Ducktoes Computer Repair and Spyware Blog » Free Utilities

An Excellent Way to Prevent Computer Viruses

Administrator — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 18:09:40 +0000

An excellent way to prevent viruses is use Ad Block with Google Chrome as your browser. Since many viruses and malware are hidden in ads on websites, using Ad Block will really protect you. My son Peter uses Google Chrome with Ad block and has now stopped using an anti-virus. And he doesn’t get viruses. I don’t recommend stopping or removing your anti-virus but using Ad block inside your Google Chrome on a consistent basis, will keep your computer out of the computer repair shop longer.

Here’s where to download Google Chrome. http://www.google.com/chrome/

And here’s where to get the Ad Block.

What Free Antivirus I Recommend

Administrator — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 20:13:02 +0000

Computer Virus Removal

I’m often asked what free anti-virus I recommend.

Unfortunately no one anti-virus can remove all viruses. In our Calgary computer repair shop we use many different ones and each finds different infections. Some that we use are AVG, Avira, Avast, Kaspersky, Dr. Web Cure-it, E-set online and off, among others. If we relied on only one, we wouldn’t be able to do an adequate job of fixing computers. So it rankles when an anti-virus company wants to be the only one used by people. It’s not realistic and would mean that a lot more computers would have to be reformatted to get cleaned.

If you’re asking which one I think you should keep resident on your computer, I like both Avira and AVG best. Both are really good at catching viruses. Google (search on Google for) either one and find the result that includes “download.cnet.com” in its address. I recommend both Avira and AVG. Of course, I don’t mean both at once. I mean choose one of the two.

I used to prefer AVG over Avira until AVG stopped working with Combofix of Bleeping Computers. I loved AVG and put it on every computer in close proximity. I liked AVG better because of its easier user interface. Being “easier” meant more effective, because people were able to use it more effectively. Now I prefer Avira since you don’t have to uninstall it to run Combofix, which is, unfortunately, the only solution sometimes to an infected computer.

By the way, whoever the creator of Combofix is, whoever sUBS is, he ought to receive knighthood or hero-hood for the amount of computers he saves on a daily or even an hourly basis, and for which he does not even receive payment. He really makes a huge difference in people’s lives without much recognition or money. I respect him enormously and hope he lives a long time because we will be all be sunk without him.

Only people who are experienced techs should use Combofix, however. Very, very occasionally it will cause a computer to stop booting and if this happens and you don’t know how to undo the changes it makes, you may have to reinstall Windows.

Both AVG and Avira ought to take note, their new default of having scheduled scans disabled upon install is dangerous. Many people think they are protected when they are not. If you have Avira or AVG make sure they’re scanning on a daily basis.

If you have a virus and live in Calgary, come to our Virus Removal Lab and will be able to help you out without losing your data or programs or even changing your computer except to speed it up. We would love to see you.

PS. We enjoy all kinds of people and computers and viruses…and aren’t judgmental.

Free Defragmentation and other Repair Utilities for your Computer

Administrator — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 13:02:48 +0000

Last post I promised to recommend some good defragmentation tools to help speed up your computer. So here goes.

Defragmentation can make a big difference in hard drive performance and helping a computer stay faster longer. It’s an essential computer repair and hard drive process. I’ve previously explained in an old post what defragmentation is and does to a computer. That post also talks about the built-in defragger in Windows (defragger is a simpler word I’ve coined for defragmentation utility.) Click here to read that post.

As far as third party defraggers go, at Ducktoes Computer Repair we love Auslogics!!! Their defragmenting tool is fast, effective, and free. We also love their Boostspeed, their more comprehensive speed booster, although isn’t not free. It does help speed up a lagging computer in many ways, however, and especially on the Internet. Download both here.

There also an open source defragger, UltraDefrag, which is also excellent.

For more free utilities, “>here’s a site I just discovered on the Internet. It looks really promising and I hope to go back there when I have more time.
You should too.

Free, Easy Way to Avoid Viruses

Administrator — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:31:29 +0000

With five thousand new viruses and malware being created everyday, no one anti-virus can catch them all. So it’s a good idea to use more than one.

You can always have more than one anti-spyware, but having more than one anti-virus may cause problems since they’ll conflict with each other. I recommend using online scanners to supplement your regular anti-virus instead.

Eset Online Scanner is both excellent and free.

