Adobe’s Flash player is now very common (reports are that 90% – 99% of all browsers on the internet have flash player installed).

So, security and privacy concerns are now starting to appear with Flash Player.

In particular, are Flash “super cookies”, also known as Local Shared Objects (LSO).

Compared to normal browser cookies, these objects can store a huge amounts of data… the objects are not cleared, and can be used to “re-create” normal cookies that you thought you removed…

As far as I can see, it just takes a Flash security flaw to enable virus writers to create websites that will infect your PC via LSO… and then keep re-infecting it.

So I’ve decided to play it safe and install a firefox plugin called: BetterPrivacy

This will not block LSO from being installed, but it does remove them once you exit the Firefox.

You can get BetterPrivacy from: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623/

Posted by Computer Help as Browser, Review, Technical at 4:23 PM UTC

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This is something that can happen to many people:

You think you entered your windows password correctly, but then you realise it wasn’t what you thought it was… and you have tried all combinations you can think of.

Or: Your 7 year old son decides to change the password, but 24 hours later (about a 10 years in child-time), he has forgotten it!

So what do you do?

I have found 2 utilities that work well at clearing the password, so that you can, once again, login to the computer.

Of course, you must have access to another computer, in order to create the CD/USB-Drive that will allow you to reset the windows password.

These techniques rely on starting the computer from a CD or a USB drive, so that the password can be cleared from the main windows drive… while windows is not running.

The best utility I have found to reset passwords is: Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Negatives: It does require more technical skills to use, as it does assume you understand something about your computer.

Positives: It can clear the password for any Windows system: from windows NT, up to Windows 7. The user interface is text-based, so it will work just about any type, speed and age of computer.

The default settings are worked out intelligently, so that you don’t really need to think too much about what to do… but if you stray too far from the defaults, then you run the risk of corrupting your windows system.

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Another utility I have found is: PC Login Now

Negatives: The Graphical User Interface will fail on some of the more modern PCs… since there is no text-based fall-back, you will not be able to clear the password using PC Login Now in these cases (and it happened to me!)

Positives: The Graphical User Interface means just about anyone can use this, with a minimal risk of stuffing up.

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My favourite is Offline NT Password & Registry Editor

Your mileage may vary.

Posted by Computer Help as Review, Technical at 4:32 PM UTC

2 Comments »

Customer got a used PC… installed a new hard drive, but then couldn’t install windows XP.

I tried it myself, and found I couldn’t hit “any key” to start the XP install process from CD.

I know the USB keyboard works, because I can press del to get to the bios.

The system was reasonable: P4 3Ghz, 3Gb RAM, a Sonata case and PSU, 250Gb drive.

So I started UBCD4Win, and I got a bluescreen (stop 0x000000A5)… and a message about the bios not being fully ACPI complient.

Since I couldn’t select the memtest option from the ubcd4win startup screen, I created a standalone memtest CD, and it found some faulty RAM.

I fix the RAM, but I still cannot start the XP setup…

The PC doesn’t have any PS2 plugs, just USB… So I can only use USB Keyboards and mice.

I try a few different keyboards, but none seem to help.

After a lot of searching around inside the case, I’m just about to say “its a faulty motherboard”, when I notice a green reflection on the rear backplate, inside the PC.

I think: no, it can’t be!

Yep: the 2 PS2 ports are covered over by an “incorrect” backplate!

On closer inspection, its obvious that the backplate really doesn’t match some ports on the back, and parts of it had been cut to expose more ports.

I really don’t want to disassemble the whole PC, just to get the backplate out. And since the backplate was already damaged and had some loose steel flaps, I just carefully pulled at the flaps & gradually ripped out the whole backplate from the back of the PC.

I didn’t have a matching backplate, so I just left the PC without one.

Once I could use a PS2 keyboard, XP installed without any problems.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:20 PM UTC

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A customer suddenly found that her outlook stopped sending and receiving emails.

At first, she thought that she had received a power surge, but after switching everything off, then on, emails were still not working.

I had a look, and noticed that outlook was generating error 0x8004060C

It didn’t take me long to find out that this was due to the outlook database file was “full”.

Technically:

All emails and attachments in outlook are stored in a big database file called outlook.pst

All outlook PST files cannot be bigger than 2GB, and in this case, it had reached this limit.

Once this happens, outlook starts to behave in all sorts of strange ways.

The solution is reasonably simple, but can take quite some time.

First, make sure outlook has an archive folder/account. If not, create a new archive folder. (file -> data file management -> .pst -> ok -> give it a reasonable name like “archive-2009″)

Note that you can create as many archive folders as you like.

Within the archive folder, I create sub-folders to reflect the main folders that I want to archive (eg inbox and sent items)

Next, I highlight the emails that I want to archive.

