I was responding to a customer complaint when I ran across this one.  She said that every time she tried to buy an audiobook (or any thing else for that matter) from the iTunes store, she was getting the following error message:

Session Timeout

Your session has timed out. Please try this operation again from the beginning.

The iTunes message was almost immediate, so I knew that it wasn’t a REAL session timeout.  It seemed very much like a glitch in the software.  I thought about reinstalling the software, but I thought I would try a few other things before I resorted to a reinstall of iTunes.

I should probably mention right now that I was on a Mac Powerbook G4… Not a Windows PC.

So, I searched the web and found numerous articles, forum posts and Yahoo! questions that referred to the same “Session Timeout” error message.

Most of them mentioned a common problem with the time application, time synchronization, and the time zone.  So, I tried all of these.

First, I confirmed the time was correct… It was.

Second, I changed the time to a few hours into the future, tried iTunes again, and then changed the time back to the correct time.  Then, I tried iTunes again with no success.

Third, I confirmed the correct time zone was set.  It was.  But, I had also ran across a snippet on a website where someone claimed they found success in changing the time zone to A DIFFERENT time zone and then changing it back.  I tried this, but it did not solve my problem.

Then, I got to thinking about what would cause an immediate “Session Timeout” in iTunes.  The only other thing that I thought MIGHT be to blame (besides a broken application file somewhere) would be network settings.

All the network settings looked okay, but just for grins I decided to change the DNS settings to something else.

I used the OpenDNS servers:

208.67.222.222

208.67.220.220

Then, I tried the iTunes purchase again…

Eureka!!!!

This seemed to do the trick.  I don’t know why the standard DNS server wasn’t doing the trick, but there was obviously some sort of malfunction, either at the ISP level or somewhere else along the way to iTunes.

So if you are getting the following error message:

Session Timeout

Your session has timed out. Please try this operation again from the beginning.

Try the time server and time-zone stuff, and see if it works.  If it doesn’t, try changing the DNS settings before completely pulling your hair out.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day that says:

Throw it away? There is no away!

It’s true. It all has to go somewhere. And, wherever it goes, most of our old computers will be there too.

According to the most recent numbers from the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States produces over 2.5 million tons of “electronic waste” per year.

But, what about recycling this electronic waste? Isn’t it reused?

Well, the EPA went on to report that over 82% of this electronic waste goes into landfills, because the cost of recycling is too much (or the owners throw it in with the non-electronic garbage).

The saddest part of all this is the fact that most computers being thrown “away”, aren’t even broken. They are perhaps slow and in need of a tune-up. Or, at the very worst, they may need a single, inexpensive part replaced to make them work like new again.

Typically, a “broken” computer is only suffering from a software problem, such as a virus or spyware infection, registry corruption, or damaged operating system. But, even if the computer is suffering from a legitimate hardware issue, and in need of repair, a skilled computer repair professional can narrow down the problem, remove the afflicted component and keep the working components out of the local landfill.

But, instead of calling a local computer repair business and getting an estimate, many computer owners will get fed up with his or her misbehaving machine and decide to replace it with a new one. What do they do with their old computer? They recycle it, of course, which seems like the environmentally responsible thing to do… but, as noted above, these computers end up in a landfill over 82% of the time.

Not only are these people wasting their own money, but they are putting an even greater burden on the environment. If you stop to think about it, they are also placing an even greater burden on those who will one day choose to clean up our gigantic mess: our children, our children’s children, and countless more generations after we are gone.

Want to know what your next step should be?

Doing your part for help the environment doesn’t mean knowing where the closest computer recycling center is. It’s picking up the phone and calling your local computer repair shop.

When you speak to them, explain the problem your computer is having along with telling them the year that your computer was purchased. Based on this data, a skilled computer repair professional should be able to estimate a cost, and then tell you if your computer is actually worth the cost of computer repair.

In most cases, computer repair is much more affordable than you think. We perform these types of phone estimates for clients in our Fort Collins computer repair shop all the time. It doesn’t hurt to call and ask, right?

Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

Is your computer not as fast as it used to be? Do you consistently get application crashes, “time outs” and the dreaded hourglass? When you press the power button on your computer in the morning, can you start the coffee, take a shower, style your hair and get dressed, all before your computer is finished booting?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, your computer needs more than another cup of coffee. It needs a tune-up. You probably already know that there are a myriad of ways that a computer repair professional can help you. But, unfortunately, not everyone can afford to call a computer repair specialist every time something breaks – especially those hardest hit by the current economic downturn.

