This page is dedicated to helping you maintain a healthy P.C., so that you may have many years of trouble free service.

The advice within is intended to help you, but we are not responsible for any of the programs supplied by the 3rd party vendors, or indeed any of the well intended advice we supply, so if you want to proceed, please read our Disclaimer first by Clicking Here

Get Protected

Unfortunately, these days, the biggest threat to your P.C. isn't from failing components ( they are quite reliable in general ), but from outside influences, in the form of Viruses, Hackers, Malicious Software, Dialers, etc etc.

You are most at risk from these when you are "on-line" or "surfing", which means, exactly what you are doing now.

The amazing fact that you can connect to any other computer in the world which is connected to the internet ( or Web as it can be called ), also means that they can conect to you !!. Thus, to protect yourself, we recommend that you take 3 important steps.

1. Install a good anti-virus program ( AND KEEP IT UPDATED !!! )

2. Install a Firewall

3. Install anti pop-up & dialer software.

Now the good news is, we can show you how to get it all for free !!. Yup that's right, you don't have to spend a Penny, a Cent, or even a Euro !!, it is at completely no cost, and don't think these programs are second rate, they are very efficient and come from the top software developers in the business.

So why do they give you this for free ??... Well, these programs are absolutely free, and they are fully functional, and they don't "run out" after 30 days, they are top notch products and can be used indefinately... What the program makers hope, is that you will be so impressed ( and you will ), that you will order their " super duper " version which you will have to pay for. It's of course your choice, but for the moment, GET PROTECTED, and if you don't already have these facilities on your P.C., get them now.

Just follow the links on the left, which will take you more information about each product, and a link to each of their sites, but remember, you don't have to pay a single penny, so if you just want amazing, free protection, don't choose any of the "priced" options, always choose the "free version".. any questions, drop us a note to our site using the feedback links above, and we'll do our best to answer...

Anti Virus Program

AVG anti-virus program from Grisoft is an excellent utility to keep your P.C. protected from viruses, and also to disinfect your system if your P.C. gets a virus. To make it as efficient as possible, update it regularly from the AVG site ( this is free !! ).

As well as being able to scan your whole P.C. for viruses, it also uses what's called a "resident virus shield" which runs silently behind your programs, always on guard for viruses which may launch themselves. Remember though, AVG will not be able to spot all possible viruses whilst your are downloading files, thus you must still be suspicious of all E-Mail attachements etc., where you do not recognise the sender or the subject matter.

When you go to the AVG site you will be asked for your E-Mail address,.. don't use a "decoy", since they will send you a serial number to this address in order that you can use the free software, thus you must supply a valid E-Mail address.

Click Here To Go To The AVG Download Site

Firewall Program

Zonealarm is an excellent firewall program from a software company called Zonelabs.A Firewall basically stops hackers and opportunists from anywhere in the world, trying to get unauthorised access to your P.C. and it's programs, and if you don't have a Firewall installed, this will certainly happen within a very short time of being connected to"The Net".

You are most at risk from hackers if you are connected via a "broadband" connection, but you are still at risk even if you just use "dial up ", so whatever you do, get protected.

The latest Windows O/S ( Operating Systems ), e.g Win XP, have a firewall program included, but you will need to activate it in your "Network Settings" inside the " Control Panel", but experience has shown that the performance of a program such as Zonealarm is far superior than the Windows utility.

What does the Firewall do ?? ... well, a good analogy is in the name. Imagine that outside your house is a huge fire raging, so you build a huge wall which protects your house and stops the fire ravaging through it... simple eh ??.. so build your wall & protect your P.C.

When you download Zonealarm and then install it, you should allow it to pre-configure your programs, this means that it will decide which programs it will allow access to the internet ( Zonealarm protects your P.C. in both directions ), since programs such as Internet Explorer and even your AVG anti-virus program will require access.

It's recommended that you set Zonealarm to protect you silently, since if you ask it to inform you when a "threat" is blocked you will get constantly interupted. It's frightening how many blocked intrusions Zonealarm will log in it's first couple hours of use.

Also, during use, Zonealarm will occasionally "pop-up" with a message, asking you if you wish to give access to a certain program ( in or out !! ), at this point you will have to decide if this is a valid program that you use and it needs internet access, or if it's malicious software either trying to gain access to your P.C., or trying to connect from your P.C. !!

To get Zonealarm for free Click Here.

Again, this site will also offer you the "super duper" version, and again your choice, but the "freebee" is more than adequate for your initial needs, so make sure you don't pay for anything unless you want to.

Anti SpyWare/Anti Popup

Adaware from Lavasoft is a program which can remove a lot of junk and uneccessary tracking cookies, popup software & even dialers from you P.C.

At best, these programs can slow down your P.C. , or even send out personal information about you & how you use your P.C., and at worst, a dialer could cost you lots of your hard earned cash by dialing a premium rate site ( often covertly, without your knowledge ), so this free piece of software is worth having.

Adaware doesn't have a resident shield, so you must remember to run it as often as you think fit ( at least once a week ), and occasionally visit the site to check for any free updates available. To get your free Adaware program from Lavasoft, Click Here.

