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Internet Explorer 9: Fast and Smooth with Great Graphics and Video

March 27, 2011 By

Last week, Microsoft released their new web browser, Internet Explorer 9. You can only install this version on Windows Vista or 7. According to Microsoft, Windows XP, won’t run the better graphics (more on that below) capabilities of IE 9.

However, XP users can take heart that the new Mozilla Firefox 4 (just released this week) can run on XP and deliver the advanced graphics that both these browsers possess. I posted some great links about Firefox 4 on our Facebook page.

Before you upgrade, you will want to check to see if there are going to be any compatibility issues between your software and this new browser. Some of the software that might have issues are older versions of AOL’s software, and QuickBooks (pre-2008 versions).

Usually compatibility issues will be talked about on the support pages of your software so you can check there. If any software that you run talks about Internet Explorer version requirements, you will want to check closely before proceeding.

There are two places where you can obtain the newest IE. The first place is Microsoft’s website. The other site (also from Microsoft) is called www.beautyoftheweb.com. The first site will direct you to the download itself. The second site will give you some videos talking about new features, websites that are incorporating the new features of IE 9 and video reviews.

One bit of technology that really makes Internet Explorer 9 so great is the ability to tap into the video hardware on your computer. Most people don’t realize that they have two processors on their PC. The CPU or Central Processing Unit is the main general use processor of your computer. The second called the GPU or Graphics Processing Unit, is used to display graphics and video. Internet Explorer 9 now uses both of the processors to render crisper, clearer text, richer graphics and smoother video (You Tube fans will love this).

To test this out, I went to YouTube. I went on to find various types of video from old Lo-Def video (240p), right up to the max 720p Hi-Def clips. I played five different videos in both windowed and full screen modes. With IE8, any video higher than 240p would jump a bit. During transitions such as fades, the video would skip. The higher the quality, the more I noticed this. Lots of people have accepted this as “just that way it is”.

After I upgraded to IE9, I cleared my browser cache to remove any vestiges of my previous visits and started fresh. I started with the 240p Lo-def and of course, there was no difference in speed but the images were a bit sharper. When I got up to the 720p Hi-def clips, I really saw IE 9 shine. One of the videos that I chose had lots of fades and wipes. There were at least 7 transitions that made IE8 drag and pause. With IE 9, it played smooth with zero jumps, skips, or lag. The video playback was perfect!

I continued to explore some other pages that I have always had lag issues with. Yahoo has always loaded slowly due to the vast amount of content. The load time usually for me was about 5-6 seconds. IE 9 was able to load the page in less than 1 second!

I have always been concerned with upgrading my browser from past experiences. It always seemed to me that the more complex they made IE, the slower it went. Not so with this release. Check it out. There are plenty more new features in IE 9. You can read about them on the beautyoftheweb site.

Thanks for reading this post. Read more articles on our Saguaro PC Tech Blog site. For any other questions or assistance, pop us an email or give us a call. See our website for contact info. Thank you and happy browsing!

Filed Under: Internet and Web, Windows 7 Tips, Tricks & Tweaks Tagged With: , , , ,

Basic Windows 7 Tweaks: Part 1

March 26, 2011 By

This post presents some very basic and simple tweaks you can make to Windows 7.  Of course there are hundreds more, but for now, these will get you started.  We’ll be posting more later on.

 

Tweak 1: Make Internet Explorer 8 Faster and Smoother:

While the new IE 9 has replaces IE8, some of you may still like UE8.  It is still a great browser, however it’s bogged down by some features that Microsoft thought were cool in the beginning, but have ended up being useless for the most part.  Here’s how to make it smoother and faster.

First you’ll have to reset IE back to factory defaults.  Here’s how:

  1. Go to the Control panel and select “Internet Options“.
  2. Go to the “Advanced” tab to the far right of the window, then click the “Reset” button at the bottom.
  3. In the next window, check the box next to “Delete personal settings“, then click OK.

You are now ready to set up IE8 without it’s unneeded default features.  Follow these steps:

  1. When you first launch IE8, you’ll be asked to choose your settings. Select Choose custom settings.
  2. When asked whether you want to turn on IE8′s suggested sites, select No, don’t turn on.
  3. When asked to choose a default search provider, select Show me a webpage after setup to choose more search providers.
  4. When asked to download search provider updates, select No.
  5. When offered a choice of accelerators, select Turn off all Accelerators that are included with Internet Explorer.

