I have been on a trip to Brazil lately with my mom visiting the Brazillian church that my parents had started as missionaries over 20 years ago.  Personally, it has been great to visit with all our friends down here and to see how the church has grown and has mission works of its own.  As a technology consultant it has also been neat to see how technology has grown in the country over the past many years.  There is a lot of ADSL connections here in the country and it is becoming more and more prevalent.  The place that we were staying at in the City of Fortaleza had a DSL connection with the following Speed Test:

It wasn’t bad.  It was fast enough to talk to my family on Skype, and that was good.  The Soccer World Cup is going to be in Brazil in the year 2014 and Fortaleza is going to host some of the games.  They are making a lot of improvements to the city because of that and I am curious to find out what they are going to do regarding Technology upgrades for the city.  I have heard from a Brazilian friend that the government is making Internet more available for the lower middle class population with some sort of legislation, but I couldn’t find any details on that.  I have several friends here that are in the Technology sector.  Some do maintenance on Cell Phone towers, others do CCTV camera installations, Network Cabling, Telephone Systems, you name it.  It will be good for the country to grow their Technology Infrastructre.  I hope they can get that going better than their highway system, though.  That’s a mess.  Good luck Brazil with what the future of technology holds for you.  As we say in Portuguese, Boa Sorte.

With the freezing temperatures that we had last month in Dallas and Fort Worth, we have had some problems with frozen pipes and flooding in some buildings as a result.  One of my clients had some flooding in their building and called me because he was having static on his phone lines.  When I arrived, I checked the wiring on the wall and it seemed OK but by tracing the phone wires going to each device, however  I found that there was a phone wire that had been cut off and laying on the floor.  When the flooding happened, that exposed wire got wet and corroded in a very short period of time and caused a short.  Once I was able to remove that phone wire, the static disappeared immediately.

This is similar to a problem that I had in my home several years ago when we happened to be visited by our local police department in the middle of the night after a rainstorm had just come through the area.  The officer said that they had received a 911 call from our address.  We were pretty surprised by the visit and it was somewhat disconcerting having an officer check out our residence to see if anyone was in our house that didn’t belong.  Come to find out we had an exposed phone wire underneath our peer and beam house that was laying in a puddle of water and was causing a short.  The short caused our phones to appear to the phone company as “off the hook” and apparently that caused the police to come out.  Moral of the story?  If you have static on your phones and it rained or you’ve had a flood, chances are some wiring is shorting out because of contact with moisture.  Check your wires!!  For more general information on the basics of telephone wiring, Jerry Alonzy’s website, The Natural Handy Man, has some great info.

I had to go to the Apple Store in Fort Worth today and get an item replaced.  The iPad 2 had just been released the previous day and Day 2 at the Apple Store was a still a mad house.  I will say this for the Apple Store, though,  they are were very efficient.  I was greeted at the door by a nice lady and I told her that I needed to exchange a pair of iPhone headphones because one of the earpieces had stopped working.  She called someone up to help me and the Apple Employee told me that Micah would be the best person to help me with my issue and he called him on his Intercom/Walkie Talkie something or other and asked him to raise his hand.  Way in the back of the store I see a guy waving his hand and was able to wade through the crowd and meet up with Micah.  He directed me to one the MacBooks that they have all over the place and politely asked me to create an Apple Store Genius Bar Appointment.  I  was surprised to find that there was an open appointment in just 15 minutes.  I finalized my appointment and proceeded to look around while I was waiting to be called up to the Genius Bar.  Within 15 minutes Micah found me in the crowd and had me follow him to the Genius Bar where he handed me off to another Apple Employee who was able to get me taken care of right away.  My previous experiences have been just as good as this one, and I’ve been very happy with Apple’s customer service at the Fort Worth Store.   You can get Driving Directions and a Map to the Fort Worth Apple Store here.

