Most of the ipad reviews I have seen in our industry space have focused on this question – is the sleek new ipad a tool for real estate professionals, or a toy?

Since that question has been posed, I thought I would begin a series of iPad reviews by providing my opinion on the subject. Before we delve in, let me answer the immediate question a number of members have asked.
Q. Will the ipad work on the MLS?
A. No – not yet, not perfectly. Don’t despair, however, read on for a more complete answer – it gets better!

Now, let me weigh in on the device itself. Future posts will review more in depth.

Cost – ~$800: I was ‘out the door’ for $670 for the 64 gb version.  Another $50 on the excellent Belkin rubberized bump sleeve to protect it from falls, and I am now spending money on apps.  Budget for at least $100 on apps, and your total startup cost is around $800.

Unboxing: Getting started with the ipad is a snap. I was adding apps in about 3 minutes from sitting down with the wrapped package. The ipad ships with the device itself, a standard ‘idevice’ USB power brick (works for ipod/iphone as well, feel free to charge those devices from the brick), and a standard idevice USB connection cable (same cable as ipod/iphone, feel free to interchange).’

The good news there is that a fully charged ipad will give you a solid 8-10 hours of fairly continual use, depending on what you are doing. That is truly amazing. I am generally able to start using it in the am, use it heavily throughout the day, and then just set it to charge overnight.

One flaw to the ‘universal’ charging/cable situation. Unlike the ipod/iphone, the ipad cannot be properly charged from most computers. With the ipod/iphone, you can just plug the USB cable into a desktop or laptop and you are charging. With the ipad, you really need to use the power brick.

There is a decent ‘unboxing’ video here.

The reported problems: Some early critiques of the ipad have included:

• High glare from the glossy screen
• poor wifi reception
• expensive apps
• tough to type
• missing hardware
• missing software

High glare - This just in, if you stare at the sun you will go blind (please don’t test that).  Sorry, but this critique seems really to be more a fact of life than a critique.  The screen looks like gorgeous crystal.  Of course it reflects light.  So I have to disagree with this one.  Sure, if you hold it at the right (wrong) angle outdoors in full sun, you can probably start a campfire if you wait a bit. But in practical use, indoors and out, i have never had really bad experiences with glare. I used the device for 6 hours on a cross country flight above the clouds, from the window seat, and had no issues.  The iphone/ipod had the same challenge, and the matte surface screen protectors work great if it really bothers you in daily use.

Poor wifi – Here again I must disagree. The word was that the placement of the wifi adapter behind the metallic apple logo was causing poor connectivity. My experience with connecting to wifi has been very positive. I have not tested range of connection on a wide variety of wifi hotspots, but on my home wifi, at the CCAR offices, and on the mifi mobile hotspot adapter I have tested, I have good and immediate connectivity from very reasonable distances. Throughput, or the speed of data transfer is not phenomenal, but not bad.

From what i have read, there does seem to be a real issue here for some users, but it sounds as though Apple has been trying to address them quietly in the background. Believe it or not, according to an official Apple knowledge base post, having the LED screen of the ipad on ‘dim’ screen brightness settings can cause wifi interference. If that is true, i am not concerned, because i like the screen bright, LED’s last a long time, and the battery still lasts 10 hours on full brightness. Apple states they will address any outstanding issues with a software update.

Expensive apps - I have to agree here. Whereas apps for the iphone and ipod were typically .99-1.99 apiece, most ipad apps are between 4.99 and 9.99. Many are over 10 dollars. Still, this is understandable, as a good ipad app is not simply a ‘big’ version of the ipod/iphone apps. The much larger screen is allowing for a range of options in creating the app interface that were simply not possible on the smaller screens of the ipod/iphone. Pinching, stretching, and a whole host of other ‘gesture’ based interactions with the device present a new world of possibilities on this beautiful surface.