 

 

Tweak 2:  Make the Recycle Bin Smaller:

Right-click the recycle bin, select Properties, and set a more reasonable Custom size.  Typically 250MB to 500MB is more than enough.  This will help reduce the clutter on your hard drive, as well as performance.

 

Tweak 3:  Improve Windows Explorer’s Folder Options:

This tweak makes Windows itself more usable, giving you more options and menus to use.  It also shows you more information about your files by showing the file extensions.  This way you know what type of file you are dealing with.  You may have read our post about virus threats, where we mentioned that a virus can hide it’s true identity if the file extensions are turned off.

  • Go to the Control Panel, choose Appearance and Personalization, then Folder Options.
  • Check (enable) two items that are normally unchecked: Always show menus and Show hidden files, folders, and drives.
  • Uncheck (disable) one item that is checked by default: Hide extensions for known file types.

 

Tweak 4:  Change Your Desktop Icon Size:

Are you annoyed with the huge icons on the Windows 7 desktop, after getting used to having smaller ones in Windows XP?  I know I am!  What were they thinking?  Well, you can make your desktop icons almost any size you want with your mouse’s scroll wheel.  Here’s how.

First, close all open windows so the desktop has the focus, then press and hold the Ctrl key while scrolling the mouse wheel up or down. The desktop icons will step through many sizes, from huge to tiny.  Pretty cool, eh?

 

That’s it for this post.  Please explore other posts in our blog, as we’ve got more tips already posted.  Check back soon for even more tips and tweaks.

Also, please visit our website at www.saguaropc.com,  or our Facebook page to find out more about us, or to have us help you with your computer repair issues in Tucson.

Filed Under: General Misc. Tips, Windows 7 Tips, Tricks & Tweaks Tagged With: , , , , ,

Upgrading to Windows 7 – Is it a good idea?

March 16, 2011 By

Have you been looking at some of the newer offerings of the big box brands with Windows 7?  Are you wondering if you’ll have to replace your computer to get Windows 7?

You may be happy to know that most of you can run Windows 7 just fine on your existing PC, perhaps with just some minor upgrades to your hardware, for a lot less than the cost of a new PC.

Below we’ll address the most common questions we’re asked about moving to the newest Windows.

Is my Computer too old to upgrade?

If your PC is around 3 years old, there should be no problem upgrading to Windows 7. If your computer is older than 3 years, some minor upgrades like additional memory might be needed.  If your PC is over the 3 year mark, this might also be a good time to replace your hard drive if it has lots of hours of use or is too small for your needs.  Why risk a hard drive crash after all this work?

Will my Computer run slower with Windows 7?

We have installed it on six year old computers, high-end gaming computers, and everything in between.  Windows 7 ran just as fast or faster in each and every case.  The older machines just needed a simple memory upgrade (only about $40 or so).

Will I lose my data?

If your computer is healthy, no data loss will occur.  If you are running Vista and you machine is running well, you can do what’s called an “in-place” upgrade (pop the new disk in and select “upgrade”).  The process will transfer everything over to the new Windows, and you will not even have to reinstall your programs.

If you have Windows XP however, you will need to back up your data, then do a “clean install”, which means you’ll need to reformat (i.e. wipe) your drive and install Windows 7 from scratch.  Given the age of XP machines, it’s a good idea to get a new hard drive anyway, so the process is not a waste of time.

Is Windows 7 hard to use?

Heck no!  Many people are concerned that learning Windows 7 is going to be too hard.  We have done this process for customers of various ages and professions and all agreed that Windows 7 was easy to learn and better than any previous version they have ever used.  They just loved the smooth, solid performance, and the great new features.

Will my peripheral equipment (printer, scanner, camera) work with Windows 7?

If your PC is less than 4 years old and your equipment is the same age or newer than your PC, there should be no problems.  If in doubt, you can check to see if the manufacturer offers Windows 7 support by looking up the hardware on their website.  Windows 7 has an incredible ability to support just about any type of peripheral equipment you can throw at it, if it’s no older than about 4 years old.

Will my existing programs work?

Most will work just fine if they’re less than 4 years old.  Some older programs will work too.  We’ve run Microsoft Office 2003 just fine.  One exception we know of is Quick Books.  You’ll need version 2007 or newer.  Certain other business programs may also have issues, but home users should be just fine.

