By admin on Sep 4, 2009 | In PC Crash, Windows 7, Windows Vista | No Comments »
Update 2013: this also applies to windows 7.
I came across a new problem in Windows Vista: the laptop I was given to repair wouldn’t load a user profile and no one could log on. Every time I typed the logon password, it would display this message: ”The User Profile Service failed the logon and the user profile can’t be loaded”, and all I could do is restart the machine. I couldn’t log on with another account because there weren’t any. Administrator account was hidden (read on and learn how to enable it).
I collected several possible solutions on the Internet and tested most of them. If you have the same problem, please try some of these solutions:
First, you should test whether the computer will load in Safe Mode. To do this, press and hold F8 after turning on the computer, and select Safe Mode from the new menu.
1. If successful, try System Restore first. It should restore the user account and profile. To access System Restore, go to Start, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore. Then simply choose a date when you think the user profile last worked and restore those settings.
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By admin on Aug 31, 2009 | In Hardware, Laptops | No Comments »
If you’ve read my blog before, you may have noticed that I usually don’t review software or hardware. I write about ways to fix various computer problems and prevent attacks from the Internet, and I only recommend programs that I have tried myself. Similarly, I only recommend computer parts or laptops that I have tested myself.
I had to include this post because I just bought a new laptop: The Hewlett Packard HDX 16. It costs less than $1000 and includes all features I expect from a new laptop: The speed, long battery life, the screen size and built quality. You can see the HP HDX 16 here.
The great thing about buying from HP directly is that you can customize your new laptop. For example, you can choose the processor speed (2.2-3 GHz), amount of RAM (3GB to 8GB), hard drive capacity (up to 500GB), graphics card (up to 1GB of RAM) and the optical drive, which can be either DVD burner, Blue Ray reader or Blue Ray burner.
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By admin on Aug 26, 2009 | In Internet, Viruses and Spyware | No Comments »
According to Internet security company McAfee, Actress Jessica Biel is the most ‘dangerous’ celebrity on the Web. An online search involving her name is most likely to lead you to a Web site with spyware, viruses and other malware. She has overtaken Brad Pitt, who last year was the most dangerous celebrity to search on the Internet.
If you search for “Jessica Biel,” “Jessica Biel photos,” “Jessica Biel videos” and “Jessica Biel screensavers”, you have a one in five chance of landing at a Web site that will attempt to install malware into your PC. “Cybercriminals are star watchers too – they latch onto popular celebrities to encourage the download of malicious software in disguise,” said Jeff Green, senior vice president of McAfee Avert Labs.
I know that Jessica is very popular, but I’ still surprised. I thought it would be someone like Angelina Jolie or Megan Fox. However, the 27 year old actress is the new number one ‘dangerous’ celebrity. Beyonce and Jennifer Aniston make up the top three, followed by football star Tom Brady, Jessica Simpson, supermodel Gisele Bundchen and Miley Cyrus. Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox tie for number eight and singer Ashley Tisdale is in ninth place. Brad Pitt fell from first place last year to tenth place.
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By admin on Aug 20, 2009 | In Internet, Security, Viruses and Spyware | No Comments »
Norton Symantec has just released a list of top 100 websites affected by viruses. Visiting any of these sites could infect your PC, and you don’t even have to click on anything. Just by opening the site in your Web browser you are risking exposure to malware which can easily enter into your hard drive without your knowledge.
If your PC is infected, you risk compromising or damaging your system and even giving away personal information to criminals. For example, hackers use keystroke logging software to steal sensitive information such as account numbers, passwords and credit card details. They are targeting vulnerabilities in Web browsers and according to Norton Symantec, both PCs and Macs are affected.
Some facts about the sites on the list:
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Each of sites on the list has an average of 18,000 threats and almost half of them have over 20,000 threats.
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75% of the sites distributed malware for more than six months!
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50% of the sites had adult content and others pretend to be legitimate services such as sites about ice skating, deer hunting, catering and legal services.
The list was compiled by Norton Safe Web, a site that analyses Web sites’ security risks and has 20 million users providing reviews.
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By admin on Aug 15, 2009 | In Hardware | No Comments »
Should you shut down your PC if you are not going to use it for several hours, or at night? I’ve been asking myself the same question over the years. On one hand, I didn’t want to waste power and on the other hand I didn’t want to cause any damage by turning it on and off every day. When I used to keep my PC in my bedroom, I turned it off every night, but only because it was noisy.
Modern PCs are much quieter so noise shouldn’t be an issue. The question is, will frequent shutting down damage the PC in any way? I had to do some research…
Few years ago it was probably not a good idea to shut down the PC at night, as hard drives would start and stop frequently and wear out quickly, and subsequently fail. Today, however, the quality of the mechanisms in hard drives is much better and they are made to last longer. So it makes sense to shut down at night, mainly to save power. New hard drives are made to last up to 5 years before dying (which reminds me, my Seagate hdd is close to 5 years old!).
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