Hijackers & Other Invasive Search Engine Malicious Software

What is a "Hijacker" ???

A "Hijacker" is a program that intervenes when you type a URL ( Universal resource Locator ), or as it is more commonly known, a Website address into your internet address bar on your browser..

Some Hijackers will intervene when you mis-type an address, or even if just forget to add in the http:// heading before the URL address ( normally IE ( internet explorer ) will just sort this out for you and add in the http:// for you, and you will go to the site intended )

When a Hijacker intervenes, it immediately takes you to a specified site, usually a search engine, but sometimes more sinister and upsetting like an adult content site.

Some really nasty Hijackers will redirect you to another site no matter what you type in, and this can render your browser almost unusable.

Spywareinfo.com

So here is an excellent site which will rid you of the most prevelant Hijackers. We do include some of the programs here at inverkip.com for you to download, but it is worthwhile visiting the site as it has masses of other protection hints & tips against this new threat. Click Here to go to http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

cwshredder.exe

A hijacker called "Cool Web Search" ( although it has many other names & variants ) is a real pain, the above site has a removal tool for it, and it's called cwshredder.exe

When you get there, go to the navigation bar on the left hand side of the screen, and find the "Navigation" section.( usually near the top of the page )

Now click on "Downloads"

When the page loads, scroll down the screen until you get to the section which says " Official Downloads"

Now scroll down and download the file called cwshredder.exe ( this is a removal tool for the Hijacker called "CoolWebSearch" ). Unless you have a really slow connection, don't choose the zipped version, since you will have to unzip it before you use it, just click on the cwshredder.exe link. If you like you can miss out on their great site, and get the removal tool from here at inverkip.com by Clicking Here

Now when the download menu opens, choose "Save ". Do not be tempted to run it from it's location, it will not work !!

Download it to a folder that you will remember where it is. Now close all of your browser windows & log-off the internet.( if you leave any browser windows open, the program will not work ). Exit all programs currently running.

Go to the folder where you downloaded cwshredder.exe and double click on it to launch it.

Watch as it cleans up your Explorer Settings & Registry entries.

To get cwshredder.exe from this site, Click Here

HijackThis.exe

Another great Hijacker removal tool, is a program called HijackThis.exe and is also available from the excellent Spywareinfo.com at the address http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/

You can get this free program to eradicate many types of Hijackers by going to the site and downloading it ( follow the general instructions given above for cwshredder.exe installation ), or you can get it from here at inverkip.com by Clicking Here

Again, please follow the guidelines of, --- Close All Browser Windows,--- Shut Down Your Internet Connection, --- Shut Down Any Other Programs, --- now you can run Hijacker Removal Tool.

Window's Hotfixes

Microsoft operating systems have been shown to have several security type flaws, which result in your P.C. being exposed to certain type viruses or intrusions ( Blasterworm/Lovesan is a good example ).

To counter this, microsoft usually release security patches or "Hotfixes" which address these issues and fix other bugs in the O/S ( operating system ).

Some Windows O/S are more vulnerable than others and Windows XP seems to be particularly at risk.

You can get recent "Hotfixes" by downloading them from the Microsoft site ( even if you own an unregistered copy of Windows !! ). Just remember to choose from the list of O/S for your own P.C. If you don't know which O/S your P.C. uses, Click Here for instructions on how to find out, otherwise Click Here to go directly to Microsofts P.C. security page, which will give you some good advice and links to get any Windows O/S Hotfixes or updates for your P.C.

How To Find Out Your O/S ( Operating System )

To find out which Operating System your P.C. currently uses, follow these simple steps below

1.Move your mouse pointer to the "Start" icon at the bottom left hand side of the screen. Single left click on the mouse button.

2. From the "pop-up" menu that appears, move the mouse to the "Settings" icon, and hover it over it ( you do not have to click any buttons )

3. Move the mouse pointer over to the "Control Panel" icon and Single left click on the mouse button. The Control Panel should now appear.

4. Move the mouse pointer over to the "System" icon ( a picture of a computer screen, all the icons appear in alphabetical order ) and Double left click on the mouse button. The "System Properties" Panel should now appear.

5. If not already defaulted to the " General" page, then Single left Click on the "General" tab from the tabs along the top of the "System Properties" panel

6. Your O/S will now be shown under System, along with the version and also any "service packs" which have been installed. Take a note of these. NB: A service pack is an update released by Microsoft and may include several "Hotfixes" along with other improvements and updates.

Test Your Broadband Speed

Do you believe your ISP's ( Internet Service Provider ) claims about the speed of your service ?? Does your downloads & page loading taking forever.? You can find out your actual Download & Upload speed from this very useful site. ( remember, most ISP's provide about a 2:1 ration of Upload / Download speed, so if you have a 500K connection, your Download will be 500K, but your upload may be only 250K, but this is normal.

NB: 500K, means 500,000 bits of information per second (500Kbps), not as some may think (optimisticaly) 500,000 bytes per second. None the less, 500Kbps is still pretty rapid !!

