Aunty Virus 19th April 2010
Michael via email asks:
Hi Aunty, could you please advise the difference, if any, between your recommended SuperAntiSpyware, Malwarebytes and AVG programs? Do we need to have and run all three separately or does just one do the job of all? Your weekly article is great, keep it up.
Aunty Says:
Hello Michael. The two anti spyware programs (Mbytes and SAS) do the same basic task of detecting and removing malicious spyware but they use different technologies in the way they search, so yes you should keep both. AVG is different again, in that is specifically aimed at Virus and Trojans, so all three together is my recommendation.
Kath via email asks:
Whenever I plug my USB stick into my laptop I get the dreaded blue screen appear and my computer reboots. It also happened when I borrowed a friends hard-drive from work, how can I stop this happening? It is driving me crazy!
Aunty Says:
Hi Kath. The first thing I would do is lock the offending USB stick away in a drawer as you could do some irreparable damage to your laptop and/or works PC. Do other USB sticks work OK on both machines? There is a slight chance that this could be a data corruption problem, a driver issue, or even a virus, but I suspect it is most likely a physical problem with the USB stick causing an electrical short circuit. I had one once where a small piece of foil had got into the plug on the USB stick but if there’s nothing visible I would seriously consider replacing it with a new one.
Bob via email asks:
Dear Aunty, I am unable to play DVDs on my Acer Aspire 5535. I am using Vista Basic and have tried downloading VLC free which allows me to view a film, but when switched off it loses the download saying unable to locate. I am also unable to download AVG9 with the same problem. Your help is much needed. Many thanks and keep up the good work.
Aunty Says:
Not too sure about this one Bob, it almost sounds like your computer is somehow reverting back to a previous state each time you restart. When you download VLC media player (or AVG9) from www.download.com you should see a message informing you that the file has successfully downloaded and “do you want to install the program?” After the install is complete there should then be an icon on your desktop that will start the player when double clicked. If this doesn’t happen then I will need to know any error messages that appear.
Margaret via email asks:
I wonder if you can help me. I have a Nokia phone with a camera and I want to download from this onto my Acer Extensa 5635Z laptop. I have been to my techi help guy and he told me to go to Movistar with which I have the mobile contract. They told me that they could not order this cable for me. Do you know of anywhere that I can get this cable? The port on the phone is quite small. I would hope that you could download with the right cable. I would be grateful if you could assist me and point me in the right direction.
Aunty Says:
Ebay.co.uk Margaret, You will need to type in the exact model of your phone followed by “USB data cable” and you should find one for under 5 Euros from Hong Kong, and with free delivery you can’t argue with that.
John via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I hope you can give some advice on a problem I have. Recently I bought a new tower & keyboard from Dell in Spain & requested English software & keyboard. The software is OK but the keyboard has several problems e.g. there is a $ sign over the number 4 button but there isn't a Pound sign anywhere, the € sign is noted on the number 5 button but you have to press Ctrl, Alt and the number 4 button to produce the € sign, the @ sign appears on the number 2 button but you have to actually press (in shift mode) the button next to the enter key to get it and this same button has the " and ' signs on it but you have to actually press (in shift mode) the number 2 button to get it. I have spoken to the guy at Dell who sold it to us but, as with all big companies in Spain, although he could speak English during the sale, he suddenly couldn't when I asked him about the problem. I have sent several emails but these are not responded to. Do you know of any fix?
Aunty Says:
It sounds like you have a US keyboard John. The two options you have is to get some one coming over to buy a common or garden UK keyboard for around £10 or type “usb uk keyboard” into ebay.co.uk and buy one with free delivery (probably from Hong Kong)
Aunty Says:
Hello Michael. The two anti spyware programs (Mbytes and SAS) do the same basic task of detecting and removing malicious spyware but they use different technologies in the way they search, so yes you should keep both. AVG is different again, in that is specifically aimed at Virus and Trojans, so all three together is my recommendation.
Kath via email asks:
Whenever I plug my USB stick into my laptop I get the dreaded blue screen appear and my computer reboots. It also happened when I borrowed a friends hard-drive from work, how can I stop this happening? It is driving me crazy!
Aunty Says:
Hi Kath. The first thing I would do is lock the offending USB stick away in a drawer as you could do some irreparable damage to your laptop and/or works PC. Do other USB sticks work OK on both machines? There is a slight chance that this could be a data corruption problem, a driver issue, or even a virus, but I suspect it is most likely a physical problem with the USB stick causing an electrical short circuit. I had one once where a small piece of foil had got into the plug on the USB stick but if there’s nothing visible I would seriously consider replacing it with a new one.
Bob via email asks:
Dear Aunty, I am unable to play DVDs on my Acer Aspire 5535. I am using Vista Basic and have tried downloading VLC free which allows me to view a film, but when switched off it loses the download saying unable to locate. I am also unable to download AVG9 with the same problem. Your help is much needed. Many thanks and keep up the good work.
Aunty Says:
Not too sure about this one Bob, it almost sounds like your computer is somehow reverting back to a previous state each time you restart. When you download VLC media player (or AVG9) from www.download.com you should see a message informing you that the file has successfully downloaded and “do you want to install the program?” After the install is complete there should then be an icon on your desktop that will start the player when double clicked. If this doesn’t happen then I will need to know any error messages that appear.
Margaret via email asks:
I wonder if you can help me. I have a Nokia phone with a camera and I want to download from this onto my Acer Extensa 5635Z laptop. I have been to my techi help guy and he told me to go to Movistar with which I have the mobile contract. They told me that they could not order this cable for me. Do you know of anywhere that I can get this cable? The port on the phone is quite small. I would hope that you could download with the right cable. I would be grateful if you could assist me and point me in the right direction.
Aunty Says:
Ebay.co.uk Margaret, You will need to type in the exact model of your phone followed by “USB data cable” and you should find one for under 5 Euros from Hong Kong, and with free delivery you can’t argue with that.
John via email asks:
Hi Aunty, I hope you can give some advice on a problem I have. Recently I bought a new tower & keyboard from Dell in Spain & requested English software & keyboard. The software is OK but the keyboard has several problems e.g. there is a $ sign over the number 4 button but there isn't a Pound sign anywhere, the € sign is noted on the number 5 button but you have to press Ctrl, Alt and the number 4 button to produce the € sign, the @ sign appears on the number 2 button but you have to actually press (in shift mode) the button next to the enter key to get it and this same button has the " and ' signs on it but you have to actually press (in shift mode) the number 2 button to get it. I have spoken to the guy at Dell who sold it to us but, as with all big companies in Spain, although he could speak English during the sale, he suddenly couldn't when I asked him about the problem. I have sent several emails but these are not responded to. Do you know of any fix?
Aunty Says:
It sounds like you have a US keyboard John. The two options you have is to get some one coming over to buy a common or garden UK keyboard for around £10 or type “usb uk keyboard” into ebay.co.uk and buy one with free delivery (probably from Hong Kong)