Expert I.T. computer support good ideas blog

Antivirus XP 2009

2009-01-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

XP antivirus 2009 is a fake antivirus software that has infected quite a few of our clients. After it is installed, they try to convince you that you have a virus on your system and that if you pay them $50, they can remove it and keep your system protected. It is very easy to remove, and below we will describe how to go about removing it.

The program is only caught occasionally by antivirus scanners. The (bastard) authors change the name of the file, and it seems to slip right past most scanners.

Fortunately, it is very easy to remove using combofix if you have an uninfected computer: Follow the steps below or go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix for additional information.

How to remove Antivirus XP 20009

Find an uninfected computer. Open internet explorer
Download Combofix (You can google combofix to find it)
Copy the file to a USB flash drive or burn the file to CD
Plug in the flash drive or CD in the infected computer
Close all internet explorer windows and anything else you may have running
Double click on Combofix
Agree to the prompts in the combofix windows
Wait 5-10 minutes for the scanner to finish. It may restart your PC

More information about how to avoid getting Antivirus XP 2009:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/22/anatomy_of_a_hack/print.html

Enabling Security Tab Windows XP Home & Media Editions & Gaining control of a folder marked as "Access Denied"

2008-11-21T20:43:00.001-08:00

This has various uses but what I needed was to take control of a folder that the file permissions had been not working and I could not gain access. This also allows for more restrictive file permissions. I have created the screen shots below along with step-by-step instructions

If you need to gain control back over any windows file partions that state "Access Denied". Check out the screen shots below.

Here are the steps.
Tools --> Folder Options.

Click the View Tab --> Scroll down to the bottom & Uncheck "Use simple file sharing (Recommended)" --> Ok

Then right click on the desired folder (One stating Access Denied) go to Properties. Security Tab --> Advanced --> Owner Tab --> Select your current user --> Check the box Replace Owner on Subcontainers and objects. It might prompt with some warning but YOU WANT ACCESS TO THOSE FILES so click Ok. :)

Exporting files from Entourage 2004 (Mac) to Outlook 2007 (Vista)

2008-11-07T13:33:00.001-08:00

First, I wish the developers of Entourage would talk to the developers of Outlook. Entourage has and Import/Export option, and so does Outlook. This is much more difficult than it should be.

While you can just drag files out of entourage and put them onto a flash drive and drop them back into Outlook, my problem was that large folders from entourage would not export OK.

How to move the mail:

1. If there are a lot of folders, this is going to take a while. Sorry. If they have a hundred folders underneath their inbox, this will take a while.

2. Download imapsize from http://www.broobles.com/imapsize/index.php in the tools menu, there is a button called "MBOX to eml"

3. Export your emails using entourage. (File>import/export)

4. Move the RGE file to the PC.

5. Run imapsize on the PC, and choose tools>mbox to eml

6. repeat the process on all folders

7. drag and drop the exported files into outlook.

8. Importing contacts is much easier. The export file format for entourage is compatible with the import format for Outlook.

Quick guide to computer backups

2008-11-04T01:46:00.000-08:00

Your data is not safe on your computer. Trust me. I have attempted to recover data from dead hard drives hundreds of times. A bit less than half of the time, the data is just gone, and for all intents and purposes, irretrievable unless you want to spend thousands of dollars to have a specialist recover your files.

When people ask me how often they should back stuff up, I always say: "How much data can you afford to lose?"

Backing up your company's important data isn't really difficult, it just requires a little discipline. It also isn't especially expensive. Considering that it takes all of your employees all day to create the data, an investment of around $500-$1000 is not unreasonable.

Now, the tutorial:
How to back up your computers
First, make a plan.
Ask yourself the following questions:

How often will you back up your data?
Can your internet connection support sending huge amounts of data to a remote site? (A typical T-1 can send about 1GB per hour.
How much time and money would it take my employees to re-input the data to be backed up?
Do I have a long-term source for replacement backup media? (Spools of DVDs, replacement tapes, hard drives, etc. Try to use industry standard media.)
How much data do I plan on backing up, and what type of retention period do I need? (Do this math carefully to determine how big the media needs to be.)
What legal retention policy must I abide by? (Doctors, lawyers, etc. may need to keep data for a long time.)

Second, find simple to use and reliable backup software. Learn how to backup and restore. Lately, we have found Backup for Workgroups to be a very reliable backup program.

Whichever program you choose, make sure it supports the following:

Emailing of daily backup status
Simple user interface
Simple restore procedure
An easy way to verify that the data you backed up is safe and current

Third, pick a good media type to back up to.

There are many choices here. CD/DVDs, Portable hard drives, tapes, online, etc.

Reliability scale:

Online Backups
Portable Hard Drives
CD/DVD
Tape backup

Simplicity Scale:

Portable Hard drives
CD/DVD
Online backups
Tape backup

We employ a pair redundant external USB hard drives (500+ GB each) as our method of choice. Hard drives offer a good combination of simplicity and data security, and by rotating a pair of them, one in the office, one at the business owner's home, we can greatly increase the chances of a successful restore even in the case of a major catastrophe.

Fourth, Set a backup schedule and check your backups on the regular.

Thanks for reading this! If you have any questions, post a comment or email me. We'll add to this tutorial as needed.

Hello World!

2008-11-03T18:24:00.000-08:00

Echo "Hello World";

Hello everyone! Welcome to the ITguysAZ.com computer support good ideas Blog.

This is Joe. Erik and I will be maintaining this blog with solutions to computer and networking problems we have encountered while working in Phoenix as technicians for Expert I.T. Solutions.

In the meantime, visit our website at Expertitaz.com or ITGUYSAZ.com