Nick Murarik's PC Repair - Security Basics [Intro]

Files everywhere! How to defragment

Nick Murarik's PC Repair - How to defragment your hard drive.

Okay, don't make fun of this. I made this a long time ago for my computer store. Some of the terminology I use has been extremely watered down, so tech guys take it easy on me.

I was just browsing around some old files and happened to stumble on it. I didn't even plan on having a post tonight.

It will open in a new window, so hopefully your pop-up blocker doesn't block it.

"Kingdom Komputers Defrag Tutorial"

What was I supposed to do? Memory diagnostics

Hi ! Nick Murarik here with a great new product! Here's how to order. Just kidding. It's not new, and it's FREE!

MemTest86 is a bootable (ISO) image that does memory diagnostics. If you made the UBCD from my last post you're ready to go. If not, you need to go do that, or head over to memtest86.com and download the iso and burn it to a disc. You can always order one from those guys too. (But it's free to download.)



I say in the video to let this run overnight. I'm serious. Do it. It might be the difference between a good and bad diagnostic.

If you do get an error, I'll explain tomorrow how to troubleshoot and figure out which module is bad. (If I can find a firewire cable to hook-up my video camera to my computer.)

P.S. I might have fibbed about the ten seconds. It takes ten seconds to start the test. Not run it. Har har har.

I like Kingston memory. Good price, and reliability.

Hard Drive Diagnostics Part #2

Okay, so hopefully you've ran chkdsk on your computer or are at least familiar with locating it.

The next test we'll want to do is boot from CD to a diagnostic tool. We have to boot from CD to ensure that the hard drive isn't being used by Windows while we're testing it. Booting from CD means that we'll burn data from a disc image (ISO) to a CD-R. (So get a blank CD-R or a bundle of them. Also make sure you have a drive that can write CD-Rs.)

Then we'll take the disc that you burn, put it in the disc drive, and reboot. Hopefully it will automatically load. If not we'll have to tinker with settings and hot keys. :P

I spent fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to handle this situation. I've made my final decision as "Ultimate Boot CD 4.1.1". This disc contains WAY more than just free hard drive diagnostics. It has memory testers, burn in tools, drive management, etc. That link goes straight to the download page from a mirror site. [homepage with more info: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/index.html]

So download that. It will take a while.

This is the sucky part. You have to know how to burn an ISO image to the CD-R. The best way I can explain this is by downloading a lightweight FREE burning software, InfraRecorder. It's my everyday burning software. I recommend YOU download the first installer. Everyone else should know what they're supposed to be clicking.

So download and install that. It should download pretty fast.

Okay this is taking way too long. I made a video start to end 2-minutes long that walks you through opening firefox (or IE) downloading and install InfraRecorder, and downloading and burning UBCD. Watch it. Make sure you have a blank cd in your burner. Click OK at the end of the cd burning process.

OKAY YOUTUBE FOR THE WIN - Watch the following 1st video in HQ on full screen. Very good.



This was blogger's attempt. fail.


facebook did an okay job: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1110132951670
BAH, I hope you have a facebook account. Sorry :(

Now that your disc is burnt, reboot your computer LEAVING the disc in the drive. It should load the UBCD menu. If not check to see if there's any messages on the screen that say "boot options" "boot from cd" "alternate boot options". If you find yourself somewhere you probably shouldn't be, just reboot and try again.

You have to press enter to boot the ultimate boot cd, when it asks you to.
You will use the arrow keys and enter key to make your selections.
When you get to the menu, choose Hard Disk Tools. Then choose diagnostics tools.

Gateway's GWSCAN 5.11 works great! Try that one out. You're going to see a bunch of stuff come up on the screen don't press any keys unless you're sure you want to change something. [tech tip: you can hit enter on the prompts to accept the default values]

Then choose extended scan. This will run a quick scan to determine if the drive is already badly damaged. Then an extensive scan will run afterward testing each sector. That's it. Hopefully your drive isn't bad. Be sure to remove the disc before rebooting your computer.

Good luck! :)

[According to Wikipedia."ISO image files typically have a file extension of .iso. The name ISO is taken from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media, but an ISO image can also contain UDF file system because UDF is backward-compatible with ISO 9660." ]

InfraRecorder is released under GPL version 3.(freeware)]

Hard Drive Diagnostics Part #1

Today consisted of a failed hard drive. This is *EXTREMELY* common. Which will bring me to a rant about data backup another day. If your computer is acting "funny" diagnostics are in order. Don't wait until it dies to check it for problems, be proactive and SAVE money and time!

Lets start with HARD DRIVE diagnostics.

Questions first:

• What is a hard drive?
• What size is your hard drive?
• Do you have enough hard drive space?
• Have you been taking care of your hard drive?

A hard drive is a physical storage device in your computer. That's where all of you pictures, music, videos, operating system (windows xp/vista etc), documents, internet browsers, etc etc etc are stored. They range in size and shape but will generally be sold as 2.5" on a laptop and 3.5" on a desktop.

To get a basic idea of how much storage space you have available to use, open the "My Computer" window. Click the start button and locate my computer or check the desktop (background) for an icon called "My Computer"

Most people will have a Local Disk (c:) -- listed under Hard Disk Drives. Right click the drive and click properties. You'll see a pie chart -- blue = used space / purple = free space.

