The New Geek - Filipino Computer Enthusiast

What is Windows?
Well most everyone has a good idea what that is. It's the operating system that makes programs on most of the world's computers work.
What is Linux?
Like Windows, it is an Operating System, that means it talks to the computer, runs your programs, and organizes your files. The difference is that with Linux you are given a lot of freedom - you can look at how the programs were written, you can make copies, you can give away or sell copies, you can change the programs, just as long as you give everyone else the same rights. And best of all, the vast majority of Linux distributions (roughly translated: versions) are free, as in you don't have to pay anything!
Is Linux for me?
You have to answer that for yourself, but I'll tell you my answer. I installed Linux because I wanted to learn more, and I can't afford Windows. I've found that it's fun, and easy to learn. Most anything I did on Windows I can do on Linux. Word processing, Internet, music and video, etc. The only thing lacking is full support for Windows-based games.

Forums and wikis are a great way to find and share information. If you're interested in switching over to Linux, check out the Ubuntu and Mandriva forums. These are both newbie-friendly Linux distributions:
Ubuntu Forums
Ubuntu Wiki
Mandriva Forums
Mandriva Wiki

If you're thinking of switching to Linux or just want to learn about the different Linux and BSD distributions visit DistroWatch:
DistroWatch
Mandriva 2009.1 and Ubuntu 9.04 are out!

TipidPC is a Filipino computer trading site and forum:
TipidPC

More geekiness! I'm learning C++ and Qt! Great C++ tutorial here:
Learn C++
Official Qt tutorials and documentation:
Qt Documentation

Some computer software I find useful and/or fun:
For Windows users the sysinternals programs are very useful:
Sysinternals
I especially like Autoruns and Process Explorer. Autoruns will list every program or service that is configured to start every time you start Windows. This will help you tweak your system and make it boot faster and use less resources. It will also help you find viruses or other unwanted programs that start automatically. Process Explorer is like Task Manager, except it can give you a lot more information, such as whether a program was digitally signed by the publisher, or which program has a certain file or directory open.
For all you photo and image manipulation enthusiasts out there I recommend the GIMP. It's a totally-free and very powerful image manipulation program. In short it's a free Photoshop alternative. It's available for both Linux Windows and Mac OS X

Another free alternative to commercial software is Open Office. It's an office productivity suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases. This is a good option for individuals, small businesses, or just anyone who needs quality office software on a budget. It can open and save documents in MS Office formats too, so there are less worries with compatibility. I admit when I first used Open Office 1.0 in 2002 I hated it! I found it difficult to use and it messed up my MS documents. But they kept working on it and when version 2 came out I said goodbye to MS Office. Now Open Office is at version 3, the best one so far in my opinion. Learn more at Why Open Office?.

If you are thinking of switching or have switched to Linux but still need to run programs for Windows then take a look at Wine. Wine (originally an acronym for Wine Is Not an Emulator) allows Windows software to be run on Linux. While Wine is far from perfect, development goes on and the progress is impressive. One program I run on Wine is Epson Easy Photo Print. Some features aren't usable but overall it works very well. The most important part, printing the photos, works perfectly. Read my Epson Easy Photo Print report in the Wine Application Database. You can also browse the database for other programs and how well they run with Wine.

Unfortunately these are written for Windows. They can be made to run on Linux with compatibility software like Wine.


The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind - This with the Tribunal and Bloodmoon expansions (all included in the Game of The Year edition) is my favorite game. It's a bit old by video game standards, but the community around it is still very active, which says a lot about the quality of the game. It is an open-ended computer role-playing game set in a huge and beautifully-detailed game world. You can select from various races, astrological signs, and character classes. Players can also create their own content: land masses, objects, weapons and armor, playable races, non-player characters, creatures, sounds, anything in the game. Even graphics, scripts, and game mechanics can be altered and created! This gives the game infinite replayability. Sometimes I just like wandering around and enjoying the view.


Fallout 2: A Post-Nuclear Role Playing Game - And that's what it is. Fallout 2 is set in the far future in a world in which mankind is trying to rebuild after a devastating nuclear war. There's a big world to get lost in, with cities and villages and random encounters. There are also a lot of interesting NPCs with their own agendas and world views. Good guys and bad guys and everything in between. In the Fallout universe though, good and bad isn't always so clear-cut. Characters skills are highly customizable which makes the game highly re-playable. You can take different paths through the quests and see various possible endings. There are also a lot of high-quality user-made mods to download on the Internet. This is one of the best games ever made.