How much does it cost to upgrade to Windows 7

The cost of the software when purchased from a local computer repair shop like us varies from $120 to $150, but it’s on the condition that you have to have them do the upgrade for you.  Big box stores charge much more (up to $200) for the “retail” version.  Labor costs for having a local shop do it for you vary, but start at around $120, depending on if you need them to back up and restore your data for you.  Again, big box stores will charge much more.

If you want or need any hardware upgrades, the cost is pretty minor, usually about $100 for both memory and a hard drive.  The total cost is still lower than the purchase of a new system.  Again, this varies according to what you have now.  Most PC’s less than 4 years old will be worth upgrading, except perhaps for low-end budget machines.

Windows 7 is the Savior for Vista Users!

A new problem with Vista (as if there weren’t enough already) is that Microsoft has seemingly abandoned making it better with any major patches or upgrades, in a sense admitting it’s a lost cause.  It has become sort of a “lost stepchild” by all accounts.

We have received a huge number of requests from our customers to get the upgrade.  Without exception, all who upgraded to Windows 7 have loved making the decision.  Not only did their machines run much faster, it made them more stable (e.g. less crashes) and smooth performing.

Final Note to XP Users – The End is Near:

Microsoft’s new web browser, Internet Explorer 9, is not available for XP systems!

This is just the beginning of what XP users will be seeing from now on.  New technologies have moved beyond what XP can support.  New devices and peripherals will not be compatible with XP and manufacturers will be dropping support for it altogether.

The end of life for XP is set for 2012 by Microsoft. I guess the Mayans were right about something!

So if your XP machine is still a solid performer and you want to keep it a while, make the move soon.

If you would like to find out more about making the move to Windows 7, let us know and we can discuss the process.  You can also find out more on our website.  You can also visit us on Facebook.

Filed Under: General Misc. Tips, Windows 7 Tips, Tricks & Tweaks, Windows XP and Vista Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Identifying Common Internet Threats to Your Computer – Part 2

March 12, 2011 By

Welcome to part two of this article.  We hope you enjoyed part one (click here if you missed it).  Here we will discuss the last two most common threats, as well as some other methods hackers use to trick people into infecting their machines.

 

Threat Category 3:  The Trojan-Horse

These programs are extremely common and popular.  They are a delivery method that works by fooling people into allowing some form of sinister program onto their PC’s.  They often come to you looking like something that is completely safe, or even desirable (hence the name).

Most of them just sneak onto your PC without your even knowing it.  The creators of these programs will hack a legitimate website and plant the Trojan on it.  Then when you visit that site, it downloads onto your computer.

The varieties are endless, so we’ll just mention one example.  Years ago, there was a program that used animated fireworks to display “Happy New Year 2000” on the PC screen.  Every time you ran the program, all it seemed to do was display this nifty animation in the form of a screen saver.  Another form of this technique was a cute program called “Bonzi Buddy”, where a cute purple gorilla danced around your screen.  What people didn’t know was that in the background, lots of nasty things were happening, such as logging your keystrokes, searching your PC for personal information, or launching pop-up ads.

A newer, more popular one these days is a Toolbar or other program that finds you coupons or great shopping deals.  Most of these “Shopping Assistants” are just crap used to launch pop-ups and send you spam.  There are a couple of “legitimate” coupon programs out there (like the “Coupon Printer” program).  If you come across such a program, avoid it.  There are other ways to find deals on the internet.  Being lazy and relying on a “shopping assistant” can get you in trouble and cost you hundreds in virus repairs, offsetting any “savings” they might find you.

 

Threat Category 4:  Back Doors

The sole purpose of these programs is to allow an authorized user to access or control the infected computer.  A popular one called Back Orifice, was one of the most complex and nasty programs ever made.  It allowed a remote user (ie hacker) to take “pictures” of what was being displayed on a PC screen, watch what was being typed, record sound from a microphone, create files, read data files and even delete files on the affected computer.  Back Orifice was a major problem worldwide and caused internet providers to institute major new security practices that still used to this day.

 

Methods Used for Distribution – How They Trick You Into Getting Infected

Method 1: Misspelled or Slightly Modified Web Address (URL’s)

The easiest way to get people to infect their computers is by tricking the eye.  Who would think that you can get a virus from popular sites such as Google, Amazon or Yahoo?  Or worse still, from your bank’s website?

