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Are you planning to buy a new PC – Wait!

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     I know its March, but if a new pc is in your plans and you can wait until June 26th, then I would recommend waiting.  Based on information that the TECHARP website  (http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=609&pgno=1 (http://www NULL.techarp NULL.com/showarticle NULL.aspx?artno=609&pgno=1)) has come up with Microsoft has released info on their upgrade plans for Windows 7.  The information shows that PC’s purchased on or after June 26, 2009, with Vista and qualifying software (which normally means specific configurations) will be eligible for a free upgrade to Windows 7 (Once Windows 7 is released). 

     What this means for users is that you wont make your pc purchase and then have to make an additional purchase to stay up to date with the latest offering.  In my day to day use of Windows 7 (the beta version released earlier this year), this next version of windows is a major improvement over any of the previous or current Microsoft operating systems. 

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And More – Oh Boy

   As a tech, when you go onsite you are never sure as to what you will find.  During a recent site visit to a client, I discovered a “Small” pet that walked out to greet me!  Let me tell you I was not ready for this one.  Its not a fear thing, its more along the lines of “#%$%^^%”. 

Pet 1 (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pet1 NULL.jpg)             Pet 2 (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pet2 NULL.jpg)

  I honestly was thinking it was a chew toy or something for a pet.  I got within 6 or 7 inches then figured out it wasn’t.  As a multi-skilled tech, I was the person who helped Jerry (What else was I going to call him) out of the office.  Just another day – Just another adventure.

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Online Virus Scanners

   Computer-Virus (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/computervirus NULL.jpg) Some virus and spyware infections (the really nasty ones) will uninstall or break your installed Antivirus/Anti-spyware software.  When that happens you will still need to scan your system.  You have a couple of sites that offer FREE online scans of your pc, and depending on the infection, could also remove the problem from your machine.

CA Virus Scanner http://www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx (http://www NULL.ca NULL.com/us/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan NULL.aspx)

Trend Micro Housecall http://housecall.trendmicro.com/us/index.html (http://housecall NULL.trendmicro NULL.com/us/index NULL.html)

page-cannot-be-displayed (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/pagecannotbedisplayed NULL.jpg) Something to keep in mind is that these sites should be easily accessible.  If your internet is working but when you attempt to access either of these sites your web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Opera) says that the site cant be viewed or closes by itself or pops up a lot of other pages other than the one your trying to get to could also be a sign that your infected. 

win2ksafemode2 (http://www NULL.rj-diamond NULL.com/alex/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/win2ksafemode2 NULL.jpg) In most all cases to properly clean infection off a computer, the computer should be started in “safe mode with networking”. For those who don’t know how to do that, as soon as you start your computer you start pressing the F6 key (ya those keys your never use on the top of your keyboard), and you will see a message with a few choices one of which is “safe mode with networking”.  If you see your opening windows screen (the one that says Windows 2000, Windows XP or Windows Vista) without seeing the choices then you didn’t press F6 fast enough. Let the computer boot up then reboot and try again.