A special hello to Larry in Atlanta, GA, and everyone else out there who calls into the show! Can you believe the Tigers are going to the Elite 8, I think they’re doing so well as they’ve had so much to prove. Go Tigers!

This week we’ve released the Ask Computer Jim Windows Vista Gadget. Gadgets are a new feature of Vista. They are mini programs that sit in Vista’s sidebar and provide fast access to important information, or information you access on a regular basis. Gadgets such as clocks, system resource monitors and news readers are available. The Ask Computer Jim Gadget can be downloaded here and provides a warning system for important information and Virus threats and it’ll also update you when we release a Newsletter.

Trivia Question: What percentage of American households do not have internet access?
AnswerAbout one third, or about 31 Million homes in the US do not have internet access.

Call #1 - Bill
Bill’s question is about Internet Explorer 7 providing Microsoft with increased access to your computer. A lot of the news surrounding IE7 was related to the EULA and the requirement of running Windows Genuine Advantage to install IE7. Caller #5, Roy, from February 18th’s show brought this up too. I think that IE7 is fine. Although, if you feel you would like to try something else both Firefox or Opera are very good free alternatives. Both of which are available from the Downloads section.

Call #2 - Danny
Danny talks to a lot of people who regard Vista as just eye candy and that Microsoft has caved into hollywood’s demands in regard to Digital Rights Management (DRM) and it’s inclusion in Vista. Lots of information about Vista and DRM is available, most notably a paper written by Peter Gutmann entitled ‘A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection’.

Vista is a lot prettier than past Microsoft Operating Systems, although eye candy is not all Vista brings. Vista is now a lot more secure and provides features such as User Account Control (UAC) and built-in Malware protection among others.

Danny is also rightly annoyed at Avast for not providing an alternative to their Captcha. To maintain usability, websites that use Capchas should also provide an audio file reading the letters/numbers in addition to the image, and if not there should be an alternative. These things are hard enough to read at the best of times.

Call #3 - Scott
Scott’s problem is that his web browser is redirecting him to different pages than the pages he is requesting. This is a common symptom of browser hijacking. To reclaim your browser from a hijacking you can download and run HiJackThis, a download link is available from our Anti-Spyware Downloads Section. Microsoft also has a guide to restoring a hijacked browser here.

Call #4 - Josephine
Josephine was having a problem with freeing up enough space on her hard drive so that she could perform a defrag. She called a company in Memphis who performed some checks on her system and now she is receiving lots of pop-ups and having trouble with her browser. To avoid Spyware and Malware there are three programs that should be used on a regular basis. They are Adaware, Spybot and Microsoft’s Defender, all of which are available from our Downloads Section. To clean up your system and free up space you can use a program called CCleaner, this is an excellent program for Windows users.

If you are not using a DSL router you should also be running a software firewall such as Kerio Firewall which will help stealth your computer from unwanted access via the Internet. To check if your computer is visible from the Internet run GRC.com’s Sheilds Up which will report any open ports.

Call #5 - Steve
Every time Steve shuts down his new computer he sees Windows trying install the same update. The first thing to try would be manually running Windows Update by going to Start -> All Programs -> Windows Update and seeing if it will install this way. Microsoft also has a knowledge base article about updates that are repeatedly offered that should be of use.

Quick Tips for keeping your computer running smoothly.

• Run Anti-Virus software and keep it up to date. New virus are being discovered every single day so it’s important to ensure your antivirus software is kept up to date. We have links to numerous free Anti-Virus programs in our Anti-Virus downloads section, AVG being the current favorite.
• There are three programs that should be used on a regular basis to combat Spyware and Malware infections. They are Adaware, Spybot and Microsoft’s Defender, which are available from our Anti-Spyware downloads section.
• Defrag your Hard Drives periodically to ensure files are laid out on the disk efficiently. Information on how to do this in Windows XP is available here.
• Remove any unwanted files and software from your system. CCleaner and Add/Remove Pro are great ways to achieve this and are both available for download here.

Call #6 - Robert
Robert says he was having trouble with a slow internet connection and on the advice of his friend he turned off his router for a short time. When he turned it back his connection was back to full speed. If routers or modems overheat or run into problems then rebooting them can resolve issues such as slowed internet connections. Rebooting your router every now and again might not be a bad idea.

Call #7 - David
David has a comment about backing up data. I say "There are two types of people in the world, those who have lost data on their computer and those who haven’t lost data yet". With external hard drives and flash drives being so cheap, and Microsoft’s SyncToy there’s no excuse for not backing up. David says there are three things every computer user needs, a Backup plan, a Maintenance plan, and a Security plan. He packages AVG Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware software with all of the computers he distributes.

Bots and Botnets
When a computer is infected with certain types of virus it is turned into what is known as a ‘bot’ (robot) which can be controlled remotely by a hacker to send spam emails. Groups of these Bots (called Botnets) are also used together to perform attacks on other computers and send massive amount of junk email. Using Bots to distribute spam also masks the real source of the junk email. There are reports that one quarter of all computers are part of a botnet so this is a serious issue. More information on Botnets is available from Wikipedia.

Tips for keeping yourself protected on the internet

• Run Anti-Virus software, as mentioned above, available from our downloads section
• Use a NAT Router. All routers act as hardware firewalls as standard. Even if it doesn’t say "firewall" on the box by way of function all routers are firewalls. This makes your computer invisible, and so protected, from the internet.
• A software firewall such as Kerio can provide you with information on outbound traffic from your computer and can alert you of suspicious activity on your system.

Don’t forget to try out the Ask Computer Jim Windows Vista Gadget!

 

 Ask Computer Jim - 24th Mar 2007 [40:08m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (14)

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