ClareJonsson

You don't need any additional plug ins with Chrome to secure it. Chrome never allowed my PC to be infected as it blocked Troj/PDFJs-ER. But also Chrome knew that the site had Troj/PDFJs-ER in one of the adverts and even warned me before going anywhere near Tip.it. Anyway, this thread could quickly become a browser war and in the end it's all about personal preference, so lets agree to prefer our favourite browsers and leave it at that.

Being an admin on your system does not mean you have full rights to anything, but being an owner of a folder does. You need to take ownership of the folder: Right click on the folder and select Properties Click Securities Click Advanced Click the Owner Tab Click Edit Highlight your name in the list Tick Replace owners on subcontainers and objects Click Okay Once this has finished, you should be able to change any and all permissions of the folder and therefore rename it.

I kinda think whatever you are using to block all the ads is not working as well as you think it is. Obviously if you got that PDF thingy it can't be. :(

Sorry but I will have to disagree with you there, computers of ALL makes sometimes fail within the first few months, it's totally random. And to support Dell even further I work in a University and over 2 years ago we replaced all our public service PC's (That's hundreds of machines) With Dell's, I was sceptical thinking "Oh no, we're doomed", but our public service failure rate dropped significantly and is still at that level. They have been the most solid machines we have had in Public Service and don't forget that means hundreds of mental students trying to break them every day. Yes we have failures but you get that with anything! If hardware was 100% perfect I would be out of a job. If hundreds of Solid Dell systems don't speak for themselves, then I don't know what does. :D

I only suggested trying it, and the reasons for doing so are: It's the fastest browser around. Loads faster than anything else and JS on Chrome is like lightening. Each Tab runs in a separate memory space so if a website crashes it doesn't bring down the whole browser, only the offending tab closes. It's definitely is the most secure browser around. Chrome gave me an instant warning about Tip.it as a known site that may harm my PC, amazing since the Trojan hasn't been on Tip.it for long. The Security aspect of it was the reason I mentioned it in the first place. Chrome now has some very neat extensions. It's designed to be clutter free, less annoying tool bars in your face. When I browse the net I want the net and not loads of drop down menus, tool bars and buttons taking up the experience. And yes you're right it's personal preference, but when it comes to security I "personally" trust Chrome over any other.

[quote name='Stragomagus' date='17 December 2009 - 10:36 PM' timestamp='1261085790' post='4013757' -That post doesn't help him at all Clare as he clearly states that all the other sites he is visiting is working fine. Oops sorry you're right, and I haven't tried the latest FF as I have settled on Chrome these days. I have FF 3.0 of my works machine only because printing frames is easier than with Chrome. Well we're never too old to learn :)

Coming from someone who has been a technician for many years and is already A+ accredited. I would not only think about building and installing systems, but think hard about after care and maintenance. Do it right off the bat and you will get less after sales hassles. I know many people who get the PCs out of the door as fast as they can, make a really good profit and run a mile when there are problems. Also Building PCs is becoming less of a viable option to make money, any kid in a bedroom can knock together a PC these days, and as Nadril said it's more profitable to provide a PC repair service, and this will require you to be proficient with many versions of Windows. The PC industry is massive and simple faults can be rectified by the customer themselves, but more complex problems will not be within their grasp. Also, a huge market is in notebooks, these are more difficult and can be expensive to repair than PCs, but if you become proficient in this area you can really make a steal. Would you believe many of the notebooks that come through our hands have one of 3 common problems: 1. dust clogging the vents, 2. dry joints or broken power socktes/adapters, 3. Inverter Failure. All these can be repaired quite cheaply. Repairing a socket on a laptop motherboard may take a lot of skill, especially with a soldering iron. But a skill like that will really put you above the average technician, a lot of Techs these days will fail if a problem gets above swapping a component or a software fix. Good luck in whatever you decide to do and please don't be afraid to ask any of us for help if you get stuck.

Sounds a bit like you have something unwanted on your system, are you able to log into these sites on another PC, if so, the first thing I would do is to change your passwords. The next thing to do is to ditch Nortons (I read on another thread that is what you have) I would download Google Chrome too, it's an excellent, fast secure browser. I would also get Microsoft Security essentials and do a complete scan of your PC removing anything it finds before you try and log on to any sites in case you have some form of key logger or info collection trojans on your PC... By the way, removing Nortons can be a pain as it always leaves lots of rubbish behind, so try using Revo Uninstaller as this will search for anything left over which you can remove after Norton's uninstaller has completed.

Actually the real money is in software solutions, coders earn way more than hardware technicians.

