{"id":92,"date":"2011-10-09T16:20:33","date_gmt":"2011-10-09T16:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/?page_id=92"},"modified":"2020-03-17T03:28:12","modified_gmt":"2020-03-17T03:28:12","slug":"computer-tips","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/?page_id=92","title":{"rendered":"Computer tips"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tuning up your computer (if it’s working fine)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I get a lot of requests to fix people’s computer, or how to keep their computer in good shape.\u00a0 Here’s my simple recipe for keeping it in good shape.<\/p>\n

1. Go to http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/security_essentials\/default.aspx and download and install Microsoft Security Essentials. It’s a free virus scanner. Run it and let it scan your computer. This may take an hour.<\/p>\n

2. Go to http:\/\/windowsupdate.microsoft.com\/ and check for security updates. If there are any, install them. Reboot your machine. Repeat this step until there aren’t any updates left. This can take several hours.<\/p>\n

3. Go to https:\/\/patchmypc.com\/home-updater-download and download\/install Patch My PC.\u00a0\u00a0 Run it and click on “Update”. This will scan your hard drive for older software and will try to update it for you. This will usually take 5-10 minutes.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Every few months, unplug your computer, take it outside, and use a shop vac to blow all the dust and dirt out.\u00a0 Blow, not suck.\u00a0\u00a0 Spend several minutes doing this.\u00a0 You’d be surprised how many nooks and crannies there are for dust to hide in.\u00a0 Dust and fur act like insulation, and can cause moving parts to break, and non-moving parts to overheat.<\/p>\n

Do these 4 steps, and your computer should last longer and be more reliable.<\/p>\n

But it’s already got a virus\/spyware\/NSA on it…<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are steps you can take to clean your computer off.<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0From a clean computer, click here<\/a> to go to a page that offers free antivirus LiveCD’s. \u00a0A LiveCD just means that, instead of booting off the hard drive, it will boot the CD instead. \u00a0You’ll want to download several of them (I recommend Avira, AVG, BitDefender, F-Secure, and Kaspersky) and burn each one of them to their own CD.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0This is going to take a while… \u00a0 Hook your computer up to a wired internet connection (wireless won’t work here) using an ethernet cable. \u00a0Then take one CD, boot off it, allow it to update itself, and then have it scan your computer. \u00a0Whatever bad stuff it finds, quarantine or erase it. \u00a0This may take few hours. \u00a0 Then lather, rinse, repeat with all the other CD’s.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0At this point, you probably still have an infection of some sort. \u00a0The next step is to boot back into Windows and download\/install\/run Malwarebytes, and then do the same with SUPERAntiSpyware (just Google them, you’ll find them). \u00a0Erase or quarantine anything they find. \u00a0Once done, \u00a0you can uninstall them, they aren’t needed any more.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0If your computer seems fine now, **STOP**. \u00a0This last step is only for the most seriously messed-up computers, and has a chance of turning your computer into a brick. \u00a0If it still seems to be acting wrong, Google “ComboFix”, download it, install, run, and then cross your fingers. \u00a0ComboFix can root out viruses nothing else can. \u00a0It can also reduce your computer to a pile of slag. \u00a0You’re taking your chances here a bit.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve done this, go back to the top of this page and follow steps 1-3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuning up your computer (if it’s working fine) I get a lot of requests to fix people’s computer, or how to keep their computer in good shape.\u00a0 Here’s my simple recipe for keeping it in good shape. 1. Go to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-92","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1493,"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/92\/revisions\/1493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mathewbinkley.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}