Also, the ‘lite’ version of apps are often still applicable, so you can try before you buy, or sometimes even just enjoy the free ‘lite’ trial long term. Finally, and related to the first point, the apps I buy are just better. Sure, I take more time to review before I buy; no more ‘well, it is just 99c impulse buys. But that just means that I am buying less garbage apps that were made just to snag my 99c. I would much rather pay $5.99 for a quality app that will get more robust over time, and therefore get used, than pay 99 cents apiece for 6 ’shovelware’ apps that were just shoveled together to make a quick buck.

Tough to type – For the most part I have to disagree with this critique as well. I am a pretty solid touch typist.  I can do a solid 80 words a minute, and productivity at a keyboard is a big part of my day.  So I think I am a good test case here.

For my part, I find the keyboard overlay fairly convenient. The word recognition and learning are quite sophisticated. True, it cannot compete with the genuine keyboard experience just yet, but I actually enjoy typing on the ipad for most uses.  NOTE: this only applies when sitting in a good position with the ipad supported on your lap, or at a desk using the right type of stand.  Laying flat on a surface, or at odd angles, the onscreen keyboard puts you back into a ‘hunt and peck’ mentality.  Is it a real typing experience?  Almost, but not quite.  Still, this post was entirely written on the ipad.  It probably took me an extra 35% of the time it would have taken on a pc.  As a mobile blogging tool alone, with all the other perks aside, it is worth the price of admission for me.

Missing hardware - I was honestly shocked when I saw the first production ipad reviews. There is no integrated camera, and no USB ports. I think this is a bit annoying and limiting. First, the camera. One of the things that I saw Apple doing with the ipad was creating a drop dead simple video chat built in tool. Instead, they have apparently relegated this to third party app developers (requiring you to buy a bluetooth connected external camera).

This may be just a ploy, and future hardware versions of the ipad will likely include an integrated camera. Video chat is a great tool to connect people over distances, but on a pc it is a bit annoying. Most chat engines (yahoo IM, Gmail chat) have video chat software, but it is hardly ’simple.’ When technology is difficult to use, it doesn’t get used. This has been Apples forte; take an existing technology and make it perfect – feng shui for technology. I was really hoping the ipad would address this. Even the still camera only hardware of the original iphones would have been better than nothing.

As for no USB ports… again, this feels like a bit of a ploy to force a new round of device creation and purchase. USB is a wildly successful standard with broad adoption. Why force users to buy a new round of wireless devices if they don’t want to?

Also, a kensington lock mount would be nice…  There are times when I would want to be able to lock the device to a table during event registrations, etc.  I personally love the ipad so much, I would wear it as a necklace, if there was a decent way to support the device (but with apples typical smooth stylings, there is simply nothing to grab on to).

Missing software – No Flash??? Are you kidding me? Forgive me while I rant for a moment. Apple/Steve Jobs, please stop forcing your technology morals on users. Enable Flash now. Give me a toggle on my settings page just like the one for airplane mode to turn flash on and off.

For those of you who don’t know the full story, you can read a sanitized, somewhat revisionist history of it here on Apples website. Apple’s logic falls short for me. Yes, flash is a cpu hog (and therefore a battery drain), but it makes up for it in the most elegant use of bandwidth around. And frankly we are all suffering under the strain that the idevice revolution is placing on AT&T’s network, and the internet in general. A little efficiency there might be a nice thing. At the end of the day, if you follow Apples own logic, the worst case scenario of enabling flash for users of idevices is that the end users experience might suffer – not the platform, not the network, the user experience. So give me the choice. If flash sites and flash enabled apps don’t work well for me, I likely won’t use them.

I am looking forward to watching the Android based devices challenge this logic. Android based smartphones are starting to make a convincing case that they are in some ways superior to the iphone. The HTC Droid Incredible is a good example. Up next are ipad like competitors running Android, unencumbered by the Apple politics on this issue. If the end user experience is as rich as I expect, then Apple may have to follow suit.

So, is it a tool, or a toy?

The simple beauty of the device may elevate it to the level of ‘tool’ if used properly. Listings look great shown on an ipad, period.  Similarly, the amazing variety of niche ways to take advantage of the device; as an email client, as a notepad, as a movie player, as an artpad (and on and on), may elevate it to a real estate ‘tool’ for some.

