redboxoffice

Hi there.  I didn’t write yesterday as is the norm as I was trying to stop my creaking PC from finally giving up the ghost.  And I did!

I’ve been having problems with my PC; running slow, programs slow to load and my graphics card kept blowing up (not literally) on me.  And then to top it all off, my PC would just shut down.  It was as though I’d asked it to go into ‘stand by’ mode without me actually making the request.  Not only that, I could not get my machine to power back up.

So from my experiences I wanted to let you know that there are some great resources out there if you are experiencing the same kind of problems and are thinking, ‘Yikes.’

1. Tech Guy Forums – One of the best help and support sites for PC, software, hardware, internet and networking available online.  It’s like having your very own tech support at the end of a ‘phone line.  I’ve had support with everything from malware issues to how to get into the back end of my PC without doing any damage!  5 Stars guys!
   
2. Spy Bot – Because I was having problems with my PC, Tech Guy recommended a system sweep of my PC and to use Spy Bot.  Wow!  Just amazing.  This fantastic piece of software will trawl your entire system, including all the temporary stuff you download from the internet, your hard drives and the hidden files looking for the nasties that pollute and corrupt your PC.  First time around, Spy Bot found stuff that I had never heard of and alerted me to programs that could be harmful if I kept running them.  Once the search is over, there’s the option to destroy what yuckkies it’s found, which I did.  It takes a couple of hours for Spy Bot to run the full search & destroy, so I’d recommend doing this while there’s a double bill of ‘Glee’ on.  But it’s worth it. Oh, and it’s free!
3. Irfan View Photo Resizer – Another free piece of kit, this time one that will resize your photos, including the DPI.  I’ve been working for a sales and marketing client and one of the tasks is to use different sized photographs in different settings; for print, email marketing, on-line viewers etc.  We were getting our designer to do that, but that cost!  I started off using Pic Resize, but while that was great for general resizing, it didn’t give the DPI resolution change options that I do needed.  After hours scouring the internet, I found Irfan View.  Really easy to use and does what it says on the tin.  It will do lots of other fancy tricks with your photos, as well as resizing and converting the DPI.  I was very impressed and again this is free!
4. I almost forgot.  Because I was having PC troubles, I looked in to what might be causing the slow running etc. and it turns out it was my anti-virus software.  Blimey.  Not having that running would be kind of scary, but I did remove it and exchange it for AGV anti virus software and my machine is running as though it’s on speed!  I kid you not!  I was running Zone Alarm Extreme Security, which has some good add-ons like off site back up, but it seems to be incompatible with my MS XP.  AGV have some free software, trial periods and their full packages are very competitively priced.
5. Give Away of the Day – If you’re a Red Box newsletter subscriber, you’ll know I talk about these guys all the time.  It basically does what it says; each day there is a free software give away.  Some days, it’s not of much interest to me, but on other days you can pick up some great freebies.  The offers are available for 24 hours and because the site’s based out of the USA, those of us on this side of the pond can pick up a couple of offers in the same 24 hours period.  Well worth droping by every couple of days, I’d say.

About the Author:
Emma Crabtree is the owner and sole-operator of Red Box Virtual Office, an off-site business support service.  Red Box Virtual Office can enable you to free yourself from the day to day admin of your business so that you can focus on what you enjoy and what makes you money.  Find out how working with a Virtual Assistant can help your business.

1. emma :

   Date: May 25, 2010 @ 3:43 pm

   Hi
   do you know if the spybot works for mac too?

2. Emma :

   Date: May 25, 2010 @ 6:06 pm

   Hi Em, not that I’m aware of but you could try these other resources. Some may be out of date, but they could point you in the right direction.

   http://www.securemac.com/
   http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/malspyware.html
   http://www.maccrazy.net/news.php?ID=241
   Intego Virus Barrier (http://www.intego.com)
   McAfee VirusScan(http://shop.mcafee.com)
   Norton AntiVirus (http://shop.symantecstore.com)
   SubRosaSoft FileDefense (http://www.SubRosaSoft.com)

   And this might be of interest
   http://movies.apple.com/movies/us/apple/getamac/trustmac_480x376.mov