I scored with SCORE!

Redcoat Computer Services - Computer Repair and Technology Training in and around East Lyme, Niantic, Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, Lyme, Waterford and surrounding area in Connecticut, USA!

I met with representatives of the SCORE organization today in Waterford.  SCORE is a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education and the formation, growth and success of small business nationwide. The three counselors that I had the pleasure to meet with, on this humid, rainy day were attentive, interested and helped me develop some new understanding of how to consider development of the business.  It was apparent that they were contributing to my effort because they wanted to, not because they had to or were, necessarily, gaining anything other than personal satisfaction. 

Personally, I have always sought the consensus of others.  Perhaps that's because I sometimes doubt my own capabilities but it's so important to me to hear the viewpoint of others and to assimilate those opinions into my own decision making.  I hope to be able to return to the SCORE counsellors in a month or two with positive news and developments.  In the meantime I would highly recommend their support to anyone thinking about, or in the process of, starting a new business. 

http://www.southeasternctscore.org/

Check out the new Redcoat Computer Services website!

Take a look at the new website - there are still some aspects to be completed but it's a lot further along than it was!

http://www.redcoatcomputerservices.com/

Sleep isn't necessarily meant to be 8 solid hours a night

Aside from being woken by the neighbors dogs at 4:30am I usually get a reasonable night's sleep.  However, I don't always feel rested and often have a sense that I should be feeling a lot more full of spritely energy in the day.  A recent presentation by Jessa Gamble on TEDTalks supports the notion that we are actually, naturally, designed to sleep twice at night, once from 8pm to midnight, then again from 2am to sunrise.  The period between midnight and 2am is apparently spent in a state of meditative restfulness.  The result, according to studies, is that we then feel overwhelmingly awake during the day - with some subjects reporting that they feel more awake than ever before in their lives.  It's a remarkable thought and I think worth pursuing to see whether it really does have an impact on how we feel.

SecuritySuite malware removal

OK, so I've seen two computers horribly riddled with the effluent created by this virus/ malware and since it's a really tough problem to resolve I wanted to make some notes for others that might be struggling to fix this problem.  


First off, best to restart the computer in Safe Mode and preferably disconnected from the network/ internet to lessen the likelihood that the computer will reinfect itself in the process.  Starting the computer in Safe Mode is done by pressing the F8 key as Windows is starting (you may see a logo or such as the computer starts and you can press F8 any number of times).  


Once started it's useful to have another healthy computer connected to the Internet to get hold of some useful programs.  Additionally a USB flash drive on which to store said programs is a great idea.


One of the first programs to get is called RKill - this little gem kills malware processes and gives you a chance to get on a fix the problems without the virus software preventing you from making any progress.  Copy this program onto the desktop of the infected computer from your USB flash drive and run it.  Be sure to copy the program and not just create a shortcut.


Once this is done, get hold of another program called HiJackThis.  This is a slightly less user-friendly program but it's very good at scanning the computer to indicate what's running, and what's where.  Again put the install for this program on the desktop of the infected computer and get ready to install.  This is the point at which you'll need to enable the Windows Installer Service to run in Safe Mode which it doesn't do by default and take a look at the previous post for instructions on that.  Be aware that changing things in the registry is dangerous and you may cause problems if you do it wrong.  Always make a backup of the registry by exporting the whole thing before making changes.


Once you're able to run the HiJackThis install, run a scan (you can create a log which you can post to support sites and other technical people can help you identify problems).  More to come... now I must wrestle another infected computer to the ground and give it shots...


Tony

Viruses everywhere!

It's been a few days since I last posted to the Redcoat blog but I came across something genuinely useful today whilst trying to repair a computer infected with the rather unpleasant 'SecuritySuite' set of viruses.  One of the key tasks when trying to rid a Windows machine of malware is to get into Safe Mode which helps prevent the running of malicious software (not all but most!).  However, once in Safe Mode (F8 when the computer is starting and showing the Windows startup screens), some helpful programs such as HiJackThis can't be installed.  This is by design but it's frustrating to say the least.  This is where this tidbit from the internet comes in, it's really aimed at folk who know what they are doing when editing the important 'registry' on a computer and if you're wondering what a registry is then (other than where you get married in England) it's probably best, at this time, to leave it alone and ask a friendly Redcoat to help.  This allows the windows installer service to execute in Safe Mode and thus install helpful programs.  

1. Boot into Safe Mode.

2. Create the following registry key (it won't exist by default, so create this new key):
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Minimal\msiserver

(If you also want it available in Safe Mode w/ Networking, add the "msiserver" key under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot\Network\ key found here as well)

3. Edit the "(Default)" value in the new "msiserver" registry key, and enter "Service" in the "Value Data" box. Click OK, and close the registry editor.

4. Reboot back into Safe Mode, and the Windows Installer service should now run and allow you to add or remove programs in Safe Mode.


Marvellous! Credit to 'cluberti' on the msfn.org forums for this tip.


Tony

Internet broken: Customer forwarding

JJ

JJ and I had a great conversation yesterday about the company and how it appears that a lot of people tend to have two, perhaps three, significant recurring issues.  The first, and most common, is that their computer is running slowly.  This tends to affect older computers that have, over time, accumulated all manner of software (and when that is unnecessary software it's called bloatware) which seems to feel the need to run all the time that the computer is on draining precious resources from other activities.  The other is the inability to connect to the internet.  Now this issue seems to be the result of one of three things - faulty hardware, i.e. the modem, router, network card or cable has failed; spyware or viruses that prevent connection to the internet; and/ or issues with the internet service provider (ISP).  The problems are generally easiest to fix in that order.  Diagnosing and fixing a hardware issues is usually not a big deal except for the cost, obviously, of parts if required.  Identifying and removing spyware and viruses can be slightly more troublesome since often getting the software updates for the anti-virus/ anti-spyware programs can be limited by the inability to connect to the web-google machine (the internet!).  This means that those little flash drives (that come in all sorts of wonderful colors and styles) are ideal for porting around the latest and greatest anti-badness programs.  My current favorites are MalwareBytes, Anti-Malware and Safer Networking's Spybot Search and Destroy.  Great programs that really do an excellent job of finding and removing tough to remove stains on the insides of your computer.  Thirdly and most challenging are the problems associated with the ISP.  By the nature of the layers of software, internet re-directions, passwords, usernames, IP addresses and the like, it can be extremely frustrating to be faced with a call to customer support.  Every instance of contacting such results in being forwarded to someone else to whom one has to re-introduce oneself and the problem, and ultimately it's several hours before, hopefully, getting resolution but more likely having to call back the next day.  The only shining light is that buried deep in the underground vaults of these companies are some really amazingly clever and responsive people that understand the WHOLE picture and how internet connections work.  These people are the Tier 3 Gods, I met one called Keith just a couple of weeks ago and aside from being helpful, he was the first person that I spoke with that actually validated the sense that I had that this wasn't MY fault.  It would be great if the first person that picks up the phone wasn't an automated voice recognition menu system, that the second person was in the US, that the third person actually cared that I had an issue and so on.  The real power of customer service is in the ability to validate the customer's concerns, and stay with the issue until it's resolved.  I have a direct line to the Tier 3 group for my ISP now and I hope that I'll never have to call the number listed on the contact us page of the website.  Anyway... ranting over.

The final word is that customer service makes all the difference, it's a topic that JJ and I realised was extremely valuable for the business and one that we need to focus on especially in these tough economic times.