But to understand the real answer to the tool/toy question, we need to recognize that while we are asking the right question, we are doing so at the wrong time.

The reality is simple; while the ipad is a beautiful, incredibly intuitive device, the toy vs tool question does not really depend on the device. We need to see what a new generation of surface apps will look and feel like, and what may be in store with the new ‘i-OS.’ Access to an exploding variety of apps is what made the ipod/iphone less a device than ‘a lifestyle.’ The same will be true of the ipad. At the time of this writing, there are only a few apps that i would say are a must have. In a few months, that number will grow by a factor of ten. And then again in a year.

By spring of next year, I suspect I will crave at least 100 very solid applications. Probably a dozen of these will be directly related to real estate, and another 2 dozen will augment the real estate experience (imagine, for example, a drop dead simple paint/drawing app to let you import a listing photo and quickly change paint schemes, furniture layouts, etc.). Note: read reviews before purchasing apps! There is still a lot of ’shovel-ware,’ apps shoveled together to get a quick buck.

Real Estate Applications:

Very briefly, if you are hoping to convert to the ipad exclusively on the go (no laptop, no stops at a desktop computer), prepare to be frustrated.  If I was buying and selling real estate, I would probably allocate ~$1200 to hardware…  $400 for a ‘netbook’ laptop, and $800 for an 64gb ipad with about $100 in apps.

The netbook would be for logging into the MLS and other core real estate applications on the road, at least until they catch up and offer a robust mobile experience.  The ipad would be for receiving emails with the results of my netbook searching; data (stats for example), and links to listings, etc.  It would also of course be the ‘go to’ way to view virtually any type of visual information, especially with a client.  But for now, it may not be the best way to gather that info.

For example, our current MLS platform cannot be viewed properly using the ipad.  Not even close.  Late this year we will upgrade that experience, but after testing it myself, the system is not quite right yet, and may not be ipad perfected when the platform goes live.  This market, the advanced mobile experience, is still a niche, and optimization and bug fixes for that niche will likely be addressed after the core desktop/laptop experience.

Purchasing tips:
UPDATED 6/1/10 10:27am: Asus announces new Android based competitor in early 2011, the eeePad.
Consider waiting.  As competition in this space increases, costs will come down.  Hopefully we will see some of that late this year.  Certainly by next year.  Similarly, you will likely get more bang for your buck in 9-12 months when ipad v2 is released, hopefully addressing some of the hardware issues.  Finally, hopefully software will also adapt and improve.

What we are starting to see is the appearance of a whole new niche of robust mobile devices.  They are creating a demand for a ‘lite’ version of applications like the MLS.  I am not talking about the common approach which is to offer a simple, cell phone optimized search.  I am talking about a genuine MLS experience made for devices like the ipad, whether we are talking about an ‘app’ in the apple store, or just a browser based search.

If you absolutely have to have it, feel good about it, because it is an amazing experience.  Don’t buy the 3G version, buy a mifi instead. A number of real estate practitioners will want the ability to connect on the go, and the ipad data enabled version certainly allows for that. But given the cost of the data plan, you should strongly consider getting a ‘mifi’ device from Sprint or Verizon instead. This will enable you, and 5-10 other users to connect just as seamlessly. It has the added advantage of servicing your or other users laptops on the go, not just the ipad. True, you then need two decices, but the sleek little ‘mifi’ devices fit anywhere, keep a 4 hour working charge, and are simple to use.

Get the 64gb version (or larger when available), if you are going to use the device, you will want it. Apple does a phenomenal job updating its software (the devices operation system) and firmware (the devices basic hardware level programming). But they cannot remote upgrade your hardware. Apps are growing larger and richer every day. Trust me, you will want the space.

Now that we have done a brief introduction to the ipad, future posts will focus on detailed practical uses for real estate, configuration tips, must have apps, and more.

