I would like to take a moment to let you know why our company, Advantage Micro Corporation, had to choose avast! over other anti-virus products like AVG, McAfee, Norton and Symantec – products that we had been selling for 20 years. During February 2002, we had over 100 computers come into our office for service. Our clients reported that their computers were too slow to use. Our usual virus scans with existing antivirus software were not finding any infections in these machines. However, further investigation found that each system had multiple Trojan “infections.” Our technicians came to the conclusion that virtually all...
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Facebook’s hidden settings exposed!
I logged into Facebook yesterday, and up popped a message ” You have sent to many “friend requests” to people you do not know! WOW, I never send friend requests, ever! How the hell? After some research, I found “friend request settings” and it was set to “everyone” (1st icon on the Facebook toolbar) I changed this to “friends of friends”, but I don’t want to send requests to them either, so the culprit has to be somewhere else! I next looked under accounts (last icon on the Facebook toolbar) and then “Apps” Low and behold, there were over 10...
Managing avast Endpoint Protection Suite using the avast Enterprise Administration console (AEA)
This article is the 4th in a series that were written by Che Johnson (Avast Software Technical Support) and J.R. Guthrie (avast Sales and Support Specialist from Advantage Micro Corporation). We spent over a year writing this series of “Managing avast Endpoint Protection” documents to make installations easier. These URLs are for avast! Endpoint Protection Suite using the avast Enterprise Administrator console. avast! Enterprise Administration console (AEA) The AEA console is required when managing 200+ systems. This Enterprise console is the most powerful anti-virus management tool in the industry. For those of you that have previously used ADNM (previous version 4 of the Enterprise console with blue icon),...
Microsoft Windows 8 Compatibility Check tool is missing incompliant CPUs
According to MS support requirements for Windows 8, a processor must include the PAE, SSE2, and the NX bit instructions sets. While PAE has been included in Intel CPUs since 2001 and SSE2 has been in them since 1995 the major instruction set to verify is the NX bit (aka No Execute or Execute Disable bit instruction set). NX has been supported in x86 and x64 processors since Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003 SP1 (Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released on August 25, 2004). Intel CPUs manufactured prior to Feb 2004 do NOT include NX...
Solar Event 2012 Exposed, what are the real risks to your computer?
This solar flare article’s contents are copied directly from my blog article on 15 Causes of Hard Disk Corruption. http://advantage77.com/blog/2012/02/03/15-causes-of-hard-disk-corruption/ Solar Event 2012 – (1.8 years still to go according to NASA) “Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.” J.R. Guthrie Joe M on 02-08-2012 at 10:01 pm (Edit) J.R., towards the end of your response to the post I made on your Blog, you had a quote, “Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital...
Static electricity complications in modern computer systems
Static electricity is known to cause system corruption and premature hardware failure, not to mention that ALL computer suppliers will VOID all warranties from static failure. Part of this issue is due to the carpet and chairs. Most carpet is manufactured using polyester, which has a natural static tendency. Treatment is most effective by misting your carpet or chair with Staticide spray ($15 per quart). It is 1000 times more potent that Downey, at removing static. Downey starts to leave a gummy residue after regular use and therefore is undesirable. When replacing carpet, use a nylon based carpet such...
IT Security Policy
Security Tools, Templates, Policies
10 things IT pros do that lead to burnout
I found that I was in default of these many factors of burnout and have changed my actions. Many of us are guilty her!
avast! Mobile Security FREE on your Kindle
Here is a document on How to install avast! Mobile Security FREE on your Kindle Fire. Thanks to all the work by Jaime Hernandez!
HP’s expiring ink cartridges EXPOSED
What is ink expiration and will it make my HP inkjet printer stop working? Why does it exist? There is a computer chip that is built into HP ink supplies that can make them stop working on a certain date. There are also computer chips built into all of HP’s laser toner catridges. According to HP, “Basically ink expiration is a built-in date on which certain HP ink cartridges will stop working. Air ingestion and water evaporation can cause ink to change over time. In printing systems where the printhead and ink supply are separate, older ink can adversely...
Hard Disk Warranty Changes effective NOW (January 1, 2012)
Please note that effective Jan 2. 2012, Western Digital will have warranty change too. Basically, warranty on Desktop & Mobile (Blue and Green family lines) will be changed from 3 years to 2 years. As to other lines such as Black family line, WD AV, WD RE and WD branded/Retail products warranty terms and return structure remain unchanged. Please note that effective Dec 31st 2011, Seagate will be changing their warranty again. In the nutshell, Desktop & Mobile will be changed from 2 years to 1 year; Enterprise from 5 years to 3 years. This will occur even though...
Correct Outlook Settings for MSN accounts
Most posts for Outlook settings for MSN are wrong. So after trial and error, here is what works: In Outlook 2007, click on the Tools menu, and then click Account Settings. • Click the E-mail tab, and then click New. • Click to select Microsoft Exchange, POP3, IMAP, or HTTP, and then click Next. • Click to select the Manually configure server settings or additional server types check box, and then click Next. • Click to select Internet E-mail, and then click Next. • On the Internet E-mail Settings screen, type the following setting information: a. In the Your...
