IT Queries: Computer problems answered

I’ve been told I can’t use AVG Free for my business and I have to buy the professional version. Is this true?

It is true. The three main free anti virus programs – AVG Free, AntiVir and Avast! are all for home users only. If you’re a business, you have to pay for their professional versions.

All three products offer good deals compared to their larger competitors and by buying them you’ll be supporting the free software you can use at home.

The price of these anti virus programs is tiny compared to the embarrassment and costs of being infected with a virus so do it.

It seems that I have been infected with a rootkit as my internet download amount was used in just under 2 weeks (last month). I have changed my password, and redone my computer several times in the last month.

My operating system is Microsoft Vista and I’ve been taking all measures that I can think of to try and clean my system, but I think that it has returned again. Any suggestions on cleaning this type of type of problem (Rootkit)?

Rootkits are the worst possible type of infection and can be difficult, if not impossible to remove. If you do have a rootkit infection, then we’d suggest calling a computer technician and being prepared to reformat your system.

We’d also recommend you disconnect the computer from the Internet and backup all your important data.

If you’d like to try it yourself, then you can follow our removing a Trojan instructions. Be warned, rootkits are notorious at appearing to have been removed and then reappearing a short time later.

I have been transferred from mumbai to kochi. In mumbai i was using a broadband connection on LAN which was perfectly fine.

On shifting to kochi i got a new connection of Asianet on LAN. But LAN is not getting connected although USB from modem is connecting.

I am suspecting some problem with IP Adress set up- as the data is going in through LAN port but not sent back(showing in status).please help…

This question’s a bit confusing as you mention a LAN and USB connection. You need to be using one or the other, not both for your Internet connection. So the first step is to unplug the USB and restart your computer.

If the LAN still isn’t connecting. You may need to force the IP address to change, do this by clicking Start, Run and type ipconfig /renew then click OK.

There are some other settings you can change on your network card which we describe in our Slow Copying to a Vista Computer article. You may want to try setting the LAN connection to 100/duplex rather than Automatic.

I connected a usb hard drive to my dish dvr, and it reformatted it. I connected the drive to my computer, and the disk manager (the only way I could find the drive on the computer) says it is partitioned into 4 partitions, all of which are “unknown partitions”.

I want to be able for the dvr and my computer to read, swap, and play the videos on the hard drive.

I called Dish and they said they reformat into fat32, but again, my computer (XP Pro) doesn’t recognize it. Help???

The problem is the hard drive isn’t partitioned in a way your computer or DVR understands.

To fix this, plug the hard drive into your computer. Wait until the Removable Device icon appears or a message saying a new device has been installed.

From the desktop right click on My Computer and select Manage

In the Management Console go down the left hand side list and select Disk Management.

The right hand side of the Management Console will now split into two. The top half shows the formatted partitions such as the C: and D: drives. While the bottom half shows the actual disks.

In the bottom half scroll down until you find the new disk. It will show the disk split into four partitions with each marked as “unknown”.

Right click each of the unknown partitions and select Delete Partitionand follow the wizard.

After deleting all four of the unknown partitions you can start create a new partition by right clicking the drive and selecting Create Partition

Windows will start a Partition Wizard. Of the options you receive, you should choose to create a Primary partition and select the largest size possible.

At the end of the wizard you’ll be asked to format the drive. You need to do this and select Fat 32 in the File Type box when asked.

Keep in mind FAT32 has a number of limitations including being limited to 2Gb files which can create problems for backups and saving DVD sized files.

I want to change my browser search engine to use Microsoft’s Bing. How do I do this?

The simplest way is to simply type www.bing.com into your browser’s address bar and go from there, but if you want to set your system so it always uses Bing, you need to change the default settings.

Google Chrome

Click the spanner icon in the top right hand corner, select Options and under the Basics tab choose Default Search.

As a new browser, Bing won’t be listed so select Manage, then Add and type the Microsoft Bing into the Name box and the address www.bing.com into the URL field. Click Okay and Close.

Internet Explorer

Next to the Search box in the top right hand corner is an arrow pointing down, click on that and select Change Search Defaults. Highlight Live Search and click Set Default. Click Okay.

Firefox

In Firefox, go to the Mozilla Live Search Add On Page, click the Add to Firefox button and a box will appear asking if you want to add Live Search to your system. Tick the box that says “start using right away”  and click Add.

Keep in mind you can undo these settings easily by simply changing the settings back to Google, Yahoo! or whichever search engine you prefer so it’s no great problem if you find Bing doesn’t work for you.

