Comments for brian haines

Comment on Secure Passwords by Mary Belle

Mary Belle — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 23:42:21 +0000

thanks brian.

Comment on maxmyspeed.com might be a scam by JJ

JJ — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 06:00:54 +0000

Remember “FinallyFast.com? I think it became maxmyspeed.com. These websites that promise to clean and speed up your computer can do more harm than good when their programs mess with your registries. They have been known to delete necessary parts of programs rendering them unusable. Worst case scenario is having to format your hard drive after one of these services has run a muck through your computer. And to add insult to injury they charge you for the havoc they leave behind.

There are many free and safe programs out there which will help you tidy up your computer. CCleaner is a good place to start. Avast, Avira, or AVG are good choices for free anti virus software. Just don’t try to install and run them all at the same time as they have been known to fight with each other bringing computers to a grinding halt. More is not always better.

Check out CNET’s forums for advice from other computer users. It’s free and there is a lot of freely shared valuable information to be had there.

Comment on maxmyspeed.com might be a scam by Zack

Zack — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:01:21 +0000

EI EI EI SCAM!!! EVERYTHING THAT SAYS ‘THIS PROGRAM CAN INCREASE YOUR PC’S SPEED!’ OR ANY THING LIKE THAT ALWAYS A SCAM SCAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment on Use Strong Passwords, Please by Christopher Bolton

Christopher Bolton — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:52:38 +0000

I use a tool called KeePass. This open source program stores and encrypts passwords and has a built-in password generator. Here is the link:

http://keepass.info/

Comment on Blackberry. Not my favorite devices. by Christopher Bolton

Christopher Bolton — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 04:48:54 +0000

I have had to support RIM, IOS, and Google devices, and I can honestly say that RIM is the most cumbersome and expensive for the enterprise. While RIM offers extreme security, I would agree with Brian that the vast majority will not need the enhanced security. Brian is also correct in stating that IOS, Google and Windows devices can connect via Active Sync in a matter of minutes (free, and without the need for additional proprietary software).

Comment on Secure Passwords by Bill Pelicata

Bill Pelicata — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:09:26 +0000

Great Article, Brian and a great public service even if there weren’t a mini-crisis with yahoo and bellsouth.

Comment on Use Strong Passwords, Please by Secure Passwords | brian haines

Secure Passwords | brian haines — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:17:39 +0000

[...] I am sure you can tell where the letter “O” is and where the zeros are because of where be began. It is ten characters already, has numbers and both upper and lower case letters and a punctuation mark. Nothing else needs to be done. Let’s see how well it does on the password strength meter we used in an earlier post. [...]

Comment on maxmyspeed.com might be a scam by Brian Haines

Brian Haines — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 12:26:51 +0000

Fletcher,

I’m not 100% sure how to get the software off of your computer but I can give you a few ideas that might help and I hope you can report back your results.

First, go to Add/Remove Programs in your control panel. (WinXP = Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs or Start > Control Panel > Add Remove Programs). Look for the program by name “MaxMySpeed.com” or by the company name “CyberDefender” and click on it and press the remove button.

If you didn’t find it in the Windows uninstaller list above, or even just for safe measure I recommend saving the file ComboFix (link in the right column here on my site) to your desktop or downloads folder and run the file. You should disable your anti virus software first. Let it install the Windows Recovery Console if it requests to do so and it will run through 50 stages of scanning and then clean up the computer when complete. It may restart your computer automatically and you should log in again if needed after it does so. When complete it will open a log file with the details of what it did. You can just close the log file and your system should be cleaned up.

Good luck.

Comment on maxmyspeed.com might be a scam by Fletcher

Fletcher — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 23:41:25 +0000

I saw the ad for MaxMySpeed.com on tv. I went to their site and downloaded their software. Then paid 39.99 for the “full product” to clean up my computer. Instead of getting an activation password, I got a popup with a phone number to activate my software.

When I called the number I was transferred to a technician who had me let him log in to my
pc. He ran diagnostics then told me I needed 10 hours of technical help at a cost of $299 for one year or approximately $600 for 3 years. Finally I started to get suspicious because of his hard sale.

I believe I have been scammed. Especially after googling the company and seeing all the negative posts. I wish I had Googled before I downloaded their software. I am going to file a protest against the credit charge.

What is the best way to take this software off my computer?

Comment on maxmyspeed.com might be a scam by Brian Haines

Brian Haines — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 13:35:52 +0000

Chris,

There are actually some tweaks that can make computers appear to run faster, and I suppose that these kinds of programs simply make those tweaks. The bottom line is the computer isn’t running faster and the programs can in some cases cause problems as they try the one size fits all approach to tweaking computers.

I would highly recommend that you install Anti-Virus software – even a free version like Avira linked on this site. Viruses can come from many sources. I have seen infections come from Websites, email, flash drives, anything you connect to your computer with storage.

Good luck, and happy computing!

Want to speed up your Web surfing (the majority of what people use a computer for at home)? Change your browser to Google Chrome. Maybe I will write a new article on the subject.