Fallout - The first game in the series. I played this after Fallout 2. The game world is a bit smaller than in Fallout 2, with fewer locations but it's still a very, very good game. It seemed to me that combat is tougher than in Fallout 2. The atmosphere in the game is great. I really felt the urgency of my quest (There's a time limit.) and the desperate conditions of people living in a world destroyed by nuclear weapons.


Grim Fandango - This is one of the best adventure games ever made. It has a unique premise and storyline. You play the role of Manny Calavera, a government employee in the land of the dead. Manny works for the Department of Death, making travel arrangements for souls on their way to the final destination. The puzzles are ingenious and the humor is subtle but effective. The story is one of the best ever. It's better than most movies. The controls and camera ngles are a little hard to master but otherwise this game is perfect.

The Monkey Island series - Actually, I only loved the first three: Secret of Monkey Island, LeChuck's Revenge, and The Curse of Monkey Island. You play the role of Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate! Actually, that's weakling, wannabe pirate. Follow Guybrush's misadventures through the series as he pursues his dream of the pirate life. Obtain a ship, recruit a crew, search for treasure! Also, fight the bad guys and win the affections of a fair maiden! (No spoilers here) These are adventure games so you move the story along by solving puzzles. The puzzles, dialog, and the games are filled with wit and humor. I actually laughed out loud (as opposed to just saying "lol") while playing these games.

One of the most common topics on Internet forums is malware removal. Cleaning a malware infection can be time-consuming and frustrating and result in lost time and productivity. Most of these infections are preventable.

In this article I will try to lay-out a comprehensive prevention strategy. It will be written for the non-IT professional, Windows XP user. Much of the content, however will also be applicable to other OSs, perhaps with some minor modifications.

Let's begin.

Step 1: Use genuine software.

I've seen a lot of forum posts detailing malware infections that came about from using pirated software. Often someone will post "Help, I installed a cracked NOD32/Kaspersky/Whatever and now my PC is acting weird" or something similar. Really, using pirated security software is like asking a criminal to watch your house. If you can't afford to buy commercial security products there are a lot of good, free alternatives available. It's not only a legal issue, it's a security issue.

Another risk comes from using pirated Operating System software. It would be very easy for pirates to slipstream malware into a Windows install. You wouldn't even know it was there, it could hide for years transmitting your information to the Internet. The same can be said about any pirated software, there could be some nasty code hiding in there. Use genuine updated software, it might cost more at first but it will benefit you in the long run.

Step 2: Use security software and a hardware firewall.

This is down to personal preference. I've seen some claims that some people run their PCs without security software and that they've never had an infection. Good for them, but as for myself I'm not going to wait for the day my PC gets infected. Here's what I use:

Antivirus (Real-time and on-demand)

Real-time Antispyware monitor

On-demand Anti-spyware scanner

Hardware Firewall

Software Firewall with HIPS

Rootkit finders

I can't tell you what the "best" antivirus is because I honestly don't know and the topic is too subjective. Just find one that is suits your needs. The factors are: detection rate, update regularity, cost, size, and resource consumption. I've been using AVG Free 7.5 for a long time without getting infected. A lot of people, however, will say that they don't like AVG and it has a poor detection rate, etc.

For anti-spyware I use Windows Defender and AVG Antispyware. Can't say much about these two, never had any spyware so I can't tell you how good they are. They seem to get mixed reviews, however, so do some research.

For a software firewall I have Comodo Firewall with Defense+ enabled. A software firewall decides what network traffic is allowed to go in and out of your computer. It may seem redundant to have both a hardware and software firewall, but a software firewall will protect you both from malware trying to connect from your computer to the Internet and attacks originating from other computers. Hardware firewalls will only protect you from incoming attacks from outside the network.

Defense+ is a behavior-based anti-malware tool. It will report or block (depending on configuration) suspicious software activity. A word of warning: the Comodo software is very powerful and highly configurable, but it can get very annoying with all the popup prompts. If you can work through that the popups will (mostly) stop when Comodo has learned your system's behavior.

Rootkits are software designed to hide itself and other objects (files, folders, etc.) from view. These are increasingly used by spyware to hide themselves on an infected computer. For finding rootkits I use Rootkit Revealer from Sysinternals and IceSword and GMER. No one tool is going to find every rootkit, and there are a lot of false positives. If you think you are infected there are a lot of helpful articles and forums on the subject online. More paranoid users can try running everything in a virtual environment or a sandbox. This way, no data is actually written to disk.

Learning to use these tools properly is a matter of patience. But the rewards are a more secure computer and a better understanding of how your computer works.

Step 3: Do everyday tasks on a limited user account.