When it comes to keeping your Windows PC secure, all of the scare tactics and overblown virus stories out there make it hard to feel safe online. The fact of the matter is that you don’t need to pay for Windows security

From time to time we like to go on long, opinionated rants about subjects that bug us. This is one of those times. So let’s have a frank and honest discussion about Windows security, and leave the scare tactics and FUD for money-grubbing corporate marketers

Microsoft Security Essentials is a Great Antivirus Application

The release of Microsoft Security Essentials has changed the landscape of antivirus software. We’ve finally got a completely free application that protects against viruses, spyware, and other malware—without killing system performance like some of the “suites” tend to do. In my personal experience, it barely slows down the machine and rarely affects my work—and during a deliberate attempt to download some viruses (for testing purposes), it immediately found and blocked them from doing anything..

You don’t have to take my word for it, however. Not only did AV-Test.org find that it detects 98% of their enormous malware database, but AV-Comparatives (a widely known anti-malware testing group) found that MSE was one of only three products that did well at both finding and removing malware, including the leftovers. It was also the only free product to grab their “Advanced+” rating—the top honor for an anti-malware solution.

The more tech-oriented readers will probably note that MSE does not do any fancy heuristics to detect viruses that aren’t in the database already, which is a feature offered by some paid solutions. In my opinion, this feature is usually unnecessary and a massive system drag if combined with a healthy dose of not installing questionable nonsense.

Stop Whining About “Outbound” Firewalls

Every time I read an article about the built-in Windows Firewall, I see comments complaining that they use Zone Alarm or some other software because they handle “Outbound” connections. Let’s put it on the table—the Windows Firewall has plenty of capability for handling outbound connections if you really need that level of paranoia. In fact, if you just look through your start menu you’ll find a link for Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. You can head into there and pretty much configure any setting that you can possibly imagine, getting right down to the port level if you want.

The fact of the matter, however, is that outbound firewalls on a desktop PC are completely pointless. If the malware has made its way onto your computer, you have already lost the war. Your PC now belongs to whoever is running the botnet, and your outbound firewall isn’t going to stop it—after all, the malware can simply add a rule to the firewall to allow access. It’s better to focus on keeping malware off your PC in the first place.

Let’s not forget that most of us are using a router with a firewall built right into it, and as long as you aren’t using easily-cracked WEP encryption, you should be perfectly safe behind your firewall.

User Account Control (UAC) is Not a Security Tool

The single most irritating feature introduced in Windows Vista was those annoying UAC prompts, asking you for permission to do nearly anything on your computer—and the fact is, even if it makes you feel more secure, it’s a false sense of security. Malware researchers at SophosLabs found that 8 of 10 malware samples can actually bypass UAC on a system with the default Windows 7 settings.

The fact of the matter is that unless you’ve pushed the UAC slider all the way to the top, it’s not meant to be a security feature. The original intent was to change the way Windows works so that you can more easily run software as a standard user account, instead of running as administrator all the time. So there you have it—if you aren’t going to run as a standard user or turn the slider all the way to the top, you may as well disable UAC.

Keep Windows Updated

When it comes to protecting yourself, it’s laughable how many people install multiple antivirus applications but don’t keep their system updated with the latest operating system patches. Last April, the Conficker worm was exploiting and spreading on millions of PCs through a critical security hole in Windows—one that had been patched the previous October.

If everybody would simply keep their systems patched, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about these problems. If the constant rebooting action of Windows Update has you frustrated, you can always temporarily delay Windows Update’s forced reboot, or just make it not restart your PC automatically—but you should always have Windows Update running at all times.

Keep Applications Like Acrobat and Flash Updated, or Uninstall Them

Even though we’re complaining about people not keeping Windows updated, the fact of the matter is that the most likely cause of drive-by malware infection these days is through your browser plugins. Adobe Flash is notoriously full of security holes, and the latest attacks have been using vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat to infect your PC without installing a thing—just go to the wrong site that redirects you in a hidden frame to a PDF file containing the exploit, and your system can be exploited.

Keeping your applications updated is critically important to protecting your security. Your firewall won’t protect you, and an antivirus software is unlikely to help if you’re using an old, vulnerable version of Flash in your browser—what you need is a piece of software that scans your PC and makes sure that you are using the latest, patched versions. We’ve got you covered with the five best software update tools for any OS, but my personal recommendation for Windows is for Secunia PSI.