The chances someone hacking these sites and setting them up to spread Malware is VERY small.  Even if someone does get lucky and hacks these sites, their 24/7 security staff, whose sole job is to monitor the sites’ traffic and watch for any irregularities, will fix the hacks in mere moments.

Yet this happens all the time.  The hackers spread emails and links to  infected web pages that appear like the real thing.  However if you look closely at the URL, or web address they took you to, you’ll find a slight typo or variation of the name.  Let’s take Bank of America for example:

Real URL    =bankofamerica.com

Fake URL1 =bankoofamerica.com

Fake URL2 =bankofamerica.js.com

Did you catch the differences?  How can you see these before you click?

When you hover you mouse over a link on a web page, the URL to the page will appear in your browser’s “Status Bar”, located at the bottom of your browser window.  Note that there is an option to turn this bar on or off in your browser’s “View” settings.  Make sure it’s on.  This is the most effective way to analyze a link before you click on it.

 

Method 2: Links Posted on Chat Rooms and Instant Messages

If you like to do instant messaging, or get on online chat rooms, be careful.  Never click on a link from someone you don’t know.  They may post a link to a “cool website”, some great pictures, or a good program you should download.  These links can bring you to a site that hosts malicious software and you could end up with any of the infections we mentioned above.

I know lots of folks like to meet new people this way.  That’s fine, but don’t trust people until at least you’ve interacted with them for a while.  Hackers and other nasty people tend not to be regulars on chat rooms.  Get to “know” people first.  Of course some nasty people, like stalkers, can stick around for a while trying to get peoples’ confidence, but that’s rare and is just a risk you take in the online world.

 

Method 3: Misleading People on a File’s True Nature by Hiding Part of the File Name

All malicious threats are programs. Programs can be written to do anything, from word processing, to photo editing, browsing the web, or just about anything else you can think of.  There are nasty ones out there too, that can do things like steal your passwords, launch pop-ups, or even delete files.  All programs have an identifying feature that they all share.  That feature is the “file type”, which is signified by the file extension.

Note:  A Lesson on File Types & Extensions:

When we talk about a file type, what we mean is “what kind of file is it?  Is it a picture, a document, a spreadsheet, a video, a music file or a program?  How do we know what type of file it is?  By what’s called a “file extension”.  This is the series of 3-4 letters that come after the “dot” in the file name, for example:

File1.jpg is a picture, signified by the “jpg”.

File2.mp3 is a music file, signified by the “mp3”.

File3.docx is a Word document, signified by the “docx”.

File4.exe is a program, signified by the “exe’.

File5.bin is also a program.

The main takeaway here is to recognize programs, as these are the only things that can be a virus or spyware threat.  The file extension for most programs is exe, which stands for “executable file”.  They can also be bin or bat files, but these are far less common.  Now you have a good understanding of the subject..

Okay so now you know this.  Are you safe yet?  No!  Why?  Because by default, Windows is configured not to show the file extensions.  This was a very stupid move by Microsoft.  They argue that this make things less confusing for the end users.  We highly recommend that you turn this feature on.  How do you do this?

Go to the “Control Panel” and look for an item called “Folder Options”.  Open this and you’ll see a tabbed window open up.  Click on the “View” tab and find an item called “Hide extensions for known file types”.  Uncheck the box next to it, and click OK.  If it’s already unchecked, leave it that way.  Now you’re a little safer.

So how do you use this knowledge to protect yourself?  When you see a file attached to an email, or are led to one by hitting a link to download something, you can now see if the file is truly what you were led to believe it is.  If you were led to think it was a cool picture, or a nice song, make sure the file extension is not exe, bin or bat.  If it is, you’ll know you were being misled and get out of there fast!

What the hackers do is fool you by naming a music file for example, as “CoolSong.mp3.exe”.  If you had the file extensions turned off, you’d only see the name “CoolSong.mp3”, and you’d think it was a song.  Launch it and whack, the program runs and you’re infected!  Sneaky, eh?  This trick was very common with the free music download programs, like Lime Wire.  I can’t tell you how many customers of ours got infected this way.

That’s it for this post.  We’ll be posting more good articles on computer issues soon, so stay tuned.

As always, we welcome you to learn more about our company.  Please visit our Website or Facebook page.  Thanks!

