It is with great sorrow that I let you know my business partner Ken Louis pasted away 12.31.2013 from a heart attack according to the family. Please feel free to continue to use the information on this site for as long as you need to share with friends and family as that is what Ken would have wanted.

What to do if you are having extreme spyware issues

Once you have downloaded malwarebytes, rename the program installer "mbam-setup.exe" file to something else like "fifi.exe", then copy the installer file and the update file to a CD or flash drive. Transfer the file
to the problem machine, then install the "fifi.exe" file, then run the update to get the program current.. After that, run a full system scan and delete anything it finds. Reboot your computer and run again and delete anything it finds, repeat till nothing else is found.If you are having problems downloading the database via the program, you can now download it as an installer.


http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/database/mbam-rules.exe


If the program installs correctly but then won't run, please access the "C:\Program Files\ Malwarebytes Antimalware folder and rename the "mbam.exe" file to something else,as above.. Make sure it has a .exe(dot exe) file extension and then double click on the newly named file. Malwarebytes should run correctly now.. Now you should Create a New Restore Point to prevent possible reinfection from an old one. Some of the malware you picked up could have been saved in System Restore. Since this is a protected directory your tools cannot access to delete these files, they sometimes can reinfect your system if you accidentally use an old
restore point. Setting a new restore point AFTER cleaning your system will help prevent this and enable your computer to "roll-back" to a clean working state.

The easiest and safest way to do this is:Go to Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools and click "System Restore".Choose the radio button marked "Create a Restore Point" on the
first screen then click "Next". Give the R.P. a name, then click "Create". The new point will be stamped with the current date and time. Keep a log of this so you can find it easily should you need to use System Restore.
Then use Disk Cleanup to remove all but the most recently created Restore Point.Go to Start > Run and type: Cleanmgr Click "OK"Disk Cleanup will scan your files for several minutes, then open.
Click the "More Options" Tab.Click the "Clean up" button under System Restore.Click OK. You will be prompted with "Are you sure you want to delete all but the most recent restore
point?
"Click Yes, then click OK.Click Yes again when prompted with "Are you sure you want to
perform these actions?"Disk Cleanup will remove the files and close automatically.

Use the same setup for other spyware tools as the ones above to help prevent you from having to format and reinstall.

Here are some web sites to check out should you run across this animal (trojan.agent)

http://www.2-spyware.com/remove-trojan-agent.html

How to manually remove this bugger
http://www.2-spyware.com/news/post226.html

Looking for more Idea's to post

If anyone has anything they'd like to share please send me your suggestions. Everything will be looked at by Ken and myself, the more the merrier.Our email address is keepyourcomputerrunningsmooth@gmail.com or kkr@texband.net

How to access the BIOS

BIOS List

Acer Ctrl-Alt-Esc F1, F2
ALR PC Ctrl-Alt-Esc or F2
AMI BIOS Del or F1 or F2
Aptiva F1
AST, Advantage Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Award BIOS Del or Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Compaq F10 ( when the cursor is blinking in the top right corner of the screen)
Dell F1 or Del or Ctrl-Alt-Enter (Some require pressing reset twice )
DTK BIOS Esc
Gateway 2000 F1
Hewlett Packard F1
IBM Older models hold down both mouse buttons
IBM PS/1 late model Value Point and 330s F1
IBM PS/2 Ctrl-Alt-InsIBM PS/2 with reference partition Ins
IBM Some PS/2s, such as 75 and 90 Ctrl-Alt
IBM Some PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen Ctrl-Ins
Fortiva 5000 Ctrl-Alt-A
NEC F2
Packard Bell F1 or F2
Phoenix BIOS F1 or F2 or Ctrl-Alt-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-S or Ctrl-S or Ctrl-Alt-Ins
Sharp Laptop 9020 F2
Sony F3 while you are starting the PC, then F2 or F1
Tandon Ctrl-Shift-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-Esc
Toshiba Laptops Toshiba Utility
Toshiba Esc or F1
Olivetti PC Pro Shift-Ctrl-Alt + “NumericPadDel”
Miscellaneous PC's Ctrl-Esc or Ctrl-Alt and +
Zenith Ctrl-Alt-Ins

What to do about Outlook's huge PST Con't

To create a new .pst, select File, New, Outlook Data File..., then select "Office Outlook Personal Folders File (.pst)", and OK. In the next dialog box specify the location and name of your new .pst. I tend to place my archive .pst files in a common mail directory on another machine on my network, but keeping it along side your existing personal folders is also common. Pick something that reflects how you'll organize your email, and press OK.

