Computer Viruses - the basics

In its simplest terms a virus is a disruptive computer code period!
A computer virus almost always repeats itself and spreads by attaching itself to other files. Viruses can be made to host a number of harmful things on any computer from disrupting files to crashing networks. It can even be laying dormant, without you knowing it's there and then attack when least expect it, like right in the middle of downloading a large file or typing a long report.

It can even be made to open at a certain date, sitting like a timebomb until it's time arrives. As you can see it can be annoying at the very least.
I do not want go into all the different types of viruses here because there are so many and more are being made everyday in some dank basement by the Dark Lord.
However, since so many viruses came from unknowingly opening e-mails I would like to mention some basics here:

Never open e-mail attachments unless you know for sure who it's from and that it's safe.
Some mail programs will even ask if you trust the attachment and if you’re sure this you want to do. Your computer software can also scan attachments for viruses.
The danger is that when the attachment is opened the virus can attach itself to your hard drive and damage files. Not only that, it can search your saved e-mail addresses and send itself out to your friends, business partners and whoever is on the list, masking the message to look like a legitimate one from you. It will probably have an attachment too and when opened will infect other computers.

Many people like to download music, video, games or other programs from different sites. If it is a site you dealt with before and trust it may be safe ok, but if you’re not sure you can always run a virus scan on the download before installation. (You will need to check the anti-virus program that came with your system on procedures). This security measure is necessary because some downloads may contain virtues, spyware or adware – these last two can collect personal information, note your browsing habits and spam your e-mail with unwanted ads. Some software sites will offer a readme file that shows technical information on the download (if you like tech talk) as well as contact info.
The better sites that offer downloads will test and scan all there software programs before going online with it. As a last resort you can do an internet search for reviews on that particular company to see if others got burned.

This may sound scary to some but the fact is in this world anyone who owns a computer will have to look over there shoulders for hidden attacks when working with online.
That said there are some things should do to prevent viruses from attacking your computer:

* Download the latest virus definition lists ( files that tell your computer what to scan for) that's used for your anti-virus program.

* Check to see if your internet service provider has tools to stop viruses before they can reach your mailbox.

* Always back-up your computer on CD-R disks or other media in case you loose some or all your data.

* You can scan software for viruses before installing it. (See system manual for procedure)


* Set your security settings at the highest level.

* Check your web browser and e-mail settings.

Doing these things at least every week will help keep your computer up to date on Virus protection and running safely.

Computer Virus And Internet Worms Explained

Is your computer sluggish? It won't open programs and you can't get into anything? Well, maybe you have a sick computer. Just as people get ill from viruses, so do computers. When this happens, you need to have a computer technician look at the computer to re-format and get rid of the virus. If you know something about computers, you might be able to do this yourself.

What is a Virus?

A virus is a parasitic program written to intentionally enter a computer without the user's permission or knowledge. The word parasitic is used because a virus attaches to files or boot sectors and replicates itself, which allows it to spread. Though some viruses do little more than copy themselves, others can cause serious damage or affect program and system performance. A virus should never be assumed harmless or left on a system.

Types of viruses

Viruses are classified by the ways they infect computer systems:

1) Program: Executable program files such as those ending with the extensions .Com, .Exe, .Ovl, .Drv, .Sys, .Bin
2) Boot: Boot Record, Master Boot, FAT and Partition Table.
3) Multipartite: Both program and boot infector.

What is Trojan Horse?

Besides being a large wooden horse used in the Trojan war 2500 years ago (and more recently by Brad Pitt), a Trojan Horse or Trojan is a computer program that seems innocuous or harmless, but conceals another more nasty function. Generally a Trojan is contained in a part of program brought into your computer from an outside source - (e.g. floppy disk, CD, internet download, infected email). Trojans can be dangerous sometimes. For example a program may appear to be a computer game demo, but while you enjoy the game, it may be happily formatting your hard disk or emailing porn sites to everyone in your email address book.