I’ll be honest, here. As a computer repair consultant and owner of a computer repair shop in Colorado, I am not one to suggest the use of free tools very often. When someone can afford to purchase software, I usually advise them to purchase a quality retail product, because the paid-for software is typically far superior and the user is entitled to support.

In my experience, free tools are usually either crippled versions of their related non-free products, or simply don’t do a good enough job to be useful. But, there are a few free tools that are exceptions to that rule, and offer a good product for those who genuinely cannot afford to purchase off-the-shelf software.

So, with that being said, here are my 5 suggestions for free tools to speed up your slow computer. All 5 of these popular tools can be searched for and found easily through Google.

1. CCleaner

CCleaner is legendary for its usefulness in helping rid computer systems of any and all junk that has accumulated on a hard drive. However, there is a hidden gem in CCleaner: its ability to find and clean problems in the registry.

Using CCleaner once per week will keep your system running pretty smoothly all by itself. But, combining it with the other tools listed below will give you some synergistic results. For example, in our computer repair shop, we use CCleaner before any antivirus scan because it will help the scan go much faster (the resulting drive has fewer files to scan).

2. Startup Inspector for Windows

In case you didn’t know, too many programs that load on start-up can quickly cripple a good computer. Limiting start-up programs to only the bare essentials is an excellent way to reclaim much lost speed. Some people even go to extremes and disable all start-up programs and non-Microsoft services, but that can have a negative impact on things such as backup schedules, antivirus protection, and useful keyboard shortcut keys.

Startup Inspector for Windows takes the guess work out of this process. Not only does this utility take the place of MSCONFIG’s very limiting interface for managing start-up programs, but it also has the ability to access a database of known start-up programs. It will even give you suggestions for disabling certain applications, or leaving them intact so as to not limit the functionality of certain programs.

3. Malwarebytes

Nothing chokes a computer’s speed faster than Malware. But, how do you sort the good from the bad? Is that toolbar you installed a bad program? How about that game you love to play online? Could that “coupon finding” toolbar that you just installed be a virus in disguise?

That’s where Malwarebytes can help. It’s one of the best free malware removal utilities that I know of. Many seasoned computer repair technicians swear by it. Although the free version of Malwarebytes is “crippleware” (the free version doesn’t provide real-time protection), it does a very good job if run manually on a regular basis.

4. Avast Antivirus

Avast is a program that I’ve warmed up to over the years. As I stated earlier, I’m picky about that software I recommend. That goes double for antivirus protection, because antivirus protection is usually your only barrier between you and the scumbags of the Internet. I will never respect those who would steal and use someone else’s identity and/or financial information to get something for nothing, rather than to work honestly for what they want.

If you absolutely cannot afford antivirus protection, do not go without it. Instead, download Avast Home Edition. Avast Home Edition is completely free, but you do have to register it before the 60 day trial has expired. Registration is free, and afterward you can use it for a year before having to re-register. In addition to being free, Avast works pretty well, too.

5. Defraggler

Without getting into the technical details of what fragmentation is, or how it happens, let’s just say that if you haven’t defragmented your hard drive lately, you are probably overdue. Defragging your hard drive is like reorganizing your storage closet. It makes things easier (and therefore quicker) to find.

There are very few tools that rival Defraggler. Although I tend to prefer Diskeeper more than Defraggler due to it’s ability to perform real-time defragmenting, Diskeeper is not free. However, Defraggler is a close second to Diskeeper and is completely free of charge.

Coincidentally, Defraggler is made by the same company as CCleaner. It seems that Piriform is on a roll when it comes to developing and releasing free and useful utilities. Google the term “defraggler”, download it, use it. Leave it running overnight, as it will probably take several hours to finish.

The Clean-Up Proces – Step by Step

The order you use these free computer repair tools are up to you, but as a professional who has done this more times that I can count, here is my recommendation for how to use these free tools to speed up your slow computer.

1. Use Startup Inspector for Windows to remove unneeded programs from startup
2. Reboot
3. Use CCleaner to clean junk files from the system
4. Clean the registry with CCleaner
5. Reboot
6. Update Malwarebytes and scan. Remove anything it finds.
7. Reboot if it recommends you to do so.
8. Update Avast and scan. It should quarantine anything it finds automatically.
9. Reboot if needed.
10. Use CCleaner (again) to clean up any junk left over from the virus removal.
11. Yes, clean the registry with CCleaner one more time, also.
12. Defrag the hard drive to reorganize the remaining “good” data on your drive.

Conclusion

In 9 out of 10 cases, using these 5 free utilities will have your computer back up to speed. If you properly utilize these tools and your computer is still not functioning properly, it doesn’t mean that the tools did not work.

