We have had many calls and emails thanking us for the previous blog post “Why Everyone Needs  A ToolBox!”  So, the next question is always, “Now that I have a ToolBox!, how do I use it?”  Let’s dive in, shall we?  The ToolBox! is designed to be a one-stop-shopping experience for the DIY crowd for maintenance.  We recommend to run the ToolBox! at least once every four to six months.  If you are a heavy internet user, maybe every one to two months.  All of the programs when run in Windows Vista or 7 will ask if you want to run the program with a pop up.  This is normal and you can just click yes to allow them to run.  After each program is run, you will need to exit out of that program.  NOTE: This is a general guide on how we use these products and services.  Use of this guide is at your own risk and we are not liable for any misrepresentation of the products or damage to your system.  As with all computers, backing up your data before doing anything is recommended.  If this is a concern to you, please do not hesitate to call us or we would be pleased to do these steps for you as part of our service at our normal rates.

We always start with the Windows Update and keep running the updater until they are all done.  With Windows XP you will see this screen taking you to a website:

We recommend that you click on “Custom” instead of “Express”.  Custom gives you all of the updates available where “Express” is just the security updates and fixes.  The updates will have a number next to them on the right hand side of the screen.  You will have to manually select all of the updates.  Keep updating until there are no more updates available.  Your computer might have to reboot several times so it might be a good idea to bookmark our website so you can come back to it quickly.

 In Windows Vista and Windows 7, your screen will look something like this:

If you see the “Get updates for other Micrcosoft products. Find out more,”  click on the “Find out more” and agree to allow the updates.  This will update programs like Microsoft Office along with Windows updates.  On the left side of that window, click on “Get Updates” to make sure it has checked for the most recent updates.  Click on the “Install updates” button and follow the prompts.  Your computer might have to reboot several times.  Keep running this until you get a green check mark saying that there are no more updates.  If you still have some updates available, you might have to click on the Optional Update list itself to enable the updates to be downloaded.

Next, we like to run SuperAntiSpyware.  If you do not get a screen pop up on your computer, you might have to double click on it again.  It creates an icon down by your clock in the system tray.  We turn off the feature to have the program running all the time.  If you want to turn that feature on or off, click on the “Preferences” button and uncheck the “Start SUPERAntiSpyware when Windows starts” box to turn off or leave it checked to let it run all the time.  Then click “Home” to get back to the main screen.   The first thing we recommend is that you click on “Check for Updates” first.

After you have all the updates, you might get a website window pop-up advertising to purchase the program.  You can close it out or purchase it if you choose.  Click on  ”Quick Scan” and then “Scan Your Computer.”  The scan will take anywhere from five minutes or longer.  Average scan takes about fifteen minutes.  As with all of the program scans, if you feel your system is really slow or think it might be infected, you can do a full scan and it can take five to ten times longer to run.  Follow the prompts for the cleanup and you might have to reboot.  The average computer has around three to three hundred issues with Spyware.

Next, we run SpyBot Search & Destroy.  You will notice a pattern here with all of these products: run program, update it, scan, fix, and reboot.  With Windows Vista and 7, before we run it, we will have to right click on the icon, select Properties, Compatibility, check the box that says “Run this program as an administrator,” Apply, and OK.  With XP, just run the program.

First, click “Search for Updates” and then click on any flag that is in your country so the downloads do not take long.  Here, we choose an American flag.  Check all the boxes to download everything and click on “Download.”  Let it download the updates, close out the updater when it is done.  The program should restart itself, if not, rerun the program.  Give it a bit to start.  Sometimes the updates are being applied and it might appear that Spybot is hanging up while loading.  Then we click on the “Immunize” button on the left.  Give it a second to check for the installed immunizations and then click on the green “+ Immunize” at the top.  This can take a while, so be patient as it applies the immunizations into your browser(s).  If you want to scan, you can click on the “Search & Destroy” then click on “Check for problems.”  We are just covering the Immunizing feature in this article.

Next up, Malwarebyte’s.  Malwarebyte’s will pop up a window that says something like, “Malwarebyte’s is out of date by 54 days, would you like to update now?” and you can click yes.  Malwarebyte’s might have you restart your computer.  On the first run, it will ask you if you want to use the trial.  It is up to you if you want to use the full features trial or not.  We usually use the free version instead of the trial version.