Find More Viruses with Eset Online Scanner

Click here to download Eset. It will take you to Ducktoes Calgary Computer Repair’s Spyware and Virus Removal page.

Also see Ducktoes’s page on how to prevent viruses.

Free Software

Administrator — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 13:15:14 +0000

While surfing the net on Stumble, I came across this great site of Free Applications for Windows. http://www.freeapps.co.uk/windows/. It has some great software for you, including a web design software that rivals Dreamweaver and FrontPage and is free.

And while you’re on there, download AVG to protect your computer from viruses.

Speed Up Windows 7 and Vista with this Free Tool

cathiedsquared — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:29:44 +0000

Here’s a tool Windows 7 and Vista users will like. It’ll speed up their computers with a few tweaks: Ultimate Windows Tweaker

It seemed to take a good 30 seconds to a minute of boot time off a couple of computers I tried it on. Let me know what you think. Click above on Reply to comment or click here.



AVG Faster Now: AVG Press Release
Administrator — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:51:26 +0000
The new AVG is out.  It’s faster and uses less resources which means it uses less of your computer’s limited processing power while protecting your computer.
Here’s the press release from October of this year from AVG Technologies describing the newest version of AVG:
“Amsterdam, October 5, 2009  – AVG Technologies, developers of the world’s most popular free anti-virus software, today announced that its family of free and paid internet security products, AVG 9.0, would be generally available to the market in October 2009. Boosted by significant enhancements in speed and levels of protection, AVG 9.0 is also easier to use and improves end user experience. Additionally, all AVG users in the U.S. will benefit from a groundbreaking identity theft offering, powered by a partnership with Intersections Inc., North America’s leading and most innovative provider of consumer identity theft prevention solutions which has served more than 25 million consumers. AVG’s new technology products ensure that users are safe in whatever online or offline activities they undertake.
“AVG 9.0 will provide home computer users with a more powerful and more streamlined solution that adds protection without impacting user experience, taking us back to our core strength of low impact, high performance security,” said J.R. Smith, CEO, AVG Technologies. “We’ve always believed that everyone has the right to a safe online experience. With AVG 9.0, we are providing first-class assistance to our users in their development of tools and measures for their safety from all of the threats posed by cybercriminals and identity thieves, whether they’re working, playing, banking or shopping on the web.”






Check out this Wonderful Website: Virus.gr
Administrator — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:45:08 +0000


I found a great site with all sorts of information about viruses and antiviruses called Virus.gr.  The website is from Greece and among many other valuable resources has free virus scans and comparative tests that rank antivirus programs.
Click here for a link to the free virus scans and programs.
According to Virus. gr, the best from recent testing is a little known antivirus program called G Data from a company in Bochum, Germany.  Second is F-secure.
Below are the results of the tests, quoted from the website.
Rank
1. G DATA 2009 20.0.2.1 – 98,89%

