Online System Virus Scanning Services

Please understand me here - don't misunderstand the purpose of this article. You absolutely must have up to date, real time virus protection on your computer. Even if you have no money to pay for one, that's OK, there are several excellent, free products. As far as a vendor recommendation, please feel free to peruse the neverending discussions in alt.comp.virus.

But even with up to date, real time protection (and please don't try running two installed virus protection products simultaneously), you will experience times when a second - and a third - opinion is necessary.

Fortunately, you don't have to download and install more software. In this case, there are several excellent free online services, that will scan your entire system, using applets running under the control of your browser, at your convenience.

BitDefender
eTrust
F-Secure
Kaspersky
McAfee
MicroWorld
Panda
RAV
Symantec
TrendMicro

Eric Howes Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites has another list of online virus scanning services, with more possibilities.

Not all of the above work with both Microsoft and Mozilla browsers, but choose carefully, and you should be able to find one or more that will work for you.

Commenting Policy

Comments are always appreciated here - but some ways of posting comments are more appreciated than others, when they help me to help you easier.

If you have a specific technical concern, spend some time reading the site. Look under "Topics" in the sidebar, and examine the Topics list. Try and post any comments in a post relevant to the comment.

• Post comments about specific technical issues under a post discussing that issue, in the appropriate forum. Please! If you have a technical comment or question, comment under a post with an appropriate title.
• Post comments about random blogging issues under The Real Blogger Status: Leave Comments Here.
• Post comments about random networking issues under PChuck's Network: Leave Comments Here.
• Post comments about random life and social issues under Miscellaneous Musings: Leave Comments Here.
• If your comment includes any technical details, it really should be discussed in the appropriate online forum. If your details are sufficiently interesting to me at the time, I may elect to answer your query by email. This will only happen if you post with your email address - anonymous posts can't be handled this way, and many anonymous posts will be discarded.

Other than those guidelines, I'll look forward to seeing your comments.

Does Your Computer Lose Network Connectivity When Not In Use?

Are you tired of turning your computer off and on again, after you let it sit for a while, unused, just to restore network connectivity?

Check Power Management settings, in the Network Adapter Settings wizard, which is accessible from the Connection Properties wizard.

On the Power Management tab, look at "Allow the computer to turn this device off to save power". Is that checked? If so, uncheck it.

If the above solution doesn't work, or isn't applicable, diagnose the problem a bit. When this happens again, open a command window, and type two commands, one after the other:

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

Observing whether or not this helps can be a useful step in diagnosing the problem.

The Command Window

Many problems in Windows can best (or sometimes only) be resolved by commands entered in a Command window. You can start a Command window from the Run window, but don't confuse the two. (Note): If your computer is running Windows Vista or Windows Seven, then you'll want to refer to The Command Window, In Windows Vista, for additional instruction.



A Command Window (the title may vary, widely)

• Hit the Start button.
• Hit the Run selection.
• Type "cmd" into the Run window (less the ""), and hit Enter.
• A new window, with varying title, will open.
• Now type whatever you need, into the Command Prompt window, with the cursor positioned for you after the ">", and hit the Enter key after each command.
• Remember to allow for the Path, and the location of the program that you're running, if necessary.
• Close the window when convenient.

• Redirected Output
• Concatenated, Redirected Output

If you run ipconfig, for instance, as

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>ipconfig /all

you will get the ipconfig output there in the command window. This is good to look at briefly, but isn't very good to copy. Copying from the command window can be done, but will be hard to read.

Redirected Output
By redirecting the output, you can view it and / or copy it in a more convenient way, so it's suitable for posting online. Instead of typing

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>ipconfig /all

type

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>ipconfig /all >c:\ipconfig.txt

With the latter command, instead of getting the ipconfig output there in the command window, all you'll see in the command window is another "C:\>". Then, type

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>notepad c:\ipconfig.txt

and Notepad will open with the ipconfig output in a more viewable, and copyable, format.

(Note): If you get an error "Access denied" when you run a command and redirect the output, you may be attempting to redirect output into a file in a folder that you aren't permitted to write into. If you're doing this in Vista, or any other well secured system, this may happen.

Try redirecting into a folder that you are permitted to write into. If the command window opens in "C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount", just redirect there.

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>ipconfig /all >ipconfig.txt

then

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>notepad ipconfig.txt

Concatenated, Redirected Output
Do you need the output from two commands, run one after the other, presented in a text file? Be sure to concatenate the output from the second onto the first, don't overlay the first.

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>browstat status >c:\browstat.txt
C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>browstat listwfw pchucklan >>c:\browstat.txt

Note the ">>" in the second command; that concatenates the output from the second command, after the output from the first command.

Finally, type

C:\Documents and Settings\YourAccount>notepad c:\browstat.txt

and Notepad will open with both browstat outputs, one following the other, in c:\browstat.txt.

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SilentRunners Found A Problem - Now What?

OK, you've been looking for the malware for a while. You ran Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, HijackThis, maybe a virus scan or two, found something and removed what you found. But the demon keeps recreating itself.

So you moved on with Silent Runners. And lo, SR found another personality of this demon. The bad news is, SR only lists what may or may not be a problem. So what tools do you use to find and remove all of the demon's personalities?

CCleaner
Killbox is the next step.