Stop Downloading Questionable Files

There’s a little-known fact that I don’t usually tell anybody, but I’m going to share with you today: I haven’t used real-time antivirus software on my PC in 10 years, and I’ve never been infected with a virus. About once a year, I run through an online virus scanner to make sure that my claim still holds true, and it’s never happened.

How have I managed that, while being a geek and testing software all the time? There’s a couple of simple rules that will protect you:

• Use an online scanner like VirusTotal to scan questionable files before installing them.

• Don’t download and install those questionable files in the first place.

• Use some common sense. That pre-release copy of the latest video game you got from a torrent? Yeah, it probably has a virus in it.

So what do you say? Are the built-in tools, combined with Microsoft Security Essentials, good enough for you, or are you going to stick with the full paranoia route? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments.

The How-To Geek thinks a little common sense and system patches goes a long, long way towards a secure system. His geeky articles can be found daily here on Lifehacker, How-To Geek, and Twitter.

Send an email to How-To Geek, the author of this post, at lowell@lifehacker.com.

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General Disclaimer

CCAR does not guarantee the reliability or quality of any of the products, links, software, or hardware of the vendors mentioned in CCAR Help Blog articles. Nor do we have a vested interest in any of those entities whatsoever. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon or use of any of the aforementioned shall be at your sole risk. CCAR reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to make improvements to, or correct any error or omissions in any portion of the information presented on this site.

by Richard Tausch

“Understand how, why, and what you can do.”

First understand that CCAR has a firm policy of not allowing the distribution of a ‘bulk‘ email address list. CCAR does not allow or facilitate the distribution of such a list under any circumstances. Our members‘ privacy and ability to conduct business uninterrupted by unsolicited nuisance messages is of paramount importance. CCAR invests resources specifically in preventing this behavior, and in educating members how to best avoid being a target of such behavior.

So, while CCAR has never and never will distribute our members email addresses in bulk format, SPAM still happens. Understanding why, and what you can do, is a big part of preventing as much SPAM as possible.

‘Normal‘ events can easily lead to your email address being added to SPAMMING lists. ‘Normal‘ events would include things like registering for a service of some sort (credit reporting, updates from your favorite catalog, virtually anything where you supply an email address). Not all services and vendors are the same, of course. Some of these folks will sell address lists, others will simply not guard them very safely, and some will do an exceptional job of guarding your privacy. All of that can of course change over time. There is really no way of knowing for certain when it is sensible to provide an email address, and when you are asking for trouble. A good strategy to help with this to an extent is to have several email addresses, at least one of which you keep sacrosanct and never ‘give away‘ online in this fashion (see below).

However, ‘normal‘ events are not all that professionals like REALTORS® have to deal with. The particulars of the real estate business make it both relatively easy and desirable to SPAM its practitioners. Understanding that YOU ARE A TARGET, in many ways more than the average internet user, can help you minimize the problem to an extent. Not only are you a target, most practitioners have painted a convenient bulls-eye directly on their web presence. Let’s take a step back to understand this.

You have a website. You want exposure and leads (this is why you have a website of course), so you place your email address and link it to a ‘mailto:‘ command that when someone clicks it will generate and email to you. Your email address is thus typically displayed in both plain text on the page (‘Click here to email me at something@somewhere.com‘ for instance), as well as being embedded in the html code on your page.

Now, the way that people find your website is typically by searching for it. Search engines facilitate this by first ‘crawling‘ or ‘spidering‘ the web to see what is out there. In doing so, they sample all of the text on your webpage, especially the links (like the mailto: link). Most of the time this is a harmless, and even beneficial thing. However, if someone wants to build a ‘bulk‘ list of email addresses for REALTORS® in the bay area, the same techniques make it relatively easy to do so. ‘Spidering‘ for web sites that discuss real estate, allow you to search the MLS, mention one or more city in the area, and have a mailto: link will give me a list to harvest from. Processing the content on those pages to end up with every email address from every page that fits that category is then relatively simple.

