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By Don Trauger – Kennett

 

            After unpacking and positioning your new PC, make all your cable connections and turn it on. When it’s on you will be asked by Microsoft Windows to configure your PC via screen prompts. The following guide should help you through this process.

 

            The first screen is Region and Language. Click the down arrow in the time zone, scroll down to Eastern time, click it then click Next. For Dell computers skip any entry under Dell Support and Protection. Click Next.

 

            The next screen is License Terms. Click I accept. The next screen is Register and Protect. When you see this screen register your computer as instructed but decline any additional offers except for updating your PC’s drivers and software. Click Next.

 

            Next is Personalize. Give your PC a name. Don’t use your personal name. Use something else. Under Get Online Click on the name of your home wireless network (the router’s SSID) and enter your router’s password if you have one. Choose Ethernet if you are connected to a modem or router by a cable. Click Next.

 

            Under Settings don’t use Express settings. Click customize. Click Yes for Home or Work networks. Windows Update should display to automatically install important and recommended updates. Under Update your PC and Apps and Help Protect Your PC and Your Privacy, all switches should be on. Click Next.

 

            Under Check Online for Solutions both items should be on. Under Help Improve Microsoft Products and Services all should be set to off. Click Next.

 

            Under Sign in to Your Microsoft Account skip this and look further down the screen and click Create a New Account. Under Create a Microsoft Account skip the open fields and click “Sign in without a Microsoft account”.

 

            Under Your Account enter your name in the user name field. A password is optional. This log-on password only protects your PC from other household members starting up and using your computer. It has nothing to do with Internet security. Click Finish. It will take several minutes to finish the setup. After setup completes it will display the Desktop screen or the “Live Tiles” screen. If the “Live Tiles” screen is displayed and you prefer the Desktop screen, which is used in previous Windows editions, then do the following. Locate the Desktop tile in the “Live Tile” grouping and left click it. Next, right click a blank area of the Task Bar (at bottom of screen), and left click Properties. Click the Navigation tab and under Start Screen click the box next to “When I sign in or close all Apps on a screen, go to the Desktop instead of start”. Click OK.

 

            This concludes the initial setup of a Windows 8.1 computer. Other things to consider  would be to install your printer software, install Apache Open Office, a good substitute for Microsoft Office and install CCleaner to clean up junk files. For improved security install Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and AdwCleaner. Uninstall the antivirus program that came with the PC and install Bitdefender Antivirus. For improved protection from Internet threats install the Google Chrome browser and add Adblock Plus from adblockplus.org to Chrome to help block unwanted ads from other advertisers. All of the programs mentioned are reliable and do an effective job. The best part is that they are free and available from www.filehippo.com except for Google Chrome and Adblock Plus.

 

            If you still have a Windows XP computer, it is no longer supported by Microsoft for any updates. If you have a Windows Vista computer it’s still supported but it’s aging. I recommend that you replace an old obsolete computer with a Dell Inspiron Small Desktop 3000 series with an Intel I3 3.6GHz processor. Dell sells it for $380.00 at their on-line store. This computer surprised me for a low cost but very fast computer. It should meet or exceed the needs for general Internet use, word processing and most photography requirements. One nice factor, it’s about 1/3 the size of a standard tower computer.      

 

            Laptops in this price range will have slower processors and hard drives compared to Desktops. The result is improved battery life between charges but at the expense of overall performance.

 

            To help you with questions about this or any subject we meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 7 PM, upstairs in the Ardmore room of the Community Center.

Charlie Vogel has been a volunteer with HMC-TV20 for many years and has conducted over 100 interviews for the station. He just turned 99 and was recently the subject of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer of February 9, 2015.

I am sure that most of us can remember the severity of the weather that we experienced last winter…and the resulting power outages. Though winter is not scheduled to officially arrive until December, the following information will help you prepare for any instance where you may lose power…regardless of the season.