I have Norton 360 V.3 on my PC running on Windows XP.

For the last month the Norton 360 Live Updates have not been working. I’ve contacted the Norton people and had them manually updated but this hasn’t fixed the problem as the automatic update still doesn’t work.  They uninstalled and reinstalled the programme twice but this made no difference.

They’ve now told me that I have a ctfmon.exe virus which will have to be fixed by Microsoft.  How can I have a virus when I have Norton 360 running all the time and how do I have it fixed?

First the ctfmon.exe file may not be a virus. This is a normal Microsoft Office file, so you shouldn’t assume you have an infection.

The first thing is to check you don’t have a virus and you should do this by following the instructions in our removing a Trojan page.

Once you’re happy you’ve cleared any possible virus infection, you’ll need to clean up your computer.

The next step is to update your Windows Scripting Host as Norton 360 relies on this to work properly.

With your computer now cleaned and up to date, download the latest Norton 360 update and install this.

After rebooting, check Norton 360 is updating. If not, follow the Troubleshooting Live Update instructions on the Symantec website.

The Windows Scripting Host is an important part of all Windows versions later than the first version of Windows 95. It automates various functions and it’s critical to operation of various Windows features like Automatic Updates.

It does have some problems however and using it to infect Windows computers through “drive by downloads” has been a favourite trick of virus and spyware writers in recent years.

While it does create security problems for Windows users, it is an essential part of the system so you need the latest updates for it.

Microsoft have a number of updates for Windows Scripting;

• Windows XP and Server 2003 users should download Version 5.7
• Windows 2000, 98 and ME users should use Version 5.6.
• Vista users should use Windows PowerShell

It’s best to download and install the appropriate package and then run the Windows Update program.

This must seem like a silly question but how do you use a memory stick?

I bought a Data Traveller 8GB so somebody could download some pictures and text and a programme to enable me to open VLN E-MAILS.I plugged the memory stick in and I clicked on My Computer and then a new icon entitled F drive which I clicked on and there they were.

The next day I found half the pictures had gone and I’ve no way of knowing where they’ve gone. Also subsequently when I’ve tried to open the pictures again it will not open unless the memory stick is installed. I thought they had been installed on the computer.

First, what is a VLN e-mail?

From your description, the photos have been moved to the new drive so that is why you can’t open them without the drive connected.

It’s very odd your photos have moved to the flash drive without your intervention and it sounds like something else is at work here. You may need to get a computer technician to look at your system’s settings.

To recover the lost photos, we’ve covered this in our Recovering Lost USB Stick post.

My system is ms 2000 and I have a problem with Incredimail.

When I try to send or forward an email once I click on send the window freezes and I have to press alt ctrl delete to be able to shut down.  I am still on dialup.  I have rung my ISP who told me to change my outgoing stmp to 124.254.72.68 but this made no difference.

Is there anything to fix this or is it time to get a new computer ?

A Windows 2000 system is pushing 12 years old, which is over a hundred in computer years, so it may be worthwhile buying a new system.

With the Incredimail problem, it may be related to the Windows Scripting Host, you can download the most recent version that works with Windows 2000 from the Microsoft web site.

If that doesn’t work, you should look at giving your computer a clean up which may help. Of course, make sure you’ve backed up your data before running the programs.

Once you’ve done all the cleanups, it will be worth visiting the Windows Update website and run any outstanding updates.

Updating Incredimail may help as well, although it may simply be time for a new computer.

I’ve upgraded to the latest version of AVG Free and now I’m finding my computer is running slower. What should I do?

Like most anti virus programs AVG has a number of protections that can slow your computer.

One of the common problems with AVG is the “Link Scanner” function. This checks links in a web page before you click them and warns you if there’s a problem with the linked site. While this is a good idea, it slows web browsing.

To turn this off, open AVG by double clicking the AVG box on the taskbar near where the time is shown. When AVG opens, click Tools and Advanced Options.

In the Advanced Options screen, there are list of settings on the left hand side. Click Link Scanner and take the ticks off the three boxes; Enable AVG Search Shield, Enable AVG Surf Shield and Enable reporting threats to AVG.

Click apply.

To help speed the machine you may also want to change the automatic scan settings. To do this, go down the settings list to Schedules, expand the list by clicking the “+” box and select Scheduled Scans.

On the right hand side of the screen, take the tick off Enable This Task.

Click Apply and reboot your computer.

You should note that because AVG will now not be protecting your web surfing then you should practice safe browsing.