I got a reply from one of the mods and they have confirmed this was a Worm contained in one of the adverts and they are trying to block it. It only appears now and then when a certain random advert was loaded. Hopefully they have now caught it though, so we should be safe soon enough. Hawkxs, If you never got any warnings, then that may mean your current Anti-Malware isn't finding it. I would update or get better Anti-Malware solution, try Google Chrome browser and I would seriously ditch Nortons and get Microsoft Security essentials instead.

Currently Tip.it forums are infected with malware that possibly is coming from the advertising, this infection is called Troj/PDFJs-ER and I have just posted a message to one of the Mods who need to inform the site administrators. Google Chrome actually has Tip.it on their suspicious list and it warns you that the site may be harmful before it allows you to access the site. This is not good news :( Please make sure your Anti-spyware/Malware is up to date.

okay a laptop keeps the CPU and chipset cool by sucking air in through vents, through the heat sink and then out through more vents, that is called the airflow. Generally the air is pulled from the bottom of the laptop and expelled through the side, but sometimes from from the back, or another side and not from the bottom. Look around your laptop for small air grills, it is these you need to clean. Unfortunately the dust gathers inside the system (Usually around the heat sink) and is too far inside to be seen, but using a strong vacuum cleaner or a good can of compressed air, you can clear the airflow. Even better is if you use a vacuum cleaner on the input vents and at the same time use the compressed air on the output vents (blowing the airflow in the opposite direction to the way it normally goes), this will help to clear the airflow and suck up the dust avoiding it getting into the air preventing it from making you sneeze like a nutter :D I think the main key is regular cleaning and dust build-up is stopped in its tracks, this is called "Preventative maintenance". Why this isn't stated in bold on the back of all laptops baffles me. Then again, failure ensures you buy another one sooner rather than later.... Some laptops have a removable flap at the bottom held in place by screws that allow inspection of the fan and heat sink airflow section. If yours has this I would take a look and clear out any fluff you find. But be warned, do not touch any components or remove anything internally. Removing anything could possibly result in breakage and touching components could result in failure or random crashes due to you zapping sensitive components. If you want to know more about what zapping is, just ask and myself or another Technician will post back. Hope you get a speedy laptop soon and happy Xmas :) Clare.

Okay, here's a few tips on speeding up XP: 1. Turn off Indexing: Right click on your C Drive and select Properties, Uncheck the box at the bottom that reads "Allow Indexing Service...", click OK. At some point Windows will complain but tell it to ignore all errors. The errors are because Windows cannot modify the properties of files that are open by the system. 2. Un-install all programs that you don't use, but don't use the standard windows un-installer, use Revo Uninstaller instead. This utility launches the original programs un-installer, and then hunts the system for left over files and registry entries allowing you to remove any clutter. Don't forget if any program asks to reboot after uninstalling, say no as you need Revo to complete its search. Reboot after you have finished uninstalling. 3. Set windows Paging to system managed: Right click My Computer and select Properties. Click the Advanced Tab. Click setting under the Proformance heading. Click the Advanced Tab. Under Virtual Memory click the Change Button. Make sure System Managed size is selected, and click the set button. Click OK and restart your PC. 4. Make sure the vents on the laptop are free from dust by using compressed air and a vacuum cleaner. If your laptop is overheating the system may reduce CPU performance slowing down your system. 5. Some anti viral/spyware software can cause slow down. Install Microsoft Security Essentials and Windows Defender, then remove all other anti-viral/spyware software as having more than one anti-viral software on your PC can conflict with one another and slow your system down. So far I have found MSE incredibly efficient and does exactly what is says on the tin. It even removed an infection on a PC that Sophos, Nortons, Avast, AVG and Kaspersky couldn't. After all, MS are the best people to police the operating system they wrote. Avoid Nortons, McAfee and Panda at all costs. After installing Security essentials do a FULL scan of your system, you may be amazed what is lurking there. 6. Make sure you have plenty of free space on your hard drive, if you are running out of space Windows will struggle as it has to create Temp and Paging Files. If you have less than 1 GB then you are in trouble and you will have to free up some space. 7. Try to minimise the programs and services that are automatically starting up when windows boots: Click START and then click RUN. in the run box type MSCONFIG and press return. click the startup tab and un-tick any items you know you don't need starting and then reboot. Don't worry this doesn't delete them and you can run MSConfig again and re-enable them by ticking the boxes afterwards. I have been meaning to write a startup manager for windows which manages all startup items in the windows registry and startup folders, and even adding delays to some programs/services to try and make the boot process more efficient. If I do this I will post it on Tip.It. Please note: I know some people may pick on me for point No. 5 as a lot of people are very protective of the Anti-Viral software they use, and I have seen many a thread become an anti-viral software war. But I stand by my feelings on MS Security Essentials, it is VERY good. Addition: Regarding disk space, Did you know After every update and service pack Windows XP keeps all the relevant files hidden within the Windows folder. This can mount up to gigabytes of unnecessary files as you never need to un-install a windows update after you have applied it. To remove this junk, do the following: 1. Show hidden files and folders by, opening up My Computer, click on the tools drop down menu and selecting Folder Options. Then click View and make sure Show Hidden Files and Folders is selected and click OK. 2. Navigate to C:\Windows. There may be a some, or a lot of folders beginning with a $, such as $NtUninstallKB961742-v3$ or $hf_mig$. You may remove ALL of these. Please be careful not to remove anything else, ONLY the folders starting with a $. Don't forget to empty the Recycle Bin afterwards.