From time to time, usually during inclement weather, Hershey’s Mill villages and the surrounding community may lose electricity. While most outages last two or three hours, a few have lasted for more than 24 hours. During power outages lasting any length of time, the Security Department receives dozens of phone calls from residents who find themselves in inconvenient, or even emergency, situations that could be prevented with some advance planning. Listed below are a few suggestions that can better prepare people for a power outage:

• 1. When the power is out, your automatic garage door opener will not operate. For those residents with detached garages, be sure you know how to operate your emergency door release.
• 2. Keep plenty of flashlights around the house, and keep extra batteries handy.
• 3. Keep a charged cell phone somewhere in your house. Providing that phone and cable service have not gone out along with the electricity, Verizon customers will continue to receive phone service; and Comcast Phone customers should have phone service for 6-8 hours before the backup battery in the modem expires.
• 4. If you are dependent on any life-saving electrical devices (oxygen pumps, medical monitors….et), please contact your medical supply company to discuss options for a backup power supply.
• 5. Turn off any appliances that you were using when the power went off. When the power goes out unexpectedly, a person may have been using their stove, heating pad, or other device that requires monitoring. A person might leave the house and forget that these items were left running. If the person is not home when the power is restored, then the stove, heating pad….etc may begin operating again without any supervision…causing a fire hazard.

Please call PECO at 1-800-494-4000 to report that your power is out and for all outage-related questions, as PECO requires account holders to report their problem directly and does not provide the Security Department with any more information than they give to residents. When the Security Department is inundated with calls regarding a power outage, the phone line is then tied up; and residents who are calling with security-related issues or emergencies cannot get through.

• External Maps and Directions
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by Don Trauger – Kennett

AdwCleaner is another free malware cleanup program that can be utilized should your computer become infected. Of course if you have previously installed my recommendation of Malwarebytes, you may not need AdwCleaner. However, I have seen  several cases and have been told by another user that AdwCleaner removed some malware that Malwarebytes did not detect. This is a common issue in the industry. Each anti-malware company uses its proprietary detection and removal methods and the results will differ. Anti-virus programs work the same way. No two will produce the same detection and removal results.

ADW Cleaner detects and removes the same type of malware that Malwarebytes does. It will remove browser hijackers, toolbars, and other unwanted programs. Often these potentially unwanted programs (PUPS) come bundled with a program that you may have chosen to download. ALWAYS remove check marks next to selections for unneeded programs other than the one you want. READ very carefully each installation window to see if additional software may be installed by other means. I have seen selections of PUPS  embedded in fake license information. You seldom need a license for a free program or a trial of a program. Unfortunately these PUPS can also infect your computer simply by visiting a web site without clicking on anything. It can be very frustrating when you get infected but having the right tools at your disposal can minimize the pain.

As good as Malwarebytes is, it’s not perfect. A second opinion is always a good idea. I recommend that when Malwarebytes detects an infection and it’s quarantined, you follow up with a scan using AdwCleaner.

This program works well as a stand alone or better yet in conjunction with Malwarebytes. My three free security recommendations therefore are Malwarebytes, Bitdfender Anti-Virus and AdwCleaner.

AdwCleaner can be download from: https://toolslib.net/downloads/viewdownload/1-adwcleaner/

Malwarebytes can be downloaded from: http://www.malwarebytes.org/

Bitdefender can be downloaded from: http://www.bitdefender.com/solutions/free.html

Remember to uninstall any other Anti-Virus program such as Norton, McAfee, etc. Only one Anti-Virus may be installed on a computer. After any of the previous programs are downloaded, you should find them in your Downloads folder. Double click to install.

Start AdwCleaner by clicking the Scan button and allow it to proceed. After scanning you may see some entries in the various Results categories such as Services, Files, Folders, etc. After it finishes scanning click the Clean button. This will remove the unwanted entries. Reboot the computer and scan again.

See a demonstration of AdwCleaner at our February PC club meeting. We meet the 2^nd Tuesday of every month at 7 PM upstairs in the Community Center.


By Don Trauger – Kennett



I haven’t been a proponent of browser ad-ons such as toolbars because they are a conduit for unwanted advertising and possible malware. However, I’ve come across a free ad-on called Adblock Plus. It becomes active when you use Internet Explorer, Firefox or Chrome browsers. It’s purpose is to block incoming ads from web sites.