I had an interesting thing happen the other day while trying to remove malware from a client’s PC.  I knew the system was infected, but I also kept getting a warning from what I thought was Microsoft Security Essentials.  Turns out it was a fake virus warning.  It would pop up whenever I rebooted the computer as well as when I tried to run Task Manager, Malwarebytes, and other programs.  I finally found out that it was a fake MS Security Essentials warning and was able to find a post on www.bleepingcomputer.com that gave me instructions for its removal.  The link is listed here for anyone who needs it.  I tell you what, that sucker was anoying.  I used the info here to rename mbam.exe and combofix.exe to something else so that I was able to run them  After doing that, they worked like a charm.

Have you ever gotten that dreaded “Blue Screen” on your computer with all the error codes on it? It usually says something like “STOP, a problem has been detected and Windows has shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.” It can be quite alarming if you don’t understand what may be going on. Let’s look at what the blue screen is, what causes it and some ways to troubleshoot the problem.

First of all, the blue screen is what Microsoft calls a “STOP Error”. The techies affectionately (not really) call it the “Blue Screen of Death” or BSOD for short. Why use the word death? That word is probably used because of the finality of the error. There is nothing to do after a BSOD except reboot and hope it doesn’t happen again, which it usually does. Blue obviously describes the color of the screen when that error appears. Blue Screens have been around for a number of years dating back to the days of the early Windows versions, possibly before Windows 3.0, in fact. According to Microsoft, Blue Screens are usually caused by poorly written device drivers or hardware problems. Drivers are pieces of software that make hardware components like motherboards, video cards, networks cards, etc to work. If it is a hardware problem rather than a driver problem, it could be that a piece of hardware is conflicting with another hardware component or your Operating System.

What can cause a BSOD? Well, there are a few things. First of all, have you added any new hardware to your PC? If so, try replacing that piece of hardware to see if the BSOD goes away. Are your drivers up to date? Usually Windows Updates can check for this, but if you are not sure, you can check your driver versions on your computer and compare them to the latest drivers available on that hardware manufacturer’s website to see if you have the latest and greatest drivers. The Blue Screen error codes themselves can give you a clue regarding what is causing the problem. For example, if you receive a STOP error saying, NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM, then it is usually a problem with disk corruption or a problem related to reading and writing data to your disk. You would probably need to run a “CHKDSK” on your computer. You can search out that particular error on the Internet, assuming you can get to another computer to lookup the error.

Here are a few things that I recommend doing if you get a BSOD. First of all, document the error code (usually looks like 0×00000024) with a message at the end like the one listed above (NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM). Reboot the machine and see if the problem persists. If it does, ask yourself if any hardware has been added recently. If it has, check to make sure the hardware is not the issue. The next thing to ask yourself is what other changes have been made to the computer. For example, have you installed any new software or installed some driver or Windows Updates? If that doesn’t help, research the error code on the Internet to give you a clue as to what the problem may be related to. If you can narrow down the problem to a particular piece of hardware, then you can update the drivers for that device to see if it resolves the problem. Other things you could try are updating windows, resetting your BIOS settings back to factory default or upgrading your BIOS. Viruses can sometimes cause a Blue Screen, although not usually, but if you suspect a virus, then by all means see if you can put your hard drive in another machine or use a Hard Drive/USB adapter and scan it with an up to date Anti-Virus program and Malware Checker. Of course, if all else fails, take it to a professional and have them fix it.

What are Biometric Systems?

Anil Jain of Michigan State University says that “[...] biometrics, refer to the automatic identification of a person based on his/her anatomical (e.g., fingerprint, iris) or behavioral (e.g., signature) characteristics or traits. [...]“. Biometric systems are rapidly growing in popularity due to their ease of use. They do not require the use of passwords, keys, RFID chip implanted badges, or any other physical item which could be lost or imitated. Instead, they use features that are unique to each individual user (Biometric keys), which allows for quick, convenient identification.

Where did Biometrics come from?