You will want *at least* 5GB or more free space available. (Some games take up more space than this!)

BEFORE YOU DO ANY OF THESE STEPS BACKUP YOUR COMPUTER!

I like Western Digital hard drives. Here's 1TB drive with a good price tag:
Western Digital My Book Essential Edition 1 TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive WDH1U10000N

I'll include an article on how to do that some other day. I know, I know.

Lets start with CHKDSK because it's super easy to use.

According to Microsoft: "Chkdsk.exe is the command-line interface for a program that verifies the logical integrity of a file system on Windows. When CHKDSK encounters logical inconsistencies it takes actions to repair file system data, provided it is not in read-only mode." Microsoft recommends you do NOT interrupt the process. Be aware that disk checking will take a long time for most computers, BE PATIENT! One last warning: CHKDSK rarely freezes up, so give it time.

Here the basic run down. Open My Computer. Right click a hard drive to test, and click properties. On the properties window click the tools tab at the top. In the tools tab click the check now button. Choose your options, and click check. If its your primary hard drive, or a drive that Windows doesn't have full control of, it will ask you to schedule the scan and reboot.

See Video:

This is a great first step to diagnosing hard drive problems. If you see errors while the scan is running it might be time to move on to a more detailed diagnostic. That will have to wait for my next post, and isn't recommended for the average home user. Unless you're feeling lucky. You are feeling lucky....aren't you?

If it's already too late and you think you've lost some very valuable information get in touch with these guys:

We've used them, and had some pretty good luck. We even got a sweet mouse pad from them a few years back. I don't think they do that anymore. For systems that still boot up, or you're just curious check out their *FREE* hard drive scanner. You'll need to use IE though. :-P

Pick an antivirus already!

Hi everyone. This is my first blog entry. After spending almost an entire day repairing an infected computer I thought this would be a good start.

Let's start off with some questions:

• What anti-virus software do you use?
• Is your subscription up-to-date?
• Do you know how to update your definitions?
• Do you know what definitions are?

If you're unsure about any of those questions, listen up.

"Good" antivirus software prevents infections before they occur. How many times have you thought you were protected and still got a virus? Probably too many.

"Payware" antivirus solutions generally charge a yearly fee to have access to the latest and greatest antivirus definitions your "subscription". They will usually offer extra benefits like e-mail support and automatic updates without advertisements.

Antivirus definitions are basically a big book that your antivirus uses to tell the difference between good files and infected files. Most companies release multiple definition updates each day!

If you're not sure what antivirus you're using chances are it's not up-to-date, it's not the best solution for you, it's actually causing your computer to run way too slow, and it's not really protecting you from much of anything!

Okay with that said, you have a lot of options.. too many options maybe.

My all time favorite antivirus is AVG-Free. I prefer the free version because I'm a "computer tech" and I'm smarter than you. ;) I would highly recommend the PRO version to general home users and power users. It includes -- "Free support and service around the clock and across the globe." -- Web Shield and Anti-RootKit for nasty malware and IM/download viruses.

Did I mention it's way cheaper than taking your computer to the repair store? $34.99 per YEAR.

Other good antivirus solutions include Avast! and Avira Antivir, both I've used and both I really like. Avira Antivir is great for older slower computers.



You're probably scratching your head asking yourself "Why the heck did I spend $180 at [insert big box name here]?" The truth is, you probably bought a pretty good product but not necessarily the best. Symantec/Norton Antivirus/Internet Security and McAfee blah blah are pretty good. They're memory hogs and only really run good on brand new computers. As a matter of fact I've seen a lot of instances where free software prevented and fixed problems before the "big guys" were even aware there was a problem. In my opinion both Symantec and McAfee do a horrible job at spyware/malware. They're getting better though. If you're going to use Norton anyhow, make sure you're at least running the newest version. Norton AntiVirus 2009 – Download the newest version of premier antivirus protection! Click Here :-P

Norton Antivirus 2009



If you have any questions feel free to post comments. I'm sure there will be lots of opinions on antivirus solutions. Just remember this is the tip of the iceberg for computer security. But it's a damn good first step.

Oh one more really important thing, MORE IS NOT BETTER -- Use only one antivirus solution! Most software will warn you to remove your old antivirus before installing theirs, but don't be a newbie and forget. Remove old antivirus prior to installing new. If you want to be a weird-o and extra careful, disconnect your internet connection before removing your antivirus.

Minimum system requirements aka Technical Geek Notes -- These requirements indicate what the manufacturer has determined is the oldest slowest computer you can use with their antivirus.

• AVG Antivirus 8.5
  
• Intel Pentium 1.2 GHz
• 250 MB free hard drive space (for installation)
• 256 MB RAM available
• Windows 2000, XP 32/64, Vista 32/64

• Avira Antivir
  
• Pentium, at least 266 MHz
• 100 MB of free hard disk memory space
• 192 MB RAM under Windows 2000/XP -- 512 MB RAM under Windows Vista
• Windows 2000, XP 32/64, Vista 32/64

Please make sure to read the end-user license agreements on all software to make sure you're using them properly. Most free software is not allowed to be used in commercial environments.