If most of the emails are in the inbox, and/or sent items, then sort all emails into date order, and then highlight all emails that are, say, older than 6 months. Use click, then shift-click to quickly highlight large numbers of emails.

Then, drag-drop the highlighted emails into their appropriate folder in the archive. This should remove the emails from the main account.

Once all the inbox and sent items (and anything else) is moved to the archive folder, then you need to compact the main database (it will not compact automatically, so you must do this step before you can send/receive emails again)

file -> data file management -> select the main .pst file (usually outlook.pst) -> settings -> general -> compact now

Compacting can take anywhere between a few minutes and a few hours, so be sure to allow it to complete.

Once this is done, the main database should be much smaller & restarting the PC is a good way to be sure that outlook re-reads the new, compacted database.

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:31 PM UTC

1 Comment »

I often get asked about how to speed up a PC.

So I’ve put together some simple tasks that just about anyone can do.

Note: these tips relate to Windows XP, but many can also be applied to Vista and W7.

• Remove virus / spyware. This is often the biggest cause of a PC slowing down… and often you might not realise that you are infected). If you currently have an antivirus/antispyware program, then you can try some additional programs like SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes, since they don’t interfere with existing security suites. As a last resort, you can remove your existing security suite, and install Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE). Just remember: before you scan: make sure your security software has actually updated its virus definitions over the internet. Double check that the date of the definitions is no more than 3 days old. I have seen some infections block security updates, yet fool the Security suite into thinking that everything is OK!
• Remove unneeded software. Go to Control panel, and start “Add or remove programs” (in Vista and W7 its called “Program and Features”… one of the most annoying changes that Microsoft have made to the new Windows). Now look through the programs listed, and CAREFULLY remove the ones that you are sure you don’t need any more. A good example of programs that can slow down your PC are: itunes, limeware, skype
• An advanced technique: remove KB folders and KB log files from the Windows folder (these are normally hidden, but from Windows explorer, go tools -> folder options -> view -> and make sure no files are hidden… you can change these settings back later. Now you can remove any log file that starts with “KB”, and any folder that starts with “$NtUninstallKB”
• remove temp files. These files are often hidden, so using something like CCleaner or EmpTemp2, is very useful. Otherwise you can do it manually by removing anything below c:\windows\temp and c:\documents and settings\{username}\Local Settings\Temp . Note: Some files will be “undeletable”… this is normal, just skip the undeletable files.
• clear ie cache & remove toolbars. If you are using Internet Explorer, then tools -> internet options -> browsing history -> delete… you can also make sure you tick “delete browsing history on exit”
• Run a disk defrag (If you don’t quite know how to do it, you can also try downloading and installing a more advanced defragmenting program like My Defrag)
• Another advanced technique: disable some unnecessary services. control panel -> Administrative tools -> Services. Safe ones to disable are: Error reporting service, fast user switching, remote registry, secondary logon, ssdp discovery service, webclient.
• You can also add more RAM (just be aware that this will not work if your system already has sufficient RAM)
• Hire a competent technician to tune your PC.
• If all the above fails, and as an absolute last resort, you can always wipe your computer and re-install Windows from scratch (or try linux)… if your PC is more than about 4 years old, then you should start to consider buying  new PC!

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:54 PM UTC

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It wasn’t long ago (about 6 months) that I fixed a problem with a Brother multi-function device, where CC3 had gone haywire, and suddenly decided to use outlook express as the default email client for the scan-to-email feature.

Well, here I am, back at the same customer, this the same problem: scan to email doesn’t work.

This time, the customer had just installed Microsoft Office 2010, so I had a good idea where to start looking for a solution.

When the scan to email function was run, the PC (CC3) would generate the error:

cc3-003-00031c0e

The internet had very few answers to this problem, and most centred around re-installing MS Paint!

Well, MS Paint was correctly installed, and unlikely to be the cause.

So I went into the CC3 configuration for the scan to email, and found that it was pointing to the original Office Outlook executable file… Hmmm CC3 wasn’t smart enough to figure out that office had been upgraded.

So I figure the answer should simple, point CC3 to the new Outlook executable, and everything should work fine…

Nope.

A “scan to email” now generates: Cannot start Microsoft Outlook. The command line argument is not valid. Verify the switch you are using.

OK, now what?

I figure another update to CC3 might fix the problem.

These “manual” updates to CC3 are getting very tedious. It would be nice if CC3 would automatically update.

The current version of CC3 is V3.5.9.12. The latest version is V3.10.0.0

Hmmm, 5 minor revision updates in 6 months… it make me wonder about the reliability of CC3.

