Alert: How to deal with Rogueware software when it tries to load on your computer.

While surfing the web today I ran across a another version of the installer that tries to load one FAKE antivirus software (Antivirus 2010 is one of the most common names). The following can come up if you visit an infected website. The site that triggered these pop ups is a well known site, so do not assume that just because you are on a MAJOR website that you are not at risk.

What to look our for

As soon as you get to the website, the following pop up appears. **This is why it is important to read messages before clicking ok.

What you probably wont see (unless you drag the window above around the screen) is the little window (as shown below) that opens directly behind the main window. If you were to expand the little window you will see that its for 1anetantispy.

If you click on the OK button above you will get infected.

What to do if you see the AV check Window

1 – DO NOT CLICK ON ANY OF THE POP UP WINDOWS.

2 – On your computer click on the start button –> click on Run (or type Run in the search box) –> Once you get the run box, type taskmgr into the Run box and press OK

3 – This will open up the Windows Task Manager. Look for all items that involve the browser you are using. (In the example below, its Internet Explorer) Highlight each item and then click End Task. Once all the browser windows close

4 – (A) If you are using Internet Explorer go to Tools –> Options –> and Click on Delete Browser History. (B) If you are using Firefox, go to Tools –> Options – > Privacy –> and click where it says “Clear you current history”.

Hardware: Getting the HP ScanJet 5300 working on Windows 7

NOTE: I have been told by some that this solution did not work for them. TGM has done additional follow up and has been able to make it work on a couple of pc’s but did not get it working on a couple of others. I will be leaving the post up, but with a notice that this may or may not work and as of now TGM will continue to do research as to why it isnt working for some.

********************************************************************************************************************************************

The following post is part of TGM Q&A. The question that lead to this post comes from Noel, so if you get a solution out of this, say Thank you to Noel for requesting it.

With the adoption of Windows7 growing, one of the issues people are coming across involves older hardware that still works but that the manufacture has chosen NOT to write new drivers for. (A Driver is a small piece of software that tell your computer how to interact with a hardware device) If your hardware has Windows Vista drivers, then most likely it will work with Windows7. What if on the other hand the hardware only has Windows XP drivers, this is what has happened to the HP ScanJet 5300, where HP has chosen not to write the driver for the Scanjet5300. In doing some testing we have been able to get the Scanjet 5300 working in Windows 7 (BE AWARE that this solution does not seem to make the buttons on the front of the 5300 work, you will need to do everything from the Scanjet software).

One of the options is of course Windows XP mode (LINK: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/windows/virtual-pc/download NULL.aspx)) if you are running Windows 7 Pro or 7 Ultimate. However, not everyone runs those versions, and even with those versions, I find it very difficult to get a scanner loaded in XP mode and working properly. So here are the steps to get the ScanJet 5300 working without using XP mode.

ALERT: DO NOT PLUG IN YOUR SCANNER IN TO THE PC UNTIL WHERE NOTED BELOW.

First Part – Installing the Drivers and Software

Step 1 – Visit the HP website driver page for the 5300c or whichever 5300 series Scanjet you have. Here’s the driver page for HP Scanjet 5300c (LINK: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=sj664en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=58381&os=228&lang=en (http://h10025 NULL.www1 NULL.hp NULL.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=sj664en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=58381&os=228&lang=en))

Step 2 – Ignore the “Install Now” button on the left side of the page and click on the “Download” button to save the sj664en.exe file to your hard-drive. Make sure you note where on your hard drive you saved the file.

Step 3 – Run the application to install the Precision Scan software and drivers by right clicking on the sj664en.exe, selecting Run as administrator and left clicking it.

During the install you will see the following screens (In order), you can select the default settings on each screen

Step 4 – Now connect your Scanjet to your PC.

Step 5 – Look at your start menu, you should now see the Precision Scan software in your program list like this:

You’ve successfully install the software and drivers!

Second Part – Tweaking the settings to get your scanner to work again.

