Posted by: Ben
on May 20, 2010
Are you one of those people that still have Norton popping up on your computer every time you turn it on asking you to activate your 60 day trial? Maybe you actually did activate your trial and then purchased the license because everyone knows you don't want to be on the internet without some form of protection against viruses. You could just be the person who is trying to take an active stance on protecting your computer and data by searching out the best anti-virus solution, but you really are just not sure which one to get. You may be one of those that thinks, you get what you pay for, so any that are free would not be good enough and the more you spend the more you are protected. Well I hope to clarify some things about a few of the different available anti-virus solutions that are out there and hopefully provide information that you can base your decision on when it comes time to protect your computer.
The following anti-virus products were tested:
- Avast (Free Version - 5.0.545)
- AVG (Free Version 9.0.819)
- Avira (Free Version 10.0.0.567)
- BitDefender (Anti-virus 2010 Trial Version 13.0.21.347
- Comodo (Free Version 4.0.141842.828)
- Kapersky (anti-virus 2010 Version 9.0.0.736)
- McAfee (Enterprise Paid Version 8.7i)
- Microsoft Security Essentials (Version 1.0.1961.0)
- Norton (Internet Security Trial Version 17.6.0.32)
- Trend Micro (Internet Security Trial Version 17.50.1647)
Each product was installed on a virtual machine with Windows XP Professional SP3 and all available updates at the time of the first product test. Then the latest versions of the following software was also installed:
- Adobe Reader
- Java
- Adobe Flash
All tests were web based from 50 different links in five categories all gathered from www.malwaredomainlist.com. The catagories were as follows:
- Trojan
- Java
- PDF
- Fake Antivirus
- Flash
I will show how each product blocked the virus (if at all) through one of the following ways:
Posted by: Ben
on May 10, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
We had a great time at the Owasso Home and Business show this weekend. We were able to meet and talk to several people. I would like to thank all those who stopped by. Especially those who purchased raffle tickets to help us support research for Cystic Fibrosis through Wesley And Team (www.wesleyandteam.com). We were able to raise $137.00 of which $7.00 was just donated.
Below are some pictures of the event.
Me being interviewed by 100.1 KYFM
Our Booth
Posted by: Ben
on Feb 10, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
Recently I was working with a potential client that was having problems with his hard drive. Turns out the drive was suffering from a mechanical problem known as the "click of death". This means there is no way of recovering the data with typical recovery software you would use if you formatted your drive or deleted files. The drive has to be sent off to a company that specializes in these types of recovery situations. The issue with this is that depending on the company, the size of of the hard drive, and the data you want recovered it can cost up to $3000.00 for just one hard drive.
I cannot stress to users enough how important it is to backup your data. All it takes is a dropped or stolen laptop, house fire, virus infection, or just a simple hard drive failure due to a manufacturing defect or just simply age. When this happens and you don't have a backup you will have to decided if all of that information is worth paying up to $3000.00 dollars to be recovered. Now services range from about $500.00 - $3000.00 with the average estimate around $1000.00. The true cost in most cases is not determined until the recovery service actually receives and diagnoses your hard drive.
All it takes is a small investment of around $100.00 in an external hard drive to backup your files too. If you backup files from a laptop, keep it seperate. Don't store your backups in your laptop bag bacause if your laptop bag gets stolen, your backups will too. Also if you go on vacation take your backups with you in case your house is broken into or burns down while your away. At least then you will still have you files if your computer is missing or inoperable.
Posted by: Ben
on Feb 04, 2010
Most people, when they buy a new computer usually put their old one in the garage or some other type of storage because that is not usually something you throw out in the trash. This goes for computers, monitors, laptops, printers, keyboards, etc. So what if there was a way to get rid of all of that stuff and help out a good cause at the same time? Well you can.
Dell has partnered up with Goodwill to create Reconnect. It's a program that has been going on for over five years now and allows you to give Goodwill all of your old computers (working or not) and all of the accessories like keyboards, mice, printers, monitors, etc and Dell will recycle them and give any profit that is made from the recycled material back to Goodwill. You finally have a way to free up some storage space, a good cause benefits in the process, and you help the environment. It's a win for everyone.
If you would like to donate your old computers to Goodwill but maybe your afraid you have information on the hard drives that you don't want anyone to see, we will gladly erase all of the data according to the Department of Defense (DOD) standards and haul your computer to Goodwill for free. If you happen to be in the market for a new computer we will even give you 5% off of a new computer purchased through us with your old computer as a trade in.
For more details about the partnership between Dell and Goodwill please visit the Reconnect website.
Posted by: Ben
on Feb 04, 2010
In a lot of cases you contract viruses through surfing the internet or in email attachments. A lot of these, if noticed immediately, can be removed in a couple easy steps. I will give a brief description on these steps below but before I do so I need to make a little disclaimer.
Disclaimer: The following information is provided only as such and in no way guarantees that in using the the information as described will remove any and all viruses or protect you from such. Information should be used at your own risk and I take no responsibility if personal data is lost or corrupted or any other unforeseen problems arise from using the information below.
