Raventech.co.uk
I.T Blog for A.J Computers in Winchester
What is a Trojan?
137 days
I was recently asked by a customer why they should care about the Trojan I had uncovered on their laptop and what it actually does. A second client had Trojan infections on two business computers. So what are they, and why care?
What is a Trojan?
A computer Trojan, or a Trojan Horse is named after a bit of Greek mythology in which citizens of Troy, after surviving a 10 year siege by the Greek army, blindly take in a rather fetching wooden horse, following the Greeks sudden decision to just give up and leave. The Trojans took in the conveniently placed wooden horse as a trophy of their surviving the siege and victory over the Greek army. I guess no one thought to ask, “why would we need such a thing?”. Inside the horse was the Greek equivalent of a crack-commando squad (or the Greek A-Team!) They proceeded to sneak out at night and let the rest of the Greek army into the city (who had only sailed away and come back again) In the same way, a computer Trojan is designed to infiltrate your computers operating system and open up the gates for either a hacker to exploit, or more commonly for automated and un-authorised actions to occur. Such actions can include data logging and theft, and installation of other malicious software. The nastiest Trojans are able to do this without detection and can sit on your computer propping open a gate indefinitely!
The Original Trojan Horse Infection
Trojan’s are usually acquired by drive-by downloading and installing (without the user’s knowledge. This is achieved by exploiting security vulnerabilities in your operating system or internet browser software. This fact in itself should remind you of the critical importance of installing the latest security patches from Microsoft. Click that beige coloured update balloon (Windows XP) or the light blue update box of wonder in your taskbar (Windows Vista & 7) and get these done if you’ve been a little slack. Other methods by which Trojan infection occurs are by direct download; embedded within other software, or they are propagated by computer worms across the internet or between computers on local networks. A computer worm is able to replicate and grow either locally on a system or across local networks and the internet.
Why should I care?
Trojans are malicious, in other words they are not friendly to your computer or your data. Once installed, backdoor Trojans will prop open a nice entry point on to your computer for other related malware and viruses to enter un-detected and exploit your system. This type of Trojan can today be quite specific, in that a Trojan will be designed to allow a certain type of infection entry on to your computer. A common example is a Trojan downloader used to aggressively install rogue antivirus software. Trojan software also has the potential to link your computer up with a control computer and network, termed a botnet. These botnets will harvest your computers resources and/or internet bandwidth for their own use; i.e. sending SPAM emails by the truckload and attacking corporate websites. Botnets can take in millions of compromised computers through the use of Trojans.
What can I do?
As with most malicious software threats a good updated security package will protect you against almost all Trojan threats. If you are unsure on the correct package for your use please contact A.J.Computers and we can advise. Also, carry out a full scan of your system every so often rather than just relying on real-time protection. To ensure you remain safe, stay away from unfamiliar websites and downloads as much as possible. Windows needs to be fully updated, as well as Adobe flashplayer and Java. Also check your internet browser for updates. Most browsers aside from Internet Explorer have regular update cycles that help keep your system safe.
If you have any questions or need further help with persistent Trojan or malware infections then please contact A.J.Computers on 01962 776876 for all your computer repair needs.
Workstation P.C’s – For the truly power obsessed!
345 days
Workstation P.C’s blur the boundaries between what is traditionally a desktop computer and a server. Technologies that are traditionally the keepsake of servers have been progressing into the high end desktop market for some time now. For example, we don’t think much these days of hardware RAID setups in standard P.C’s. Workstation computers are a cut above the average home computer, designed to be performance behemoths. Aimed traditionally at high demand users namely for video production, graphic design, technical and scientific applications and for use by secret government agencies!!
The HP Workstation Range For PowerHouse Computing or Showing Off
High end P.C. workstations currently tend to use the socket 1366 range of Intel Xeon processors. This technology was originally released in 2008 and a socket 1366 CPU will have 12MB L3 CPU cache, triple channel RAM and QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) data pathways.
A short aside for a quick technical explanation:
CPU Cache : Superfast memory actually on the CPU chip, allowing the CPU to access common data without having to go back and forth to system memory. A larger cache usually means a faster CPU.
Triple channel RAM : Data being accessed by a computer is stored on sticks of RAM. Traditionally a motherboard memory controller will allocate data to one memory stick and when this is full, fill up the next. Each memory/RAM stick is accessed individually. With dual and then triple channel memory, data is mapped across more than one RAM stick so your Word document, for example, is stored partly on one stick of RAM and partly on a second and third. The result of this is that the memory controller can access all three RAM sticks and all 3 bits of information at the same time. Previously the memory controller would’ve had access to only one piece of data at a time.