Best practices at this time is to avoid placing an actual email link, or your email address in plain text on your website. A picture of the text of your email address, for instance, is much preferable. A form that consumers can fill out on your page that then sends a message to you without ever exposing your address is ideal. Even simply typing your address with some obvious separator characters will help immensely (for example, something (@) somewhere (.) com).

Additional tips and techniques can be found below. Thank you for taking the time to understand that while you may receive a solicitation to your email to purchase a ‘bulk‘ list of addresses, CCAR has never and never will sell, give away or facilitate the distribution of such a list.

Preventing Spam (or at least trying to)

Q: Is there a way to prevent junk mail from flooding my email?

A: Good question, but there isn´t an easy answer.

We suggest to never Opt Out when provided with the option. It only confirms the validity of the email address originally sent to and often it increases the level of junk that shows up.

There are lots of suggestions on how to handle SPAM, but the best ways aren´t going to work for REALTORS® as they naturally want to expose as many ways for potential clients to contact them as possible, so hiding contact information (email addresses) isn´t an option (hiding email addresses reduce the harvesting and population of SPAM lists).

The next best solution is that you may want to use a SPAM guard type software or 3rd party mail filter. There are many on the market and we haven´t done a head to head test on what products work better than others, so we cannot make any specific suggestions. The key components to look for are:

Accuracy, ease of use and automatic updating

Other quick suggestions:

Try not to send funnies or chain letters to your friends. When your friends send them to you, either ask them not to or create a free email for that purpose only. Because eventually one of those emails will fall into the hands of a list harvester and all the email addresses embedded inside (everyone it was sent to previously) will be added to SPAM lists. Don´t sign up for anything on the web using your primary email accounts. Create a few free email addresses and use them for different purposes.

Here´s to happy computing,

Richard Tausch

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General Disclaimer

CCAR does not guarantee the reliability or quality of any of the products, links, software, or hardware of the vendors mentioned in CCAR Help Blog articles. Nor do we have a vested interest in any of those entities whatsoever. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon or use of any of the aforementioned shall be at your sole risk. CCAR reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to make improvements to, or correct any error or omissions in any portion of the information presented on this site.

by Richard Tausch

“How to Win the Battle against Malware”

Malware, according to Wikipedia, is short for malicious software, software designed to infiltrate a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.

So here’s the scoop…..you know something is wrong with your computer since you clicked yes to some pop-up that said you have viruses, or you went to the wrong website by accident and when you closed the page, you noticed an odd message and since then, when you have tried to go to a number of websites, you get redirected to a page that is not the one you wanted, or you get a warning message, or a number of other anomalies seem to be taking place.

In short, the problem is either quite obvious or subtle but you know something is wrong.

IMPORTANT: Please don’t click on the links at the bottom of this article that contain free Malware removal software yetbecause you will need to approach Malware removal programs based on certain conditions as defined below.

If you have Malware, how you approach this is based on either…..

A) Your system is incapacitated and you literally cannot do anything

B) Your system is simply behaving oddly and you can’t put your finger on it

In the case of A), the Malware may actually cause one of the following that results in:

1) Preventing you from going to Malware removal sites

2) Preventing you from downloading and installing the Malware removal software

3) Presenting an error when you install or run the removal software

4) The removal software not initializing when you run the removal software

In the case of A), there is a different way to use the Malware removal software which I will get to shortly. In the case of B), you can typically download Malware removal software and run it and I will cover both of these shortly.

IMPORTANT: Two points I need to make here. First if you feel uncomfortable about following any of these steps, please contact a Techie person to handle this for you. We at CCAR may be able to help you as well. Secondly, rare is the case where you or a Techie will run a Malware scan with the Malware removal software and the after-effect is a system that no longer boots. In the 10 years I have been removing Malware, I have had only 1-2 cases out of hundreds where I had to recover an unbootable system which I was able to do. The reason for this outcome was that the Malware had spread so deep into the system that it infected boot files.

So my advice is that even though the odds are very slim that you will have a system that is worse than it was before the Malware removal process, as long as you can operate your system, you should back up your files to an external hard drive or USB flash drive before proceeding.