Step 1 – Start by right clicking on your start menu where it says HP PrecisionScan (NEXT TO THE FOLDER ON THE LIST, look at screenshot below)and then highlight Properties and left click.

Step 2 – Once the Properties window opens, click on the Security tab and you’ll notice that All Users don’t have “Full Control” access to the application. Click on the Edit button to fix the permissions.

Step 3 – In the Edit window, click on each user and click on the Allow check-box for Full Control. It’s important to ensure that every user type has full control.

After you’ve assigned full control access permissions to all users, click Apply and OK to return to the Properties window, which should now look like example below for each user:

Then click OK in the main Properties window:

Step 4 – Now your new permissions SHOULD apply to all the applications in that HP Precision Scan folder, however, you should check all the listed items and repeat all the steps above as needed in each of the HP Scanjet items listed under the Scanjet folder to ensure that all the listed applications are all set to Full Control for all users.

After that, your scanner should be up and running.

Now click on the HP Precision Scan utility and the scanning utility will come up. Click to scan and you will no longer get the “No scanner connected” error that you were getting before if you were trying to use the XP drivers without tweaking the security settings as described in this post.

I hope this helps Noel.

Alert: Desktop Security2010 – Another Rogueware program which seems to be spreading fast. This is NOT something you want on your pc.

Job security is the probability that an individual will keep his or her job, and with the rate of computer clean up that I have to do that unfortunately seems to be going up and not down, I think I have job security for a while (Honestly, this is not the kind of job security that I want). We have had many posts on TGM about viruses, spyware, rogueware, yet the “my computer is infected” calls continue to come in, as people continue to fall for the tricks that get them infected.

The latest rogueware infection is called DesktopSecurity2010. What will happen if you get infected with the DesktopSecurity2010 rogueware

DesktopSecurity2010 is an adware program that warns users of non-existing threats in their computers so that they purchase a certain program that removes them from the computer.
Additionally, in order to make users think that their computer is really infected, it displays a warning message when the computer is restarted, and from time to time the screen fades to black and other times blinks with different colors.
DesktopSecurity2010 can reach the computer when the user accesses certain websites which display banners or pop-up windows which lead to the download of this program. It can also reach the computer in a link that can be received via spam messages, fraudulent websites, etc.

What should you look out for when web surfing

DesktopSecurity2010 is easy to recognize, as it shows the symptoms below (These are some possible symptoms, you can still get infected without seeing these):

It reaches the computer in a file with the following icon:
When it is run, a screen to install the program is displayed:
Once installed, it starts to carry out a system scan in search for possible malware and once finished, it displays warning messages informing users that the computer is infected:

One of the known ways that the rogueware is installing

The following post on the PandaLabs site (LINK: http://pandalabs.pandasecurity.com/making-new-friends%e2%80%a6/ (http://pandalabs NULL.pandasecurity NULL.com/making-new-friends%e2%80%a6/)) shows 1 of the ways you can get infected. Two of the clean up jobs that I have had to do in this past week occurred because the user also fell for a greeting card email as described below (Confirmed).

Making new friends…

Posted on 05/13/10 by Olaiz

I’m very happy because I’ve received a greeting card via email from a new friend, thought it’s not my birthday, my saint’s day or anything like that :-)

Look what a nice card I’ve received:

Google_groups_email_en

Besides, it has been sent from 123greetings, which is a legal website to download and send cards, so it must be trustworthy.

I’ve clicked the picture of the message and I’ve been redirected to the website http://luxxxx.googlegroups.com/web/setup.zip, but I can’t see any greeting card here, but a Google groups website containing a link… maybe I have to follow the link in order to view it…

There’s no way. I can only see the Windows of an antivirus called DesktopSecurity2010 (http://www NULL.pandasecurity NULL.com/homeusers/security-info/218297/DesktopSecurity2010) informing me that my computer is infected and that I have to pay the license in order to eliminate the malware. I think that I got infected :-( and I have neither a greeting card nor a new friend…

Now, talking seriously, yesterday we commented how this false antivirus was using Google Groups users (with malicious intentions) to be distributed. In fact, the URL from which the rogueware is downloaded is like the following:

http://Google Groups user.googlegroups.com/web/setup.zip

Some of these users are felixss, gorlum or misterxyz.