System Restore
Windows system restore will periodically take what is called "snapshots" of your system. For instance if you install a program such as Microsoft Office onto your computer Windows will take a picture of what your system and associated files looked like before the program was installed. The reason that this is done is so that if a file that was changed caused issues with the way your computer functioned then you can choose to return to the "snapshot" or the current state the computer was in before the program was installed. This does so without deleting personal files and documents like music, pictures, email, etc.
Now say you were just surfing the web and somehow a virus has managed to install itself onto your machine and you start getting warnings from your current virus protection (if you have one) or you just somehow become aware of a possible infection. You can use System Restore to go back to a previous time that day or even a previous day (if available). To do this you will need to go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> System Restore. From there you will choose the recommended restore point or the option to choose a different time and date. You computer will restart during the process and let you know when it is done. Then check to see if you notice any signs of the virus and if so try picking an earlier time and date.
Posted by: Ben
on Feb 03, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
Iron PC Solutions has just joined the Association of Computer Repair Business Owners (ACRBO) in order to hold ourselves to a higher standard and accountability. Our goal is to provide a peace of mind to our cutomers in our quality of service.
Please take a look at the ACRBO website and it's code of conduct that we have to adhere to. You may also think about leaving feedback for our business if you have been a customer of ours and let others know how we have helped you. You can leave feedback on Iron PC Solutions listing in the directory.
Posted by: Ben
on Feb 02, 2010
Tagged in: Untagged
Have you ever wanted to know what the individual parts are that make up a computer and what their importance are? Maybe you have purchased a DELL, HP, or COMPAQ PC before and wondered if you could build one better for the same price? I hope to answer some of the questions below.
The Case
The computer case, or tower as some people call it is the "box" that holds everything inside. Some of it's main roles are:
- Keeping everything organized
- Minimize dust and debris from collecting on components
- Minimize static discharge from shorting out components
Some people choose a case based on a certain look or design. This includes cases with a window to display the inside components or maybe a small portable case that can be carried around to what is called a "lan party".
There are a few different types of cases that are common to home users. These are the: Mini Tower, Mid Tower, and Full Tower. The Mini is the smallest with dimensions that can vary slightly but are roughly about 17.5" long, 6" wide, and 14.5" tall. The Mid is the most common and can vary slightly in dimensions but are roughly about 18.5" long, 7.5" wide, and 16.5" tall. The Full is the largest and can also vary, but a rough dimension could be about 22.5" long, 8.5" wide, and 21" tall. For a simple home user the standard "mid-tower" is all one needs.
Posted by: Ben
on Nov 18, 2009
Tagged in: Untagged
Do you have a question about your computer? Well help me help you. Submit a question in the comments below and give me something to blog about. Below are some examples:
- What is the easiest thing to upgrade in a computer and why?
- If I put refrigerator magnets on my computer tower, will that hurt anything?
- What are these little black dots on my LCD monitor?
Posted by: Ben
on Nov 10, 2009
Starting November 16th through Saturday, November the 21st I will be offering free 30 minute sessions of remote desktop support. All you have to do is contact us at the following link and fill in all of the necessary information with a brief description of what I can help you with. I will then contact you back to schedule a time and provide any relevant information on how I can connect to your pc to help you.
Contact Us - http://www.ironpcsolutions.com/contact-us.html
You can use this opportunity to get help with any issues you may have with your pc or other things such as learning how to perform a specific task, install or upgrade software, setup your email, etc. If an issue or task requires more than the allotted 30 minutes then we can setup a later time and date to continue. Any issue or task that requires more than 1 hour of time will be charged according to the prices listed for the work being done.
Price List - http://www.ironpcsolutions.com/pricing.html
Posted by: Ben
on Nov 05, 2009
Is repairing a computer really that hard?
For some people yes and for others no. If you are one of those people who have always been afraid to set the clock on your VCR (or other electronic device) because you were too afraid of messing something up or it just seemed to complicated, then you should probably not attempt any repairs on a computer.
Repairing a computer is usually the easy part, it is diagnosing the problem that is sometimes the hardest. Repairs may involve some of the following:
- Replacing hardware (motherboard, cpu, memory, hard drive, etc)
- Installing or Updating drivers for hardware
- Reinstalling or updating software
- Repairing your operating system installation
- removing viruses, spyware, trojans, malaware, etc.
- Replacing cables
- many more....
As stated above diagnosing a problem is sometimes the hardest part of computer repair. There are also times where it is relatively simple. For instance let's look at a possible scenario below:
Bob turns his computer on one day and starts visiting his local news website. After getting caught up on all the news he decides to finish editing his families home movies and after about 30 minutes the computer suddenly just shuts off. He looks up to double check that his light was still on, thinking maybe the electricity just went off. Then he decided he needed a break anyway and goes to get himself some more coffee. He then comes back proceeds to turn his pc back on and it comes back up and he tries to continue with his work. After about 20 minutes the computer shuts off again. Bob now sits there and wonders if there is something wrong. He doesn't have any of his pictures or videos or any other important documents backed up and he is now afraid he may have lost them. So he decides to have his computer looked at.