2. F-Secure 2009 9.00.148 – 98,72%

3. Kaspersky 2010 9.0.0.463 – 98,67%

4. AntiVir 9.0.0.381 Premium – 98,64%

5. ZoneAlarm Antivirus 8.0.400.020 – 98,62%

6. AntiVir 9.0.0.407 Personal – 98,56%

7. Ashampoo 1.61 – 98,48%

8. MultiCore 2.001.00036 – 98,36%

9. Paretologic 6.1.1 – 98,11%

10. TrustPort 2.8.0.2255 – 98,03%

11. eScan 10.0.977.4091 – 97,82%

12. The Shield 2009 12.0.12 – 97,72%

13. BitDefender 2010 11.0.15.297 – 97,61%

14. Ikarus 1.0.97 – 97,15%

15. AVG 8.5.392 Free – 97%

16. BitDefender 2009 12.0.12.0 Free – 96,37%

17. Nod32 4.0.437.0 – 95,97%

18. Avast 4.8.1335 Free – 95,87%

19. Comodo 3.9.95478.509 – 95,57%

20. Trend Micro Antivirus 17.1.1250 – 95,36%

21. F-Prot 6.0.9.1 – 93,03%

22. McAfee Enterpise 8.7.0i – 92,35%

23. McAfee 13.11.102 – 92,32%

24. Norman Security Suite 7.10.0.1 – 90,76%

25. Blink Personal 4.3.2 – 90,17%

26. Vba32 3.12.10.9 – 89,91%

27. K7 Antivirus 7.7.0568 – 89,02%

28. Norton 16.5.0.134 – 87,37%

29. ArcaVir 2009 – 85,09%

30. Outpost 6.7.2957.446.0711 – 83,59%

31. Dr. Web 5.00.4.06300 – 82,89%

32. Rising AV 21.51 – 80,92%

33. Vipre 3.1.2775 – 79,69%

34. Kingsoft 2009.08.05.16 – 79,59%

35. V3 Internet Security 2009.08.10.02 – 79,24%

36. ViRobot Desktop 5.5 – 79,05%

37. Antiy Ghostbusters 6.1.6 – 77,14%

38. Panda 2009 9.00.00 – 70,8%

39. Twister 7.3.3.9983 – 67,14%

40. Virus Chaser 5.0a – 66,54%

41. Quick Heal 10.00 – 65,97%

42. PC Tools 6.0.0.19 – 59,77%

43. ClamWin 0.95.2 – 52,48%

44. Sophos Sweep 7.6.8 – 42,84%

45. Iolo 1.5.3 – 40,14%

46. Net Protector 2009 – 34,34%

47. The Cleaner 2010 Free 6.1.0.2007 – 34,11%

48. Digital Patrol 5.10.102 – 27,29%

49. Trojan Hunter 5.1.875 – 24%

50. Protector Plus 8.0.E02 – 21,61%

51. Solo 8.0 – 11,3%

52. Trojan Remover 6.8.1 – 11,16%

53. VirIT 6.4.71 – 9,01%

54. IOBit Security 360 beta 3.1 – 8,92%

55. PCClear 1.0.8.6 – 8,08%








More on Google Docs
Administrator — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:18:17 +0000


Yesterday I mentioned Google Docs as a free alternative to Microsoft Office.
All you have to do is sign up for a free Gmail account and you also receive a calendar program and Google docs, among many other free programs.
With Google docs you can create and share your online documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.  You don’t have to share them, of course, but you can if you want or need to collaborate with someone.  
I’ve started to use it and find it fully-featured and easy to use.  It comes  with
Here's the To Do List Template.
 a lot of templates.   There are templates for resumes, to do lists, photo albums, budgets, business invoices and many, many others.
To find Google docs, click here.






Microsoft Office Alternatives
Administrator — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:02:34 +0000


Many of my clients are mystified about Microsoft Office.  They assume it comes with their computer.  After buying their computer, including operating system, monitor, keyboard, and printer, they bring it home and set it all up and start to use either go online or Microwsoft Office to write a letter or resume.  
But while Office Word opens,  a window appears saying that this is only a trial version.  They’re at a loss.  But where is the free version, they ask. Or as one woman said to me, “What good is a computer without Microsoft Office?   It seems it should be part of the basic system.”  Perhaps they’re thinking of Microsoft Works which is a light version of Microsoft Office that comes for free on most computers–or used to– or perhaps they’re thinking of Word Perfect that used to ship free with Dells.  It does seem–even to me–that word processing is one of a computer’s basic functions, so understand my clients’ expectations and confusion.
I tell them there are free Office-like alternatives, like Open Office or Google Docs(you have to sign up for a Google account).
And now I understand that Microsoft will be offering a web app free version of Microsoft Office 2010.  I suppose this is to compete with Google docs,  Google Apps, and Open Office.  But it is exciting.









Welcome to Ducktoes Computer Repair and Spyware Blog
Administrator — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 12:47:32 +0000



If you have spyware or just want to manage and repair your computer better, this is the blog for you.  Ducktoes Calgary Computer Repair is in Calgary, Alberta Canada.  For a start you might try this post. Or read this tutorial about how to speed up your computer.  And don’t forget to say hi or leave a comment.







How to Uninstall Mcafee When it won't Uninstall
Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:31:14 +0000



I’ve had to uninstall Mcafee Anti-virus products several times in the last week or so.  People have let their licenses expire but that doesn’t keep the the anti-virus from running in the background and using up tons of resources.  And when I try to remove it the usual way, by going to Start>Control Panel>Add and Remove Programs, it won’t uninstall.  One older laptop computer I fixed in the last week had both expired Mcafee and Norton running, neither of which would uninstall.  The poor computer was quite beleagured.  And running very sloooo-ow.
So what I did was to go to the Mcafee site and search for their uninstall program.  It works quite nicely, thank you very much.
Here it is http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507



Follow Step 2, if you’ve tried Step 1 already.