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Ads by BlockandSurf are typically a sign of severe trouble with your computer. Past releases of this malware could be removed easily by uninstalling the software and sometimes removing some registry settings. However the lastest infection we found on a Windows 8 system was unresolved except by reinstalling the system to the factory default installation.

Signs of Infection

The Ads by BlockandSurf appear as popup ads in the lower left of the browser, on the left as sidebar ads, and in some cases will appear as a floating web dialog box over the main web page. In all cases there is some indication that the popup is being presented by "Ads by BlockandSurf". One of the signs that this is not the easy to remove version of this infection is that clicking on a link on what appears to be a clean web page results in the destination page appearing with the ads and one or more addition tabs or browser windows that appear attempting to display web sites that have malicious content that attempts to install on your computer.

After reinstalling Windows 7 and then tried to install the network driver for the computer the driver installation application displayed the following error "The procedure entry point AddDLLDirectory could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll." This error occurred because the driver installation was ...

Most boot sector viruses detected by some of the best commercial antivirus software such as Symantec's Norton Antivirus, Microsoft's Security Essentials, or Kapersky's Antivirus can not be removed by these applications. And in many cases a boot sector virus is capable of alluding these applications unless the drive is connected to a clean system that has the AV software actively running.

What is a boot sector virus? This is a computer virus that infects a diskette or hard drive in the area which contains information about the configuration of the disk. The boot sector is used by many computer operating systems to determine how to access the diskette or drive. These viruses replace the critical boot sector program used to start the computer with their own malicious program often causing frequent computer crashes, allowing other malware infections, and performance issues.

Client's HP Pavilion M9400t was reported as having a noisy fan and then would not boot any longer. The power supply was the primary reason for the system not powering but after replacing the power supply the system would continually reboot. Using the F8 key while booting we were able to force the system to stop on the error and not reboot. This allowed the error message STOP 0x0000007B to be displayed. This error most often is reported when there is a hardware issue.

After backing up the hard drive using Norton Ghost, we went through a series of tests by removing hardware. In this case the video card was an add-in so it was removed but the problem still persisted. Next we checked the BIOS settings and noted the default for the SATA drive was set to RAID. We changed this to IDE and rebooted the system. The system booted normally.

Frequently we are called to a new client because of network performance or stability issues. These cases manifest themselves over time by inexperienced data cabling installers, typically the business owner or one of the employees, who attempted to save some money by doing the work themselves.

The installation of data cabling, also referred to as structured cabling, is almost as much an art form as it is a time tested trade that can most effectively be perfected through the training by one with years of experience and formal training in the field.

Each time Fedora would release a new version I would install a fresh install of the latest version. The difficulty was always trying to remember how I setup the previous system so that everything would work. In this case the primary function of the Fedor server was for web site hosting. These are the typical steps I used to create my Linux server based on research from others that have posted their process as well as my own experience in the process.

One additional aspect of this process was to support Joomla installations. You will note specific configuration settings that relate to the operation of Joomla in Linux at the end.

There are times that you may have a web site that you frequent often that gets updated which causes the site to function in unusual ways or may not work at all. Most likely the reason is that some of the files that are related to the site didn't update on your local computer. To resolve this issue you need to flush or clear the cache files from your browser. The steps below are for Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 but are similar for older versions.

1. Open Internet Explorer or IE as it is often referred to.
2. Select Tools from the menu or the gear icon.
3. Select Internet options which will open a dialog box defaulting to the General tab.
4.  Click the Delete... button under the Browsing History section.
5.  Click the OK button at the bottom and the close Internet Explorer
6.  Reopen Internet Explorer and go to the web site that was having issues.

If the cache of older incompatible files was the issue, then the site should be working now. If this was not the issue, it might be a compatibility issue with Internet Explorer and may need the Compatibility View option enabled for the site. 

On some occasions Windows Small Business Server 2011 will not keep accurate time. This can be a problem with some network devices attempting to connect with the server and is especially an issue with workstations that will automatically look to the small business server for their time.

By running the following command from a command prompt, you can view the current configuration and status of the Windows Time service.

After spending years supporting the Microsoft platform you find those special tools that help you overcome specific situations that seem monumental at first because you have to manually work your way through it. If you are lucky you will find some administration tool that eases that pain because someone before you had it to and had the skill to develop a tool to make it easier.

The purpose of this page is to help point others to some great web sites that offer free tools for administrating a Microsoft environment. Since we are unaffiliated with any of these sites, use these tools with caution. We don't advocate piracy so if there is a licensing fee, please pay up. The only things free are viruses and malware - and eventually you will pay the cost for that too.

