Zero.Access Rootkit on the Loose!

October 18, 2011 --- Miles V.

I’ve treated four or five machines in the last week for this nasty new infection: mostly XP machines, but Vista and Win7 are susceptible as well.  It has similar symptoms as other rootkits: preventing your antivirus software from running, redirecting your web search results, etc., but this one is a little nastier.  It doesn’t just disable your software, it mangles the executable file so the antivirus needs to be removed and reinstalled after the infection … Read more →

Posted in Internet, Software | Tagged rootkit, virus, Windows | Leave a comment

Gargoyle Router

October 10, 2011 --- Miles V.

Anyone who knows me has probably heard me gush lovingly about DD-WRT, the fabulous and crabulous open-source 3rd-party software for consumer wireless routers which turns them into $400 business-class equivalents.  Recently though, I’ve found a major shortcoming in DD-WRT’s access restriction settings, and that shortcoming is…… they just suck.  Or rather, they don’t do anything better than the stock Linksys firmware. When I say access restrictions, I’m referring to a router’s ability to block or … Read more →

Posted in Hardware, Network, Software | Tagged firmware, linksys, router | Leave a comment

Registry Cleaner, sans BS

September 29, 2011 --- Miles V.

Awhile back, I wrote a post to explain what registry cleaning software is good for while simultaneously railing against most of the genre for its invasive, irritating, and even debilitating behavior. The trouble is that while there are plenty of free registry cleaners out there, they still need to make a buck for their developers.  Most are rigged with all sorts of methods for getting you to buy the full version, or just throwing advertising … Read more →

Posted in Software | Tagged registry, tune-up, Windows | Leave a comment

Fixing Duplicates and Typos in Outlook

September 2, 2011 --- Miles V.

Two very nifty (and free) tools I’ve recently become aware of for eliminating headaches in Outlook:  ODIR, and NK2Edit. ODIR is the Outlook Dupliate Items Remover, and as the name implies, it can automatically remove duplicate messages and contacts from Outlook.  This is great for recovering from glitches in which messages are downloaded twice, or contacts are accidentally imported multiple times.  Compatible with all versions of Outlook since 2000. NK2Edit is a tool for editing…. … Read more →

Posted in Software | Tagged email, Microsoft, outlook | Leave a comment

Proper Laptop Handling

July 24, 2011 --- Miles V.

I want to tell everyone a little bit about how to physically treat a laptop or a tablet, or any other kind of portable device they value.  I feel a little weird making this post, because everything I’m about to say feels like common sense that won’t be news to anyone.  Still, I am all too often shocked by the way I see users abusing their gadgets, and having observed easily twice as much hardware … Read more →

Posted in Hardware | Tagged laptop, tablet | 1 Comment