Author: admin

How to clean up viruses, 2013 (4th edition)

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I first wrote an article about malware in 2009. It was for a government funded organization and spread across five counties in Pennsylvania. It has been updated annually since then with my best suggestions. The previous version is still available here, but this year I wanted to do something a little more direct. I have included the usual screenshots of fake programs you should look out for, but on top of that, I wanted to give you some additional programs that I like to use, including at least one I didn’t mention back when I talked about my IT Toolkit.

First, Shut your computer down. You heard me. Continue reading “How to clean up viruses, 2013 (4th edition)”

1985 – G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero

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Almost two years ago, I bought this giant box set of my childhood. It was the G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Complete Collectors Set [The Complete Series]. GI Joe was “the toy” I played with in the days before video games. I watched the Ninja Turtles cartoon, and I was one of the few who may have liked GO-Bots more than Transformers – but when it came to having a ton of any one kind of toy? GI Joe was my weakness.

The GI Joe cartoon was an early morning addiction. I have a childhood memory of waking up in the middle of the night and going in to the living room, then turning on the TV. My parents came out of their bedroom and sent me back to bed. I just wanted to watch GI Joe, but it was only about 4:30 in the morning and not 7:30! Oh the days of being a child, without even having a clock in your room! I just lived for all-things GI Joe. I’ve handed my toys down to my cousin’s children, and when we talked about our memories, we came to found out we both bought the same mini-footlocker of DVDs to relive our childhood! These GI Joe episodes were so memorable, and I think I’m going to rip and digitize my collection in the near future. So I thought I would share and see if anybody else remembered the GI Joe series! If ever there was a promo for a must-have toy, GI Joe was it, and they had me hook, line, and sinker. I even had the game for my Commodore 64! The least you can do is relive the good ol’ days, with some nice bonus treats found in the G.I. Joe A Real American Hero: Complete Collectors Set [The Complete Series].

Password safety: you're NOT getting a free Xbox or PS4

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A group named XboxLIVEAvatarGear on Facebook recently posted the above picture. Although the website has been shut down, it brings up a good topic that we should talk about this month, as I anticipate many, many more scam sites to start popping up.

The point of XLAG’s post on Facebook was to alert people to a website called XboxGifts.com – there’s nothing there, now, don’t worry. But the website looked identical to Xbox.com and surved one purpose: to promise you free things for forking over your Microsoft Account ID and password. No gifts would come, only pain of dealing with your account being hijacked and the possibility of Microsoft points and games being purchased under your ID, then charged to your credit card. Sites like this pop up all the time, but when the release of a big game, or a new console is around the corner, scam sites more than double in frequency.

With the upcoming announcement of the next Xbox console, you can bet there will be sites promising your free consoles, beta previews, insider news, etc… all if you just log in with your Microsoft account! Do yourself a favor, only get your news from trusted sources… say like Kotaku, or Joystiq, or Unscripted 360, and don’t put your Microsoft password anywhere that isn’t Microsoft.com or Xbox.com. Watch the address bar at the top of your web browser closely, make sure you know you’re on Xbox.com. I would even suggest people worried about this type of scam enable smart screen in Internet Explorer.