In WindowsXP, applications run with the privilege level of the logged-in user. Most applications don't need to be run with administrative privilege. By running as a limited user you limit the potential damage that malware can do. Most pf the registry is off-limits as are other users' data. It's true that some malware might be able to circumvent this and elevate their privilege, but most malware can't. Why expose yourself to unnecessary risk? Save the admin account for when you really need it. For old software that need administrative privilege, there are ways to make them run under limited accounts. These often involve editing file, folder, and registry permissions.

Step 4: Make sure your software is updated.

A lot of malware try to exploit vulnerabilities in popular software, from operating systems to browsers to media players. An example of this is the Blaster Worm, which exploits vulnerabilities in Windows. A patch has been available for years but as late as last week (August 2008) I saw a forum post detailing the same symptoms. Another example would be the exploits targeting the popular Adobe Flash software. To counter these software companies periodically release updates and patches.

Make sure you have the latest updates installed. These not only address security issues, but often improve performance and stability as well.

Step 5: Practice safe surfing and computing.

Don't open unexpected e-mail attachments. If you really have to verify with the sender what it contains. If the sender is a stranger don't open it. If you really, really have to then scan it before opening. If you're going to insert strange flash drives, floppies and CDs into your PC disable autoplay on all your drives and drive types. Scan before opening anything on the drive.

Don't enable scripts by default on Internet sites. I use Firefox with the Noscript add-on. Scripts are enabled in Firefox but Noscript blocks them. I can then allow scripts only on sites that I trust. Don't go to warez and porn sites. These are a major source of malware. Download only from trusted sites and even then scan before opening. Don't click on ads that promise you cash prizes. Learn to distinguish real links from dummy links.

If you're going to use your flash drive on a strange computer create a new folder called autorun.inf on the drive root. Make it hidden and read-only. This will prevent malware from putting an autorun.inf file on your flash drive's root.

Don't trust pop-up windows. These will usually say you've won some sort of prize, or your computer needs to be optimized, or your computer is infected and you need to download certain software to remove it. This has long been a strategy for spreading malware and recently fake virus alerts have been appearing again and deceiving users into downloading fake antivirus software. (Thanks to ditrackster for pointing this out)

These are just some suggestions, you get the idea.

Step 6: Use Google.

If you are not sure about something or just want to learn how better to secure your computer, do a Google search. All of the problems I've had on the computers at home were resolved by reading articles found on Google or asking questions on Internet forums. I've never had to pay a technician to fix my PC in years. Return the favor by answering other people's questions and helping them with their computer problems.

Step 7: Make regular backups of your files.

This is not a prevention method, but it will make recovery from a nasty malware infection, failing hardware or physical damage to the computer faster and easier. You can make backup images of your hard drive to make it easier to get your system running again. It would also be a good idea to burn your data to CD or DVD and/or upload them to the web.

Conclusion

You will have to find a balance between security and ease-of-use. These steps will not ensure that your PC will never get infected, but I believe that these will prevent most common problems. I hope you find this article useful. If there are any corrections or improvements I need to make feel free to point them out.

Missing the previous articles? See my Windows Troubleshooting Help lens. Old articles will be moved there to make room for new ones.

It's happened to a lot of people: the operating system won't boot and there are important files on the hard drive. That's what you get for not making regular backups! I'm guilty of it too. So what to do? One method is to use a bootable CD, another is to connect the drive to another working computer. Let's go with the bootable CD. You will need a working computer with a CD burner, a USB flash drive, and a blank CD.
A bootable CD is a disc that can be used to start your computer, regardless of the OS on the hard drive. If you are using Windows XP a good CD to use is the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows. ubcd4win
It has a lot of tools to help you diagnose and fix problems on your computer. Download ubcd4win and build the CD. See the How to build section for instructions to build the CD.
Once you have the CD turn on the non-booting computer. Enter the BIOS setup. This is done by pressing one of the following F1, F2, Del, Esc, or F10. Your screen will probably show something like "Press to enter BIOS setup" to tell you which the correct key is. Once in the BIOS setup change the boot order to make the CD drive the first boot device. This means that the computer will check the CD before the hard drive for an operating system. Save changes and exit the BIOS. The computer will restart and boot from the CD. You will be presented with a list of choices of software to run. Just press Enter to load UBCD for Windows. A Windows XP-like system will load. You will be prompted if you want to enable network support, for our purpose choose "No". Now you can insert your flash drive. Click "Start->System->HWPnP->Install Devices" you can now copy files to your flash drive through Windows Explorer. Don't forget to "Safely Remove" your flash drive before pulling it out.
Note that this method is limited by the capacity of the flash drive. You can also use external drives to transfer more and larger files.