Comments on: Essential Computer Maintenance Tools

By: propellerhead

propellerhead — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Lawrence,

I'm sorry to hear about this. My dad actually got hit with one of these scams too. I wish he had asked me what to do! There are ways to get around paying the ransom they ask for, one of which is doing a Malware Bytes scan (as I go over in this post).
Sometimes, they have a lock on your system and you won't be able to download and run a scan. In that case, you can still fix your computer for free: grab all the data that you need to save off of your drive, and then reformat your computer.

By: Reliable Lawrence

Reliable Lawrence — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 06:00:58 +0000

I just had an on-line attact on my computer. The attacker called (Personal Security) tricked me into paying for some anti-virous solution program that was suppose to fix my problem automaticly, which only to caus more problems for me. After giving them my personal & Credit Card information. I though i'd contact Norton to get some help. They helped get my system cleaned up and running... But at a cost of $139.99 that I couldnt afford. Nevertheless, I also could not afford to be without my computer working correctly eather, so I did it anyway.

After taling to some people about my experience, (including Paul over at JiveSystems) I descovered that I may have been able to save most, if not all of that money and learn about keeping my system running at it's best. I want to thak Paul Sokol for all the tips he has freely given to me and Jive System for all the hand-holding help that they have privided since I've been a Jive Tribe member.

I will follow up on this tip and report on my findings.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:21:08 +0000

Nice Blog Reed:)

By: propellerhead

propellerhead — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 03:01:27 +0000

Yes. I don't have an AV program installed on my iMac yet either. As long as we browse responsibly, our Macs should be fine.

By: abundancymagnet

abundancymagnet — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:13:09 +0000

Thanks. Will pass on the anti-virus for now. Macs seem to do a great job filtering.

By: propellerhead

propellerhead — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 20:49:59 +0000

My personal main computer at home is a beautiful (and huge) iMac, and I love it. However, I've found that Apple computers are different in their needs from Windows in everything all the way down to how they structure their files. Because of this, programs like these are not made/are not as necessary for our Macs. I've found that Onyx (http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_di...) is the best program to use. It's a very deep customization program, and it contains the cleaning utilities that CCleaner offers. Check it out, but be careful of some of the settings. I've been playing around with it for a while now, but I'm still weary and learning.
As far as anti-virus for the Mac — Most virus programmers don't make viruses for Mac, because only 5-10% of the computers used are running a Mac OS. Therefore, there isn't as much of a need for anti-virus programs for Mac. However, if you want an anti-virus program for the Mac, I found http://www.clamxav.com. Use it at your own risk — I have not used it, but it seems to be a free program.

By: propellerhead

propellerhead — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:54:10 +0000

I wish they sold a “new computer smell” air freshener
I'm glad these tips helped, Nat. Keep an eye on these posts, I'll be writing about more great and simple maintenance tasks you can do to keep even an older computer quick on its feet.

By: Nat

Nat — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:46:32 +0000

Thank you for this article. I actually took the time to clean up my '04 Dell Inspiron 6000. It's running so much fast it almost has that “new computer smell”!