We recommend just running the quick scan.  Follow the prompts to finish and you might have to reboot.

If you installed CCleaner, then run it now.  You might get a pop up asking you to update and run CCleaner.  You may do so if you wish.

In this article we will only focus on cleaning the registry.  If you choose, you can run the “Cleaner” option.  This option cleans up website history, cookies, recent documents, etc.  The registry is what we are after.  Click on “Registry” icon and click on “Scan for Issues.”  When it gets to 100%, click on “Fix selected issues…”  and click “Yes”.  It will save it by default into your “Documents” or “My Documents” folder.  Then after it is saved, click on “Fix All Selected Issues” and then click on “Close” when it is done.

The next product in our ToolBox! is Glary Utilities.  This is just like CCleaner, but has all the features automated.  This product does not ask to make a backup, so use at your own risk.  The product is solid as far as we have seen.

If you have had this installed for a while, you might get a pop up asking to update to the latest version of the program.  It is up to you.  Just click “Scan for Issues” and let it run.  When it is done scanning, click on “Repair Problems” and that is it!

The last step is to run your anti-virus.  The one we use is Microsoft Security Essentials.  Run Microsoft Security Essentials and you will see the main screen.

Click on the “Update” tab and then click on  the “Update” button.  When that is done, click on the “Home” tab.  Click on the “Quick” scan option and click “Scan now.”  The scan will take anywhere from a minute and longer.

That is it!  You did it!  You successfully ran your ToolBox! like the pros!  If you run into any problems along the way, please do not hesitate to call us.  We would love to help you learn to maintain your own computers.  A clean computer is a fast computer!  A fast computer makes for a happy user!

Google is not the internet…. neither is AOL, Bing, Yahoo, etc.  In all seriousness, this is meant to be a basic HOW-TO on using a browser.  Many people think that when they double click on the little blue “E” or the “Fox Fire” or the “Colored Ball thingy” and see Google or another web search on their home page immediately associate this with how to get around on the web.  “Close, but no cigar!”

How we use our browser is rather important and can cost you if use it incorrectly.  So, let’s get started on some basics of browsers.  When you double-click on the “Blue E” that is Internet Explorer (from Microsoft).  When you double click on the “Fox Fire” it is actually FireFox (from Mozilla).  When you double click on the “Colored Ball Thingy” that is Chrome (from Google).  For my Mac friends, when you click on the “Compass” you are using Safari (from Apple).  These are all called “browsers.”  Think of it like this, if you want to open a .doc file (document file) you can use Microsoft Word, Open Office, Word Perfect, Word Pad, etc… The files on the internet need a way to be “opened” and viewed.  That is what a browser does, it “opens” files on the internet so you can see the website.  So, say when you open Internet Explorer and you see “Google” you have just “opened” the Google website using Internet Explorer.  Let’s look at that page:  (if you can’t read it, click on the image to make it bigger)

If you type the website name you want to go to, for example www.fastlanepc.com into the Google search box, you are not going to that site but “searching” for it.  If you want to go there, type the website name (known as a “URL”) into the box at the top of the browser.  If you don’t know the website name, then you can type in the name of the subject you want to search for in the Google search box under the Google logo in the middle of your screen.  For example, search for “FastLane Technologies Colorado Springs” and you find our site listed.  Here is why it can cost you money…. say you need tech support for an Epson Printer and you decide to search for “Epson Printer Support” and you get a list of things on your search results after you click “Google Search” button.  You will get advertisements in the list also, some on the side and mostly the first couple of search results at the top of the screen.  If you click on an advertisement instead of the real Epson Printer Support site, you can be lured into a business that is there to scam you.  Granted, it could be a legitimate business that will support you but it will not be the free support you get with your new printer.

Google is the largest internet or web search provider.  There are others that do the same function.  Most popular are Google, Bing, Yahoo, AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, AOL Search, Ask, etc.  They all have programs called Tool Bars that will sit on your browser to make it quicker to access their sites but they are legitimate spyware and I do not recommend them.  The other issue with Tool Bars is that you could have several of them loaded on your browser and it will majorly slow down your connection speed because all of them are talking to the server sending back information to the “mother ship.”