Perhaps your computer problem is beyond the scope of these tools. Maybe you don’t have a sufficient amount of RAM memory. There is also a possibility that your computer has a serious hardware issue (such as a failing hard drive) which requires the attention of a computer repair professional.

Luckily there a hundreds of websites on the Internet that will provide free advice to those in need. They won’t do the work for you for free, but will be glad to provide information and resources to help you help yourself. There are even a few that offer free video training on how to repair your own computer. By doing your homework and asking a lot of questions, you can learn to solve any computer problem without spending any money at all.

Good luck.

Being the owner of a computer repair shop in Fort Collins Colorado, I keep a close eye on pricing. We know what we charge, and we know what our competition charges. Most desktop computer repairs cost typically average around $170. On the other hand, an entry level desktop pc will cost $300 to $400. Keep in mind that this dollar amount will only buy the cheapest computer on the shelf. A quality desktop computer will cost more.

The same can apply to notebook and laptop computer repair. In our computer repair shop, the average cost of a laptop repair job is $260. At the time of this writing, the cheapest laptop I could find was about $500 (netbooks are not included in this figure, since they are less powerful, and are considered by many to fall outside the definition of a true laptop computer). But again, this is a “cheap” $500 laptop, and in most cases you will not be happy with the performance, reliability, or lifespan of this laptop.

So, think about it before you decide to replace your old computer with a new one. You could be wasting a lot money on an emotional purchase – not a logical one. Your computer could need a very inexpensive upgrade to make it run twice as fast. It may on need a little “tune-up” to restore its stability.

Your best course of action? Call a computer repair professional, explain the problem, and then tell them the year that your computer was purchased. Based on this information, they should be able to estimate a cost, and then tell you if your computer is actually worth the cost of the repair.If all else fails, ask your computer repair professional if they can put a maximum cap on the cost of repair. We do this for clients in our Fort Collins computer repair shop all the time. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

I had a client the other day call me about his icons moving around on the screen. I guess, technically, they were just moving back to the original position over on the left hand side of the desktop. He would move them over to the right, and rearrange them as desired… but, a week or so later they would suddenly be over on the left side when he turned on his Vista system.

This particular client has been a loyal client of mine for years, and he had some other stuff he wanted me to repair for him (he was having a small glitch with sending e-mail, which I resolved in just a few minutes and some other minor annoyances)… but, he also wanted me to find the cause for his “wandering” Vista icons.

Since it’s very difficult to troubleshoot a problem that only happens a few times per month, it’s almost impossible to fix something like this with one visit. But, I checked all of the basics and everything seemed to be configured properly.  I made just a few minor changes and cleaned up the system a bit (cleaned the registry, etc) and told him to call me if it happens again.

He called a week later, reported that his icons had moved again. Hmmm, a real head-scratcher.

After doing a bit of research, I did come up empty-handed on the root of the problem, but I did find a tool that had promising potential as a workaround.

It’s called Iconoid. It’s available for free at http://www.sillysot.com.  There was just one little problem, however… my client’s version of Vista was 64-bit, and apparently the 32-bit version of Iconoid wasn’t going to cut it.  So, after doing a little more searching, it seems that someone had “ported” Iconoid to 64-bit and was sharing this application with the world (also for free) and is available at http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/

Enjoy.

With that being said… although I like the company that is Geek Squad, I do not like the experience people get when they go to a Geek Squad store. I have had numerous people (in the Fort Collins and Loveland, Colorado areas) come to me after a terrible experience with the Geek Squad, and become very loyal clients. Usually, the Geek Squad will provide a very average (mediocre at best) experience at a very high cost to the consumer.

You can see more proof of Geek Squad’s “expert” troubleshooting skills in this video:

But, what has really gotten me on an anti-geek rant today is the fact that they refuse to post my comments on the Geek Squad blog.

Long story short, I love to read other people’s computer repair blogs. Therefore, I search high and low for good quality blogs to read and add to my RSS reader on the Google desktop. There have a been a few times in the past month that I have commented on a post on the Geek Squad’s blog.

The Geek Squad blog is decent enough. It offers basic advice to beginners on troubleshooting, setup and basic computer repair. It doesn’t get too deep into the technical aspects, and I completely understand why. I don’t fault them for that, as I know from experience that you have to speak to your target market when writing for a company blog.

But, what I do fault them for is not posting my comments.

I’ve seen this occasionally in the blogs that I read… but, has happened 100% of the time with the Geek Squad blog.

