Posts from June 2013.

Well nothing really new to speak of so lets talk about applications that I find useful for computer repair.

1. SplashTop Remote – This is my most valuable tool because it makes it so everything on my computer can be controlled from my phone/tablet.
2. Trillian Pro – Keep in touch with all your friends in one spot that syncs conversations
3. Evernote – because you never know when you want to make a note of a situation you find.
4. ES File Explorer – File sharing, FTP, etc
5. FolderSync – Custom sync application, I use it with my ftp server.
6. Firefox Browser – For the plugins!
7. Square – Easily accept credit card payments
8. Speed Test – test a connections speed.
9. TracePing – Very useful traceroute/polling utility.  Its almost as good as having ping plotter with you.
10. FEAT VPN – Easy to use VPN application.   I mostly use this to connect to my router at home for various inner network tasks.

I am sure there are other useful tools out there but Splashtop spoils me by giving me access to all my windows utilities.

LastActivityView is a system created to record many events and individual actions on a computer in a log file. The application gathers information from different sources, Windows, and shows it in a table, permitting you to keep track of how you use a specific computer.

Events that LastActivityView records:

• Creating a restore point
• Installing software
• Stopping and starting the Windows Installer
• Windows BSOD
• Folders, viewed in Explorer
• Running Windows Open / Save
• Emergency shutdown
• Restart, shutdown, hibernate, log in, log out
• Running Applications Access to files and folders
• Connect / disconnect the LAN
• Application crashes

You can save the log files to csv, xml or html format, or copy them to the clipboard for pasting into Excel or other papers. LastActivityView calls for no installation and can be run from a flash drive. Information is gathered from the Windows registry, log files, emergency minidumps, and other similar sources. Supports a variety of command-line choices, enabling you to operate the program from the script files. You can download LastActivityView at http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/computer_activity_view.html

Today let me take a break from talking about computer repair related topics and discuss Humble Bundle which is something I participate in every chance I get. Humble Bundle offers a bundle of games and you pick the price you want to pay for them. You decide what portion of the games go to charity, developers, or Humble Bundle. Many of these games will work with older computers as they are typically produced by independent companies which are more focused on fun over bleeding edge graphics. Humble Bundle usually offers some extra games if you donate more than the average consumer which usually ends up being around 5 dollars or so. Not all the games will be great but at such a low price I certainly can’t complain.

If you are interested in checking it out visit them at https://www.humblebundle.com/. If you don’t like the games they have offered also consider subscribing to the mailing list at the top left of the page to be notified of future Humble Bundles that may contain games you are interested in. This weeks bundle contains a game called Awesomenaughts which is kind of like league of legends (MOBA game) but as a side scroller (think megaman).

So recently I was cleaning up some computers and I removed the default extension malware or maybe this one was called default tab, I can’t recall. Anyway the strange this about this variation is it kept coming back by itself. There was no malware left on the computer yet it just kept coming back. I decided to go ahead and try the plugin folder to see if maybe there was a dll file there as plugins don’t show up as extensions in Google Chrome. Unfortunately I could find no plugins and while I tried to look around for the method I was unable to make an official determination.

I know that while this method is sneaky uninstalling and removing the applications directory and the user settings directly and reinstalling Google Chrome definitely gets rid of it. Don’t forget to back up any bookmarks and such for your client as losing bookmarks is one way to really make a client angry. If anyone knows the method this default extension was using to keep coming back let me know as I am pretty interested in knowing how it works.

If you are a computer technician and you are still using TDSSKiller as your primary rootkit detection method then you need to change your methods immediately. For months TDSSKiller has gone down hill dramatically and is probably the least effective tool I have at this point. Now don’t get me wrong TDSSKiller is a very fast scan and there is nothing wrong with including it in your procedures. All I am saying is to depend on it is currently a very bad idea. Some day in the future TDSSKiller may improve but for now do not depend on it!

Another program technicians are still recommending is Microsoft Security Essentials. Unfortunately Microsoft Security Essentials has fallen pretty hard in the last year and I honestly see no reason to use it over Avast or another antivirus solution. As computer repair technicians it is our responsibility to keep up with the best methods and to know when its time to change our policies. Don’t be that technician that sits there and sticks to some premade list with no adaptation. If you do that you are no better than the technicians at (insert large company chain here).

You should always be keeping up with the latest threats. Listen to what other technicians are talking about. For example if malware is wiping out safeboot entries then include that as one of the first steps in your procedures. Redirect viruses are so popular these days that it is literally the first thing I check for. I find that keyword “SEO” will almost always have redirects regardless of what ad/click network the virus is using so that’s one of the first things I try to test for redirection.

Loading up the laptop or computer and dropping it down at a store was actually normal many years ago.  Technology has changed and now many pc problems are software associated.  This means typical issues consist of error messages in Windows, upgrading issues, printer problems and of course the most common problem is malware and failing updates.  That’s exactly what Computer Repair Tech specializes in.  All those software associated issues that are not hardware failures.  We do receive phone calls about equipment failures since well.  This could be anything from a failing bad hard drive, power supply, motherboard, etc.  These components get heavy usage and its just a matter of time before they fail. Don’t worry at Computer Repair Tech we can assist you in troubleshooting those products as well, but regrettably we can’t fix them over the phone.  We merely tell you what the failure might be on your computer and make some suggestions as to how you can get the issue resolved.

So why should you choose Computer Repair Tech for your IT service needs?  Well there are numerous reasons.  We employ only U.S. residents unlike the majority of our competitors that outsource their tech support to overseas locations.  At Computer Repair Tech we believe in providing quality customer service and that means never outsourcing overseas.  We keep all our reviews on a third party website that we do not have any control of.  If you are interested in trying out our online computer repair services then visit: http://www.computerrepairtech.com/computer-repair-services.html.