There is a difference between the internet and web.  The internet is the connection of all the computers in the world that connected together and you connect to them over your Internet Service Provider (ISP), locally Comcast or Qwest (now Centurylink).  The web or World Wide Web (where we get www from) is a massive collection of web pages that are stored on computers all over the world.  The website you are reading now is being held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on a server that we pay to use.  The www.fastlanepc.com is the address or URL to the server location so you can see this site.  Here are two great links on browser basics that go deeper into some basic functions and terms if you need more help:

Internet 101: Beginners Cheat Sheet Reference Guide:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/internet101/tp/Internet-Beginners-Quick-Reference-Guide.htm

Senior’s Guide To Computers:
http://www.seniorsguidetocomputers.com/

Personally I don’t get angry very often, but something that happened to one of our customters recently has just chapped me!  So, we’ll tell you a little story:

You are sitting at home, hanging out at your favorite website (www.fastlanepc.com) reading some awesome articles when right in the middle of a great story, your phone rings.  You answer only to hear someone with a thick Indian accent telling you that your computer is infected with viruses and problems.  They insist that your computer is sending their servers errors and they must be fixed.  They instruct you to press the “Windows Key” plus “R” and type in “eventvwr” and press ”Enter” to see this:

They assure you that all of those “Errors” are being sent to their server and this is “PROOF” that your computer is infected!  Well, you start to FREAK OUT and wonder why your favorite computer guy hasn’t done his job?!?!  The “technician” lets you know that by letting them work on your computer you will get a 15 year or lifetime warranty for $399.00 and they will help you 24×7.  Well this is an excellent deal!  You let them look at your computer by logging into your computer from India and they start doing some commands and screens that you have never seen come up and they are just wowing you!  (In reality, they are pulling up random windows and typing in random commands that do nothing that have to do with errors or viruses.)

When they are done with the “slight-of-hand” work, they insist on “selling” you a lifetime subscription to an antivirus that is included in the price:  Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG.  (Both are free!)  They will ask you to use your credit card to purchase this great deal on their secure website!  You feel like something was done but WHAT?  So, you call us!

YOU HAVE JUST BEEN SCAMMED!  There is a couple of scamming companies that we have run into recently that have called us and our customers.  The scammer company that called us was “the Technical Department” of my “Windows Computer” called Global IT at www.globalpcprotection.com.  The number they called us from on the caller ID was: 999-910-0328.  This number is a called a “spoof” or fake phone number commonly used by telemarketers and other scammers attempting to be legit so you are not sure who it is.  The numbers this company can be reached at are: 718-593-4198 or 646-867-3751.  Another number that our customers have claimed from a similar company was 253-802-0308.  We found a great website documenting everything the scammer did.  He is a computer tech has a computer science degree (a fellow computer geek) and he recorded the whole (6+ hours) of the scam to expose what they are doing to an unsuspecting customer.  We’ve had several complaints about this scammer.  If you want to check out the whole scam recorded, check out his site at: http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/10/27/hacked-gadgets-has-fun-with-computer-scammer-called-global-it/ (1+ hour of video) and the second part is (my favorite) where he calls the “technician” out on his scam: http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/11/23/hacked-gadgets-corners-scammers-called-global-it-and-global-pc-protection-part-2/ (6+ hours of video).

Second company that we have had to deal with was a company that our customer called for tech support, thought they were getting HP Support, was Bit Resolve of www.bitresolve.com.  The technician did not help our customer fix the printer issue, but did the same scam.  They showed our customer the “Event Viewer” screen scaring them into purchasing a warranty to fix the problem.  They remoted into the computer and installed Microsoft Security Essentials saying there was no anti-virus installed.  (The customer had a good, paid anti-virus clearly running with the icon displayed in the system tray!)  They charged the customer $99 for the anti-virus and $49 for the service somehow totaling $149 giving the customer the “Gold Plan.”  The customer called us wanting an explanation.  We called Bit Resolve and demanded a refund for our customer and let them know that they just scammed a sweet, 80 year old widow!  We told them that we are contacting the credit card issuer to stop payment and take action against this scam.  They quickly resolved the issue for our customer by refunding the transaction.  This is the scam that made me write this article.  There are a lot more people out there in this same situation and this needs to be exposed!

