The Computer Doctor of Richmond

Well, those of you who social network know that mysapce is subject to spammers, advertisers and hijackers on a regular basis.  You also know that facebook does a much better job of keeping things clean and running smooth.  Well, be very careful if you’re a facebooker because a new phishing scheme is circulating called ubzpath.com. If it gets into a friends account you will get a posting saying something to the effect  of “did you know that your profile picture is now on ubzpath.com?”  If you then follow the link to to ubzpath it will prompt you for your email address and some other info.

First, do not go to the link.  However, if you do you will run the risk of getting hijacked if you follow through with putting in info.  To close the window, you will need to go into your task manager and end the task by hitting ctrl+alt+delete.

As always, make sure you have a good antivirus like MaCafee or Vipre to help keep you protected.  Be causous of links that your friends post.  Afterall, it may have not been your friend actually posting that, it may have been a hijacked profile!

Microsoft office finally going online

In the continuing trend of better late then never, Microsoft is set to unveil more information about their entry into cloud computing office suite at a conference today.

So what does this mean for you?  Not much really.  It means that they will be offering some of their popular office programs online.  This means that instead of installing a program that can run on your (regardless of if you are connected to the Internet or not) you will have to be connected to the Internet in order to write your documents.  Which in reality isn’t that big of a deal because the vast majority of consumers are connected to the Internet most of the time.

However, what about when you’re on a plane (that doesn’t offer in flight internet access yet) and you need to finish your business proposal?  Good thing you still have old fashioned program installed on your computer.

So, what is the benefit?  Benefits include better ability to share your documents and collaboration with others on a project.  Will they charge for it or offer it for free?  This is to be determined, but if they are smart they’ll allow users a basic version for free.  And if they need to charge, they’ll have a paid professional version.

But really, whey would I care?  Well, for the most part you shouldn’t.  Google Docs has been giving this away for years.  And if you’re worried about offline access, Open Office by Sun Micro systems (Java people) have their open office suite that you can download for free.

So, why pay for it when you can get it legally for free?

This is a red alert:  We here at The Computer Doctor of Richmond have been seeing a large outbreak of numerous fony antivirus and antispyware programs that are actually the virus/spyware/trojan etc….   Some of these include Windefender 2008, Antispyware XP 2008, Pro Antivirus 2009, Spy protector, Security 2009, PC defender 2008, and on and on and on.  If it looks semi legit, yet you don’t remember installing it on your computer, it is likely fake.

In many cases it will pop up not long after booting to your desktop and you’ll be prompted that there are 1-bazillion threats, pay $50 for a registered software that can remove these threats.  DO NOT DO IT!!! Not only will it not remove the real threat, you will have just wasted money and put yourself at risk for possible identity theft and or credit card fraud.  We had one customer who did pay for one of the products above, and she believes that is how her credit card number was stolen.

These fake security programs do a good job of looking legit, but are actually a threat to your security themself.  In many cases they are not only spyware, they are a trojan and open the door to many other rouge programs.  Unfortunately many of the legit antivirus programs like norton don’t do a very good job of removing them.  They may be able to remove portions of the threat, but often leave behind corruptions in your opperating system.

If you experiance any of these, we can help.  We have a perfect record of removing these threats at our crazy low prices!

Below are a couple of screen shots of what some of them look like:

Great News everyone, right now for a very limited time you can get the fantastic and Computer Doctor of Richmond preffered Vipre Antivirus and Antispyware for only $20!  Thats a full years subscription too.  Now it is only good for one computer, but if you have more computers, they’re just $5 additional.

Not only is Vipre a very good antivirus and antispyware security program, it does it in a very small footprint.  Meaning it doesn’t kill your computers speed like most of the other guys.

Hit the link for more info

And for a review of Vipre hit me

Good news Richmond Virginia, Goodwill and Dell just teamed up to make it a lot easier to get rid of that old ugly computer collecting dust in your closet.  The computers will either be refurbished or recycled thus promoting a green (plus tax deduction-able) way to get rid of it.  It is in most cases illegal to just through it out with the trash as it contains hazardous materials like Nichol and Mercury.

This is also an excellent opportunity to get rid of those old bulky CRT (TV) monitors!

They say that they will remove the old hard drive and erase the contents to protect any possible personal data still on the drive.

However, we here at The Computer Doctor of Richmond will assist you if you don’t feel comfortable with that.  We can completely erase your drive’s contents so they can not be recovered under any circumstance.  Or you can always remove the drive and hang onto it yourself and simply donate the rest.  In most cases it is just a couple of screws holding in the drive.

Or we also offer complete recycling service including free pickup and drop off to Goodwill for you.  We will remove the drive and erase it first.  In most cases this service is offered for just $35.  And if you have multiple computers they are just $5 more.

See this article from at inrich.com for more information.

Welcome to Richmond Virginia’s Premier source for home and small office PC Computer and Laptop repair.  The Computer Doctor of Richmond was started out of a necessity to provide top notch customer service to the PC repair business in Richmond, at the best possible price.  Why pay those outrageous prices to a big box chain that will have some high-school geek with no formal training (Google-ing it doesn’t count as formal training), when you can have trained doctors do the job for less.  The Computer Doctor of Richmond is putting the personal, honest touch back into the computer repair business.

Oh, and advice is always free!

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