In the 14th century, the Chinese used the first known form of biometrics. They took prints from the hands and feet of newborns so that they could tell them apart from each other. In 1883, Alphonse Bertillon created the anthropometrical study known as Bertillonage. This was the first truly modern attempt to systematically identify people using biometric measures. This system used 11 different physical measurements do identify individuals, with the assumption that no two people had the exact same set of measurements. While this system ultimately proved to be cumbersome and flawed, the basic concept remained alive and well within the scientific and law enforcement communities. This led to the development of several new biometric systems, many of which are still in use today.

Why use Biometrics?

There are several big advantages to using Biometric systems as opposed to traditional identification systems. The first advantage is that biometric keys are unique to the individual whereas I.D. cards are not necessarily unique. No two people have the same fingerprints, retinal patterns or voice patterns; but there can be multiple copies of your debit card. Another big advantage of biometric identification is that you can never forget or lose your biometric key. Cards can be stolen, keys can be lost, passwords can be forgotten, but your retinal patterns cannot. A third advantage of biometric systems is that they can be universally applied. Many of us carry multiple keys and cards, with biometric systems, your biometric key will substitute for all of them, removing the need to carry so many keys and cards.

What kinds of Biometrics are in use today?

The most popular biometric system in use today is fingerprinting. Fingerprinting first became a popular scientific method in 1892, when Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Sir Charles Darwin, published a series of books and articles outlining the subject. Galton explained that fingerprinting is based on the idea that no two fingerprints are identical, or that the odds of such an event are so unlikely as to be scientifically insignificant. Today, fingerprints are a vital part of the identification process and are used to identify government workers, soldiers, school teachers, convicted criminals, and many others.

How are Biometrics categorized?

Biometric systems can be split into two major groups based on their purpose: identification and verification. Verification systems are the most common. They rely on a database of approved biometric signatures that is prepared in advance. The system compares the biometric signature being presented with the database to “Verify” the person’s identity. This system does not necessarily identify someone; it simply verifies that the person in question is in the approved database. Identification systems, on the other hand, seek to determine the exact identity of the person in question. Instead of checking a local database, it may use an international database such as IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) to determine their identity. These systems are more complex and more expensive, and are therefore, less common.

Why are some people opposed to Biometric systems?

Some people are opposed to biometric systems because they prevent most forms of anonymity. If widely implemented, biometric systems would likely be networked together into a system that, in the wrong hands, could be used to track an individual’s every move. Imagine how many times each day you use a key, card or password. Every time you use one of those items in a biometric system, it creates a permanent electronic record of your activity which could theoretically be accessed by anyone and used to track you.

Are Biometric systems worth implementing?

Biometric systems, like most technological advances, offer both positives and negatives. The positives include a reduction in identity theft, and crime in general. The negatives include a loss of privacy and a potential for abuse by regulatory agencies. In general though, biometric systems offer more positives than negatives. They offer efficiencies that are extremely cost-effective and useful to the business community in general.

I had the strangest thing happen on one of my clients PCs today.  I was working remotely on their new PC remotely and they were showing me how they kept getting javascript errors on their yahoo mail website when trying to print or open links in the email. I logged into their yahoo mail account on my pc and was able to click on the links and print just fine.  I tried going back to their Yahoo Mail account on their computer and I couldn no longer login to Yahoo Mail.  It kept throwing me back to the login page even though at the top right hand corner of the screen it showed that she was “signed in”  I tried several things, including running malwarebytes and hijackthis, which both found a couple of BHO’s and malwarebytes found a couple of trojans.  After infections were removed, the Yahoo Mail problem still persisted.  I was not able to fix the problem, but rather installed Google Chrome and was able to login to Yahoo Mail as well as click on the links in their mail and print.  Strange.  If anyone reading this post has ever encountered this particular problem before, feel free to comment.

Interesting artcile on how to maximize the use of Twitterfeed at http://bit.ly/2oRqBW.

