Recovering Flash Memory

You turn on your camera, and some or all of your pictures are gone. Or maybe you accidentally hit the format function on your computer or camera, and your flash drive or card is wiped. Can you get your files back? How?

While some manufacturers have their own recovery programs, most that I have tried can be destructive. That is to say, you may not have the option of using another program after theirs; So you're stuck with their results, good or bad.

Instead you should use Zero Assumption, which has an amazing success rate, and isn't destructive (So you can try other programs afterwards to your liking). The most important thing to remember through all this, is that you don't want to use the card at all after you discover the problem. Taking another picture, or transferring any files can, and probably will, destroy your chances of recovering your pictures or files.

After you have recovered your files, you should them completely format the card, and make sure to be more cautious. If it continues to act funny, you may need to buy a new card, but this is extremely rare.

One Program To IM Them All

AIM, Bonjour, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, Groupwise, ICQ, IRC, MSN, MySpaceIM, QQ, SILC, SIMPLE, Sametime, XMPP, Yahoo!, Zephyr...

If you use more than one of these IMing protocols, then this guide is for you. What if you could message all your friends, on all these seperate networks, from one program? You can. Better known as Gaim, its new and updated release Pidgin can use all of the above messaging protocols. You don't even have to uninstall the programs you have now to use it (Although chances are you eventually will once you've tried it out).

OK, so you have it installed, now what? Well, you could stop there, but I would recommend using the OTR (Off-the-Record) Messaging plug-in. It uses AES encryption on your IMs with other people who also use the plug-in (So send your friends a link to this page too). Getting the encryption to work is really simple... All you do is "Authenticate" your buddy is who they claim to be by asking them a secret question that only the two of you know, and then matching each other's response.

That's it! You benefit from using less RAM by only using one program, and also have more security and privacy on-line.

Upgrading Your RAM

So you have finally decided to spend some money towards upgrading your computer, and want to get the most bang for your buck. Your obvious choice is going to be RAM. What is RAM? I could go into some insane rambling about what it does and how it works, but just think about it this way. It's the size of the notepad the monkeys crunching numbers inside your computer are using. Those math problems tend to be a whole lot more difficult, and take much more time, on post-its as compared to full sheets of paper.

Great, so now which kind of RAM do you need? Head over to Crucial and use their "Advisor Tool" to figure that out. Now you know what speed to use, and how many slots you have available in your computer. Do you know how many you have used up? No? Use CPU-Z to figure that out (And check out some cool information about your computer while you're at it).

Now remember, RAM generally likes to be in pairs of the same capacity and speed... And chances are you like to have your wallet full, so head over to NewEgg for the best prices.

As far as installing it, it is extremely simple! There is only one way to insert the stick, because it just won't fit physically in reverse. Better yet, your manufacturer's manual will include a simple guide on how to do it. Let me summarize:

1. Turn your computer off, and unplug it.
   
2. Ground yourself (don't be electrically charged), touch things that are metal before hand (Like the outside of your computer case, power supply), and don't work on things that are prone to static electricity (carpets, blankets, etc.)
3. Don't touch the "pins" of the RAM. It won't destroy the stick if you do, but it does shorten the lifetime somewhat.
4. Make sure to put the stick in the right orientation, and DO NOT force it in.
5. If you're upgrading a laptop, chances are that the slots are one above the other. If you choose not to use the same capacity sticks, put the bigger one on the bottom, seeing as how your less likely to replace it in the future.
   

That's it! Enjoy =]

Vista's Explorer Crashing Indefinitely

You turn your new Windows Vista computer on, and you get an error that says that Explorer has crashed and needs to restart… Only thing is that once it restarts, it crashes again and the cycle continues indefinitely. What do you do?

First thing first, do NOT boot into safe mode. It may seem counter intuitive, but let me explain. The reason explorer is crashing is because a program is loading that forces it to crash. If you boot into safe mode, that program will load much faster, and you will have little to no chance to do what you need to accomplish.

Fixing this problem comes down to one thing: Being able to click really fast. This is what you do. Turn on the computer with it plugged into an Ethernet cable, click start, and launch Windows Defender. If explorer crashes before you are able to do this, try again until you get it. When you succeed, wait for explorer to crash again, since Windows Defender will remain open. When it is responsive, click on the down facing arrow all the way on the right, and choose “Check for updates”. Chances are explorer will crash again. When it becomes responsive, click on the scan down arrow, and choose “Quick Scan”. The scan will start a stop and go scan… at this point you should just walk away since it will probably take a while. If the scan finishes and no problems were found, then make sure that the updates were applied, and then do a “Quick Scan” again. Windows Defender should find the problem(s), so remove them all.

At this point you might be tempted to restart your computer and follow my Viruses and Spyware guide. DO NOT RESTART. Follow the guide, but do all the installs and scans from within the normal Windows environment. Only after they have completed should you do the scans in safe mode. Otherwise when you restart, your computer will be reinfected.