Please make sure you have read all the previous information prior to this part before proceeding.

THE FIX

If you are:

A) Your system is incapacitated and you literally cannot do anything

You will need to follow these steps:

First, turn off your computer and turn it back on and right when you turn it back on, tap the F8 key once every 1-2 seconds until you see a black screen with white text. This screen indicates boot options. You will want to choose the option that says “Safe Mode with Networking”. When you login this way, your display will show big icons and everything will look oversized. That’s expected.

When you get to the desktop, you will want to attempt to go to the Malware removal software site of your choice (a few listed below) and download the software. If your browser does not work, the other option is to locate and use another computer and download the software on that computer to a USB flash drive and then plug the drive into the infected computer and run the Malware removal software as in the following.

From this point going forward, the instructions apply to both:

A) Your system is incapacitated and you literally cannot do anything

And you are logged in to Safe Mode with Networking

Or….

B) Your system is simply behaving oddly and you can’t put your finger on it

And you are logged in normally

I can now assume you have downloaded, installed, and updated your new Malware removal software and are ready to run it.

Here is what you want to do. There are typically two options for scanning your system with Malware and they have different names but one is a quick scan and the other is a full scan. A quick scan option covers the most commonly infected files. Some removal software programs don’t have this choice and you will have one scan mode. If you do have the choice, choose the one that looks to perform a full scan. The scanning process can take up to an hour or more depending on how many files your computer has.

At the conclusion of the scan you will see a results window and will want to click on it. There is usually a button that says “Remove Selected Items”. You will want to choose this. After the process is complete, it may ask you to reboot. At the point of reboot, it is possible you may then be free of Malware. If you feel that you would like to be extra sure, you can always install a second Malware removal software program, such as from the list at the bottom.

Now I am going to list the free software that I have used over the years that has worked very well for me. My favorite lately has been Malwarebytes. I usually install 1-2 Malware removal programs because they often overlap in their effectiveness.

Below is the list of software I have used in order of favorites. My personal recommendation is to just use Malwarebytes to see if that will result in success for you, and then move on to one of the others. I would recommend having no more than 2 Malware removal programs on your system.

IMPORTANT:I don’t recommend doing a typical search through a search engine for Malware removal programs because you may instead get Malware cloaked as a removal program. Always refer to a Techie person or Tech magazine to learn the best removal programs, such as the list below.

Note: The free versions have been very effective from my observations. Free versions usually have a link somewhere on the page of the sites below.

Again, as noted, if you feel uncomfortable using any of this software, please contact a Techie or perhaps we can help.

So without further preamble…..

MALWAREBYTES:

http://malwarebytes.org

SUPERANTISPYWARE:

http://superantispyware.com

CCLEANER:

http://www.ccleaner.com

SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Here’s to happy connections,

Richard Tausch

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General Disclaimer

CCAR does not guarantee the reliability or quality of any of the products, links, software, or hardware of the vendors mentioned in CCAR Help Blog articles. Nor do we have a vested interest in any of those entities whatsoever. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon or use of any of the aforementioned shall be at your sole risk. CCAR reserves the right, in its sole discretion and without any obligation, to make improvements to, or correct any error or omissions in any portion of the information presented on this site.

by Richard Tausch

“My computer is not connecting to the internet. What do I do now?!”

Your heart is racing and your nerves are frazzled. It’s Friday. You just glanced at the clock and noticed it is 4:48pm. You have a customer packet that needs to go out before 5pm, and you cannot connect to the Internet. Sound familiar?

It looks like Murphy’s “Lawlessness” has wrapped its claws around you and taken hold. Don’t fret….at least, not just yet!

Let’s start by discussing the three most common areas of failure if you cannot connect to the Internet, some of which you may be able to resolve by your lonesome. We won’t go into the details regarding the third item, “Virus’s and Malware,” but just touch upon it briefly because we will have a separate article on products and how to use them to remove viruses and malware in an upcoming article. But I would like to cover some items that you can address that may bring you back online without having to wait on hold with Comcast, Yahoo, or another provider and you may even beat that deadline yet, provided you can leap into action.

