Whether you consider yourself a Republican, Democrat or anything else, technology will   always be here and will only progress and advance. If you have any negative feelings for our next president, put them aside for a moment while we analyze what our next president will do for IT and for the future of technology. Below are some of the highlights.

One of the technology issues that stood out the most to me was regarding Net Neutrality. This is something that we can all agree on. Below is an excerpt from Obama’s site.

A key reason the Internet has been such a success is because it is the most open network in history. It needs to stay that way. Barack Obama strongly supports the principle of network neutrality to preserve the benefits of open competition on the Internet.

Obama also believes in having a widened communications infrastructure.

Barack Obama believes that America should lead the world in broadband penetration and Internet access. As a country, we have ensured that every American has access to telephone service and electricity, regardless of economic status, and Obama will do likewise for broadband Internet access. Obama and Biden believe we can get true broadband to every community in America through a combination of reform of the Universal Service Fund, better use of the nation’s wireless spectrum, promotion of next-generation facilities, technologies and applications, and new tax and loan incentives.

Obama also wants to create an Electronic Healthcare system eleminating most errors that happen by using paper records.

A key feature of Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s health care plan is the use of health information technology to lower the cost of health care. Most medical records are still stored on paper, which makes them difficult to use to coordinate care, measure quality, or reduce medical errors. Processing paper claims also costs twice as much as processing electronic claims. Barack Obama and Joe Biden will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records.

Lastly Obama believes in bringing the Government to the “21st Century”

Barack Obama and Joe Biden will use technology to reform government and improve the exchange of information between the federal government and citizens while ensuring the security of our networks. Obama and Biden believe in the American people and in their intelligence, expertise, and ability and willingness to give and to give back to make government work better. Obama will appoint the nation’s first Chief Technology Officer (CTO) to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century. The CTO will ensure the safety of our networks and will lead an inter-agency effort, working with chief technology and chief information officers of each of the federal agencies, to ensure that they use best-in-class technologies and share best practices.

Greetings,

Commercial software can be quite expensive for the average user. Open source has become quite popular lately and there is a wide variety of Free Open Source software applications to fit the budget. Below is a small list of some great Open Source applications. Enjoy!

1. ClamWin - Great alternative to any commercial based Anti-Virus solution. Not quite as good as Avira IMO, but a great program none the less. Has great self updating features and easy integration into Windows Explorer for manual based scans of folders.

2. FileZilla - Totally Free and coimpletely functiuoning FTP Client. Has all the essential features needed in a FTP Client plus other great additions such as File Upload and Download Resume.

3. Firefox - Best alternative to using Internet Explorer. Has a HUGE database of Plugins and Addons to make your browsing much more enjoyable. Recommended plugin would be Forecast Fox.

4. Gimp - GNU Image Manipulation Program. Great alternative to Adobe Photoshop! A personal favorite of mine. Can be used for advanced photo manipulation and editing as well as photo touch up.

5. OpenOffice - Open source alternative to Microsoft Office Suite. Has same functionality as Microsoft Office, and can also read Office created files for an easier transition. Works just as good, and is about oh…..$700 dollars cheaper!

6. PDFCreator - PDFCreator easily creates PDFs from any Windows program. Use it like a printer in Word or any other Windows application.

7. aMSN - MSN Messenger client written in TCL/TK. Using currently as an alternative to Live Messenger.

1. When not in use, turn your computer off. May work better for you at night before you goto bed.

2. Enable Power Management on your computer if you prefer not to turn it off. Set to Turn Off Monitor and Hard Disks after a certain amount of time has passed at least.

3. Consider the environment before you print documents. Do you really need a hard copy, or can this document be stored digitally? Even setting your printer to print on both sides will reduce a significant amount of paper.

4. Look at the benefits of using EnergyStar quipoment if you are not already doing so. Most later manufactured CRT monitor’s are even EnergyStar certified.

