by colin on March 5, 2013
Getting used to new things can be a nuisance, where possible I avoid it. Whether it is cutlery, cars or keyboards I don’t like change. I have been working recently in a Dental practice installing a new system; the old one was no longer suitable so the time had come to change, root and branch. I sympathised with the staff that were looking forward to ‘go live’ like turkeys do Christmas. When the time came and the system was implemented all went well; however there is always a hankering for parts of the old software system; a wee button missing here, a function there. It’s almost like it had a personality.
Windows 8 has a personality; a split personality. I have not been the only one to have had my patience tried to the limit with the newest operating system and have on a few occasions been asked to revert machines to Windows 7 or to make the new one more user friendly. With this in mind I suggest to anyone ‘Classic Shell’ available free on www.ninite.com. It will re-jig your Windows 8 operating system back to normality, or perhaps familiarity. Whether you are on the verge of breaking point or just interested to see how Windows 8 could have looked if tablets were never invented, try it out. In fact, while you are in ninite.com you may also update a couple of essentials, Java and Adobe Flash, no harm. To be clearer, the Windows 8 OS is fine; it just takes a little patience, and maybe a tablet.
Sorry no IT Blog last month, I confess that I can run out of ideas, If there is anything you would like me to write about or if you have a question, please let me know at colin@colcom.info, @colcom (on twitter) or look for Colcom on Facebook.. Thanks.
by colin on March 5, 2013
I hope you all had a great Christmas and enjoyed the New Year celebrations. As we all get used to and enjoy our new techy toys I am reminded again of these ever-present viruses and fraud ware scams that can harm our new laptops.
I know I am at risk of repeating myself here on this Blog, and I don’t want to be accused of fear-mongering but the proliferation of these infections in recent months has exploded. December saw for me my busiest ever month removing fraud-ware from computers new and old. Windows 8 is not exempt from these scams which can look very plausible. A further sinister turn has evolved now when the fake security alert shows an image from the web-camera on the infected laptop and threatens that it has been recording you for security identification purposes. I wouldn’t worry unduly about this; it is just another shock tactic to get you to comply with the £100 payment. If you do find it unnerving just stick some black tape over the lens.
The removal procedure for this kind of infection is pretty convoluted to write here but it can be done with removal tools such as Malwarebyte’s AntiMalware and through the ‘Safe Mode’ boot option if it is available to you. For new machines bought over the Christmas period I would recommend a full system restore from the recovery media supplied with the computer. This will delete absolutely everything from the computer and restart it from its original out the box state.
The fraudulent splash screen reports that all types of online behaviour has been detected on the infected machine so it is very easy to lay blame; resist the urge to clip an ear as it is nothing more than a scam that could happen to anyone.