QPI (Quick Path Interconnect) : A high speed channel through which data flows directly from the CPU to a dedicated contoller (I/O hub) and on to other system devices. Before QPI from Intel, and HyperTransport (HT) from AMD, data flowed from a CPU to a chip termed the ‘north bridge’ through the ‘Front Side Bus (FSB). All data had to flow along the FSB, even in and out of system memory. From 2005 AMD introduced HyperTransport which was replicated by Intel in QPI. The memory controller was included in the CPU, removing the reliance on the FSB data pathway bottleneck. The newer technologies were also faster and today FSB transfer speeds can match only up to 25% of what HT and QPI can do.
So we’ve established that workstation P.C’s are the business when it comes to high performance computing, and socket 1366 Xeon based workstations reflect this performance in their pricing, but the point of this article is to highlight the fact that there are today cheaper CPU’s and technologies that will give you decent high performance computing power in a workstation setup, especially for the system builder.
Firstly, Socket 1366 also supports a range of Core i7 CPU’s that can easily compete with the equivalent Xeon’s in terms of performance. Xeon server technologies, such as error correcting memory (ECC), are not such a requirement within a desktop workstation environment and so a user can build an equivalent Core i7 based machine for a bit less money. For example, using the Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition socket 1366 chips gets you equivalent blazingly fast performance as the Xeons, but removes the server multiprocessor motherboards and expensive ECC RAM from the machine build costs.
Secondly although performance greats, the socket 1366 range has now been around for a couple of years. Intel have since shifted their product specifications towards improving efficiency and performance for money spent, firstly with the socket 1156 core CPU’s and more recently with the socket 1155, 2nd generation core i series of CPU’s. 
The newest socket 1155 (Sandybridge architecture) CPU’s have tested well in performance tests against the ageing socket 1366 range. The newer processors are also much cheaper by comparison for roughly equivalent performance. What this equates to for those building high-end workstation P.C’s is that you can knock-up a very nippy machine, based on the newest Intel technologies for outstanding value when compared with a socket 1366 based build. Good news for system builders and the end user.
Need help specifying and building a new P.C or workstation setup. A.J.Computers can either custom build or recommend a suitable computer for your needs.
Rogue anti-malware software
375 days
We’ve recently seen a sharp increase in the number of computers compromised by what are classed as ‘Rogue antimalware’ programs. These are programs designed to scare you into paying money to fix non-existent virus/malware infections on your computer.
Rogue antispyware programs install th
emselves on your system through what are termed ‘exploits’. Exploits are vulnerabilities or weaknesses, either in the Windows Operating System itself, or any other installed program that connects to the Internet. Once on your system these programs pop-up scary looking warning notices that are designed to look like part of the normal operation of Windows.
The security warnings can be very convincing to the unwary and usually involve the rogue carrying out a fake virus scan. It will then state that your system has been infected by various nasties and promptly ask you to purchase the ‘full version’ of the software in order to remove the fake infections. Furthermore, the rogue software will often lock further use of your system until a purchase is made. Whatever you do, please, please do not hand over your personal card details and your money to the scammers behind these rogue programs. Get help instead.
CheckPoints
- To minimise the risk of infection from rogue software exploiting vulnerabilities in your system make sure Windows is fully up to date with security updates.
- Also make sure you have the most recent versions of Java and Adobe flash player installed.
- Minimise programs that ‘face’ or use the internet. It is a fact of modern computing that almost every program we install on our machine requires internet access. Whether this is actually needed in reality is debatable, but the more programs you have accessing the internet the wider your scope of risk.
- Watch the quality of what you install on your system. In this respect, downloading and installing a raft of free utilities and applications is a sure fire way to have a whole host processes running on your computer, slowing it down and connecting online to who knows where? Check out a piece of software to make sure it is reputable before purchasing/downloading. In some cases rogue antispyware software is installed alongside other software by a Trojan.
- Consider switching the browser you use. Often rogue software and other malware is targeted to attack vulnerabilities in most people’s browser of choice, Internet Explorer. To reduce your ‘attack surface’ you may want to consider switching browsers to Mozilla Firefox. This is supported by a global community of developers, rather than just one company (Microsoft) and so vulnerabilities are patched up and updates released rapidly.