Google has reacted to this and has started blocking these malicious users. So, if you try to access any URL that uses these malicious users, the following message is displayed informing you that the user cannot be found:

Google_groups

Even so, some malicious accounts may still be active, so don’t trust messages like this and don’t follow any link like those we’ve previously mentioned in this post.

So what can you do to help protect yourself

If you get a link, email, instant message, asking you or telling about something you were not expecting, even if it seems to be from someone you know, DO NOT TRUST IT! Getting a message from grandma saying check out the new pictures i upload and realizing she is 80 years old, ask yourself, does grandma really know how to upload pictures? It only takes a minute to call the person, and get a response to “did you send me….. message”, if they did, they will tell you instantly. If they didn’t they will be the 1st to say “What are you talking about”.
Because of Twitter, the use of link shorting sites seems to have become the norm. The problem is that a link to http://bit.ly/dr9Ucz (http://bit NULL.ly/dr9Ucz) could be a link to many place. How do you know if it is a safe link or not a safe link. Again, even if the link is sent to you by someone you know, DO NOT TRUST IT unless you were specifically expecting it. For the record, http://bit.ly/dr9Ucz (http://bit NULL.ly/dr9Ucz) is actually a link to techgeekandmore.com, and TGM does not list shorten links on the TGM site, because we want you to know where you are clicking to. One thing you can do to check shortened links is visit sites that expand the shortened link. (If you use one of these link expander services and copy the link, be careful to copy the link and NOT accidently double click on the link) Some of the sites you can visit to use to expand links

-> LongURL (LINK: http://longurl.org/ (http://longurl NULL.org/)), PrevURL (LINK: http://www.prevurl.com/index.php (http://www NULL.prevurl NULL.com/index NULL.php)), ExpandMyURL (http://longurl NULL.org/) (LINK: http://www.expandmyurl.com/ (http://longurl NULL.org/)), URL Snoop (http://urlsnoop NULL.com/) (LINK: http://urlsnoop.com/ (http://urlsnoop NULL.com/)), Securi.net (http://sucuri NULL.net/?page=tools&title=check-url) (LINK: http://sucuri.net/?page=tools&title=check-url (http://sucuri NULL.net/?page=tools&title=check-url)). At all the sites, enter the shortened URL and click to find out where the link will lead

-> In addition if you use Firefox to browse the web, you can install LongURLPlease (LINK: http://www.longurlplease.com/ (http://www NULL.longurlplease NULL.com/)), or LongURL (LINK: http://longurl.org/tools (http://longurl NULL.org/tools)), which are Firefox browser extensions that automatically preview the destination URL for shortened links from just about any shortener you can name.

As always make sure that your PC is updated with all the latest Windows Updates, your Anti-virus is updated, your install of JAVA is updated, your install of Adobe Flash player is updated, Your PDF reader is updated. Most viruses, spyware, rogueware use problems with these programs to get into your computer. Use can use sites like File Hippo (LINK: http://www.filehippo.com/ (http://www NULL.filehippo NULL.com/) ) to check and make sure your programs are up to date.

What to do if you do get infected

If you still get infected, you can use SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes programs to clean your machine, I recommend downloading both before you get any infection. Run them on a regular basis (Regular = once a week or so), even if your computer does not show any signs of issues.