Bottom line, BE CAREFUL!  Microsoft or any other company claiming that you are having error messages or reports coming from your computer to them is just a scam and is not true.  No company can track viruses back to your computer.  The only legitimate company that could say that your computer is doing this is your Internet Service Provider (ISP) like Comcast or Qwest (not Centurylink).  They would never charge you to “fix” this issue either.  If you need help or think you have been scammed, call us today and we can help you!  719-494-7043 or email us at support@fastlanepc.com!

UPDATE: They have a new site… a customer just contacted me and found out about this scam the hard way.  They are listed here http://hitechpcprotection.com/ and also are associating with http://corporate.digitalriver.com/ and http://www.regnow.com for their services.  Their new email is now a Hotmail address at pc.livesupport@hotmail.com and they have an email address at support@hitechpcprotection.com.  I personally sent them an email today requesting that they refund my customer.

They also, for some weird reason called us asking to purchase our maintenance package pretending to be a customer from Sydney, Australia.  I’m not making accusations, but three things added up to them.  I just received this email from them at 8:57pm my time today:

Dear Jeremy D. Lane,

Thanks for contacting us. 
This is to inform you that we are Genuine company which provides best tech support of customers, and if you would have checked the computer we worked, you will find that all our technician and worked and cleaned all the Junk files and there were some Virus infections which are healed now and installed MSE to secure the computer.

I am not sure with which company you are trying to link us with. 

The customer you have mentioned has enrolled for 2 Years subscription, in which she will get complete 2 years technical support for her computer, with our regular check up calls to speed up the Pc and cleaning of Junk files.

As far as your Web page in concerned you can post anything you like but before that you must take some time to check whether you are doing is Right?
We have no links with GLOBAL PC PROTECTION mentioned and we did the job we had charged for.

This might be as you feel insecure as we provide Very best services at very reasonable price as we charge USD 189.99 for the same service you charge USD 400 as per your website. So better edit the page or else it is very simple for us to create page for FASTLANE PC SCAMMER AS WELL which we don’t want to do.

Now, as far as refund is concerned if the customer is not happy with the Services and her Pc performance after the work done, she can directly email us back for the refund and then only refund will be proceed which will be credited to her account in 3-4 business days.

 Thank you

 Regards
James Parker
Accountant

HITECH PC PROTECTION
support@hitechpcprotection.com

This email is copied directly from my inbox.  The part that gave it away is my inbox says “From: GLOBAL PC <support@hitechpcprotection.com>”.  This is generated in your email client to say who it is from when the sender sets up the email client.  Apparently they forgot to change that part.  Just a tip, if you are using Outlook, it is under “More Settings…”, “General” settings tab where it says “Organization:”.  I know they read this earlier and maybe they could use this tip!

They called me at 9:17pm my time right after I read this email.  I usually do not answer, but that lead to the second tip off.  The call was from that magic number mentioned earlier: 999-910-0328.  *Sigh*  Ok, so I listened and played along.  The person with a strong accent (obviously not Australian) gave the final clue it was them.  He stated his name was “John” and told me he just had a scammer stating he was with Microsoft log into his computer and wanted $180 to fix his computer.  He wanted to know what to do next.  I asked if he gave them his credit card and he said no.  I told him there was nothing to do.  Then he wanted to purchase my one year maintenance contract I offer for $200.  I told him that I only offer that to customers in Colorado and since he was in “Sydney” then he should contact someone in that area to check his computer by going to www.ACRBO.com of which I am a member.  That was it and hung up.  Weird…  As far as editing my page, not going to happen unless they can close their business for good or become a legitimate help, not a scammer!  If they want to post a site containing that my business is a scam, you guys are welcome to leave a link below to your article with facts of how we scam people.  I’d love to have people check it out!

Some notes… take some time and look at their new site.  Go to: http://hitechpcprotection.com/ 1: Read their privacy policy with a lot of information regarding www.consultpcexperts.com.  They didn’t take the time to update the URL on their Privacy Policy.  2. None of the “Follow Us” features work.  3. The email is not correct: support@hitech.com.  www.hitech.com is a legit company helping people in the Public Safety sector.  4. All over the site there are major grammatical issues including bad English and random punctuation.  Now I’m not an English major, but even I can spot these!  Maybe they can fix these items so they can “appear” legit.  Come on guys.  I can pick your site apart all day!

