Ask DACS
April 2014

Moderated and reported by Jim Scheef

Ask DACS is a Question and Answer session before the main presentation at the monthly General Meeting. We solicit questions from the floor and then answers from other audience members. My role as moderator is to try to guide the discussion to a likely solution to the problem. The answers below include my own post-meeting research.

Q – After receiving and installing a software program, I can no longer get on the Internet. My system is running Vista. Other computers in the house have Internet access. Can I download a new update to fix this?
A – The first step is to determine what is broken. A member asked if the problem computer can receive email and email seems to be working, so the problem now centers on Internet Explorer. The questioner states that Internet Explorer opens to a blank window with just the blue title bar at the top and no menus or web content. It then hangs at that point. The suspect program is called “Systweak Advanced System Protector”. We got a good chuckle at this program name, but it does have a nice website and is offered at the reduced price of $29.95. Whether it is legitimate or not, the effect on this computer is analogous to a browser hijacker. Audience members suggested running an antivirus/malware scan using whatever antivirus or anti-malware program is installed on the machine. Before you do that, I suggest booting Windows into safe mode by repeatedly hitting F8 as soon as the machine’s BIOS messages appear. Safe mode blocks many services and background programs from starting which makes it more likely that the anti-virus can scan effectively.
A member suggested resetting Internet Explorer back to “factory settings” by opening the Internet Options applet in Control Panel and looking for the “Reset Internet Explorer Settings” button. In Vista, this is found on the Advanced tab. Assuming this restores IE to a working state, you can work on a longer term cure. If more than one antivirus program is actually running, uninstall all but the one that you want to keep. Then download either Firefox or Chrome. Then download, install and run Malwarebytes. The free version is hidden but is still available. Reboot into Safe Mode and run a full scan with Malwarebytes. Quarantine and then delete any threats it finds. [Note: this is an example of why we recommend installing a second browser. Not only would it make clear where the problem lies, but would make it possible to search for a solution.]

Q – I’m still running XP and get many invitations to install software that will “update XP device drivers”. Is this a good idea?
A – A member offered the advice: “Just say no!” Personally I consider those programs to be malware. The likelihood of new device drivers for XP is virtually nil as hardware manufacturers have zero incentive to fix software for an out-of-date operating system. The device driver “model” changed with Vista and has continued into Win8. Thus Vista drivers have a good chance of working on Windows 8 which gives hardware manufacturers a good reason to provide updates.

Q – My XP machine is not fast enough to upgrade, so I’d like to keep it running. I understand that Microsoft will continue to support Security Essentials for another year. Is this true and will this provide sufficient protection?
A – Post meeting research shows that the rumor was not true and Microsoft has ended support for Security Essentials. An option would be to install the free version of AVG or other antivirus software, however, the consensus was that this is not a good idea. We hope to reschedule the “XP to Ubuntu Workshop” soon. This is a good, low-cost option to extend the life of XP-era hardware. Another option for email and web browsing is a tablet like an Apple iPad.

Q – I had a weird experience with Google Maps. Using Firefox I opened Google Maps and instead of the map and search window, I got the Earth with the message to “try the new Google Maps” plus a login form with no other option. Has anyone else had this experience? This “offer” continued for two days and then was gone.
A – Generally doesn’t Google provide an option to continue with the current maps (or other product)? Also requiring a login seems “un-Google”. I fully understand the reluctance to log into Google just to use a map.

Questions for the upcoming meeting can be emailed to askdacs@dacs.org.

Disclaimer: Ask DACS questions come from members by email or from the audience attending the general meeting. Answers are suggestions offered by meeting attendees and represent a consensus of those responding. DACS offers no warranty as to the correctness of the answers and anyone following these suggestions or answers does so at their own risk. In other words, we could be totally wrong!