To download both programs I recommend using Ninite (LINK: ninite.com)

If you would like to see more information on ninite you can see the TGM post http://www.techgeekandmore.com/2009/12/25/software-two-must-haves-for-the-new-pc-pc-decrapifier-and-ninite/

If after running SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes, you are still infected, then you will need to use a PE (Physical Environment) disk. The PE disk that TGM recommends is UBCD (LINK: http://www.ubcd4win.com (http://www NULL.ubcd4win NULL.com)). The how to for the UBCD can be found at http://www.ubcd4win.com/howto.htm (http://www NULL.ubcd4win NULL.com/howto NULL.htm) .

Facebook: Facebook Connections becoming a reality. Like it or not!

Two days ago, TGM listed “The 6 things you need to know about Facebook Connect” (LINK: http://www.techgeekandmore.com/2010/05/10/facebook-connections-eff-electronic-frontier-foundation-privacy-changes-six-things-to-know/), which is based on information provided by the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation).

Well it seems that Facebook is now rolling out Connect, as seen by the screenshots below. (Disclaimer: These are screenshots I took, not from someone else). After looking at the windows and the choices (or lack there of) that Facebook gives, connections leaves a lot to be desired.

When I 1st signed on the following Window appeared over my normal Facebook page. On the top of the Window it talks about “…improved the profile….” then the next line says “your pages are public”. One of the things to note about this window is that you only get to choose “Link All to My Profile” (Which means your open to having anything you do made public, if I understand it right) or “Choose Individually” (Which ONLY gives you a choice of what picking pages), nowhere do you see an opt out or no thanks.

As i don’t like to just allow changes without seeing what is being changed, I selected “Choose Individually” and this is the next window that I get. For starters in this window, note that the only options I get are “Save Changes” or “Logout”, so it seems that Facebook will force you to make the selection, if you want to or not.

In addition, if you carefully read the section under “Confirm the Pages that will be on your profile”, you will see

Linking to education and work, pages may also create additional pages, such as for your major or job title.

*****Note that it says may create, NOT you can create. That says to me things done for me, about me, that I have no control over. That says to me SCARRY!

If you don’t link to any pages, these sections on your profile will be empty.

*****So you either accept the way Facebook wants to make your life public or you our out of luck.

By linking your profile to pages, you will be making these connections public.

*****I’ll give Facebook this much, they aren’t trying to cover up the fact that they want your life to be shared with everyone in the world (Not just your friends on Facebook, or just other Facebook member), remember that Facebook is now searchable from search engines.

At the end of the Confirm section in the window above there is a “Learn More”. Here is what you get when you click on “Learn More”. There is 1 line here that I think is of interest, (Lower Right side) “To help you link to actual pages, we’ve matched info you’ve entered on your profile to Pages about those topics”. So lets review to critical things (In my view)

Facebook has matched information I entered into my profile (that when entered was probably meant as information for my select friends alone!) and added me to pages because of this info.
(From Above) By linking your profile to pages, you will be making these connections public.

(**Keeping in mind the short attention span these days, many people will NOT put 2 and 2 together here, again my opinion)

And lastly, in the selection window I unchecked everything in that window, then hit the save changes button. What I got was the following Window. “If you don’t link to any Pages, the following sections of your profile will be empty”

So now, even if I wanted to privately list for friends and family where I work or what city I’m in or my likes, I CAN’T, because Facebook now says you need to share with the entire class (world) or nothing at all.

This post is not intended to be anything more than information. Each person that uses Facebook needs to choose if they are comfortable with the requirements and with their information being made public. For those who think “no big deal” then this will just be another day in the life of Facebook. For those who have concerns then you need to figure out if the benefits of Facebook are worth the exposure. All this post is, an attempt to try and keep the TGM better informed.