When you go to the Adblock Plus web site (https://adblockplus.org/ it recognizes the browser you are using and will offer an install button for that browser. After installation it places a small “ABP” red icon at the top right corner for both Firefox and Chrome, and the lower right for Internet Explorer. When in use you may see a number superimposed on the icon. That’s the number of ads that Adblock Plus has blocked for that web page.



Over time these ads and other debris such as cookies, temporary Internet files and the like will tend to slow down the computer with possible freeze-ups and instability without your routine cleaning. Adblock Plus does not block all ads. In fact some web sites may look the same after installing Adblock Plus. However, you will be minimizing the number of ads that are downloaded in the background and stored on your hard drive.

Obviously the smaller number of ads is better but, more important, is the fact that some of these downloaded ads are waiting to be activated. Once activated they may carry malware. They often come from 3rd party sources that have nothing to do with the web site you are viewing and may be totally out of the control of that web site. Sometimes you can get malware just by going to a web site without clicking anything at that site. It’s called a “drive-by download”.



Adblock Plus can help in this area by reducing the potential for unwanted ads. It can be an assistant to Malwarebytes and Bitdefender in protecting you and your computer.



In my personal experience I haven’t seen anything negative when using Adblock Plus in all 3 browsers except possibly an extra second or so for Firefox to load a web page. That is too small a concern to worry about. I recommend you consider adding Adblock Plus to each of your browsers.



Get more information about Adblock Plus at our PC Club meetings. They are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 PM upstairs in the Ardmore room of the Community Center.



CCleaner’s Drive Wiper Feature
By Don Trauger – Kennett

Most of you have at least heard of CCleaner, the junk file cleaner program. It’s use has been written about in my Guide and Digest articles and discussed at the PC Computer Club meetings.

One of the features built into CCleaner is called Drive Wiper. Although the name sounds ominous it really is not a dangerous tool. Here’s how it works.

When you delete a file, Windows removes the reference to that file, but doesn’t delete the actual data that made up the file on your hard drive. Over time, this data will be overwritten as Windows writes new files to that area of the drive. This means that, given the right software, someone could reconstruct all or parts of files that you’ve deleted. For privacy and security reasons, you can set CCleaner to wipe the free areas of your hard disk so that deleted files can never be recovered.

I don’t recommend that you use Drive Wiper as part of your normal monthly maintenance. It’s best utilized when you are ready to dispose of your computer to prepare it for recycling. If you are planning to dispose of your computer you may want to save your data files first. Refer to my article in the April 2014 Guide & Digest “Moving Files from Windows XP to Windows 8.1”. After saving your data you can then delete those files and finish by running Drive Wiper. Remember to delete any personal folders too. Here are the steps.

Method 1 (Automatically wipe when cleaning):

• 1. Open CCleaner, click the CCleaner icon at left if necessary.
• 2. Click the Windows tab, Scroll to bottom and select the Wipe Free Space check box.
• 3. CCleaner displays a warning about extra time. Click OK.
• 4. Run CCleaner as usual by clicking Analyze then Run Cleaner.

Method 2 (Manually wipe with Drive Wiper):

• 1. Open CCleaner and click Tools then Drive Wiper.
• 2. Choose the type of wipe you require:
  a. Free Space Only will leave your personal files intact but will erase your deleted files.
  b. Entire Drive will erase all of the files on the drive. WARNING, this means the whole of the partition will be erased. The drive will still be formatted, but all data will be erased. For safety reasons, this feature is disabled for the boot or system hard drive.

• 3. Choose the type of security you require (Simple Overwrite is OK for most situations)
• 4. CCleaner will warn you before proceeding.

An explanation for step “b” above would apply to a backup drive where no operating system is installed. If you were to apply it to your system drive, the one where Windows is installed, then it would leave Windows and your data intact because the command is disabled for the system drive.

My recommendation is Method 2 and choose 2a when you are ready to dispose of your computer.

Get more information about CCleaner and Drive Wiper at our PC Club meetings. They are held on the second Tuesday of each month at 7 PM upstairs in the Ardmore room of the Community Center.

A reminder that computer disposal will be available on Saturday, October 11 between 9 AM and 3 PM at the Government Services building on Westtown Rd. in West Chester.