Don’t forget to smile… You’ve just saved yourself a ton of money. =]

Viruses & Spyware

Getting Started

The goal of this guide is to fix a virus and/or spyware/malware infection using only free programs, or protecting your computer proactively. Listed below are the base programs for this guide, you can click on the names for their optimal settings, and download links. Once they are installed and properly configured, continue to the next section. If you need individual help, feel free to send me a message on CrossLoop.

1. Spybot - Search & Destroy (Link / Direct Link)
2. Avira AntiVir Personal (Link / Direct Link)
   
3. Spyware Doctor Starter Edition (Link / Direct Link)
   
4. Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware (Link / Direct Link)
   

Scanning

If at any point after installing the above programs Avira gives you an infection warning, chose the Delete option. Launch Spybot and start a scan (Check for problems). Using the given settings, the program will rescan your computer when it finishes one. Once the results are clean, or the same results are shown and don't seem to be getting fixed, close the program. Launch Avira and start a "Complete system scan". Once it has finished, close Avira and start up Spyware Doctor Starter Edition. Do "Intelli-Scans" in the same method as Spybot (Until the results are clean, or same results are shown and don't seem to be getting fixed) and fix all results. At this point, do a "Full Scan", fix any infections found, and close the program. Finally launch Malwarebytes and "Perform full scan" and fix all results. Done.

If for any reason this procedure does not completely fix your problem and you are using a version of Windows prior to Vista, you should try disabling System Restore. This is done in System Properties which can be reached either through the Control Panel, by right clicking on My Computer and selecting properties, or holding down the Windows key on your keyboard and pressing the Pause/Break key.

Recommendations

Above all else, make sure that your system is up to date. Microsoft Update hosts all of the current Windows Updates. Once on the website, do select Custom and install all available updates. Also, to decrease your chances of getting infected again, I would strongly recommend that you use Firefox from here on out instead of Internet Explorer. If you were particularly annoyed by ads in the past, you may also be interested in installing the Firefox add-on Adblock Plus afterwards (I strongly recommend it). After it's installed, you can right click on an Ad, choose to block it, and never have to worry about seeing it again. When you first add it to Firefox, it will ask you if you want to add certain premade lists. It also gives you the option of visiting the websites hosting these lists. I would visit the website for EasyList and add all 3 of their lists (EasyList, EasyElement, and Tracking Filter) as well as the 3 specialty lists (Adult/Dating adservers, Myspace Junk Filters, and Rickroll Blacklist). Another common source of infections is caused by downloading infected video drivers. In order to avoid this, I would recommend that you use VLC media player which is known for playing just about anything.

Advanced

The following programs can be a litle trickier to use, and could slow your computer down if you do not have sufficient RAM. If you are worried about Keyloggers or Screenloggers, then ThreatFire (made by the same people as Spyware Doctor) is an excellent program behaviour analyzer, and will stop them dead in their tracks almost instantly. The program only needs to be installed and it does its job quietly in the background. I would also recommend that you have one software firewall program. I would recommend either ZoneAlarm or Comodo. Both are free but Comodo providers better protection, yet ZoneAlarm is easier to use. Remember, only use one.

Program Settings

Spybot - Search & Destroy Settings:

Launch the Spybot - Search & Destroy installer. At the select components windows, check in all the check boxes. At the select additional tasks, make sure that ONLY the Use Internet Explorer Protection box is checked in. DO NOT use tea timer! This program can go from great and amazing to horrible if you install tea timer, you have been warned. The program will then try to download updates (That's what the Ethernet cable was for). If for any reason you don't have one available, or it doesn't work, go back and uncheck Download updates.

Once the program is installed launch it. The first time it will give you a warning about how some programs require that you keep spyware in order to work. I would check in the box so that you're never warned about this again. If the program needs spyware, you don't want it anyways. You will be given a short little introduction to the program at this point. This is not important at all. Click next over and over, and then on the last slide click start using the program.

Now to configure it properly. Click on mode and choose advanced mode. Then click on settings, followed by the file sets tab. Make sure that they are all checked in. Then click on the settings tab... This one is a little complicated, so I'll just let you know which sections need to be changed. If a setting option is not listed, leave it the way it is:

• Main settings (only the following should be checked in)
• I do know about all that legal stuff
• Save all settings
• Automation (again, only these should be checked in)
• Program start
• Fix all problems on program start
• Rerun checks after fixing problems
• Immunize on program start if program has been updated
• Don't ask for fixing confirmation
• Wait a few seconds if something else than spies were found
• System Start
• Fix all problems on program start
• Wait a few seconds if something else than spies were found
• Close program if everything's O.K.
• Web update
• Search the web for new versions at each program start
• Download updated include files if available online
• Display available beta versions
• Display updates for other languages
• Display new and updates skins
• Display PGP signature updates
• Expert settings
• Use shredder to remove usage tracks
• Use shredder when purging recovery files
• Show expert buttons in results list
• Show expert buttons in recovery list

Now click on the Directories tab, right click on the empty space, and add your desktop. Then click on ignore products, click on the empty space of the all products windows, and choose Deselect all. Then finally click on the Ignore System Internals tab, and remove all the entries.