Facebook: TGM Test which proves one of the six things you need to know about Facebook Connections

A few minutes ago, TGM Posted information concerning the New Facebook Connections. The information was from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation), and TGM wanted to test and see if we could show you #6 in the list of Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/05/things-you-need-know-about-facebook) (LINK: http://www.techgeekandmore.com/2010/05/10/facebook-connections-eff-electronic-frontier-foundation-privacy-changes-six-things-to-know/ ) because #6

Your posts may show up on a Connection page even if you do not opt in to the Connection. If you use the name of a Connection in a post on your wall, it may show up (http://facebookiswatchingyou NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2010/04/what-you-say-now-on-facebook-can-go-to NULL.html) on the Connection page, without you even knowing it. (For example, if you use the word “FBI” (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/FBI/109596699068116?v=stream&ref=ts) in a post).

For some reason just bugged more than the other 5. The sad thing to report is that within a couple of moment we were able to recreate #6. This affects anyone who posts anything on their or other peoples wall with a setting of “Everyone”.

To make it clear, this happened when posting to a wall with the EVERYONE setting, which means when you post the lock is set to Everyone (Example below).

As noted once I hit share it gets added to the wall.

That is where most people would assume that my post would end. However, it doesn’t, and this is where #6 of the 6 things you need to know comes in play

Your posts may show up on a Connection page even if you do not opt in to the Connection. If you use the name of a Connection in a post on your wall, it may show up (http://facebookiswatchingyou NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2010/04/what-you-say-now-on-facebook-can-go-to NULL.html) on the Connection page, without you even knowing it. (For example, if you use the word “FBI” (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/FBI/109596699068116?v=stream&ref=ts) in a post).

As it says if you use the name of a Connections page in your post on your wall, it may show up on the Connections page. In my test I used FB….I (Note its is FBI but there is a space), and when I go to the FBI Connections page (LINK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/FBI/109596699068116?v=stream&ref=ts (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/FBI/109596699068116?v=stream&ref=ts)) to my surprise we find

my post for my wall. I didn’t talk about the FBI, I said FB…I, yet I am now listed on a Connections page for the FBI (Of which I don’t believe it has any direct involvement with the actual Bureau). If I didn’t visit the FBI Connections why is my post here. In addition there are other people who have posts for FBI or FB…I that get posted continuously.

So before you post something with EVERYONE settings, you better think about what your posting as it may go past your wall.

Facebook: Six Things You Need to know about Facebook Connections.

With the changes to Facebook that recently announced, here is some additional information concerning the Newly Announced Facebook Connections. The Following post is from the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) (LINK: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/05/things-you-need-know-about-facebook (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/05/things-you-need-know-about-facebook))

Six Things You Need to Know About Facebook Connections (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/05/things-you-need-know-about-facebook)

Commentary (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/blog-categories/commentary) by Kurt Opsahl (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/about/staff/kurt-opsahl)

“Connections.” It’s an innocent-sounding word. But it’s at the heart of some of the worst of Facebook’s recent changes.

Facebook first announced (http://blog NULL.facebook NULL.com/blog NULL.php?post=382978412130) Connections a few weeks ago, and EFF quickly wrote at length about the problems they created (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/04/facebook-further-reduces-control-over-personal-information). Basically, Facebook has transformed substantial personal information — including your hometown, education, work history, interests, and activities — into “Connections (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/04/handy-facebook-english-translator#connections).” This allows far more people than ever before to see this information, regardless of whether you want them to.

Since then, our email inbox has been flooded with confused questions and reports about these changes. We’ve learned lots more about everyone’s concerns and experiences. Drawing from this, here are six things you need to know about Connections:

Facebook will not let you share any of this information without using Connections. You cannot opt-out of Connections. If you refuse to play ball, Facebook will remove (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/help/?faq=17121) all unlinked information from your profile.
Facebook will not respect your old privacy settings in this transition. For example (http://voices NULL.washingtonpost NULL.com/fasterforward/2010/04/facebook_privacy_contd NULL.html), if you had previously sought to share your Interests with “Only Friends,” Facebook will now ignore this and share your Connections with “Everyone.”
Facebook has removed your ability to restrict its use of this information. The new privacy controls only affect your information’s “Visibility,” (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/04/handy-facebook-english-translator#visibility) not whether it is “publicly available.”
Explaining what “publicly available” means, Facebook writes (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/policy NULL.php):