Filed Under: Virus-Malware Security Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Identifying Common Internet Threats to Your Computer – Part 1

March 6, 2011 By

Introduction:  Landscape of the Battlefield

Nowadays it seems you can’t stray off the path of major sites like Google, Amazon or Yahoo without getting some useless program installed on your PC.  You may even fear risking your security by unwittingly letting some malicious program install itself on your PC.

As you browse the web, you see all these “free” programs and utilities promising you make your PC run better.  A very small percentage of these are useful, but they often come bundled with all sorts of additional programs.  You end up installing programs that you never heard of without even knowing it.  Yes, these legitimate programs can trick you.

It doesn’t take much to get your computer infected or clogged up with so much junk software that it slows to a crawl.  Additionally, you may also end up with malicious programs that can cause even greater havoc.

It is the intention of this article to discuss the characteristics of the major internet threats out there, helping you to be aware of them, and hopefully stay out of trouble.  This knowledge was learned from our years of experience as computer technicians, having “seen it all” and having repaired thousands of computers.

One Big Big Word of Warning: Your Antivirus or Internet Security program will NEVER be 100% Effective!

Our customers always ask why they got hit when they were running a good Anti-Virus program.  The reason is because the crime syndicates that create these programs have large numbers of excellent programmers and strategists that change up their programs and methods as quickly as several times a day!  No security program can keep up.  If you are unfortunate enough to hit a page that was just hacked, the infection will get through.

To keep you eyes from glazing over, we divided this post into category sections, each one dealing with one aspect of the subject.  This post contains the first two subject categories.

Note:  We won’t be saying much about viruses.  Viruses are still out there, but they are actually not used much these days and are rarely the real problem.  The real problem is “Spyware” and/or “Malware”.

 

Threat Category 1:  Scare-Ware and Scam-Ware

These programs are designed to take money from you, plain and simple.  We’ve all heard of the e-mail scams that tried to get you to send money to someone in a poor country.  Since most people are aware of these scams by now, they hardly work anymore.  Thus a new scam has appeared to take its place.

The most popular scam nowadays is to distribute programs masquerading as “security programs”.  These programs pop up out of nowhere and tell you your computer is severely infected and that you’re in grave danger of losing your identity, or whatever (thus the term “scare-ware”).  They insist that the only way to repair the issue is to purchase the program.

These programs often appear to be valid, although they’re absolute fakes.  They sometimes use the names and even the logos of well-known security programs, even those of Microsoft itself!  Most people can’t tell the difference.  If you look really close, you’ll notice some differences, but most people won’t see them.

Once these programs get through, they often hijack your PC.  You can’t get on the web.  You can’t get to the control panel or launch any of your utilities.  If you have a security or antivirus program, they will disable it so you can’t run a cleanup scan.  Getting rid of these programs can be quite difficult and sometimes requires a bit of “reverse hacking”.

It’s interesting to note that hardly any of these programs are created North America.  If you look closely, you’ll notice poor syntax, weird slang terms that are never used, or simple misspellings.  So where do these programs come from?  Mostly Russia and the Ukraine.  Many of the developers are members of organized crime syndicates.  That’s why they’re not afraid of being sued for using legitimate companies’ logos.

 

Threat Category 2: Spyware

Spyware is a term used to describe software that…. you guessed it…. spies on you. These programs are not usually harmful, but they can be over time.  They are often the main component of most of the free stuff you see out there.  Common examples include mouse icon replacements, “fun” cursors, screen savers, “smiley’s” and wallpaper.  One that we see all the time is called “Fun Web Products”.

How do these people make money if their product is free?  Well, by collecting all kinds of data about you, then selling it to marketing companies.  This data is then used to advertise products to you.  If these programs ask you to “register”, using your email address, it would then be sold to marketers, resulting in your inbox getting stuffed with spam.

Spyware has some more dangerous variants.  There are dozens, but the nastiest are programs called “keyloggers”, which can monitor what you type and possibly get your passwords.  This could then of course compromise actives like online banking.

A Common Question: What is Malware vs. Spyware?

Malware is sort of a “catch all” name for all “MALicious softWARE”.  Both viruses and spyware fall into sub-categories of Malware. The common purpose of all these programs is to disrupt the normal operation of your computer and/or compromise your security (ie take your money).

That’s it for now.  Check back in a few days for the next part in this series.  Also please check out our website for more about us and how we can help if you get virus or spyware infection.  Be safe everyone!

To Continue to Part 2 of this Article, Click Here

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Filed Under: Virus-Malware Security Tagged With: , , , , , ,