One thing you can do is to remove all cards plugged into the motherboard and unplug the hard drive and CD ROM drive. Plus take out the RAM, then try to turn it on. If the PC attempts to power up and beeps at you, then it's possible one of the peripherals are at fault. If the PC still stays dead, then it's either the Motherboard or the Power Supply Unit.

I don't think just posting a Google search really helps. :(

Well you should always check the volume control in YouTube too, but I was referring to the volume slider in the Windows Mixer. In Vista and Win 7 each application has independent volume sliders, so for instance you can set Firefox to a different volume level than Windows Media Player. In versions of windows up to XP, there was only one slider for application sample playback and that was the WAVE slider. That all changed with vista.

What version of windows are you using? if it is Vista or Windows 7 then it is possible that the volume levels for your browser are turned down. Since Windows Vista each application has independent volume controls, to change them do the following: Open up your browser and play some music with it. Left click on the little speaker icon in the system tray (Bottom right of the screen). Click on Mixer. Make sure the volume for your browser is not on zero or muted.

Have you tried to re-pair (pun intended) the mouse with the receiver by pressing the button on the receiver and then the one on the bottom of the mouse?

I have a couple of spare invites too, PM me if you want one :)

That site is a pure MS hate site, and a LOT of what they have stated is pretty much their own opinions, Here's some of the one I picked up on: Well considering Open Office is allowed to use MS format documents I see this argument totally pointless. 2 Points here, the first is that even my EeePC running EeeBuntu has regular updates to fix security issues etc. On to the forcing us to upgrade, it's the nature of computers to want the fastest and latest kit, and this isn't just to run an OS, Imagine what games we would be playing if computers never progressed. Too damn right they do, copying music and movies without paying for it is theft, good for them to enforce the law! Not "One Companies" products, but the most widely used. I work in the I.T. section in a university, and the reason we have Windows on all our Public Service machines is because we need students familiar with it as that is what they are expected to be using in the big wide world. If OSX or Linux superseded Windows, we would move with the times. Currently Windows is the dominant OS, but that may not always be the case. If another O.S. became more popular, then hardware manufacturers would be supplying that instead of Windows. Lets take a look at today's options: 1. Windows - Easy to use and has a large driver and software base. 2. Linux (Such as Ubuntu): As user friendly as Windows, but if you're honest it's not ready for Joe Public yet. I cannot imagine my friend Donna using Linux as you still have some configuration issues such as manually editing config file. That is beyond a lot of people. If it's not in a GUI, you can forget it for a mass section of the public. 2. OS X Snow Leopard - The most user friendly OS around, It has a smaller but rapidly growing software base but the big downside it that it's tied to Apples Hardware, Which is currently a lot more expensive than a PC. And if Apple had the dominant system, Windows7Sins would probably be called OSX-Sins.

I don't base my views on a users point of view, most makes are okay if they do not fail. I'm talking from the point of view of a technician who has had to repair them when they do go wrong. Believe me, Gateway are pretty bad when it comes to maintaining their hardware. Oddly enough, Sony fall into this group too, and so do IBM Thinkpads to name a few. Some manufacturers have a really good design and easy access to a lot of the hardware. I worked on one Sony once that was under warranty and had a dead motherboard, I had to half dismantle the system to remove the hard drive simply to backup the users data before sending it back to our supplier for repair! That was simply unacceptable, and this is the type of thing users never experience!

Or ImgBurn :) I second the usage of ImgBurn I wasn't aware of imgburn before, it looks pretty good, I'm gonna give it a try! Thanks guys :)

In the grand scheme of notebooks Dell are no better or worse than anyone else, you simply had some bad luck. We repair notebooks and Dell are not on the high list of failures. They are annoying to service though, but then again so are Sony! Our preference is Toshiba as they are not too expensive, great to service and they have a pretty low failure rate! P.S. Do NOT go for a Gateway, I shudder at the sight of them.

Added, and my address is: [email protected]

Yayyyy I'm in! I am now officially waving lol.