It’s not a matter of if you need a computer repair company, but when.  Make it a point to choose your computer repair company before you actually need their services.  Regardless of when you have to make your choice, its’ a good idea to check out your possible computer repair company thoroughly before spending any money with them. 

Not all computer repair companies are created equal, so here are a few things to remember when having to make such a decision. 

1. Ask for references.  If they are worth their salt, they will have the references to back up their claims of quality and customer service.
2. Check out their website.  If it doesn’t look professional, move on.  It’s not do difficult to put together a site that looks clean and professional and if a computer repair company can’t do at least that, I wouldn’t trust them with my computer equipment.
3. Look for a company whose employees exhibit a good communication and people skills. If your repair technician can’t communicate well with you, how are you going to be able to effectively communicate to them what your concerns are regarding your computer equipment?
4. Scheduling. One of the things that may differentiate a good computer repair company from a great one is if they will work with your schedule.  Most computer companies charge an exorbitant amount of money for after hours or weekend work.  It is reasonable to expect that there would be an additional fee for working those hours, but you shouldn’t have to pay time and half pay at their standard labor rates. (Yes, there are people that charge that much.)
5. Blind Quotes. Be wary of computer companies that give you a quote without looking at your computer first. Most of the time it is near impossible to predict the costs that way.
6. You usually get what you pay for. That statement is very true in the computer industry. Be prepared to spend a bit of money, but make sure that the prices are competitive.  Prices will vary dramatically by geographic area so be sure to check your pricing locally.
7. Check for additional charges. Some companies charge a trip fee for onsite services so you will want to check that before you schedule a technician visit.
8. What’s their guarantee? Do they offer on and if so, what comes with it. Look for a company that offers at least a 30 day guarantee or more. That way if the issue comes back, they will resolve it at no additional charge.

Regardless of which company you choose, something you should always do before you take your computer in for repair is to make sure that you have a good backup of your critical data.

When it comes to your investment in computers and your critical data, you need to be able to trust the company that is going to work on your computer equipment. If the trust is not there, get out fast and find one that you can trust.

When I come across a PC that is potentially infected with Malware (Malicious Software), I use a valuable tool called Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to clean the infection. It is a fairly quick malware remover and does a pretty thorough job of finding all of the infections on the PC.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware also allows you to scan multiple drives at the same time, including networked drives. It also has an option called FileAssasin that helps in unlocking and deleting locked files.

The software is free to download and use, however it doesn’t stay running in the background as a real-time protection solution unless you buy the “paid version”.  It is well worth it in my opinion, but if you don’t purchase it, the software is still an invaluable tool in my toolbox of anti-spyware programs.

To use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, follow the instructions below.

1. Double-click mbam-setup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
2. At the end, be sure a checkmark is placed next to the following:
        Update Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
        Launch Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware
3. Then click Finish.
4. If an update is found, it will download and install the latest version.
5. Once the program has loaded, select Perform quick scan, then click Scan.
6. When the scan is complete, click OK, then Show Results to view the results.
7. Be sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
8. When completed, a log will open in Notepad. The rogue application should now be gone.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware should normally be able to remove the malware infections without a problem, but sometimes requires a reboot.  I normally run the scan again after it reboots just to make sure everything is cleared off.  If, for some reason the malware is not removed, run Malwarebytes Anti-Malware in Safe Mode.

To boot up into safe mode, do the following:

1. If the system is already turned off, power it on.
2. If the system is already on, shutdown the system normally, wait 30 seconds, then power it back on.
3. Begin tapping the F8 key every few seconds as the system boots up until the a black screen comes up with the option to boot into Safe Mode
4. Use the arrow keys to highlight Safe Mode and press “Enter”.
5. The system will now boot into Safe Mode.
6. On Windows XP, you may receive a prompt asking if you really want to boot into Safe Mode. Choose Yes.
7. Once Windows has booted into Safe Mode, open Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and run another scan.

This should take care of the malware infection.  If the problem is not resolved after following these steps, take a couple of Advil and call a qualified PC Support Technician and let them take over the headache from here.