“Such information may, for example, be accessed by everyone on the Internet (including people not logged into Facebook), be indexed by third party search engines, and be imported, exported, distributed, and redistributed by us and others without privacy limitations.”
Facebook will continue to store and use your Connections even after you delete them. Just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. Even after you “delete” profile information, Facebook will remember it (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/help/?faq=17121). We’ve also received reports that Facebook continues to use deleted profile information to help people find you through Facebook’s search engine.
Facebook sometimes creates a Connection when you “Like” something. That “Like” button you see all over Facebook, and now all over the web? It too can sometimes add a Connection (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/help/?faq=17219) to your profile, without you even knowing it.
Your posts may show up on a Connection page even if you do not opt in to the Connection. If you use the name of a Connection in a post on your wall, it may show up (http://facebookiswatchingyou NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2010/04/what-you-say-now-on-facebook-can-go-to NULL.html) on the Connection page, without you even knowing it. (For example, if you use the word “FBI” (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/pages/FBI/109596699068116?v=stream&ref=ts) in a post).

Facebook: How to OPT OUT of the Facebook Instant Personalization feature

In the past couple of weeks, Facebook has made many changes that can at minimum be considered troubling to anyone concerned about their information getting shared publicly. The following post and video comes from the EFF (The Electronic Frontier Foundation)**. (LINK: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2010/04/how-opt-out-facebook-s-instant-personalization (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/deeplinks/2010/04/how-opt-out-facebook-s-instant-personalization)).

(SOAPBOX) TGM is NOT advocating a position on either side of the debate (At this time), everyone who uses technology should be aware of their choices and be able to find what works for them. It is up to each person to chose how much information they care to expose publicly, what 1 person thinks is unacceptable, someone else may see as just the cost of getting a new feature. The following information is directed at those who believe the steps Facebook is taking is unacceptable (END SOAPBOX)

How to Opt Out of Facebook’s Instant Personalization

Deeplink by Kurt Opsahl (http://www NULL.eff NULL.org/about/staff/kurt-opsahl)Update: Friday morning Facebook changed its privacy settings layout, making it a bit more challenging to opt out completely. As before, unchecking the “Allow” box is not sufficient because you need to block each Instant Personalization website to fully opt out. However, the previous path (via “Learn More”) to the necessary Block Application buttons was removed, with Facebook suggesting instead you first go to the sites (at which point your information is disclosed), and then click “‘No Thanks’ on the blue Facebook notification on the top of partner sites.” To fully opt out, you need to:

Go to the Instant Personalization (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/settings/?tab=privacy&section=applications&field=instant_personalization) privacy setting and uncheck the “Allow” button. Click confirm. Come back to this page.
Go to the page for Microsoft Docs (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/docs), click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.
Go to the page for Pandora (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/apps/application NULL.php?id=139475280761), click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.
Go to the page for Yelp (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/apps/application NULL.php?id=97534753161) , click Block Application on the page, click Block Application on the pop-up, and click Okay on the next pop-up. Come back to this page.
Optional: Go to the Facebook Site Governance (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/fbsitegovernance?v=wall&story_fbid=120701477944064) page, and express your opinion in a comment.

**About the EFF – From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Electronic_Frontier_Foundation))

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is an international non-profit digital rights advocacy and legal organization based in the United States. Its stated mission is to:

Engage in and support educational activities which increase popular understanding of the opportunities and challenges posed by developments in computing and telecommunications.
Develop among policy-makers a better understanding of the issues underlying free and open telecommunications, and support the creation of legal and structural approaches which will ease the assimilation of these new technologies by society.
Raise public awareness about civil liberties issues arising from the rapid advancement in the area of new computer-based communications media.
Support litigation in the public interest to preserve, protect, and extend First Amendment rights within the realm of computing and telecommunications technology.
Encourage and support the development of new tools which will endow non-technical users with full and easy access to computer-based telecommunications.