Here are the three situations that typically cause your internet (or, in the case of viruses and malware, your browser) to fail:

• Your ISP May Be Down

Often times it is difficult to tell whether your ISP is down (outage) or your local network is down, because often the same lights flash (or fail to flash). In both cases, you are left with the ambiguity of not knowing how to proceed, aside from calling your ISP directly or simply restarting your computer.

In the case of some outages, when you call in to an ISP, there may be a message reflecting the status of an outage in your area or the ability through prompts to check for an outage in your area. But if your internet is down, the issue may lie in your home network, specifically your Comcast or DSL router, your wireless router, your cable connection, or your computer itself. So let’s discuss these next:

• Your Home Network

o Your home network is a fairly complex system, but easy to diagnose for most situations. These suggestions might help resolve your connectivity issue:

1. The first thing I usually ask a customer to do is to try going on the internet with another browser. Many computers have Firefox (and even Safari) installed. If this is the case, try opening up Firefox and go to both google.com and yahoo.com. If that works, there is a good chance that your Internet Explorer browser is corrupt or hijacked by malware, which tries to direct you to certain sites, among other annoyances such as failing to load a web page. If there are other computers on the same home network, verify that they also cannot get on the Internet. If they cannot, proceed to step 3. If they can get, proceed to step 2 instead.

2. Repair your network connection. In Windows XP, either right-click on “My Network Places” and go to “Properties.” As an option, click on the Start button and look for “My Network Places,” right-click on it, and go to “Properties.” In the window that opens, look for either the “Local Area Connection” Icon or the one that indicates “Wireless.” Right-click on it and choose “Repair.” Wait 2 minutes and try your browser again. In Windows Vista, go to the Start button, click on “Network,” and then “Network and Sharing Center” in your breadcrumb (the blue menu bar). Finally, click on “Diagnose and Repair” on the sidebar. Often times this can result in success.

3. Restart your Comcast Cable or DSL unit. If the above fails, here is something you can do in virtually 2-3 minutes: If you are using a cable modem such as Comcast and there is no network activity (you may have only 2 green lights flashing), go to the back of the Comcast box, pull out the power plug (the little black plug), wait 20 seconds, and then replace the plug. Then remove the coaxial cable, wait 5 seconds, and tighten it back in. Wait 3 minutes or until 4 of the 5 green lights are lit and then retest your browser. If you are using a DSL connection, then pull the little black power plug out of the back, wait 20 seconds, connect the plug back up, wait 3 minutes, and try to connect to the internet.

4. Reboot your computer. Sometimes after resetting your home network, you may still need to reboot your computer.

5. Restart your wireless router. Last but not least, locate your wireless router if you have one. This is the device that is connected to your Comcast cable or DSL box. Look for the little black power plug at the back, pull it out, wait 20 seconds, and then replace it. Wait for 3 minutes. If you still cannot get on the internet, then it is possible you will need to contact your ISP.

• Viruses and Malware

o It’s no secret that many viruses and malware creators have gravitated toward trying to make money rather than just propagating destruction on computers these days. These new derivatives come in the form of browser hijacks that try to redirect you to a site that you did not choose in hopes of having you purchase products, or trying to capture keystrokes that could include personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers. Naturally, the best way to avoid having these situations is to make sure you have anti-virus and anti-malware software on your system, and that they are updated. There are a number of free choices which will be discussed in a future article.

How will you know if there is a possibility your browser has been exploited by viruses or malware? That may be the case if your system has slowed (slowness can also be caused by other things) but, most important, if you enter a web site and get the wrong one, or your browser fails to load, you may have been victimized by malware. That holds true as long as others in your network are able to get on the Internet from other computers. If so,this situation suggests the necessity of installing anti-virus or anti-malware software, and updating it if already installed, and doing system scans.

Start at the top of this list and work down. Perform the checks and steps outlined above, and there is a good chance you will be back on the Internet in short order.

Here’s to happy connections,
Richard Tausch

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