Many times, a computer repair company won’t post my comment if I disagree (I am always very polite about it, of course) with what they have written in their post. Instead of having a friendly debate about the issue, they usually just never post my comment. If you ask me, this means that they are either not very knowledgeable on the subject and they feel embarrassed that someone is calling their bluff… or, they are simply too arrogant to entertain the idea that they may be wrong. Truthfully, I would be wary of doing business with either type of business.

The difference between these companies and the Geek Squad, is that they won’t allow ANY of my comments to post. I have never been rude, disagreeable, or self-promotional. The most I have ever done is offer a easy tip or two on a troubleshooting post.

For example, on the DIY: Wireless Network Troubleshooting blog post on the Geek Squad website, I tried to add a comment explaining that before you start troubleshooting wireless routers and modems, you should check the wireless on/off switch on your laptop to make sure that your wireless antenna is actually turned on. Personally, I thought that it was helpful advice… not very technical at all… easy to understand… a very common mistake that I have seen with my clients many times. The comment never got posted.

But, even when I have NOT offered advice, and I just attempted to make a comment such as “Good post!”, or something of that nature, NONE of these comments on the Geek Squad blog have ever been allowed to post, either!

The best I can guess is that they can tell from my e-mail address that I am from a “competing” company… and I am therefore getting the digital snub. The big and important Geeks on High have deemed me unworthy to associate with, and see fit to censor my comments by deleting them entirely.

Nice work, Geek Squad!

Next time I need to buy a LCD monitor, computer part (when I don’t already have them in stock), or my next big screen television, Wal-Mart is right around the corner. To any of my readers out there who love exercising their right to choose, feel free to check out some other places before immediately running down the the local Best Buy.

Ironically, the “antivirus” program giving you the warning is probably the worst virus on your computer.  Fake antivirus and fake antispyware applications are becoming more and more common.  The latest one I had to deal with was Antivirus Pro 2010.

Sometimes these programs are called “scareware”, because they try to scare you out of your money.  Some security professionals call it “scamware”, also for obvious reasons.  But, whatever you call it, this is a fake application that gets into your computer and pretends to scan your computer for malware.  Its “scan” bar is just a fancy graphic.  The list of files it pretends to detect on your computer is the same list it shows everybody.

When it comes to viruses and spyware, the fake antivirus infections are some of the worst I’ve encountered.  I saw an explosion of these infections in July and August.  They seem to be slowing down a little, but then again, that’s what I said in June.

Long story short, there a lot of reasons why you should seek some professional help on this one.  Why?  Because, even the pros have some trouble on these types of infections.  In our experience, the best approach to virus removal is to combine some effective tools with some good ole fashioned sleuthing (tracking down files associated with running processes and other techniques).

Many IT professionals, out of desperation, have resorted to backing up the client’s data, formatting the hard drive and then reinstalling the operating system.  By taking this approach, the computer comes back to you clean as a whistle.  Not only is it virus-free, but it also runs a lot faster since there are relatively few programs on it.  It essentially looks like it did when it came from the factory.

There is a problem with this approach, however… not a problem for the IT pro, but a problem for the client.  Quite often, the client doesn’t have the original discs to reinstall certain programs back onto the computer.  Lots of clients have told me flatly that they have no idea where their Office 2003 discs are, or their WordPerfect Installation CDs, or their Quicken discs, or any other programs for that matter.

Here at Aspen Computer Services, we have been doing this for a while and take all of this into consideration.  Which is why we do everything that’s within our power to ensure that your computer is as close to the condition it was in when you gave it to us… minus the viruses and spyware, of course.  We also do a number of other things to repair the operating system files, and clean-up / tune-up the system to optimize performance.

Although we highly recommend calling a professional (preferably us), if you still want to tackle a virus removal on your own, I have written a step-by-step process for do-it-yourself types over on Hubpages… here is the link:  http://hubpages.com/hub/Virus-Removal-How-to-Remove-a-Computer-Virus-in-5-Easy-Steps

If that doesn’t work (or looks like Greek), give us a call.  We would be honored to help you.

Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

If you’re keen to the process of updating drivers, you may have wondered… is there some way I can just easily update my drivers without scavenging the web for all of the latest updates?

Personally, I have 5 different websites to visit about every other month.  I know some of my friends have even more hardware vendors to visit when they are updating their systems.

Maybe you already know where to download the drivers or updates, but hate having to spend the better part of 2 hours every month to keep them up to date.

So do I.

Unfortunately, you can only count on Windows Update for the basics.  It is very limited in scope.

For most drivers, you have to go to the manufacturer’s website and navigate a strange and unfamiliar page.  Sometimes you can only find the drivers by going the site map (if you can find that page).

Finding driver updates on a regular basis is a pain.  So much so that most people just not doing it, and it ends up leading to security issues, slowness, and general system instability.