Trojans are also used as a 'back door' or 'trap door' to sneak into a computer's operating system's information. An example is a program that pretends to be the system log-in program (such as you find in Windows NT/XP or Linux). When an unsuspecting user tries to log-in, the Trojan program captures the user-name & password. Then it may indicate a failed log-in attempt and exit to the real log-in program. The user may successfully log into the system next time, but by that time Trojan has also got enough details to log into the system.

Example Trojans

Notroj. This Trojan horse pretends to be a program that guards against Trojans. It's actually a time bomb that wipes out the hard disk after it's more than 70 percent full.

PWSteal.Refest A Trojan Horse that installs itself as a BHO (Browser Helper Object) for Internet Explorer and steals online banking information when it is submitted in web forms.

PWSteal.Likmet.A A Trojan horse that displays a fake MSN Messenger logon window and steals the password provided.

Run.me. This is a graphics program, which plays the Star Spangled Banner and displays the American Flag while it worms its way into the hard disk and erases the data on it.

What is Worm?

A Worm is a self-propagating program that works its way through a system or network (like the Internet), often causing damage. It does not require a host program to activate it. Someone has to insert a worm directly into network of interconnected computers where messages can be sent from one to another and data files and programs exchanged. An example is a local area network where each computer has its own files, programs operating systems and hard discs such as would be found in a university or corporate setting.

Example Worms

Alarm Clock Worm. A worm that reaches out through the network to an outgoing terminal (one equipped with a modem), and places wake-up calls to a list of users.

Worm Watcher. A special program which automatically takes steps to limit the size of a worm, or shut it down, it grows beyond a certain limit. The worm watcher also maintains a running log recording changes in the

Computer TV – Watch TV On The Computer

If you want to watch TV on the computer it can be fun and easy. There are many places on the Internet were you can get access to watch TV on computer. The most important thing is finding a site that provides the best quality TV channels.

Many site offer a wide variety of viewing choices, but be careful. Some companies charge you a monthly fee and don't offer as much variety as other Internet TV sites. I have by now checked out and tried just about every site on the web. Still PC Satellite TV for PC 2006 still comes out on top of all the other sites.

They offer the most variety of channels for you to watch TV on the computer. With over 2200 channels from around the world they offer sports, movies, weather reports and news. You can pick up TV stations from just about any country.

This means that you can watch TV on the computer and view broadcasts from stations from just about any country. The channels are categorized by country and then by the type of programming you prefer to watch TV on computer.

I can now enjoy watching sports from around the world. Before TV on the computer I could never view world soccer games. Now I can get them right at home on my PC. It is like having PC satellite TV dish in your home.

PC Satellite TV for PC 2006 has a one-time membership fee. This is great you have no reoccurring fees to worry about. I have had a membership now for over six months. I have defiantly gotten my moneys worth for watching TV on computer. It is fun to watch prime time TV in another country. Some of the channels out of the United Kingdom offer a wide variety of comedy and sports.

If you are just looking for a chance of pace for your TV viewing this may be something you may want try. People have been watching TV on computer for many years and it is now just starting to become extremely popular now. This is because of the improved quality and speed at witch your TV on the computer is transmitted.

You can browse the Internet and look at different companies that offer packages. You will find as I have that PC Satellite for PC 2006 still rates the number one site. If you would like to check out there web page you can click on the link at the top of my website.

Please visit some of my sites PC Satellite TV and PC Internet TV

Computer Support – MSConfig

The computer. The thing we all love to hate. It does so many important things for us, yet also causes some of our biggest headaches. There is always something that needs to be fixed or optimized, no matter what we do it seems. No matter how well they invent new technology, something still breaks down.

And when it does, you end up calling tech support where either you or the technician is bound to feel stupid at some point. Believe me, it’s the technician in many cases, so don’t feel bad.

In this article, I am going to go over one of the most common computer problems and how to fix it without calling a computer support technician, or your Uncle Bob’s third cousin’s friend, who knows a lot about computers.

Let’s start at the beginning. Booting up, that (for some of us) long process where your computer comes to life. I read a book that explains computers pretty well. In it, the author said that when a computer gets turned on it’s as if every time you woke up, you had to make sure you still had 10 fingers, 10 toes, two eyes, two arms, etc.