Parallax is an interdimensional platforming and puzzle-solving game. The goal in each level is to reach the exit by travelling between two overlapping dimensions through rifts. Parallax challenges the player to think beyond the spatial boundaries of traditional platformers.

We are often asked what is the best anti-virus.  We can do this two ways:  Long version and Short version.

Long Version:

According to Wikipedia:

Antivirus or anti-virus software is used to prevent, detect, and remove malware, including but not limited to computer viruses, computer worm, trojan horses, spyware and adware.

Simply put, it is a program this is designed to practically scan every file incoming and outgoing to and from your computer.  We know that Apple touts that you don’t need an anti-virus, well, they put on their site you should use some sort of anti-virus program on their systems.  The Mac OS comes with a minimal version of a free anti-virus called ClamAV.  Mac has bragged for so long they don’t get viruses, but now they are getting them.  Window Vista and 7 get less than 2% of all traditional virus infections.  Here’s the simplest explanation from experience.  Mac’s get less viruses because they are only impacting the computer market in the by about 6%, where Windows machines are hitting 90% world wide.  Now, think about this… I’m a hacker and I want your data and your money.   Will I:  A) “Go for the 6% market share globally” or B) “Go for the 90% and increase my chances of getting what I want?”  Hmmm…. think about it, don’t take too long!  Seriously, the hackers want the bigger share of the pie.  So, one trend that is becoming an issue is the fact that Mac OS sales have hit over 10% market share in the U.S. and the Mac computers cost almost three times the purchase price of a Windows PC.  The hackers are now seeing this as a better chance of stealing from those they consider wealthy since they can afford the more costly computer.  Malware, phishing, viruses (yes, there will be an explanation), and other trickery to separate you and your cash is on the rise for the Mac computers.  Traditional viruses, as was mentioned earlier about Windows Vista and 7, are not limited to just “catching” one in passing.  Mac supporters say that “trojans” don’t count as a virus because you have to download something to get it.  Well, in the shop, customers don’t care about semantics, they just want their computer cleaned and working right.  We service Macs and PCs for hardware, software, and malware removal.  In our opinion, no matter how you got the virus, it is still a virus.  So, the best anti-virus is the one that will help you to catch the accidental downloads.  Also, a big part of the protection is keeping your computer up to date from the OS updater whether it is a Mac or PC.

Short Version:

Any computer; Mac, PC, Android, Linux, or whatever “out of the box” are virus free and are very secure!  The problem is when you start using your shiny new computer.  The blame is put on the computer when it is the user.  The best anti-virus is YOU.  Be smart.  Don’t be quick to jump on the “Free” software.  Do your homework and see if anyone else has given it high reviews.  Google search for “[your product] virus” or replace virus with ‘malware’ or ‘spyware’ or ‘trojan.’   You would be surprised how an innocent download of a “Free” screensaver just infected your shiny new PC!  Keep away from the naughty sites, porn, drugs, illegal software hacks, and any other sites that promote this behavior.  Just think for a second and realize that if they are offering maliciously intended information or products, they themselves are not there to “help” you.  They will rip you off in a heartbeat.  Stay smart and if you don’t know where to get legit stuff, call or email us and we can help!

Anti-Virus software we recommend: Sophos Anti-Virus Free for the Mac and Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows.

If you are interested on what is the best Anti-Virus Suite, Leif Glass from AnyPCService.com has a great blog article: Internet Security Suite.

Google announced it will be offering a music service that seems to be getting some hype.  Some early reports say that the music store will allow music sharing.  They have released a video explaining what the service is going to look like: check it out here. You can request an invite to the music store (Music Beta) to try it out.  The site states:

Music Beta is a new service from Google that gives you instant access to your personal music collection without the hassle of wires or syncing. Add your music collection and listen on the web or any compatible Android device.

The service seems rather enticing.  Here is their full features list on the “About” page.  Google seems to dominate everything they put their hands to, or at a minimum make a dent in the industry.  With Zune marketplace trying to make an impact, will Microsoft bail?  Will Apple’s  iTunes Store finally have real competition?

