If for any reason you don’t want any data left on a hard drive, Darik’s Boot & Nuke is probably for you. Create the DBAN cd and boot up with it, and it can pretty securely wipe your hard drive so that most likely nobody will ever be able to see what was on the hard drive. You can download yourself a copy at http://www.dban.org/download.

   If you are just a wee bit paranoid that the NSA, CIA, FBI, or worse yet, the IRS, was interested in what might be on your old hard drive, then you should use Secure Erase. Secure Erase will delete the data on the hard drive like DBAN, but it also writes over the parts of the hard drive marked “bad”.  Most software can’t do this, including the above DBAN, and in most cases is highly unnecessary, but there is a small posibility that some of your data is recoverable in one of those bad blocks. Not likely after you use Secure Erase. Check it out at http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml .

      Last but not least, take a hammer to the hard drive, and beat it to a pulp. Hard drive platters are pretty fragile, and if they are in a million pieces… nobody will get that data back!

     Ciao for now!!!!!

     If you want to do a little Tweaking in Vista, You can check out WinBubble. They have other programs you might want to check out too, but for tweaking things you can’t normally tweak, check it out at http://unlockforus.blogspot.com/2007/10/windows-vista-unlocks-news-tips-and.html.

     For Tweaking User Account Control in Vista, check out Tweak-UAC at http://www.tweak-uac.com/home/.

     One More Popular Vista Tweaking tool is TweakVI. I have heard more good stuff about this program than any of the others combined. Check it out at http://www.totalidea.com/product.php?Product=TweakVI .

     Ciao for now!!!!!

    A great web page for going to if you can’t find your owner’s manual, for everything from Laptops to Lawnmowers,  is ManualsOnline.com.  I am sure they don’t have every manual you may want or need, but they certainly have enough for me to keep a link in my online tools page. Check them out at http://www.manualsonline.com/ .

     For the Vista user that wants to try to speed up their PC a little bit, they can try Vista Services Optimizer. They even have a portable version. Check it out at http://www.smartpcutilities.com/downloads.html .

     Ciao for now!!!!!

     Just because I’ve never mentioned it before, I thought I would post a note here about a great little site for commands at the comand line. If you are shaky with the Windows command prompt, then this is a great site for you. And for PowerShell or OSX or Bash…. it is all there. Check it out at http://ss64.com/index.html .

   I also want to mention a highly recommended Rootkit remover. I’ll add it to the malware removal page, but for now, check it out at http://www.gmer.net/ .

     Ciao for now!!!!!

   I finally got my invitation to use Google voice.  if you haven’t heard about it, check it out at www.google.com/voice/about . It looks to be the Cat’s Meow of Phone Service.

    In addition, I recently heard about a Hardware Information tool for Windows PC’s. It’s called HWInfo32 and you can find it at http://www.hwinfo.com/index.html . It does a pretty in depth job of letting you know all about the various hardware components in your PC.  Check it out.

     Ciao for now!!!!!

     Once in a while I come across a computer that requires a reinstall, but the owner has lost the original restore disks, or never created them.  Rather than buying a new copy of Windows, you can purchase the restore/installation disks online. One source I use is Ebay. Sometimes you can get what you need there. A couple of alternatives are OEM Software Source , and DigitalMedia-Labs.com .  If the need arises, check them out.

    Ciao for now!!!!!

I have been recently working on moving most of the SpecialBob.com website over to the blog here, and you can find new links to Online Tools, Repair Tools, And Tech Shopping along the top of the page.
In addition, I have added a number of new tools to the Malware Removal page. Check them all out.

Ciao for Now!!!!

     Today I figured I would just post a couple of tips that pretty much anyone can do to attempt to fix various things with their computer. If something isn’t quite working the way you think it’s supposed to, give these things a try.

First, try recovering to a previous System Restore Point. Go to “All Programs”, “Accessories”, “System Tools” and select “System Restore”. ( In Vista just type “System Restore” in the Start Menu Search. Use the options to pick a system restore point from before you think the problem occurred.

If that didn’t fix it, try going to “Run” from the Start menu and type in sfc /scannow . It will scan all your system files and if it finds missing or corrupt system files it will prompt you for your Windows Disk to restore good ones.

That sometimes finds problems, then asks you for a disk you don’t have. ( if you’ve installed Service Pack 3, it will want a service pack 3 Windows Install Disk. ) In any case, the next thing to try is to go to Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall the latest Service Pack. ( SP3 for XP, 1 for Vista ).  For XP, I now reinstall SP2 ( no need to uninstall SP2 ) and when that’s finished reinstall SP3. For Vista just Reinstall SP1. Go to Windows Update and get all of the latest updates and see if your problem has been resolved. Many times, this really works.

 Last, a couple of things you can try is, download the programs Dial-a-fix, Eusing Free Registry Cleaner, PC Fixer, and Advanced System Care, and run them as I’ve described in my “Malware Removal”and “Cleaning & Optimization” Pages. You can get to them through the menu links at the top of this page.

Good Luck, and, CIao for now!!!!

  I just finished my new Cleaning and Optimization page at http://www.specialbob.com/theblog/?page_id=245 . It is the steps I take to cleanup and optimize a new PC, or a fresh install of Windows on an old PC, but it can be used with my Malware Removal Page for well used systems.

Ciao for now!!!!!

     I finished working on a page which I run down the steps I most usually take during the average cleanup of a computer infested with Viruses, Spyware, Adware, and basically malware of any kind. If your computer is infested and you follow the steps, you likely will be successful in defeating the malware. Click the menu item on my blog titled “Malware Removal” or just click http://www.specialbob.com/theblog/?page_id=230 .

     Microsoft recently released a chart to let people know if they will be able to upgrade their version of windows or if they will have to perform a clean install with their Windows7 Upgrade software. Check out the Chart at http://lifehacker.com/5331764/microsoft-releases-windows-7-upgrade-chart .

     Another chart you might find interesting and want to save a copy of is this one of various Computer hardware connections, ports, ram sticks etc. check it out at http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs47/f/2009/203/1/c/Computer_hardware_poster_1_7_by_Sonic840.png .

   Ciao for now!!!!!