- It almost goes without saying but make sure you have a decent, fully updated security package installed.
Further help
If you do come unstuck and a rogue anti-malware program has taken hold of your system we have years of experience dealing with this type of problem. Please contact A.J.Computers on 01962 776876 for further information.
Windows Vista vs Windows 7
382 days
I recently upgraded a fairly decent Toshiba Core 2 Duo based laptop to Windows 7 from Windows Vista. The customer opted for a clean installation which meant we could start again without inheriting all the installed programs and other junk from the Vista installation. This was good news as a computer is often notably faster after a clean installation of Windows and before other programs and applications are installed.
So after a painless removal of the creaking old Vista installation, a shiny new 7 installation was ready for action. A quick trek over to the Microsoft website for updates and Internet Explorer 9 and we were off.
Observations and Comparisons
In general, the Windows 7 installation boots much faster than the same hardware running Vista. One of the major problems with Vista seems to be its slow boot times even on high spec. P.C’s.
2. Improved working responsiveness
Windows Vista often seems to take its time even doing simple tasks, such as opening the ‘computer’ browser or opening Internet Explorer. Microsoft have eliminated what can only be described as the sluggishness of Vista with Windows 7.
3. Improved user interface(UI)
Windows Vista had the right idea with its user interface and explorer functionality and Microsoft have built on this with Windows 7. The taskbar is much improved with the small preview pane when hovering over an icon to show you what you have open. Right clicking an application in the taskbar also gives you some handy shortcuts. General O.S navigation seems to be less claustrophobic and problematic. The search function also seems to give fast results without slowdown another well knows problem with Windows Vista.
The Windows 7 "Sneek Peek" taskbar function
4. Document libraries.
The creation of document libraries, where you basically group together all your stuff, builds on the “My Documents”, “My Pictures” etc. ideas of Windows XP and again improves on the usability of Vista
5. Device Functionality
Windows Vista was usually slow to recognise and install devices and peripherals. Microsoft gave someone a big kick in the development department (oo err!!) and now Windows 7 often recognises and installs devices without the need for third party driver C.D’s or spending an eternity “searching online” for drivers only to come back with nothing (Windows Vista please stand up!)
It may sound like I’m painting Windows Vista as a complete avoidance, but the fact is, many users are happily using this Operating System for day to day home and business computing. Windows 7 learns from the mistakes and builds on the technologies of Vista. To sum it all up, if you can, upgrade to Windows 7 for improved speed, reliability, usability and security.
I’ll leave you with this quote:
Vista is widely considered to be Microsoft’s biggest failure. Nonetheless, Vista laid the groundwork for a host of new technologies, all absolutely vital to pushing Windows into the 21st century – Will Smith (MaximumPC circa 2009)
Get the best CPU for your new computer
390 days
There seem to be a diverse range of CPU’s on the market at present from trusty AMD Athlons to Intel’s new “Sandybridge” 2nd generation Core i series of processors. Buying a new computer has become slightly more confusing as a result, but the greater choice also brings with it a chance to pick up some bargains if you know what to look for.
At the heart of every computer is the CPU. Choose your new P.C or laptop based on the the CPU capabilities and what you want from the machine, i.e Don’t expect a computer based on an Intel Atom processor to handle more than one task at a time at any great speed! There are now some cheaper CPU’s available based on slightly older technologies and architectures that will still do a brilliant job for the everyday computer user. With the release of Intel’s new Core i “Sandybridge” processors, computers using older CPU’s have also dropped a bit in price.
For a responsive, well behaved nippy new system you would do well to look for systems based on AMD Athlon II x4 or AMD Phenom II x4 or x6 processors. These are still classed as “High-End” processors. The budget conscious can pick up a bargain with Intel’s Pentium Dual Core processors that outperform some of the more expensive Core 2 Duo range CPU’s.
Don’t forget.. when selecting a new system to have at least 3GB of RAM installed. If you afford it, opt for 4GB of RAM which means you will have a 64bit operating system a.k.a A faster system.
A.J.Computers (Winchester) can help with selecting, installing and configuring a new system. We can even custom build a P.C. to suit your requirements and your budget. Please visit http://www.ajcomputerspro.co.uk for more information or call (01962) 776876.
Cheaper small business I.T. using NAS.