The Search Protect malware is often inadvertently installed with other freeware applications. We won't go into the details of this application, there is plenty of information published already. These days you don't get anything for free, it seems many of these free applications come with malware bundled with them, Search Protect being one of them.

We see this application often on client computers and removing it can be difficult. The application is constantly changing so these steps might work or they might not. But it won't hurt to give it a try.

Computer security is an important training topic for us with all of our clients, both consumer and business. We know that keeping your financial information safe is as important to you as it is to your bank. Your bank has likely instituted some safeguards according to established security standards which keep your financial information secure and confidential. While your bank works hard to keep your money safe, you also need do your part. The following reminders will help protect your information from online fraud and identity theft.

The first line of defense is you. It is important that you use the tools available to protect your data, which is anything that may describe who you are as well as your account numbers and passwords. Your choice of password, decision to visit a web site, open an e-mail message, or post personal data will affect the security of your personal data.

A very frustrating situation for our business clients is when they send an e-mail message to a client that has hyperlinks embedded in the message and the link doesn't open in the client's web browser. The issue is typically caused when Google Chrome or another web browser is installed and then later removed. But malware applications will also cause this issue too.

To fix the web links in your Microsoft Outlook application so that they will open, follow these steps.

One of our QuickBooks Enterprise users started to get an error whenever they would run payroll and create checks. The process would complete and checks would be created but QuickBooks would display an error message "An unexpected error has occurred in 'Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions: Professional Services 14.0' and then the application would close.

It is suspected that there was an update applied that changed the security settings in the application that caused this issue because when another user that was an administrator of QuickBooks ran payroll the problem didn't occur. In addition the error message in the Windows Application Event log indicated that the failure was related to access to the employee template file, "Failed adding medicare tax item to employee template - Permission error".

Some applications are more sensitive than others with respect to antivirus applications scanning the data files for malicious content. Many of these applications have a database component to them. But in an effort to not get too bogged down in identifying the file it is sometimes easier to just exclude the applications folder from the scan process....

The process for upgrading QuickBooks Enterprise 2012 to QuickBooks Enterprise 2013 is fairly easy, but it may take some time depending on the number of workstations and the size of the database file.

In our client's environment, we run QuickBooks Enterprise on a Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2011, which runs as a Virtual Machine (VM) within VMware vSphere 4.1. The first step in any upgrade is to make sure you have a good back up before proceeding.

When using the recovery CD for various eMachines (T2080, T2792, T3065) with Windows XP, the computer hangs or freezes at the Name My Computer stage of the process. After spending some time researching the issue, other technicians have noted that the system is stuck trying to configure the video.

The easiest way around this is to shutdown and reboot in VGA mode as follows. If your not sure how to shutdown the computer at this point, just press and hold the power button for about 10 seconds until the computer powers off.

Repair Process

Have you considered the security risk that your copier poses to your company? What about the risk to your employees and the potential lawsuits by them when their identity is stolen?

For the last several years most copier manufactures have been installing hard drives into these devices. The hard drives contain the impressions of the copies that were made whenever someone made a copy of a document. These images can exist on the copier for as long as the copier is in use and longer.

Many companies today don't own their copiers, they lease them. What happens when that copier is removed from a business and replaced with a new one? All of the companies information has just been rolled out of the business waiting for someone to discover it. In some cases the copier might be shipped to another country.

Have your employees ever used these copiers to make copies of personal medical information? Their information is at risk too. Identity theft is on the rise and your employees might be looking to blame you for allowing their information to be compromised.

The default method for removing Webroot SecureAnywhere on an Apple system may not work if the Secure Anywhere application is running and there is no icon in the menu bar. The only option for removal is a completely manual process involving the use of the Terminal session on the Mac. Following these steps should allow you to remove the Webroot Secur...

Many small businesses spend big money on getting themselves noticed on the web with very little results. Often with a little effort of someone who has some basic computer skills can improve a company's presence with many of the free tools that are available.

Yext has one of those tools and they will allow you to use it for free, but like everything that is free there is still a price to be paid. If you use Yext's web listing tool to just get a report of where your business is listed it won't cost you anything but a couple of phone calls from their sales team trying to get you to use there service.

A client attempted to install an upgrade to Kaspersky Anti-virus, but the install was interrupted and so the system was left in an unstable state. Continued use of the computer frequently resulted in the following Blue Screen of Death.

One of the side effects from this issue was that the hard drive was constantly getting corrupted and several drivers would fail to load. In order to get the system to boot we had to go into safe mode, run a check disk on reboot, and then the system would finally boot and run for a short period of time, which was all we needed.