5. Re-use components such as Keyboards and Mice.

6. Donate computer or recycle computer when you plan on not using it anymore or decide to purchase a new one.

Happy Earth Day 2008!

If your an IT Professional, most likely you have dealt with a nasty Spyware or Adware infection that seemed impossible to remove.
This list was created spotlighting some of the most complex and hardest to remove Spyware and Adware threats around and links for removal instructions.

• ContraVirus - also known as ExpertAntivirus is a fake Spyware, Trojan removal application known to give exaggerated reports of potential risks on a computer.
• IEDefender - A rogue anti-spyware application with aggressive advertising and scare tactics.
• Smitfraud - A computer infection that may display false security alerts or popup messages stating that you are infected with a parasite. Cannot be removed by conventional methods.
• SpyCrush - Part of a group of rogue anti-spyware programs including Spylocked and VirusBurst. Creates system alerts to get users to purchase a full version of the SpyCrush rogue anti-spyware program.
• SpyDawn - A bogus anti-spyware program that may be installed on your computer without you knowing about it. Resembles a legitimate spyware removal program’s interface.
• SpyLocked - A well known bogus anti-spyware program that may be installed onto user’s computer through a previously downloaded Trojan or codec.
• SpyShredder - A dangerous corrupt anti-spyware program that hijacks your PC for malicious purposes. It may infect your machine through Trojans and browser security exploits.
• Trojan.Vundo - A Trojan downloader that generates exaggerated pop-ups on your machine’s screen. May install itself through browser security holes in your computer without your approval.
• VirusProtect - A rogue anti-spyware program which downloads and installs itself onto your PC through a Trojan called Zlob. The Zlob Trojan can be found bundled in video codecs used to view video files, especially with adult content.
• VirusProtectPro - A rogue anti-spyware program that installs itself onto your computer through a Trojan or web security holes. May change your desktop settings, hijack your web browser and redirect you to unwanted web sites.
• Winfixer -Displays false information about the user’s computer, confusing the user into believing that their PC is infected with viruses, spyware and/or other forms of malware. Very similer to programs like WinAntiVirus, WinAntiVirusPro, ErrorSafe, SystemDoctor, WinAntiSpyware, AVSystemCare, WinAntiSpy, Performance Optimizer, StorageProtector, PrivacyProtector etc.
• CoolWebSearch - A rogue anti-spyware program that installs itself onto your computer through a Trojan or web security holes. May change your desktop settings, hijack your web browser and redirect you to unwanted web sites.
• MyWebSearch - MyWebSearch is an adware application which, when initially analysed, was observed to display advertisments when the browser was active.

The SmitFraud Trojan virus tends to be another very hard to remove infection, and the steps are outlined below. And like Virtumonde below, it will usually trick the user into installing Rogue spyware\adware onto system by appearing to be legitimate spyware removal programs.

1. Download SmitFraudFix and place onto desktop

2. Restart computer in Safe Mode

3. Run SmitFraud.Exe and select #2. It will scan and than run Diskcleanup. Once the process has finished, it will restart.

4. After restarting, your system should be SmitFraud Free

This nasty infection causes quite the headache, and is quite the pain in the you know what to remove. It will slow the system down to a crawl, display advertisements and pop-ups and will re-add itself intelligently via registry keys and background memory processes. Running a Virus-scan is not effective alone.

Running in Safe Mode alone will not cure this infection which is known process to fix many Virus and Ad-ware infections. Fixing the Vundo infection comes in a few steps.

1. Download Malware Bytes and Vundofix

2. Power down the machine and boot into Safe Mode. (Tap F8 when booting the workstation)

3. Clear all Temp Files by using Disk-cleanup or similar.

4. Install MalwareBytes and VundoFix

5. Run MalwareBytes first and clean infected files that are found. Once the scan is complete, run Vundofix and remove found infection.