398 days
Gone are the days when your business had to have an expensive server and network operating system in order to share files securely between users and computers. The creation and maturity of NAS devices, or Network Attached Storage technology, has allowed many small businesses to share files securely, access files remotely or setup VPN connections to allow employees to work from home. NAS devices can even host your company’s website or become your company’s email server. This sort of technology has in the past purely been achieved with an expensive server and related network operating system. To give you a feel for the costs involved, a decent NAS device and hard drives will cost in the region of £500.00. A Windows Small Business Server will likely set you back at least £1,500.00 for a basic setup.
So how do you start the ball rolling and network your business correctly using a NAS device? First things first, pick a NAS, but not just any NAS. For a typical small office of between with 5-20 users you will need a fairly decent bit of kit to avoid slow down when accessing resources and failing hard drives a few months down the line. We have successfully installed both Buffalo and Synology NAS devices and customers have been pleased with the results in terms of reliability and performance. Any half-decent NAS device will have provision for hard drive failure in the form of what is termed a RAID array. Put simply, the device has more than one hard drive and your data is stored in such a way that if any one hard drive failed, a backup drive would take over and continue the job until you get around to replacing the failed hard drive (hopefully very quickly!). The better NAS offerings allow hard drives to be hot-swapped whilst the system is still running. The cheaper, nastier side of the market tend to make you dismantle the whole device to access the drives. Data access speed are critical for your network performance so make sure you check your NAS hard drive access speeds and data transfer rates. Most NAS devices have support for Windows filesharing, usually termed the CIFS (Common Internet File System) or SMB (Server Message Block) protocols. This is what you need to look for if you have Windows based P.C’s. For other flavours of O.S, make sure the NAS supports Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) for Mac’s or NFS (Network File System) for Linux based P.C’s. Also, if needed, make sure you have support to utilise and join a Windows Active Directory Domain. This would only be if you already have a Windows server and domain setup. If so, you are looking for the NAS to support Active Directory or LDAP communication.
Other hugely useful features that you may need on your NAS device are as follows:
• A built in bit torrent client (maybe not strictly a work feature this one!)
• Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) support. Allows you to stream your digital media from the NAS to a broad range of clients, not just P.C’s
• Email Server – Your NAS could potentially handle all incoming and outgoing company emails
• Web Server – Host your company’s website on your NAS device
• Remote Access – Multiple users could access and download company files securely from a web browser.
• VPN Access – Allows users to connect to the company network over the internet
If the benefits of using a NAS device in your business sound promising, please contact Adam at A.J.Computers in Winchester for further help and assistance.
398 days
by Senior Raven
in Uncategorized
Thanks for stopping at our Blog. Raventech is the company Blog for A.J.Computers, Winchester.
We have been repairing laptops and computers since 2005 in the local Winchester and Hampshire area and offer a fast, reliable, professional and customer orientated service.
We have a geeky passion for all things techie and I.T related and would be pleased to here from you to help resolve any technology or I.T problems.
Problems with Adobe Creative Suite
470 days
by Senior Raven
in Software
I was recently called out to a problem with Adobe CS3 on a Windows 7 laptop. After quite an effort I was able to resolve the issues and get the software running again, but I thought I would write down some basic steps for anyone stuck with similar issues.
The initial error on starting any CS3 application was an error message with the following:
“Licensing for this product has stopped working”
There is a walkthrough available on tackling this issue on Adobe’s website, found here: http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/401/kb401528.html . I would first recommend trying this, but for me, none of the solutions solved the problem. In fact the error message generated was changed to “”Licensing for this product has stopped working. You cannot use this product at this time. You must repair the problem by uninstalling and then reinstalling this product or contacting your IT administrator or Adobe customer support for help.” I had a hunch then that this wasn’t going to be an easy ride.
So after dutifully uninstalling Adobe CS3, I found the reinstallation to fail. Looking around on the internet I found I wasn’t alone in my struggle with the Creative Suite software on Windows. People had spent hours attempting different things and running through the massively long installation process only to find it to fail yet again. So here are my tips to get the thing up and running again.
- Remove all traces of Adobe Creative Suite and other Adobe software. Check add/remove programs and remove ALL Adobe software, even Adobe Acrobat and Flashplayer.
- After removal, Adobe software will still leave program settings behind. Download and run the Adobe CS5 cleanup tool from here: http://www.adobe.com/support/contact/cs5clean.htmlRun this multiple times until it finds no further trace of any Adobe products. Also run the flashplayer cleanup option.