Anyway, after I install the latest CC3, I then need to change the CC3 configuration (again), but this time CC3 has a “predefined” entry for Outlook 2010, so I activate it.

Now it all works correctly again, but at some (ongoing) cost to the non-technical owner of the brother MFC!

Posted by Computer Help as Technical at 4:08 PM UTC

2 Comments »

It seems that everyone who buys a recent WD external USB drive, will get lumbered with a virtual CD called SmartWare.

Now, there are many reasons to dislike SmartWare.

• An extra drive letter in Windows explorer
• Extra software on the Virtual CD that you cannot easily remove.
• The extra letter can cause many problems with existing external drives that are being used as automated backup drives… I hate it (and most non-technical users get severely confused) when previously working backups to, say, drive E:, now don’t work any more.
• Your computers drive layout is effectively changed without your permission.

An initial look for a solution resulted in a huge 20-step process (involving updating the firmware to each WD drive, then disabling the virtual CD).

No thanks.

It shouldn’t be so hard.

Then I found a much simpler solution:

in XP (you can use a similar process for Vista and W7):

Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager -> expand DVD/CD-ROM Drives -> right click on the “WD Virtual CD device” -> disable -> OK

I didn’t have time for a comprehensive test, so its possible for the VCD to re-appear if you plug the WD drive into a different USB port… but if this happens, just repeat the process.

Posted by Computer Help as Hints, Technical at 4:13 PM UTC

1 Comment »

The Tab Mix Plus add-on for firefox is what I now use instead of the, now incompatible, tab kit.

Tab Mix Plus has so many features and options, that I decided to do some screen-shots to show how I like to configure it for the best browsing experience.

As a premise, I like to remove the tab close button (on the right of each tab), as I find it easier to close a tab by just double-clicking on the tab.

I also like to remove the “add a new tab” button, since I arrange tab mix plus to automatically open new tabs for just about anything except for plain clicks on links (if I want to open a normal link in a new tab, I right-click, then select “open link in new tab”)… So I don’t need an “add new tab” button.

Here is how I have setup the various options (tools -> addons -> extensions -> tab mix plus -> options).

The change here is: Force to open in new tab: links to other sites, and enable single window mode.

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There are a few changes here: open other tabs next to current one, untick “change opening order”. Then open tabs from: tick all 5 boxes.

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The only change I make here is to untick address bar, as I might want to open a few windows & dont want any to gain “focus”.

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I find it less annoying by unticking “warn me when closing multiple tabs”.

I also like: when closing tab, focus left tab.

I make no changes under the “tab merging” tab.

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I find it useful to increase the max number of closed tabs to remember to 40 or 50

And I like the predictability of ctrl-tab navigation by un-ticking ctrl-tab navigates tabs in the most recently used order.

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Here I untick “new tab button” and “all tabs button”, as well as change “when tabs don’t fit width” to “multi-row”.

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I make quite a few changes here. Click highlight current tab. Untick close tab button. Tab width 22 to 250. Tick “tab width fits to tab title” and “use bookmark name as tab title” (since I use short names in my bookmarks).

Also: click “customize styles” button, and for the current tab, I change the background colour to a light yellow.

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Here, the closed tabs button is effectively an “undo closed tab” button, and you just need to click on the customize button, and drag the closed tabs button to the right of the “home” icon on the toolbar.

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I make no changes to the mouse gestures tab (I don’t use mouse gestures).

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On the mouse clicking tab, I make the following changes (close tab by double-clicking on it, and open a new tab by double clicking on a blank section of the tab bar.

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I make no changes to the “menu” section.

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Although Tab Mix will usually prompt you after it is installed, I usually check that “use firefoxes built-in session restore feature” is ticked.

As you can see, there is a lot that can be customised, with Tab Mix Plus. But if you want to get the most out of your browsing with FireFox, then its worth installing and customising Tab Mix Plus.

Posted by Computer Help as Browser, Technical at 4:20 PM UTC

1 Comment »

Since my previous review of add-ons for Firefox 3.5x, the newer Firefox 3.6.x has made some add-ons unusable, and other add-ons have appeared on the scene.

So I have decided to update my list of top Firefox add-ons.

First, to get the add-ons, you need to start Firefox, then go: tools -> add-ons

From the add-on window (which I have resized to full screen height), click on the “get add-ons” button, then enter the add-on name in the “search all add-ons” box.