In the next dialog, specify the display name (I usually just use the file's name). Leave the other settings as they are for now, and press OK.Once you've created your new .pst, it will show up at the bottom of your email or file folders list. You can expand it, create sub folders in it, and drag and drop messages from your old .pst into your new one.

Your new pst will automatically show up each time you open Outlook. You can explicitly close it, if you like, (Right click on it, and select "Close") which will speed up Outlook's start time somewhat. To open it again later, select File->Open->Outlook Data File....As it turns out it is possible to create a PST that's larger than 2 gigabytes. Unfortunately that's where the trouble starts.The problem manifests when you start Outlook, and it complains about the PST, typically instructing you to use the Inbox Repair Tool.
Step one, then is to do exactly that. You can read more about the Inbox Repair Tool, called scanpst in http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=197316

If scanpst fails, and the PST file is at or over 2 gigabytes (2,147,483,648 bytes) in size, then you have a problem; you are going to lose some email.Microsoft has made available an Oversized PST and OST Crop Tool (http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=296088)

The crop tool does just that ... it crops, or cuts, the size of the PST file by a specified amount to make it smaller. Small enough to run scanpst on, which can recover the contents of the PST. Any messages in the portion of the PST that was cut is lost.

The lesson here, of course, is to keep an eye on the size of your PST. While it would be nice if Outlook actually prevented PSTs from growing beyond the limits Outlook can handle, it may not, and obviously it can result in lost messages. Make sure to have a decent backup strategy, and keep an eye on your PST size

What to do about Outlook's huge PST

.pst files are one of Outlook's repositories for email, contacts, calendar information and quite often much, much more. There's a physical limit on .pst size that's up around 2 gigabytes, but more practical considerations like speed often make us want to control the size well before reaching that stage.

Step one is pretty obvious: delete what you can. Remember, though, that when you delete an item in Outlook, it is simply moved to the Deleted Items folder, which doesn't actually free the space until you empty it. So right click on the Deleted Items folder and select the Empty "Deleted Items" Folder to permanently delete its contents. This will free up the space that the delete items took. But it will not, immediately, make the file smaller.

Step two: after you've permanently deleted what you can, it's time to compress. Microsoft has a knowledge base article about compressing your .pst. (see this KB http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=289987 )

In short: File->Data File Management, select your Personal Folders, Settings, and then Compact Now.If the resulting file is still too big, then it might be time to create an additional .pst. Outlook supports having multiple .pst's open at the same time. Your existing "Personal Folders" will remain the destination for email, but you can easily move items into another .pst file.

Don't Leave Home Without Your Tunes

We haven't covered audio CDs yet. Windows XP supports the creation of audio CDs through the Media Player. But you can initiate it from Windows XP folders too. If you have a folder open with media files such as .WMA, .MP3, or .WAV, select the files to record and then click Record to audio CD in the task bar. Windows Media Player opens with your selected files in the list of audio files to be recorded.

You can continue to add files, either from Windows XP folders or through the Windows Media Player interface. When you're ready to record your audio CD, click the Copy Music button in Media Player. It converts the audio files to the required format for audio recording in a temporary location, and then begins the CD recording process.

The integrated CD burning capabilities in Windows XP do not perform every task the third–party applications do, only the most commonly needed ones. There are still certain tasks such as full CD duplication for bootable CDs and creating CDs from images (such as an .ISO file) that will require a third–party tool.

This link is to shareware cost $29.95
http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Utilities/Backup_and_Copy_Utilities/PowerISO.html

I know I'll be installing my favorite tool, but I'm also finding it delightfully refreshing to use the integrated CD recording for most of my recording tasks.