The Computer Doctor of Richmond

We have just built a new link for all the software we recommend on a regular basis. We will be updating this often as we discover new tools to help make your computer life easier and less stressful. You can find great links to the industry leading antivirus software Vipre and excellent data back up software, Mozy. Just hit the Software link at the top of this page to learn more. And as always, if you have questions, just hit us up with a quick email. We’re always happy to help!

Earlier this week the top google listing when you searched for “dancing with the starts 2010 line up” was a hostile site that would try and infect you with a fake antivirus.  We’ve of course talked about these nasty things before and service computers with them all the time.  This is just another prime example of how these infections get out into the wild.  It also goes to show you that the bad guys are very good at search engine optimization.

These fake anti virus (rogue infections as they are properly known) try to hold your computer hostage and scare you into buying protection when they tell you that your system is infected with numerous viruses.  Cleaning these virus infections are actually one of the most common type of services we are now performing at The Computer Doctor of Richmond.  We typically see about half a dozen per week.  They can infect your computer a multitude of ways.  For instance, you google something innocent like Dancing with the Stars and next thing you know you’re getting a box popping up saying you’re infected.

The best thing you can do for yourself is to realize that you MUST have good antvirus protection.  However, that is not always enough.  In fact, many of the computers we clean, the users had current protection.  They often have either Norton or McAfee.  However, we have found that neither of those do a very good job anymore.  If you’re looking for a good antivirus, we recommend Vipre.  However, we also recommend installing Web Of Trust.  WOT is one more layer of great protection that is free.  Read more about it here.

Bottom line, be careful with your googling and let us know if we can help.

While we know this has nothing to do with computers. We here at The Computer Doctor of Richmond got into an heated debate about this world news story. While one of our staff members is in favor of Jay Leno, the good news is he doesn’t have authorization to post on our site
Thus we at TCDoR.com want to put our official and very powerful support behind Team Conan O’Brien. Conan, we hope NBC makes the right decision.

Windows 7 is shaping up to the best thing for computers since sliced bread (yes i know that technically doesn’t make any sense, but you get the point)!  We have been working with Windows 7 for the past few months and are in love.  Not only is it a much deeper and richer computer life, it’s significantly fast and far more secure.  Win7 is what the successor to XP should have been.  From now on we won’t mention that black eye that was vista.  In fact we’ve finished digging the whole six feet deep and are pulling the Lincoln town car around and getting ready to pull the body out of the trunk.  Just a few more weeks and we’ll be free.  October 22nd will mark the end of one of Microsoft’s darkest eras when Win7 is officially released to public.

So now that we are done with the drama, let’s take a look at the most basic question.  “Should I upgrade if I’m running vista?”  The obvious answer is YES!  “What about if I’m running XP?”  YES!  This is a great operating system and we are sure all those who either still love Windows and those that may have become dissolution with Windows due to vista will fall back in love.  The security of vista, (yes vista is more secure than XP) only nowhere near as in your face or as abrasive.  And best of all, it’s faster than XP.  It is also extremely user friendly (maybe even more so than Apple/Mac).
So, how much $$$?

Please see the chart below:

windows 7 upgrade and pricing chart

There of course is more to it than just the chart above.  For instance, if you’re mixing from or to 64 bit version and 32 bit version this will require clean installs.  For more information see the following links or post it up in the comments section of this post.
Official Windows 7 upgrade chart
Prices and more info

One of the common things we see amongst our customers is the use of internet history in place of using favorites/bookmarks for regularly accessed websites.  They will click on the little down arrow in the address bar of their internet browser to get a list of sites they have been, and then hunt through that list to find the place they’re looking for.  While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that method, there are more efficient methods.
For instance, favorites in Internet Explorer or bookmarks in Firefox and Safari are great built in tools to allow you to save the sites you go to on a regular basis.  Then instead of trying to remember all the sites you like to visit regularly, or hunting through your history you can simply click on the link in your favorites.  Moreover, if you do have a number of sites you regularly visit, you should use your Links toolbar (Bookmarks toolbar in Firefox).  This is a little toolbar, typically located below the address bar that has a list of the favorites/bookmarks you put in there.  For example, this is a picture of a very common Internet Explorer setup with the Links toolbar located directly below the address bar.  Notice how there is several links including The Computer Doctor of Richmond, CNN and so on.

Now take a look at the picture below of another bookmarks toolbar with the text labels gone.  Notice how this gives tons more space to add in even more bookmarks for all the sites you visit on a regular basis.  This is because most sites nowadays have favorite icons that identify themselves to your browser with a little icon.  You will typically notice this immediately to the left of the address of where you are visiting.  Take a moment and look at your address bar currently, you should see a little picture of our Computer Doctor of Richmond logo.  These favorite icons also show up beside the link for your bookmark.

So how can you start saving favorite links in Internet Explorer?  There are several ways to do it, you can simply use the keyboard shortcut “CTRL + D” or you can select the “add favorite” button as seen in the picture below as indicated by the highlight in the lower left corner.  Or you can select the favorite menu and then select add to favorites as indicated by the highlight in the middle of the screen.

Also notice how we highlighted “tools” in the bottom right of the picture.  Click this to get a list of tools and how you can customize Internet Explorer.  To turn on the Links toolbar you may need to select Tools > toolbars > and select Links to turn it on.  After turning Links on, if you don’t see the links toolbar below the address bar, it may be to the right, directly above tools.  If you want to move this over like we’ve shown it, you may need to first unlock the toolbars (also found in tools > toolbars > if there is a check beside “lock toolbars” then select it to unlock) and then hover your mouse over the little adjustment dots (as seen in the picture below) and click and drag it to where you want it.

You can also click on the favorite icon in the address bar, and drag it to your links toolbar.  To get rid of the text, right click on it and select properties, then select the general tab, now delete the name of the link and hit ok.
So you’re now likely saying one of two things “wow, this bookmarks/favorites thing is great, tell me more!” or “I already use bookmarks/favorites, what do you have for me in that fancy bag-o-tips?”  Well, stay tuned there is more coming in our next post in a few days…..