• Tab Mix Plus  is an excellent replacement for “Tab Kit” (which is no longer compatible with FF3.6, and doesn’t seem to be updated any more). Tab Mix Plus has a huge set of configurable items, some of which replace a handful of other add-ons that I once used. I’ll be providing a review, and some configuration hints in a later post.
• Adblock Plus blocks annoying advertising. Just remember that some websites rely on advertising to survive… so if you use Adblock Plus, you should feel a certain level of guilt… but not too much
• Close Tab By Double Click. This add-on can be removed, as the same functionality is provided by “tab mix plus”.
• Flashblock blocks flash objects, yet lets you re-enable the flash objects with just a click. Great for blocking ads that Adblock Plus cannot block. Also good for making a “busy” website look easier on the eyes.
• Menu Editor. I’ve only used this to change the right-click on a link action to: popup a menu that has the option: “Open Link in New Tab” option at the top of the menu.
• QuickDrag: when you highlight a few words on a page, then drag the words a few pixels away, a new tab opens with the search results on those works (ie no need to copy and paste them into google). If you highlight and drag a url (eg: computer-aid.com.au ), then that url is opened in a new tab.
• Remove New Tab Button. This add-on can be removed, as the same functionality is provided by “tab mix plus”.
• SearchStatus will display some ranking information about each site you visit. Once installed, I “move” it to the menu bar (at the top of the window). By right-clicking on the “q” logo, I select “highlight nofollow links” so all nofollow links show up as pink. I also enable pagerank, alexa, compete, mozrank.
• Split Browser works well on widescreen monitors. You can view 2 websites side-by-side, and I often enable the “sychronously scroll” option when comparing 2 versions of the same website.
• Tab History Menu . I find I don’t use this add-on much.
• Tab Kit. This add-on can be removed, as the same functionality is provided by “tab mix plus”.
• TabRenamizer. This add-on can be removed, as the same functionality is provided by “tab mix plus”
• Undo Closed Tabs Button. This add-on can be removed, as the same functionality is provided by “tab mix plus”.

Posted by Computer Help as Browser, Technical at 4:46 PM UTC

3 Comments »

At first, it looks like a cross between an iphone and an ipad.

The device needs a bigpond broadband internet connection and a phone line.

You can use it to surf the net, and has many built in “apps” like:

• make a phone call (surprise surprise).
• web browser
• online yellow pages & white pages.
• youtube.
• weather.
• news.
• facebook.
• sms.
• calendar.
• internet radio (but limited in some ways).
• video (can also play videos from an SD card and USB drive).
• music player (again, also works with SD card and USB).
• photo frame (also works with SD card and USB).
• a few other built-in apps.

but:

• you cannot customise the layout of existing apps.
• you cannot get more apps.
• you cannot use VOIP services like skype.
• the on-screen keyboard could be better… you have to hit the “number” button to enter numbers… a problem if you are entering something that has text and numbers (like a WiFi password).
• The battery life if very limited (I’ve heard reports of between 15 min – 1 hour). I would expect this device to have at least 2 hours for something like this… particularly if you want to use it as a phone!
• the internet radio is limited to telstras selection of radio stations.
• you cannot make video calls as it has no webcam (you should get a netbook with a webcam to do this)
• the price is $299. I think that for an extra $100, you are better off with a netbook laptop.

All up, Id say the t-hub is interesting, but it has many limitations in its current form.

For me, the biggest limitations are:

• battery life.
• you cannot expand its functionality in the same way as the iphone & ipad, etc.
• high price (particularly given its lack of application expandability).

To make the t-hub a real success, I’d say a price of $29 is appropriate, given its current capabilities.

So why are Telstra pushing the t-hub?

Most people agree that its an effort to stop people leaving the land-line service, by offering something, that telstra hopes, will get people back to using the old-fashioned land-line.

I think its going to be a dead duck.

Sure, some people will like it, but I doubt many people will go and install a land-line phone service, just to get a t-hub… particularly when it effectively forces you to use telstra services, and deliberately locks you out of competing services (like skype).

I think Telstra need to pull their heads out of the sand; see the writing on the wall, and need to decide to really beef up their mobile network as a full replacement for landlines.

Posted by Computer Help as Review, Technical at 4:20 PM UTC

2 Comments »

It seems to me that 3rd party browser toolbars cause more problems than they are worth.

For the vast majority of people, they appear mysteriously, and its assumed that you just have to live with these annoying, space-sapping invaders.

And it seems that every man and his dog, now have browser toolbars to “enhance” (more likely cripple) your browser.

Even Google have a toolbar (but at least its vaguely useful to a small number of people).

Some antivirus software have the ability to block your homepage from being changed. I think they should do something similar to block new toolbars from being installed.

Anyway, in my travels, I have found the alot toolbar to be the most problematic.

In one case, it was intermittently stopping URLs in emails from actually opening the page they were meant to.

Uninstalling alot fixed that problem.

At least most modern browsers now have the ability to easily disable toolbars.

Posted by Computer Help as Browser, Technical at 4:01 PM UTC

2 Comments »