Although not an official part of the holiday season, that President Obama has declared October to be National Cyber Security Awareness Month is a good thing. If people can take an awareness of cyber security and turn it into positive actions, maybe the good guys can...

Last week, Internet criminals broke into the computers of Experian, one of the “big three” credit reporting bureaus. The crooks made off with the account information of 15 million T-Mobile users, including names, addresses, birth dates, ID numbers (driver’s license,...

We began looking last week at the nifty program called Ccleaner, where I covered the program’s “Cleaner” function. This week, let’s look at the Registry and Drive Wiper functions. First, an understanding of the Windows registry is in order. The Windows registry is a...

Like most computer repair guys, I have a software toolkit of sorts, comprised of my favorite programs. One of my favorites, which I have used for years, is called Ccleaner. Ccleaner used to be called Crap Cleaner, but the program’s authors decided to change the name...

Too many people fail to take the subject of online Internet safety and security seriously in advance of a catastrophe. That’s a shame, because taking basic, simple precautions now can pay big dividends in the future. People who’ve lost everything to a hard drive...

“There’s nothing important on my computer, so I don’t care too much about Internet security. Why would anyone want to mess with me?” “My business is too small for the big Internet crooks; why would they bother to hack my computers?” People express sentiments like...

I work for many different people fixing a wide variety of computer problems. This week’s computer fix-it jobs brought to mind some technology-related quotes I’ve had stuck in my mind for years. Quotes like these can attain a proverb-like status, perfectly describing...

If you were visiting Yahoo’s website this week, or any of its websites relating to finance, games, sports or celebrities, you may have been exposed to cybercrooks trying to steal your money. It took Yahoo almost a week to notice anything was wrong. Unfortunately, this...

You may recall my column dated June 28 in which I urged people to resist installing Microsoft’s new Windows 10 on their otherwise healthy computers until some of the kinks and bugs had been worked out. Give it a few months, I said, before taking the leap. Why give up...

It’s called “crapware,” or, in more polite circles, “junkware.” Some varieties are called “bloatware,” but the root definition is always the same: useless, ridiculous, unnecessary and annoying software that somehow gets into your computer. Where does crapware come...

Since the release of Windows Vista in 2007, Microsoft has released a new version of its Windows operating system every two or three years. New versions of Windows are always proclaimed to bring new features, reliability, ease of use and security. Experience has taught...

Power surges and failures were commonplace this week as crazy storms and tornadoes ravaged our fair state. Many times, the most immediate need in such situations is minute-by-minute weather information, especially if electrical power is knocked out before yet more...

In this seventh and final installment of my “Internet Security Basics” series, let’s first examine a typically-overlooked, yet critically important area of computer safety: network file sharing. File sharing is the ability of computers connected to the same network to...

There are numerous operating system and program settings that can be tweaked in order to better your security profile and increase performance. True system "hardening" is not for the impatient or faint of heart, and may be discussed in a future column; this column...

Back in the “old days” (say, seven or eight years ago), it was a good idea to have multiple programs to deal with multiple computer problems. Antivirus programs took care of viruses, antiadware programs took care of adware, antispyware programs took care of spyware,...

My state-wide teaching tour continues next Monday, March 19, 2012, 6:30 p.m. at the Southern Oaks Library in Oklahoma City, OK. My class, “Fight the Internet Bad Guys and Win!” will teach you how to defeat the Internet bad guys who want to mess with your life. The...

Last week’s significant Internet-related news remains significant, and will remain so far into the future, but you sure wouldn’t know it looking at the reactions of politicians, news wonks and the general public. The big news? Since the end of 2013, an Internet-based...

Computer folks often throw around words, terms and acronyms assuming everyone else knows what they mean. I recently learned that’s a bad assumption, though, as a customer discussing backing up files to an external hard drive remarked, “You know, I don’t think I really...

“Your personal files are encrypted by CTB-Locker. Your documents, photos, databases and other important files have been encrypted with strongest encryption and unique key, generated for this computer.” Wow, there’s a screen you never want to see on your computer...

If you suspect your computer has any sort of virus infection, or has been compromised in any way whatsoever, you need to stop using it, immediately, until the problem is fixed. That means stop trying to check your email; stop trying to look at your bank account; stop...