Then there is the dreaded “Unknown Device” in the device manager… you know the one with the yellow exclamation mark.  How can you find a driver when you don’t even know what to look for?  If that wasn’t enough, throw in a few helpings of a very generic “Base System Device” and a “High Definition Audio Bus” and you have a big ole bubbling pot of unknown driver soup.

WHEN GOOD COMPANIES GET GREEDY

We used to have a paid (monthly) subscription to driveragent.com, but since they started limiting the updates to 10 computers, we no longer use them.

If you ask me, charging a monthly fee and limiting it to 10 computers was a BAD move for driveragent.com.  I’m only one of the MANY clients that’s ditching driveragent.com for friendlier alternatives.  Personally, I fought with paying that $15 every month, feeling that it was bit too steep for the frequency that I used it, but it was a nice thing to keep in my bag of tricks.

But, driveragent.com, like many companies got greedy and now it’s costing them clients.

So began our mighty and noble quest for an alternative to driveragent.com.

We have gone through a few products so far.  A few of them are free.  Some of them have a free version that is very limited in what it can do.  Some of the products we looked at are completely paid.

While looking for a alternative to driveragent.com, we stumbled upon DriverMax from http://www.innovative-sol.com.

When I found DriverMax, I thought, “Now here is a product that looks promising.”  Supposedly, the premise is that you can download drivers and driver updates for your system… and in return, it will make a list of the drivers in your computer and upload them to the web.

A SITE ONLY OSCAR WOULD LOVE

The feeling that I got from the DriverMax Website is that everyone there is overworked and very grumpy.

Their “Help” page was much more defensive than helpful… with lots of “this is not our fault!” and “there is nothing we can do!”… and my favorite, “The problem is on your computer, please don’t contact us about it.”

One of the topics on the help page was about getting a refund from DriverMax.  It states that “DriverMax is a FREE program and was always a FREE program.”  It goes on and on about people who buy a product and then mistake it for DriverMax.  But, what about the PRO version they are selling on http://www.drivermax.com/upgrade.htm?  That product doesn’t seem to be free.  It has the same name, but it’s not free.  Hmmm…

When I downloaded the program I was pleasantly surprised.  For a free program, it looked very polished and nice.  I kept reminding myself of the dangers of judging a book by it’s cover.

AND WE’RE OFF!!!  (TO A ROCKY START)

When I ran DriverMax for the first time, it wanted me to register.

So, I input my desired username, password, e-mail address, etc.

Then, it said that I needed to validate the e-mail address by clicking on the link that I was sent.

I waited… and waited… and waited.  I gave them a good 5 or 6 hours to send me the validation link.  With today’s technology, this process should be instantaneous.  There is a topic on the help page that discusses this problem, and once again they say, “This is not our fault! Please don’t complain to us – instead, complain to your e-mail service provider…”

Well… what if I AM my own e-mail service provider and my Exchange Server is sitting right next to me, and I’ve never had a problem sending or receiving e-mail?  Just for giggles, I checked my spam filter… and then checked it again.  Still nothing.  What now?  Personally, I think that something in their own auto-responder system is messed up, and they either don’t see it, don’t want to fix it, don’t have time to fix it, or all of the above.

Filling out another request was not very intuitive and I had to find the option under DriverMax settings… but, I did that, and then used a different e-mail address (my hotmail account) and that one actually went through.  Weird.

It unfortunately doesn’t get much better.

Although the interface is nice-looking, it’s not very intuitive.  There are options such as “Start the DriverMax Agent”, without much clarification about what that is.

Once we did that, we scanned for updated drivers and tried to download one of them.  We were brought to a DriverMax page and asked if we wanted to continue as a Free DriverMax user, or continue as a DriverMax PRO user.

We obviously chose the Free option, since we hadn’t paid for anything.

Then we were prompted to wait… 30 seconds, actually.

After our 30 seconds were up, we got the beige box at the top of our browser that stated, “To help protect your security, Internet Explorer blocked this site from downloading files to your computer.  Click here for options…”  Typical.  So, we clicked the bar and selected “Download File…” only to be hit with another 30 second countdown!

Remember back in grade school when someone else would get you into trouble, and then YOU were the one that had to stand in the corner, even though you didn’t do anything wrong?  Yep, it sort of feels like that.  This is a typical ploy to sell the PRO version of their software.  It feels more like you are being punished than anything else.  Even if the software is free, this is crossing the line a bit.

If that isn’t enough to get your blood pumping, then this will:  They only allow you to download 2 drivers per day with the free version… something that isn’t very obvious before you actually download and use the product.