Then click on the tools tab on the bottom left hand corner, check in the "Hosts File" box, and then finally click on the Hosts File tab on the left. You will get a complete list of your host files. Select them all, and click on "Remove selected entries"

Finally click on the Spybot-S&D tab, then Immunize, and make sure everything is Immunized. Then on the update tab, search for updates, and when you get the list, right click on the empty space and select them all. On occasion some of the updates may restart spybot. If this happens, make sure that all the above settings are still in place. Top

Avira AntiVir Personal Settings:

Your computer should only have one antivirus program installed (The exception being if you have a fake trojan claiming to be an antivirus. These often pester you with popups and refuse to clean infections unless you pay). If you have an old/outdated/expired antivirus, make sure to remove it before installing Avira. Launch the installer, do a Full Install, when it asks you how quickly you want Avira to start, normally or as quickly as possible, choose the latter (I believe they call it safeboot, or something to that effect), and let it update. This update will install the latest virus definitions on your computer. Now launch the program, click on Update in the menu bar, and choose "Start Product Update". This will update the actual program to the latest version. Now click Extras in the menu bar and choose "Configuration". First thing to do is make sure that "Expert Mode" is checked in, and then click all the plus signs on the list of option categories. This is what you should change at each Level:

• SCANNER
• Scan: Files = All Files; Scan Process = Uncheck "Allow stopping the scanner" and change priority to low; Additional Settings = All checked in.
• Action for concerning files: Switch to "Automatic"; Check in "Copy file to quarantine before action", Primary Action = Repair, Secondary Action = Delete.
• Further actions: You can change the sound if you want, default one is fine.
• Archives: All check boxed checked in, Recursion depth = 99.
• Exceptions: Leave as is.
• Heuristic: Both check boxes should be checked in, change bubble to "High detection level"
• Report: If you needed to change these settings, you would know. Default is fine.
• GUARD
  
• Scan: Check in the box for "Scan archive", change the recursion depth to 20, change max. number of file to 99, and Max size to 9999; Files = All Files; Scan mode = Scan when reading and writing.
• Action for concerning files: Leave as is.
• Exception: Leave as is.
• Heuristic: Both check boxes should be checked in, change bubble to "High detection level"
• Report: If you needed to change these settings, you would know. Default is fine.
• GENERAL
• Extended threat categories: This section is really up to you. I personally have them all checked in except for "Games". If you are unsure, keep the Default values OR check more in and turn them off if you have undesired results.
• Security: All check boxes checked in.

Click OK, and you are done with these settings. On the main screen click on Administration, then Scheduler. Right click on Daily Update and select Edit Job. Click next a few times until you see "Display mode". Switch the mode to invisible and then click Finish. Also make sure to edit the scan job that is present. I usually set it to weekly scans of the complete system, and also make them invisible. When you get around to doing a scan with this program (Not yet), you will click on "Local Protection" on the main screen, select "Complete system scan", and then click on Start Scan as Administrator (If this option is not available, then just click Start Scan).

There are a few tweaks that you can make to Avira in order to make it run a bit better. You can find instructions here. Top

Spyware Doctor Starter Edition Settings:

On the Google Pack website you will be given a list of programs you could install.

For the purpose of this guide, chose just Spyware Doctor. You also have the option to set your Home Page and Default Search Engine to Google. This might be helpful if you have an infection that changes your home page or one that redirects your searches to different search engines. Start the download, wait for Spyware Doctor to install, and launch it, (If for some reason the Google Pack website install method does not work, you can also find this program on Download.com) and click on the settings tab.

• General
  
• Check in "Run Scan on Windows Startup" and choose Intelli-Scan
• Uncheck "OnGuard tools can display popup alert window"
• Check in "When turning OnGuard on, check for pre-existing malicious entries"
• Smart Update action = Download and install updates (silently)
• Don't change the kernel compatibility mode box. This depends on what anti-virus program you are using, and Spyware Doctor will have picked the right setting when you installed it.
• Scan settings
• Uncheck "Play sounds"
• Check in "Scan Alternative Data Streams"
• Check in "Scan for rootkit hidden files"
• Check in "Lower scan priority to reduce CPU usage"
• Uncheck "Show disclaimer when repairing"
• Check in "Include 'Information Only' low-level Threats in scan results"
• Uncheck "Quarantine infections before removal"
• Uncheck "Create 'Restore Point' before removal"

Now click on the "OnGuard" tab, click on "File Guard", and change "Check the following" to "All files and processes". At this point the program may ask you if you want to restart. Click "No".

Click on the Start Scan tab, check in Custom Scan, Under "Select drives and folders to scan" check everything in. Under "Select which scanners to use in this scan" check everything in.

Then click on the "Smart Update" button in the top right corner, and download all available updates.Top

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware Settings:

Launch the installer. Toward the end of the installation you're given the option to update the program, make sure to do so. Top