Software: Repairing your Outlook file. What to do when Outlook wont open because your .pst file is corrupted.

A call that I get sometimes involves “I can’t open my Outlook email”. Microsoft Outlook uses a PST file to store your emails. The problem with the PST file is that a single file holds all the info, so if something happens to the file, it affects all parts of your email (Inbox, Sent Items, etc). The PST file has a size limit as well, for those using Outlook 2002 and earlier the limit is 2 GB. The size limit has changed for users of Office 2003, 2007, 2010 and its now 20 GB. Two of the most common ways to When you let your pst file get close to its size limit, or if your pc happens to power off while you are in Outlook you risk

Since the beginning of Outlook, one of the little known tools that Microsoft includes is the Inbox Repair Tool. The tool is designed to fix your pst file if it ever gets corrupted. The following steps will help you fix Outlook if your pst gets corrupted.

1 – Find your PST file. If you have installed Outlook in with default settings, the PST file will be located in

C:\Documents and Settings\user_id\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Outlook (Where user_id is the name of the Windows id that is signed in).

2 – Find the Inbox Repair tool for your version of office. Unfortunately Microsoft stopped putting an icon in the start menu for the Inbox Repair tool after Office 97.

To use the Inbox Repair tool, locate one of the folders by using Microsoft Windows Explorer, and then double-click the Scanpst.exe file.

The Scanpst.exe file is typically located in one of the following folders: ( Where disk drive is the location of your install, typically the C:\ drive)

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\System\Mapi\1033\

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Common Files\System\MSMAPI\1033

The Scanpst.exe file for Outlook 2007 is is typically located in the following folder:

<disk drive>:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12

The Scanpst.exe file for Outlook 2010 is is typically located in the following folder:

<disk drive>\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office14

3 – Once you found and started the Inbox Repair tool (Scanpst.exe), type the path and the file name of the personal folders (.pst) file or click Browse to locate the file by using the Windows file system.

4 – Click on start.

5 – Once it completes, you should be able to start Outlook again.

Software: Recovering email client password.

As Part of Tech Support, many times we are required to find out what the password to email accounts are so that we can either back it up or reinstall the account. The problem is that most people when they originally set up the account, they check the box that says “Remember Password”, then they forget the password they used. A lot of times you will get the “my email doesn’t have a password” or “I just open it, I don’t use a password”, which is just a way of saying that the user doesn’t have a clue about what their password is. FOR THE RECORD: Every email account, no matter who the provider is, has a password.

So what do you do if you don’t know what the email client password is? I found a useful Free utility called Mail Passview from Nirsoft (LINK:) http://www.nirsoft.net/ (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/)

Mail PassView is a small password-recovery tool that reveals the passwords and other account details for the following email clients:

Outlook Express
Microsoft Outlook 2000 (POP3 and SMTP Accounts only)
Microsoft Outlook 2002/2003/2007 (POP3, IMAP, HTTP and SMTP Accounts)
Windows Mail
Windows Live Mail
IncrediMail
Eudora
Netscape 6.x/7.x (If the password is not encrypted with master password)
Mozilla Thunderbird (If the password is not encrypted with master password)
Group Mail Free
Yahoo! Mail – If the password is saved in Yahoo! Messenger application.
Hotmail/MSN mail – If the password is saved in MSN/Windows/Live Messenger application.
Gmail – If the password is saved by Gmail Notifier application, Google Desktop, or by Google Talk.