THE DRIVER INSTALLATIONS

I went on to download the updates and even tried it out on a couple of  “unknown devices”.  But, it was A LOT OF WORK!  It would have been easier to just go the DELL web site and look for the drivers one by one.   I am looking for a product that will make my life and the life of my clients easier… not more complicated.

The drivers worked very well… but, then again, Innovative Solutions didn’t write the drivers, so they should work.

THE CONCLUSION

The time-wasting 30 second delay was a pathetic attempt to frustrate a user enough to buy the PRO version, and it was the straw the broke MY back with this product.

A better option would have been a 15 day trial, or the ability to download 1 or 2 drivers, but VERY EASILY… thereby selling the ease of use of the product.

Example:  The client download the program, clicks one button and it tells you the drivers that need updates, identifies the “unknown drivers” and then asks you to select just 1 driver to update.  The client selects one driver, and clicks the Download, Install and Reboot button (all just one button).  It does all this, and brings you back to the window.  Then, the window says, “See how easy that was?  You could do this with ALL your drivers if you just register this product for $29.95.”

Wouldn’t THAT sell more product?

So, combined with the non-intuitive nature of this produce, the 30 second to 1 minute delay, and the horribly unfriendly copy on the website, I could never recommend this product.  The only exception is that you are desperate, smart, have a lot of extra time on your hands… oh, and flat broke.

I have heard some okay things about the DriverMax PRO product… so I may try that at some point.  But, unfortunately, I need to get the bad taste out my mouth first.

In the future, we’ll be posting reviews of some other products, such as Driver Genius, RadarSync and a few others.  So far, these are working better than DriverMax, but unfortunately they are aren’t free.  So, it seems that you really do get what you pay for, after all.

Bradley Chapple, IT Consultant & Owner of Aspen Computer Services, Loveland Colorado

So, here I go… attacking another well-known player in the Antivirus market, and this time it’s a favorite among IT golden-boys everywhere.

Today, I’m going to talk about AVG Free.

AVG is one of those companies you just love to like.

First of all, they offer a decent free product.

Second, they are one of the “underdogs” of the antivirus market (not Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro).

Third, they aren’t Symantec, which immediately gives them a couple of points in my book… I mean, who else but Symantec can make a program so messy that they had to create an uninstaller to aid in the removal of their own product [ aka Norton Removal Tool ]???  I won’t even get into the mess that SEP (Symantic Endpoint Protection) creates, even after you have removed it!

Despite the reasons to like AVG Free, I have a number of complaints with it.  Unfortunately, they are major gripes.

The cons of AVG Free:

• AVG Free isn’t that great at detection and removal
• AVG Free, since it carries the name “Antivirus” gives you a false sense of security
• AVG Free doesn’t update automatically
• AVG Free slows down your system… I’m talking about the new version 8.0 and above

The trouble is… I really want to like AVG Free… I really do!

Many of my own home systems had AVG Free installed until very recently.  Of course, I have other forms of protection in place too, that most people do not have – such as a hardware firewall, OpenDNS Filtering, and a few others… but that’s another story for another time.

The fact is, surfing the web these days is dangerous… not just for your computer, but also for your privacy and possibly your very identity.

Web sites have viruses.

Let me repeat that… WEB SITES HAVE VIRUSES.

ANY web site can harbor a virus… not just pornographic web sites.  Not just the sites you go to get cheat codes, game cracks, key generators, and cutesy little widgets to put on your myspace profile.

Viruses can be hiding in banner ads, or infect a website unbeknown to the web site owner.

A story I tell my clients sometimes is the how thousands of innocent web site visitors were affected by a virus that infected many very high profile web sites, such as the Kelly Blue Book web site.  You can read more about that here, at the Washington Post online:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6746-2004Jun25.html

AVG Free is just NOT good enough for today’s Internet threats.  Period.

In addition to not giving you adequate protection, many users don’t know enough about antivirus and antispyware programs to make well-informed decisions on the matter.  They just see the word antivirus, and they think, “Oh yeah, that’s what I need.”  They download it, install it, and then think they are safe from all harm.

If they think they can save some money and get the same protection, but for FREE… what do you think they are going to do?  Of course… they are going to download the free product.

Before you make the decision on whether or not to go with a FREE product to protect your computer, or a $50 or so per year product, consider your choice wisely.  It helps to look at this another way…

If you HAD to go into a dangerous foreign country, who would you choose to be your body guard?

Would you want the paunchy, out of shape, middle-aged guy, who used to work mall security and has a license to carry a concealed weapon?  He’s a friend of a friend, and he’ll work for free.

