an alarmist, nor is the sky falling! Just be aware.

Here is a great PCWorld article that alerts us to some of the security dangers that modern technology has made possible.

Professor Randy says: Better safe than sorry!

Hello everyone,

Update 1/13/2013: Oracle has just come up with a patch to fix this latest Java vulnerability. Get it here.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security urged computer users to disable Oracle Corp’s Java software, amplifying security experts’ prior warnings to hundreds of millions of consumers and businesses that use it to surf the Web.

Hackers have figured out how to exploit Java to install malicious software enabling them to commit crimes ranging from identity theft to making an infected computer part of an ad-hoc network of computers that can be used to attack websites.

“We are currently unaware of a practical solution to this problem,” the Department of Homeland Security’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team said in a posting on its website late on Thursday.

“This and previous Java vulnerabilities have been widely targeted by attackers, and new Java vulnerabilities are likely to be discovered,” the agency said. “To defend against this and future Java vulnerabilities, disable Java in Web browsers.”

Unfortunately, it is really the case to say that Java has “yet another zero-day exploit”.

The latest version of Java, v7 Update 10 is affected and currently there is no plan for a patch. The vulnerability which is already used in online attacks is a code injection onto a fully patched Windows system running the affected Java version. It is not known yet if other versions of Java are affected. In order to get affected, somebody has to visit a website running the exploit applet which performs the code injection.

Here you can test if you have Java active in your browser: http://java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

If in the meantime you re-activated the Java plugin in your  browser since the last zero-day exploit at the end of August 2012, here is how to deactivate it again:

• Deactivate the Java plugin in Chrome
• Deactivate the Java plugin in Firefox
• Deactivate the Java plugin in Safari
• Deactivate the Java plugin in IE: it is very tricky. Don’t simply think that by deactivating the plugin in the Add-ons list of IE does the job, as anybody would expect. The best thing to do at the moment is to uninstall Java from your system through “Programs and Features” or “Add and Remove Programs”. Note that this will make Java unavailable for all browsers.
• Starting with Java v7 Update 10 there is a new security feature added to Java. You can disable Java through the Java Control Panel in all browsers. Here is a detailed how-to from Java.com.

Professor Randy says: Many people don’t even need to use Java. If you are running Java, please disable it now!

Hello everyone,

Although it’s literally impossible to keep up with all of the latest tech news, here are fifteen links that will help. Enjoy!

1) TWIT: Best Interviews Of 2012

2) Answered: Your Top Ten Windows 8 Questions Of 2012

3) Sales Of Windows Machines Have Dropped From A Year Ago (Windows 8 Not Selling Great)

4) Great Video: Boston Dynamics Upgraded Robotic “Mule”

5) PC Rental Store Uses Software To Spy On Customers

6) Microsoft Office 365 Free For Small Businesses (Google Apps Aren’t Free Anymore)

7) How Microsoft Should Expand It’s Surface Devices In 2013

8) You Had Better Read Instagram’s New Terms Of Service

9) What Consumer Reports Says About The Newest Windows 8 Smart Phones

10) Computer Services To Offer During The Holidays

11) Top Ten Microsoft Stories Of 2012

12) All SkyDrive Files Can Now Be Seen On Any Xbox Connected TV!

13) SEO Expert Tells You How To Get More Podcast Traffic

14) Best Tech Products Of 2012

15) Microsoft May Continue To Support Windows XP After April 2014

Professor Randy quotes Thomas Edison: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Hello everyone,

The other day I was working on a Windows Vista computer and I noticed that the Network Icon in the Notification Area (two small blue monitors with a blue globe in front) was covered up by a red “X”.

This was an indication that the Network List Service (netprofm) was not working correctly. The Network List Service:

“Identifies the networks to which the computer has connected, collects and stores properties for these networks, and notifies applications when these properties change. This service in conjunction with Network Location Awareness enables status of network connections in the system tray. Since the SL UI Notification Service requires Network List Service to be functional, this service should not be disabled.”

I went into services.msc and I saw that the Network List Service was set to Automatic (as it should be), but was not running. All of the Network List Service dependencies were running fine, but try as I may I couldn’t automatically nor manually start the service. It would start for a moment and then shut down. It wouldn’t start up after a reboot either!

Then I found it! Here is the fix:

Click “Start” -> “Run” -> type “dcomcnfg” and enter -> find: Component Services/Computers/My Computer/DCOM Config/netprofm -> right click “netprofm” -> click “Properties” -> “Security” -> “Launch and Activition Permissions” changed to “Customize” -> click “Edit” button -> click “Add..” -> type “LOCAL SERVICE” as the object names, click “OK” -> in “Permissions for LOCAL SERVICE”, select “Allow” for “Local Launch” and “Local Activition” -> “OK” -> “OK”

Professor Randy says: Be patient when repairing computers and don’t give up! The “fix” is probably just “around the corner” and eventually you’ll discover it. That’s how you become a better tech!

Hello everyone,

I’ve been working on a 32-bit Windows Vista machine for hours and I finally found the fix. The Vista Windows Media Player would not play certain .MP3 files nor any .WMA files. All of these files were purchased legally and they (.MP3 files) would all play perfectly in another media player (ex. Zune, Media Player Classic).

I went through all kinds of attempted fixes but nothing seemed to do the trick until I did these two things in this order:

1) Run System File Checker:

2) Re-register All .DLL & .OCX Files Found In %System Root%\System 32 (there are various ways to do this, but this is what I did):

1. I downloaded the great PC Technician Tool: D7

2. I opened the .ZIP file and double clicked on D7.exe (agree to the EULA)

3. I clicked on The “Windows Repair Module” (left side of the open program window)

4. Under the Misc. category heading, I clicked on re-register all .dll and .ocx files found in %system root%\system 32

5. I allowed all .dll & .ocx files to re-register

6. I started listening to all of my .MP3 and .WMA files in Windows Media Player!!

Professor Randy says: This fix worked for me and I hope that it works for you also. Good Luck and Best Wishes!

Hello everyone,

Here is a great video for your enjoyment (I posted it last year also). If you haven’t seen it yet, be prepared to be amazed! The true story of Christmas told in a modern digital manner! Awesome!!

Professor Randy quotes Roy L. Smith: “He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”