Publisher’s Description

Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware is a high performance anti-malware application that thoroughly removes even the most advanced malware and spyware. With one of the fastest, most effective quick scans and malware removal capabilities on the market, this program is the perfect addition to your PC’s defenses. The full version of the product includes a number of key features, including the ability to schedule updates and scans and most importantly, a real-time malware protection module that blocks malicious processes before they even start.

About Fort Worth Technology Services:

Fort Worth Technology Services is a privately held IT Consulting firm in Fort Worth, TX. Fort Worth Technology Services has been assisting people with their technology needs for over 13 years. Give us a call today at (817) 764-0435 to schedule a meeting to discuss your technology needs and goals. We look forward to assisting you.

One of the main reasons why people buy new computers is because they feel that their old one is acting a little sluggish. Usually the slowness can be corrected with a few tweaks and cleanup procedures.  The tips below can help keep your machine running smoothly and may also help you save on energy and repair costs.

1. Remove unnecessary programs from Windows startup.

There are usually several software programs that load unnecessarily during startup taxes your memory and processing power.  Use MSCONFIG to remove those programs and services from startup and you may see an increase in performance.

For more details on how to use MSCONFIG, click here. WARNING: Use these recommendations at your own risk!

2. Defragment your hard drive.

Over time and use, the data on your computer’s hard drive will become fragmented.  Simply explained, your data becomes “scattered” all over the hard drive which causes the system to run slower because it has to spend more time finding the data that you asked it to work with.  Defragging your hard drive can speed your system up by organizing that data on the hard drive in a way that is more quickly accessed.

For Windows XP Users, the most common method of defragging your hard drive is as follows:

1. Open My Computer.
2. Right-click the local disk volume that you want to defragment, and then click Properties.
3. On the Tools tab, click Defragment Now.
4. Click Defragment.

3. Clear out the old stuff.

Just as your garage can accumulate a lot of junk so can your PC.  Your hard drive can get loaded down with a lot of stuff, such as old downloads, old programs or games that you rarely, if ever use, temporary internet files, etc.  It’s time to have a Technology “Garage Sale” and clean out that stuff and make some more room. If you never use that game or program, uninstall it. Delete old downloads; you may try sorting your files by size to see what is taking up the most room.  And please clear out your temporary internet files. Here are the Internet Explorer instructions

I hope these tips will help you speed up your PC so that you can save on your energy bills and maybe, just maybe keep you from having to buy a new computer sooner than you thought.

Just found out recently of a way to get Free Wifi at Starbucks. check out the excerpt from their website!

“Complimentary Wi-Fi for Starbucks customers When you register your Starbucks Card and use it at least once a month, you’ll receive two consecutive hours a day of complimentary Wi-Fi, courtesy of AT&T.”

Be aware that you need to keep a minimum balance of $5.00 on your Starbucks card as well. To sign up for a Starbucks card or to charge the one you already have, click here.

The potential advantages for virtualizing your servers are many, but this article focuses on the three main reasons why a small business may want to look into virtualization. Virtualization is usually something that you hear about in a larger company that has several servers and hundreds of employees, but it does have its place in much smaller businesses if done correctly because it can improve disaster recovery, server utilization, and reduce power consumption.

Improve Disaster Recovery

You have the potential to get your server back up and running faster if there was a critical hardware failure on your server it that server is virtualized. You could potentially copy the “virtual server” file over to another piece of hardware and then install a virtual machine player such as “VMware Player” and boot up your “virtual” server file within minutes and have it fully functional again almost regardless of the hardware that it is physically running on.

If this hardware problem had happened in a regular, non virtualized environment, you would have to fix the hardware problem on that specific server before using it again, or at minimum restore from backup to another piece of hardware. This usually isn’t just a matter of waiting on the restore files to be copied, but usually a fresh installation of the operating system on the replacement hardware is involved.