Or, would you want the six foot two, ex-navy-seal-turned-mercenary who is an expert in hand to hand combat?

In case you are still deciding, you want the second guy.

Trust me.

You want the guy who’s not going to be playing around.  He’s not going to be your buddy or send you flowers.  He’s going to keep his eyes pealed, his ears to the ground, and his knife sharp.  He will to keep you safe… but, he’s NOT going to do it for free.  It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears  and time to acquire and hone these specialized and valuable skills and he expects to be compensated accordingly.

The same can be said for antivirus applications.

Are you really going to get the top-notch product for free?  Not even close.

No… for free, you are going to get the mall cop, and he won’t be armed with anything but pepper spray and a whistle.

Let’s switch gears here, and talk about performance…

When it comes to your computer’s speed, why sacrifice it when you don’t have to?

AVG Free (and even it’s paid version) will slow down a computer a bit.  There are website that talk about how to disable certain web/surf filters in AVG in order to reclaim some of their computing power… but, why would you want to put yourself at even MORE risk by turning off these filters?

So, please, please, please stay away from AVG Free.

The AVG Professional Version may slow down your computer, but at least you get some great protection!

There are a lot of products out there that won’t cost you an arm and a leg.  If you spread the cost out over the course of a year, you are talking about $0.07 to $0.10 per day.

Kaspersky Antivirus, for example costs $59 for a year, but if you purchase two years in advance, the price drops to $36 per year.  Although I think that Kaspersky Internet Security is a bit bloated and expensive, the Antivirus product is sleek, fast, and is very affordable (it’s what I use on the computer I’m on right now).

Same thing goes with Avast Professional Edition.  Avast charges $57 for a two year license.  That is an investment of less than $29 per year.  Very nice, considering how highly rated this product is.  Not only does it blow the doors off of anything by AVG Free, but it’s cheap too!  Quality protection for about $0.07 per day.

One of the hardest things I have to do is explain to people WHY their computer is so slow.

Without some background information about computers, cpus, memory, hard drives, etc… it’s difficult to convey the reasons behind dramatic decreases in performance without a full-blown class on computer basics.

One the most common questions people ask me is on the subject of defragging.

I get a lot of “What is a frag?”, or “Should I defrag?”, or “How often should I defrag my hard drive?”

Well before I get into the whys and hows… let’s start with a good explanation.

I like explanations that you can see in your head.

Let’s start by imagining that your computer is a large office building.

In this office, you have many filing cabinets, in every room, and on every floor.  In these filing cabinets, is where you keep your files.

Now, let’s say that for the sake of speed, everyone puts their documents in whatever filing cabinet is closest to them.  But, to keep track of where things are, they record the locations of the documents in a huge index book.  So whenever someone needs a file, they consult the book, find out where the file is, and then fetch it.

That’s not too bad, right?

It gets even better.

What if they went a step further and put different parts of a single file in different filing cabinets?

Even if they updated the huge book on a continuous basis, it would make things very complicated.

If your boss ever gave you a seemingly simple command, such as, “Please fetch me the file on XYZ, Inc,” you would have a real project ahead of you!  Let’s look at the steps this would take:

1. You would need to run over to the huge index book, find out where all the pieces of the file are located.
2. You would then need to take this information and gather all the pieces – one by one.  Each piece of the file might be in a different floor of the building, so this might take you a while.  There could be thousands of pieces to a single file.
3. You would then reassemble the pieces into something usable.  As stated in the previous step, some files may be separated into thousands of pieces.

Some would say that this is probably the most inefficient office filing system ever.

Well, surprise!  This is almost exactly how your computer stores data on the hard drive, and then retrieves the data when you need a file.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY FILE FRAGMENTS

The only difference between our office example and your computer is that your computer can grab each piece much faster.  It might only take a high-speed computer a few milliseconds to gather each piece… and maybe a few milliseconds to reassemble the pieces.

But, consider that in a course of using a computer to accomplish a single task (checking your e-mail, for example) the computer is accessing hundreds of files.  All those extra milliseconds add up quickly.  Over time, this can slow a system down considerably… especially on a computer with an already slow hard drive.

If that weren’t bad enough, the extra work your computer’s hard drive does in scavenging for those bits and pieces will shorten it’s life.  Some experts estimate that a severely fragmented hard drive will shorten the life of a computer by 1 to 3 years.  You have backed up lately, right?

Even if this is an exaggeration, file fragmentation can still cause:

• Sluggish performance
• Slow boot
• Slow shutdowns
• Failed CD recording
• Slow or aborted backups
• Corrupted registry
• Freezes, lockups and crashes

Why so many problems?

