Newsletter Archives

• Anatomy of a malware

  Posted on May 10th, 2021 at 01:08 Ben Myers Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.17 • 2021-05-10

  SAFETY

  

  By Ben Myers

  Things are not always as they seem. What might appear to be a devastating, PC-destroying piece of malware can sometimes be a spoof.

  Recently, a client gave me his laptop, which displayed a frightening message as soon he logged in. This variety of malware is all too popular. Here is a step-by-step process to remove it, expecting that the antivirus software installed in the computer cannot do its job. Along the way, you will see where malware is often hidden.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.17.F (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, safety, security

• From bad to worse: A repair goes awry

  Posted on May 10th, 2021 at 01:04 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Sometimes, well-intentioned repairs can actually make things worse than before. That’s what happened to a reader who was trying to correct a Windows login error but ended up with a completely unbootable PC!

  Is it possible for him to get Windows running again with its already installed software still intact and working? Or is a full reinstall in his future?

  Plus: The care and feeding of that little coin-cell battery on your PC’s mainboard.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, LangaList, Repairs, Windows

• Check or change Win10’s file-sharing encryption level

  Posted on April 12th, 2021 at 01:04 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  If you’ve upgraded your PC from Win7, Win8, or early Win10 versions, it may still be using a thoroughly obsolete and nearly useless level of encryption for file sharing!

  Plus: More on “stuttering mice” and a potentially dangerous charger-cord fire hazard!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.13.0 (2021-04-12).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, encryption, hardware, LangaList

• Touchscreen misregisters point-and-clicks

  Posted on April 5th, 2021 at 01:10 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.12 • 2021-04-05

  LANGALIST

  

  By Fred Langa

  Touchscreens are ubiquitous and usually reliable, but when one malfunctions, even simple pointing and clicking can become an exercise in extreme frustration.

  Here are the likely causes of touchscreen miscalibration, and several easy ways to get things working properly again.

  Plus: How to protect yourself from Windows’ dangerous, semi-secret back door!

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.12.F (2021-04-05).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, LangaList, Touch screen

• The best laptop docking stations and hubs for 2021

  Posted on April 5th, 2021 at 01:06 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  More and more of us have been spending part of our time working in a business office and part of our time in a home office (which may sometimes be called “the kitchen table”).

  Even if you work primarily at home, there are always times when you want to work on your laptop in a hotel room or maybe that beach house you like to retreat to on weekends.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.12.0 (2021-04-05).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Docks, hardware, Public Defender

• “Stuttering” glitch on a brand-new PC

  Posted on March 1st, 2021 at 01:08 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge
  

  LANGALIST

  “Stuttering” glitch on a brand-new PC

  By Fred Langa

  A subscriber’s new system experiences erratic mouse and touchpad problems almost from the very first startup.

  Unwanted pauses, hesitations, and stutters can afflict any PC of any age, potentially causing problems with numerous subsystems: mouse, keyboard, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, disks and memory, screen operations, and more! Here are the likely causes, and fixes.

  Plus: Taming CCleaner’s Smart Cleaning feature.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.8.0 (2021-03-01).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.8.F (2021-03-01).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, LangaList AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, LangaList

• Master your printer – not the other way around

  Posted on February 8th, 2021 at 01:40 Michael Lasky Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  HARDWARE

  Master your printer – not the other way around

  By Michael Lasky

  “I hate printers, but I love what they can do!”

  That’s the mantra recited by just about anyone who has a printer attached to their computer. Of all the peripherals that connect to our PCs, printers seem to be the number-one troublemaker.

  But it doesn’t have to be that way. Paper jams, overpriced ink, print spooler logjams, wasted paper – these are just a few of the hassles whose remedies are addressed here. If your love/hate relationship with your printer is more hate than love, read on — and maybe, just maybe, we can flip that around with these expert printer tips and tricks.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.5.0 (2021-02-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, printers

• Excess heat during laptop recharging?

  Posted on January 25th, 2021 at 01:30 Fred Langa Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  LANGALIST

  Excess heat during laptop recharging?

  By Fred Langa

  A reader is concerned: His laptop’s CPU temperature rises during battery-charging sessions. Why would the CPU heat up?

  Relatedly, what are normal CPU temperatures, anyway? What’s a safe temperature rise?

  Plus: A tiny freeware app that prevents PC overheating!

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.3.0 (2021-01-25).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, LangaList hardware, LangaList

• Taking the plunge with a new PC

  Posted on June 3rd, 2019 at 02:20 Tracey Capen Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  Buying a new PC was once a fairly simple shop-and-buy process. There wasn’t much to consider beyond memory and drive capacity — and maybe an upgraded video card.

  But recent innovations have made choosing a new machine more complicated. Intel’s Optane technology, for example, claims to make a hard drive as responsive as an SSD!

  See the full story in the June 3, 2019, AskWoody Plus Newsletter (Issue 16.20.0)

  Hardware, LangaList, Tech Help AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Buying PCs, hardware, LangaList, Windows

• The Best Cheap Video Cards

  Posted on May 21st, 2009 at 08:56 woody Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  As I’ve described in my Windows Secrets Newsletter articles, there are two obstacles to turning a fairly-recent Windows XP machine into a Windows 7 powerhouse: memory and video cards.

  If you’re contemplating changing your WinXP or Vista PC over to Windows 7, start by running the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor. That will tell you immediately if you have a show-stopper problem: no Windows 7 driver for a specific piece of hardware, for example, or no Windows 7 support for your favorite program.

  Based on experience with more than a dozen old Windows XP machines, if your PC passes Upgrade Advisor muster, you should also make two hardware changes: bring your memory up to 1 GB; and install a decent video card. Memory’s cheap. So are good video cards.

  Joel Durham at ExtremeTech just posted a thorough review of Budget Gaming Graphics Cards. In the $175 category, he recommends the ATI Radeon HD 4870. In the $100 category, he gives the nod to the  Radeon HD 4770.

  From what I’ve seen, putting $30 of additional memory and a $100 video card in a fairly recent Windows XP machine creates a very competent Windows 7 machine.

  Now the big question is… how much will Microsoft charge for Windows 7?

  Windows News ATI Radeon 4770, ATI Radeon 4870, hardware, video cards, windows 7