6. Restart and you are finished.

I would recommend using Mozilla Firefox from here on out wiseguy

 I have been using this Freeware software for remote repairs as well as connecting to my personal computers at home. Once you sign up, simply install the remote client software on the computer you wish to connect to.

You can access that system as long as you have an Internet connection and your computer is turned on once you sign into Logmein.com.

Very simple to use and extremely valuable today for those technicians wishing to fix problems remotely. I routinely install the Logmein client after I am on-site for repairs at a clients house just in case issues arise, or for future work on that PC.

Goto Logmein’s Site for more information

Highly Recommended

Updated 4/12/08

Windows XP & Vista

01. Windows XP Service Pack 3 RC2 - This is the latest Service Pack release from Microsoft. It has fixed numerous bug’s and incompatibility problems with the former release.

 02. SpaceMonger- Ever wonder what is taking all of your hard drive space? Forgot about those old vacation movies that were burned to DVD’s? Never fear, Spacemonger is here. This handy utility tells you where all the space is being taken, and has a nice graphical presentation of it.

 03. PageDefrag - Paging and Registry file fragmentation can be one of the leading causes of performance degradation related to file fragmentation in a system. I have used this utility for System Performance and it works. Use alongside standard hard drive defrag programs for maximum benefit.

 04. Fresh UI - Fresh UI is a tool for configuring and optimizing Windows. It comes loaded with hundreds of useful hidden settings in Windows such as: customizing the User Interface (UI), optimizing system settings, optimizing hardware settings, customizing Windows application settings, control user environment with policies.

 05. EasyCleaner- Once of my All-time favorite freeware performance apps. This one does it all… You can scan your registry for errors, look for duplicate files, manage programs installed on system and also manages start up items.

06. Mcafee Site Advisor - Keep that PC clean throughout the New Year by avoiding harmful websites! This nifty application integrates into your browser to keep you alerted of harmful and potentially unwanted websites. Bad websites highlighted in red and may contain unwanted code, downloads and Virus’s. Green will show that the site has been checked and is safe. Compatible with Internet Explorer.

  07. Spybot Search & Destroy - A spyware free OS is a happy OS. It happens to all of us at one point or another… You get Spyware,Adware or Malware on your PC. Run this application to ensure that this is safely removed with ease. Will remove most all types of Adwarefrom your system. Tried, Tested and True. Not guaranteed to remove all types of infections such as Virtumonde, SmitFraud and other types of complex infections. Works well for small to moderate infections and non-complex forms of Adware software.

 08. FreeRam XP - FreeRAM XP is a small, yet powerful memory manager and optimizer that allows you to free unused Ram.Recommended for computers that have less than 512mb of RAM on their XP installation. Not Vista Compatible

09. Norton Removal Tool - Get some real Antivirus on your machine. This will remove all versions of Norton Antivirus from your machine minus the nagging and dirty uninstalls. Thanks Symantec!

10. Clamwin Antivirus - This is a great freeware Antivirus program. 100% open Source

11. Avira Antivirus - Having used this since 2002, I can easily say this has been one of the best Antivirus picks available. It has a great scan engine, Auto Update abilities and most important of all, it works great and will catch about everything!

12. The GIMP - Popular Linux photo editing solution available on Windows based PC’s! Works about as well as Photoshop does and its free.

13. Restoration - Straight forward easy to use fie recovery software. Works with USB Drives as well!

14. Angry IP Scanner- Great Netwrok scanning tool. Scans IP’s and reports back if the IP addresses are aliev or dead. Great for internal networks.

15. ZoneAlarm- Good bet for a software based firewall solution for your Home PC. With alittle configuration, it can be quite affective againist outside attacks. Also good for lminmiting Outbound connections which normally are malicious software or virus’s.

Happy New Year and Enjoy!

Just wanted to extend an invite to anybody interested in having any Technology\IT Related work done in the Great Falls Montana Area. Please contact me for more information.

Trained, Certified and qualified to handle your computer software,hardware or network and server solutions.