The hard drive is one of the slowest components in your computer.  It’s the only major component of a computer that has moving parts.  That already makes it the bottleneck of most system operations.  If the system has a sufficient amount of RAM, it probably is THE bottleneck.  Slowing down a hard drive even more will bring a computer down to it’s knees.

It may sound strange, but file fragmentation was once considered an amazing feature.  Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) originally designed this method of organization as a key part of its RSX-11 operating system.  DEC designed this as answer to storage space “challenges”.  Hard drive space was VERY limited back in those days.

THE DEFRAGMENTATION DEBATE STILL RAGES ON

Defragmenting (often called “defragging”) a hard drive is like having a crew of people come into the office over the weekend, and reorganize those little pieces back into consolidated files.  So, when you come in on Monday morning, everything is in order.  When you need a file, all you have to do is consult the newly written index book, go fetch the single file, and use it.  No running all over the building to gather hundreds (or thousands) of pieces.

No reassembling, since it’s all in the same place.

It’s more efficient and fast.  How could it not be?

Despite the evidence in favor of defragmenting, there are still those who believe that it doesn’t do much.  This belief has been perpetuated by some rumors floating around the internet.

There was a rumor once, back when Windows XP was young, that fragmentation of the hard drive would no longer affect the performance of a computer.  Back then, the reasoning behind this myth was that the XP operating system was so efficient in managing and caching data.

Recently, it has been rumored that Microsoft stated that Vista did not need to be defragmented.

BOTH of these statements are FALSE.

Perhaps this belief has kept up isn’t momentum because the impact isn’t always so dramatic.  The difference defragging makes isn’t always night and day.  Sometimes a computer may have other problems, which affect the system in worse ways.  But defragging still makes a difference… especially with badly fragmented drives.  You’ll also see a big difference on slower drives.

Both XP and Vista need defragmenting.  In fact, both XP and Vista come with built-in defragmentation utilities!

Although these defragmentation tools aren’t as efficient or beneficial as some of the 3^rd party utilities, this fact alone should be enough to prove that Microsoft sees the value in defragmenting drives when needed.  Vista actually comes preconfigured with the defragmentation tool scheduled for once per week, showing that Microsoft has taken an even stronger stance on the importance of defragging.

THIRD PARTY TOOLS ARE BETTER

As mentioned above, Windows XP and Vista may have built-in tools for defragging the hard drive, there far better tools available.

The best one that I know of is called Diskeeper 2009 Professional Edition.  They are currently on Diskeeper 2009, but they have been around for a LONG time.  The Diskeeper corporation has essentially mastered the defragmentation process by defragging the hard drive in real time.

Basically, the program runs at a lower priority (in the background) and defrags your computer’s hard drive without affecting performance in any way.  As far as I know, no other program besides Tune-Up Utilities has this feature – especially not the built-in Windows defragmenter.

KEEPING YOUR FILES WITHIN EASY REACH

Here is where Diskeeper really shines.  Not only does Diskeeper reassemble the files on the hard drive, but it also does something better.

To increase performance even more, it monitors which files are accessed the most, and then rearranges those files in such a way that the most often accessed files are placed near each other.  Diskeeper calls this “Intelligent File Access Acceleration Sequencing Technology, or I-FAAST.”

In our office example above, it would be similar to keeping the most commonly needed files closest to your desk.  This decreases the time it takes to retrieve each file, giving your system a subtle but noticeable boost.  Unfortunately, Diskeeper only does this in it’s 2009 Professional Edition… not in it’s 2009 Home Edition.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS…

If you want to keep your hard drive data organized, extend the life of your computer, and make your entire computing experience better… you need to defrag your drive.

You can either do this manually or automatically.  The choice is yours.

If anyone ever gives me that choice, I choose the automatic method.  My life is complicated enough already!  It’s always better when I can simplify my life by getting a little more OFF my plate.

When it comes to automatic defragging, very little beats Diskeeper’s REAL-TIME defragmenting (although Tune-Up Utilities comes close).  What’s better than automatic AND immediate?  Not much could beat that except placing the commonly used files together on the hard for even faster access.  Oh wait, Diskeeper does that too!

Although Diskeeper comes in a 2009 Home Edition, I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it due to the absence of the I-FAAST feature.  The Home Edition also lacks the Frag Shield 2.0 feature, which keeps those critical system files from becoming fragmented.

So, stick with Diskeeper’s 2009 Professional Edition instead.  It’s only $59.95, which is a little more than the Home Edition, but it’s infinitely better.  It will be one of the best investments you can make in the health of your computer’s hard drive.