All of our customers get a free “ToolBox!”  We are going to show you how to make your own FastLane Technologies’ ToolBox!  What’s in our “ToolBox!”?  Well here is the list:

1.   An anti-virus:  We use Microsoft Security Essentials.  Why?  Because it is the highest rated FREE Anti-Virus and it is also made by the maker of your operating system (Windows), Microsoft.  Our favorite reasons: it does it’s job quietly, very few false viruses, and doesn’t slow down your computer.

2.   An anti-malware: We use MalwareByte’s.  Why?  The software is easy to use and does a great job for FREE to cleanup and remove malware.  Most software does some basic cleaning, but even on the Quick Scan, most baddies are removed with a simple interface.  Our favorite reasons: it does a great job and it reminds you to update the software when you start the program!

3.   An anti-spyware: We actually use two; SuperAntiSpyware and SpyBot Search & Destroy.  Well, to be clear, we actually use SuperAntiSpyware to scan and remove spyware (and it does a good job on malware too!).  SpyBot Search & Destroy we like for the preventative side.  It has a feature called “Immunization” where it tells your browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) to avoid some sites that have malicious intent.  Both are FREE and do a great job!  Our favorite reasons: SpyBot is good at removing some older spyware that some of the newer programs forget about and SuperAntiSpyware paid version can almost replace your anti-virus software!

4.   A registry cleaner:  We use CCleaner.  Now, it is debatable whether or not a registry cleaning actually does anything, especially in Windows Vista and 7.  We use it because we have seen some performance issues resolved with this simple tool.  Now, word of caution: MAKE THE BACKUP!  In our experience we have seen some older programs get broken from a mistaken problem that was repaired.  Simply double-clicking on the backup file will put everything right back like it was.  Our favorite reasons: Piriform, the maker of the software, has some great utilities for free that have been tested thoroughly and are used in our business.  Everything they make works great.

5.   A clean up utility: We use Glary Utilities.  It does have a registry cleaner, but it also cleans up system files, too.  Our favorite reason: It is fast and pretty dang thorough for a little FREE utility.

6. A shortcut to your Windows Updater.  The updates come pretty regularly from Microsoft, but sometimes you don’t get all of them.  This is something that should be done to make sure hardware and other software from Microsoft is updated also.  Keeping your system up to date will optimize your experience of Windows.  To add this shortcut, use the instructions below.

Now, the systems we have been discussing here are running Windows Vista or Windows 7.  If your system is Windows XP we add one more program:

• A file defragmenter: We use Defraggler.  The Defrag that comes with Windows XP is ok, but this one is nice because you can schedule it to run automatically.  This is also from the makers of CCleaner, Piriform.  Windows 7 and Vista do not need a defragmenter because they already have one installed and it runs all the time in the background.  Just a side note, deframenting does not “fix” your computer only helps with your system performance.

The next step to creating your very own FastLane Technologies ToolBox! is to create a folder on your desktop to keep all these goodies in.  Simply right-click on your desktop anywhere there is a free space and then go to “New” and then click “Folder.”  Next you name the folder “ToolBox!” and press enter.  Drag and drop all of your new tools into the folder.  Some tools do not create an icon shortcut so you will have to find them in the Start menu.  Go to the program in the start menu and simply right-click on the program.  You will go to “Send to” and click on “Desktop Shortcut.”  Now you can complete your ToolBox! list.  For a final flair, right click on the ToolBox! folder and click on “Properties” and then click on the “Customize” tab.  From there click the “Change Icon” button and select a different look other than the boring folder icon.  Click “Ok” and “Ok” and you are done!  We choose the “Run” icon because we like it to look like it is fast at FastLane!  You need to run these tools as much as you use your computer.  Simply put: if you use it a lot, once a month.  If you use it very little, every six months will be fine.  The Windows Update is the only exception that should be checked at least once a month.  That’s it!  You are now in the FastLane Technologies ToolBox! Club.

We are still available to help you:

Contact Us Now

Due to some issues with our advertiser, we had to redesign our site.  Well, we learned some very valuable lessons on what search engines are looking for.  Summed up in one word: CONTENT!  We plan on giving away free tips and tricks for the do-it-yourselfers and some news as to what is going on in the tech industry.  Feel free to leave your comments to the posts and it will encourage us to leave more information that you can use.