That is exactly what a computer does as it boots up and starts the operating system. It uses the registry to examine itself to see if anything it remembers having is not there anymore. So look at the registry as the brain. I do not recommend novice computer users doing anything in the registry. If you would not be comfortable performing your own lobotomy, then leave the registry alone.

Windows comes with tools built into the operating system that makes changes to the registry for you. One of these you should get to know well is msconfig. Every program you download had someone programming it that believes you cannot live without his or her software program running all the time and starting up every time you start your computer.

For almost all software, this is not the case. You can live without his or her program running constantly on your computer. Even Microsoft office and Corel office install themselves into your startup process. They must have thought while writing that program, that everyone will be using their product as soon as they boot up so let’s tell the computer to go ahead and do that for them,.

Go to start, the little button in the lower left hand side of your computer, in most instances. Now click on run. Type in “msconfig”. You will see several options. Normal startup, Diagnostic startup, and Selective startup. We are going to be selective today and from now on, so click selective.

Now on the tabs at the top, choose startup. You will see all the programs that startup when your computer boots up. Some of these are necessary and some are not. If you are unsure what something is, do not remove the check by it. I’ll tell you how to figure that out in a minute.

Some things you will see that need to stay in are “load power profile”, “scanregistry”, “taskmonitor”, “system tray”, and “hotkeyscommands”.

You can leave those in. Now to the right you will see paths to where the programs are and most will provide a clue as to what they are for. Pretty much anything to do with your Internet connection, your printer, your mouse, or other items you know you need should stay checked. Anything to do with your virus program should be left alone as well.

Others like schedulers you don’t use, QuickTime or quicktask, MSN messenger, Yahoo pager, RealPlayer, Quickview, search anything, Microsoft Office, Corel Office, etc. can be unchecked. Microsoft and Corel Office will work just fine when you go to use them without having them in your startup menu.

The same goes for the other programs. They do not need to be running until you decide you need them. Once you begin to take control of your computer and learn what makes it tick, the less you will depend on those long tech support calls.

Once you have unchecked all of the programs you know for sure do not need to be there, hit “apply”, then “ok”. It will tell you that you need to reboot. So go ahead and do that after you save this article or bookmark it so you can see what to do next.

After you reboot, you will get a popup that says something like, “OH MY GOD! You have chosen to change some settings! Are you sure?! Make sure you check the box that says don’t show me this dramatic popup anymore, then close that.

Go back to “start”, “run”, type msconfig again. Go back to the tab at the top that says “startup.” If there is anything you were not sure of that you wish to remove, go ahead, but only pick one! Important, only pick one, then reboot to see if that one caused you any problems. If it does, then you simply go back to msconfig, check the box back again and reboot again. You can repeat this for each of the ones you were not sure about removing.

I hope I have saved you at least one computer tech support call with this article. Your computer should now run a little faster and you know what to do every time you download a new program. Go see if it installed itself into the startup folder and remove it if you do not need it at startup. Happy computing!

Computer Speakers - which ones?

Few people think too long and hard about their computer speakers, instead preferring to just use the ones that came with their computers. These speakers are often built-in and poor quality, especially on laptop systems, and do not do justice to the very good sound quality that most computers are capable of producing.

The price range in computer speakers is even greater than that in other electronic products – you can pay anywhere from the price of a pair of headphones to as much as the computer itself cost you. It is natural, therefore, to be unsure of exactly what your money is getting you, which is where this article can hopefully be of some help.

Perhaps the most important thing you should look for when choosing your speakers is their maximum output power, which is measured in watts. This number tells you how good the speakers will sound at different volumes – while almost all speakers can sound good at low volumes, only ones with very high maximum output power will sound good at higher volumes. The higher the volume you plan to use, the more power you need.

Another important consideration is whether the speakers can produce either 5-speaker or 7-speaker surround sound, which makes a big difference over traditional 2-speaker systems. You should also check whether the speakers come with a subwoofer, which is a special loudspeaker for bass, allowing you to better hear the beat of your music. However, many people actually consider subwoofers undesirable, as they are so large and don’t always fit in well with a computer setup.