You can download Mail Passview from the Nirsoft Site (LINK) http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/mailpv_setup.exe (http://www NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/utils/mailpv_setup NULL.exe)

KNOWN ISSUE WITH TOOL –

Due to the nature of what this tool does, some of the Anti-Virus companies will flag this program as a virus/trojan. This is what is known as a false positive. I very rarely tell anyone to ignore or override a message from Anti-virus, however, in this case as long as you are getting the download from the Nirsoft site, the AV message is a false positive. If you would like to see a small explanation as to why False positives can occur you can read the blog post by Nirsoft about their false positive alerts (LINK) http://blog.nirsoft.net/2009/05/17/antivirus-companies-cause-a-big-headache-to-small-developers/ (http://blog NULL.nirsoft NULL.net/2009/05/17/antivirus-companies-cause-a-big-headache-to-small-developers/)

How to: Block or Allow (Unblock) text messages from your Sprint Cell Phone.

I’ve recently started receiving TEXT spam. If you think that its annoying when you get spam in your email, wait until you start seeing it in TEXT message form. For me its Text messages concerning the “Warranty on my car is about to expire”, supposedly if I respond to the TEXT I will get information about how to extend the warranty on my car. (On a funny side note: My car is 14 yrs old and has been out of warranty since the turn of the century)

I am a Sprint user, and the following information will allow Sprint users to Block or Allow Text messages on their phones.

(Information is from the Sprint Support Page LINK http://support.sprint.com/support/article/Block_or_allow_text_messages_from_your_phone/case-ev207663-20090625-102112?&INTNAV=SU:SP:MVT (http://support NULL.sprint NULL.com/support/article/Block_or_allow_text_messages_from_your_phone/case-ev207663-20090625-102112?&INTNAV=SU:SP:MVT) )

Block or allow text messages from your phone

Last Updated: Jun 25, 2009

You can block unwanted text messages from your phone using text messages.
This service allows you to manage your blocked senders list without the need to access sprint.com (http://www NULL.sprint NULL.com/index NULL.html) or to call Customer Care.
There’s no charge for the text messages you send to or receive from 9999.
To block or allow senders, see a list of senders you have blocked, or report spam, send a message to 9999 with one of the commands from this

COMMAND SENT TO 9999:	DESCRIPTION OF COMMAND:	TEXT RESPONSE FROM SPRINT:
help	General help	SprintFreeMsg: Text these commands to 9999 to manage SMS blocking: block, list, spam, help. Text “help ” to learn about each command.
help block	Help with blocking senders	1/2 SprintFreeMsg: block: Blocks the sender. 2/2 Sender can be a shortcode, 10 digit phone number, email address, or “email” to block all messages from email addresses.
help allow	Help with allowing senders that have been blocked	1/2 SprintFreeMsg: allow: Allows the sender. 2/2 Sender can be a shortcode, 10 digit phone number, email address, “email” to allow all messages from email addresses, or “all” to remove all blocking.
block <shortcode or phone number>	Block a shortcode or phone number (4 to 10 digits)
	Block an email address	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXX” are now blocked.
block <@domain>	Block all messages from a specific domain	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXX” are now blocked.
block email	Block all email addresses	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from all email addresses are now blocked.
allow <shortcode or phone number>	Allow a sender that has been blocked (4 to 10 digits)	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXX” are now allowed.
allow <user@domain>	Allow an email address that has been blocked	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXX” are now allowed.
allow <@domain>	Allow messages from a domain that has been blocked	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXX” are now allowed.
allow email	Allow all email addresses	SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from all email addresses are now allowed.
allow all	Allow messages from all senders (removes all blocks)	SprintFreeMsg: All text messages are now allowed.
list	Lists blocked senders	SprintFreeMsg: You have no blocked senders. All text messages will be allowed.
spam <shortcode or phone number>	Report spam from a shortcode or phone number (4 to 10 digits)	SprintFreeMsg: Thanks for reporting spam sent by “XXXXXXX.” SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXXXX” are now blocked.
spam <user@domain>	Report spam from an email address	SprintFreeMsg: Thanks for reporting spam sent by “XXXXXXX.” SprintFreeMsg: Text messages from “XXXXXXX” are now blocked.

Note: This information applies only to Sprint® and PowerSource phones.
Note: The numbers you block need to be at least four digits long.

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