- After running the cleanup tool there are still Adobe settings stored on your P.C. that will mess up a new installation of the Creative Suite software. Check under the ‘%root%\Program Files (x86)’ and ‘%root%\Program Files’ folders for any Adobe folders. Rename these to ‘Adobebak’. Also check in the hidden ‘%root%\Program Data’ folder and do the same.
- You must disable any security software and other non-essential and non-microsoft background processes from running on start-up. To do this use MSConfig (System Configuration Tool) or a third party piece of software such as Autoruns.
- After disabling all unnecessary processes from running, including security software, reboot the machine.
- Copy the contents of the Adobe Creative Suite installation folder from the C.D to your local hard drive.
- Run the installation executable from your local hard drive, and you should see a successful installation.
- Jump around the room for a bit upon successful installation, re-enable all the previously disabled processes and marvel at how difficult and problematic Adobe make simply installing their Creative Suite Software.
- Write a stiff email/letter to Adobe but don’t expect them to take much notice!
True Smart Internet T.V’s on the way
576 days
A combined initiative by Google, Intel & Logitech will see the first true all-in-one internet T.V’s released. These will feature regular programming (in the U.S initially marketed by the “DISH” network) but also allow simultaneous access to the internet. So in theory you could be watching sport or news, and following reaction on-line, or Twittering/Tweeting(?) whilst watching the circus that is the X-factor!
Some have said this maybe the next big step forward towards true all-in-one devices, and in fact it does look pretty cool! Apparently your T.V will be able to browse the internet in its entirety. Your T.V will have ‘apps’, in the same way as Google Android phones have, you can even control and link the T.V to your phone! I’m not sure how functionality such as online streaming of T.V. will be treated, as this will surely allow people to replace traditional broadcasted T.V. with cheaper internet based television. Maybe that is all part of Google’s cunning plan… Ahh yes, Google quote the following:
“Never miss a show again. With Google TV, you can access over 40,000 shows and movies whenever you want with Netflix ($8.99 a month) or Amazon Video On Demand (shows start at 99 cents!).”
On its release, Google T.V can be purchased as a standalone, completely integrated, T.V or as a separate box designed to link up with your existing equipment and to be the cleverest thing in your living room!
See http://www.google.com/tv/ for further information.
Give your computer a speed boost..Get Google Chrome
596 days
If you’ve not heard of the Google Chrome internet browser then get on over to http://www.google.com/chrome for the free download. This is Google’s alternative to Internet Explorer. Its main selling point or advantage is speed. In my experience on various P.C’s and laptops running XP through to Windows 7, Chrome brings faster browsing, which is never a bad thing! It’s not quite on a par with internet explorer in terms of presentation and simply looking good, but Google have remedied this somewhat with the addition of themes that allow you to customise the look of the browser (https://tools.google.com/chrome/intl/en/themes/index.html). The simple themes by Google are in my book the best option.
The Chrome browser is especially relevant to computers running Windows XP and notebook machines. Both these can struggle with the feature set and add-ons that come part-and-parcel with Ie7 onwards. Google Chrome can bring these machines closer to the browsing experience they were designed for, before Microsoft inevitably moved things onwards with Ie7 and Ie8, creating demand for higher spec. machines to keep pace with newer prettier features and functionality. The real question is, do we all really need the various toolbars, or to research, to discuss, to blog, to send things to one-note, to spell check, etc? If we do, then Internet Explorer is the business, but Google Chrome strips all the baggage away that we hardly ever use and provides a streamlined fast and sensible browser.
With regards to security, Google Chrome is as secure if not more so than Internet Explorer. It uses the same network connection settings as Internet Explorer and so can be monitored in the normal way by your security software. The advantage of using Google Chrome is that it does not rely on downloading and installing third party add-ons such as Adobe’s flash player for viewing video. Such add-ons often become corrupted and cause Internet Explorer to fault. They also present a real threat of exploitation by malware creators. Google Chrome has an independent built-in flash player, and runs on the whole as a completely independent piece of software…Microsoft take note! In addition, Google Chrome by default has a separate ‘sandbox’ feature for the user/web-interactive side of the browser. Basically this means that Chrome will interact with your computer at a core higher level, but downgrade riskier interactions with code from the internet and the user to a more restricted junior level. This means that potential malicious code coming in has less scope to cause damage.
So give your computer a more empowered browsing experience through Google Chrome!
