Facebook Privacy

What is Facebook?  Social Networking is becoming more and more popular everyday.

“Founded in February 2004, Facebook is a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers. The company develops technologies that facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph, the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections. Anyone can sign up for Facebook and interact with the people they know in a trusted environment.”  From this Link.

If you have a Facebook account and most people do, you need to know what privacy options you have and how to set them. In this post I will tell you why it’s important and how you can protect yourself from unthinkable happenings. This article describes 10 privacy settings every Facebook user should know.  Using groups you can define your friends and your associates and keep them separate.  Once you have your friends in groups you can apply exceptions to just about any activity in Facebook.  Example - If you create a photo album you can set permissions on the album that everyone can see this except a particular group.  This is great if you don’t want business contacts to see what you’re doing when you’re not working.  Hopefully in the new update that Facebook is rolling out, the ability to set privacy settings will become easier.

If you are really concerned about your privacy you might consider the Holy Grail of Facebook Privacy.  It will cost you about 10 dollars if you jump on it now and then the price jumps up to $19.99 after a short introductory period.

Remember: you never know who is looking. Would you share everything you have on your page with your next boss? I have seen some of your profiles and the answer is no.

If you have any privacy tricks I would love it if you post them here.  I believe information should be shared!

‘problems’ in Internet Explorer 8

This article shares 5 common problems seen with the new big update by Microsoft IE8.  I would love to hear what you have to say. After trying an uninstall IE8 from a customers computer today I found the new wonder browser more like a virus than a utility to help me cruise around the internet on.  I believe the problem is in the fact that Microsoft created a browser that is so intertwined into the operating system that when something goes wrong you chance messing up your whole system.  If you ask me… don’t install it unless it has been proven to work.  Basically let Microsoft come up with about 3 service packs before you install it to your system.  If your looking to be a frontier beta tester, all the power to you. For the everyday not so techie user, stick to what works.  I am still not sold on IE7.  I have the old faithful IE6 on my Windows box and guess what, no issues!  You can find other problems discussed from this tech blog.

Computer logs out automatically on startup

Does your computer let you log on then immediately log you off?  If this is happening follow these steps to fix the problem yourself. You most likley picked up Malware or are infected with a virus.

First you will need your XP CD so that you can boot into your recovery console.  To do this put the CD in and start the computer.  You might need to hit f12 to boot from the CD.

On the first screen press R to enter the recovery console.  Type in the built in Administrator password to enter the Console. You’ll see the prompt reading C:\Windows (Or any other drive-letter where you’ve installed XP)

Type d: (d: or whatever letter represents your cd drive)

C:\Windows>CD D:

D:\>CD I386

D:\I386>COPY USERINIT.EX_ C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

(you should see 1 files copied successfully)

Type CD C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>RENAME USERINIT.EX_ USERINIT.EXE

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32>COPY USERINIT.EXE WSAUPDATER.EXE

Type Exit to exit the recovery console and reboot.  You should now be able to log back in.  If that worked run regedit from the Run command.

Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\

In the right pane, you should see

C:\WINDOWS\System32\wsaupdater.exe,

Change it so that it reads:  C:\WINDOWS\System32\userinit.exe (it might already read userinit.exe)

Once verified download Malwarebytes Anti Malware and Perform full scan.

Download and run CCleaner. 

Scan with your antivirus software.  If you need antivirus software check out under my Free Utility Downloads.  Hope this was helpful.

Can a Mac get viruses?

In my post “Free virus protection” I was asked a great question. Do Macs get viruses?

I found a great answer to this question from computerhope.com.

Basically, it is possible but unlikely. A virus hitting a Mac has a low probability for a few reasons. One because a Mac operates on a Unix platform. In laymen’s terms most virus files are written for Windows or Dos systems and those same files wont work in the Mac OS (operating system).
And, Windows has many more users.

It is important to understand that the creator of the virus want’s recognition. If he writes a virus with this in mind he or she want’s the largest impact around the world. Because 98% of the world operates on Windows by default Windows is the target. Sad but true!

Are you infected with Conficker

It’s time to protect yourself from the newest threat on the internet. The Conficker virus!! Take these simple steps to protect yourself and your information.

Update your virus pattern. Scan your computer.
Make sure you’re behind a firewall.
Run CCleaner and clean your registry.
Run Malwaremalbytes and look for spyware and malware.

Any questions will be answered. Don’t hesitate, Ask Kyle!

Is your computer full of dust?

This is a very common problem people are finding more and more. Most are so disgusted at the thought of cleaning it out they opt for a new computer. In todays economy cleaning it out and cleaning it up might be more in the budget. Here are some helpful suggestions.