With virtualization, your server can be backup up and functional in the amount of time that it takes to do a file copy. Note, obviously that the larger the virtual server file, the longer it would take to copy the file. Nevertheless, the amount of time involved with doing a file copy vs. a restoration from tape or online backup would be significantly less.

Improve Server Utilization

Most Small Businesses that I have encountered that have a 2-5 servers could really manage on much less in today’s “virtualization capable” world. A lot of small businesses of this size tend to “dedicate” a server to particular Line of Business Application or function such as a Mail Server, Database Server, File Server, etc. Most of these servers are using only a fraction of that server’s processing power. With Virtualization, those servers can be consolidated onto fewer physical servers and the amount of processing power and memory needed can be added as the needs of the virtual servers change.

Reduce Power Consumption

When you combine your servers and eliminate unneeded physical servers, you are going to see a reduction in the amount of power consumption. This is not only due to not having as many servers or monitors plugged in, but also in the reduction of cooling costs associated with cooling those unneeded servers. I don’t know of a study out for how much you can save in a small business of the size that we described above, but I know that in larger environments the savings costs associated with cooling their datacenters can be as high 85%.

The schematic below is for reference purpose for anyone that needs the proper schematic of a basic Data Insert (keystone) and an RJ-45.

Data Insert

RJ-45

If you have a Dell computer, whether it’s a laptop, desktop, server or other, it should have a Service Tag on it. This 5-7 digit alphanumeric code acts as a unique identifier for your hardware and is in essence the serial number of your equipment.

Below is a handy link to Dell’s website where you can plug in your Dell Service Tag and get back some very useful pieces of information such as a list of Service Contracts and Warranties and the Original System Configuration of the hardware you are searching for.

Under Original System Configuration, you will find a list of components that shipped with your computer as well as the quantity of those items. You will also get the System Type (Dimension, Inspiron, etc.) of your computer and the ship date.

The Service Contracts and Warranties section will show you the Start Date and End Date for any Support Agreement that you have or had on the Dell Hardware. You will also be shown how many days are left on your support contract.

If you follow the link provided below from the Dell Computer that you are wanting information on, you will also have the option of downloading and installing a small piece of software that will tell you how your system is currently configured.

To view the system information for a particular service tag, click here.

If you need to call into Dell for support, you may be requested to enter your Express Service Code on the phone. This number is actually a derivative of the Service Tag. If you only have the Service Tag, or for that matter, if you only have the Express Service Tag, this link will take you to an online service tag to express service code converter and vice versa.

Along with a few of my colleagues, I attended a seminar this past week at the Irving Microsoft Offices about Citrix and Microsoft’s virtualization offerings. It was very interesting. The potential advantages for virtualizing your servers or workstations are great.

Let’s talk first about server virtualization and in a later post we will cover workstation virtualization benefits.

If you virtualize your server, you have the potential to get back up and running faster if there was a critical hardware failure on your server. You could potentially copy the “virtual server” file over to another piece of hardware and then install a virtual machine player such as “VMware Player” and boot up your “virtual” server file within minutes and have it fully functional again almost regardless of the hardware that it is physically running on.

If this hardware problem had happened in a regular, non-virutalized environment, you would have to fix the hardware problem on that specific server before using it again, or at minimum restore from backup to another piece of hardware. This usually isn’t just a matter of waiting on the restore files to be copied, but usually a fresh installation of the operating system on the replacement hardware is usually involved.

With virtualization, your server can be backup up and functional in the amount of time that it takes to do a file copy. Note, obviously that the larger the virtual server file, the longer it would take to copy the file. Nevertheless, the amount of time involved with doing a file copy vs. a restoration from tape or online backup would be significantly less.

Welcome to the FortWorthTechs.com Blog. I am happy to author this blog where people can come and hear the latest word in technology in the Fort Worth area and possibly get some of their tech questions answered. You will also be kept up to date on the latest happenings at Fort Worth Technology Services.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you keep coming back for more info.

John Davison
Fort Worth Technology Services