It is only really worth splashing out on speakers if you often use your computer for gaming or for playing music. If you do, then you might consider that there’s nothing to say so-called ‘computer’ speakers are only for computers – with a little imaginative wiring, you can also hook them up to televisions, games consoles, mp3 players, and all sorts of other things besides. This works in reverse, too, so if you already have a good pair of speakers, it should be relatively simple to connect them up to your computer and get some very good sound that way.

Computer Skills: Which Ones Your Staff Needs

Don't worry too much if you lack advanced technical computer skills. A lot of that can be remedied by just putting in a little bit of time each week in doing some self-study. In this article, you'll learn which computer skills are necessary to serve your sweet spot small business clients.

If It Works, Break It
You can do something as simple as getting a not-for-resale (NFR) copy of a product that you want to sell, install, and support and then working with the product in your lab. When you or one of your lead technicians or engineers has a spare half-hour to an hour, you can walk through the basic installations. Then, deliberately break the lab installations. Next, reinstall the software until you get more comfortable with the package.

Most of these products that you'll be installing for small businesses are very mature technologies. They're very wizard-driven, and at least for plain-vanilla configurations, they don't require tremendous levels of computer skills.

Installations Are Easier Now
Years ago, it was much more difficult to install the Novell small business suite or IBM equivalent, or the original 1997 Microsoft Small Business Server. But all of these companies, especially Microsoft, put a lot of money into making it easier for people who don't have advanced IT backgrounds and networking computer skills to install their small business server application suites.

In terms of your technical computer skills to service sweet spot clients, your staff needs to:
1. have good strong PC hardware skills
2. be able to handle a peer-to-peer setup
3. understand what TCP/IP is all about
4. know what POP3 and SMTP are
5. know how to work with basic SOHO routers

If your staff possesses the above skills, you're definitely at a good starting point to get started with at least the smaller sweet spot small businesses (10-20 PCs).

Share the knowledge among your employees
Make sure your staff members cross-train each other and you. This way, no one's ever “too knowledgeable” to the point where they can blackmail you, extract huge raises or huge bonuses, or walk away with your client base. You have to make sure your company's internal know-how or intellectual capital can't just get up and walk out the door to your biggest competitor.

The Bottom Line about Computer Skills
In this article you've learned about which technical computer skills are necessary to service your sweet spot clients.

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Computer skills: Which ones do your competitors have?

Computer skills are important for your virtual IT business. But with so many possible skills, which ones do you really need in your business? In this article, we'll address which computer skills your competitors may have so you know what you're up against.

Necessary Networking Platforms

Most of your competitors who are doing well with sweet spot clients know the following networking platforms:
· Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS)
· Novell Small Business Suite or just Novell NetWare
· Linux (generally RedHat)
· Mac OS

Some of the larger integrators in your markets that have several employees may go towards the higher end of this market. They'll start at about 25 to 50 PCs, and take on some larger small businesses where there are 50 to 100 systems. They also may take on some small, mid-size companies where there may be a range from 100 to 500 systems. These larger competitors will need to get involved in more sophisticated solutions than what you need to provide.

What Else Do Your Larger Competitors Have?

Your larger competitors will usually have some more advanced expertise on:

o Network Attached Storage (NAS)
o Storage Attached Networks (SANs)
o Complex security solutions
o CheckPoint firewalls
o Citrix Terminal Solutions
o Higher end Wi-Fi solutions
o Managed hardware

Remember though, such high-level advanced certifications are not critical until you start selling to a real IT manager at a larger small business.

What Do You Really Need?

For the sweet spot small businesses with 10 to 50 PCs, employing virtual IT staff that has one or two entry-level certifications and are working towards something like an MCSE is sufficient.

Solving Problems Makes Your Clients Happy

Usually your clients put more of a premium on problem-solving computer skills. Those clients want your company to know about their particular business industry and how you can apply IT to their business problems. That's what sweet spot clients tend to value even more strongly than pure technical computer skills and certifications.

The Bottom Line about Computer Skills

In this article, you've been introduced to which ones are the necessary computer skills in your computer consulting business. computer skills in your computer consulting business.

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