To check you ADSL / Broadband conection speed, Click Here

Check Your P.C. System Clock Time

This great site from Greenwich Observatory will tell you exact time from Atomic Clock, and will tell you what your own P.C. Clock Time is showing. You can then adjust manually to synchronise it perfectly to correct time, or use the software tool that they provide, to do it automatically.

The time is given in GMT ( so will be an hour behind during BST "British Summertime" ), but the site is clever enough to show you your P.C.'s clock time in GMT, even if it is set to read BST !!

Click Here to go to the Greenich Observatory National GMT site.

How to Switch System Restore Off / On

To disable the Windows System Restore facility, follow these steps.

1.Move your mouse pointer to the "Start" icon at the bottom left hand side of the screen. Single left click on the mouse button.

2. From the "pop-up" menu that appears, move the mouse to the "Settings" icon, and hover it over it ( you do not have to click any buttons )

3. Move the mouse pointer over to the "Control Panel" icon and Single left click on the mouse button. The Control Panel should now appear.

4. Move the mouse pointer over to the "System" icon ( a picture of a computer screen, all the icons appear in alphabetical order ) and Double left click on the mouse button. The "System Properties" Panel should now appear.

5. If usually defaults to the " General" page, so Single left Click on the "System Restore" tab from the tabs along the top of the "System Properties" panel.

6. Now click on the appropriate button to switch off or de-select System Restore.

7. Click "Apply" then click "OK"

8. Now re-boot your P.C. to make the changes take effect, you may get a warning panle on boot-up, to tell you that System Restore has been switched off, but this is normal.

9. To switch System Restore back on again, simply follow the same steps above, except in step No.6 choose the option to enable System Restore.

Virus Fixes

The following viruses have been the most prevelant in the last few months, you can download the fix tool directly from our site by clicking on the link.

Sobig Virus

Details: Sobig is a mass-emailing virus that can spoof the sender's address, fooling the user into believing the email is from a legitimate source and then opening the email. The email often contains the following header: "Subject: Re:details" and the text "Please see the attached file for details." The attachment names may include: your_document.pif, details.pif, your_details.pif, thank_you.pif, movie0045.pifm, document_Fall.pif, application.pif, docment_9446.pif.

Once the virus has infected your machine it attempts to connect to a website to download a backdoor Trojan, leaving your computer vulnerable to security breaches by crackers or other viruses.

To get the Sobig fix from our site Click Here

Blasterworm Virus

Details: Also called Lovesan, this virus has typical symptom of shutting down your P.C. ( especially when connected to the internet ) by displaying a message which reads something like " Windows is shutting down your system due to failed Remote Procedure Call" and a 1 minute timer appears on your screen. Your system will then shut down.

The virus does not infect your P.C. through the usual methods, you do not have to open an attachement or visit a website to be infected, this virus takes advantage of one of the vulnerabilities of the Windows O/S, and installs itself by "sneaking in " an open port when you are on-line, which is why it is important to install the Windows "Hotfixes" and updates to prevent the virus re-appearing.

You can find out how to download & install the Windows O/S "Hotfixes" by clicking on the menu bar at the left hand side of the screen.

Another problem in disinfecting your P.C. from this virus is the Windows "System Restore" utility. This utility is part of the latest Windows O/S ( e.g. Win XP ), and is meant to protect your much needed system files, thus it retains copies of these critical files, in case anything becomes corrupted, and then it can replace these files from it's "backup". The problem is, the Blasterworm virus installs itself into the System Folder, thus, if you remove it, good old System restore will put it back for you next time you boot up ( cheers Microsoft !! ). So. in order to prevent this from happening, you need to turn off System Restore first, if you need directions on how to do this then Click Here.

Once you have switched off System Restore, re-boot the P.C. then run the viruse removal tool, which you can eother open direct from our site or download direct from our site ( best option is to download it, preferable to a directory that you will remember, you can make a new directory, and call it say antivirus and keep any fixes there.

To get the blasterworm fix from our site Click Here

Sasser worm Virus

Details: This virus has typical symptom of shutting down your P.C. even when not connected to the internet, by displaying a message which reads something like " Windows is shutting down your system due to LSA Shell Procedure" and a 1 minute timer appears on your screen. Your system will then shut down.

The virus does not infect your P.C. through the usual methods, you do not have to open an attachement or visit a website to be infected, this virus takes advantage of one of the vulnerabilities of the Windows O/S, and installs itself by "sneaking in " an open port when you are on-line, which is why it is important to install the Windows "Hotfixes" and updates to prevent the virus re-appearing.

You can find out how to download & install the Windows O/S "Hotfixes" by clicking on the menu bar at the left hand side of the screen.

Another problem in disinfecting your P.C. from this virus is the Windows "System Restore" utility. This utility is part of the latest Windows O/S ( e.g. Win XP ), and is meant to protect your much needed system files, thus it retains copies of these critical files, in case anything becomes corrupted, and then it can replace these files from it's "backup". The problem is, the Sasser worm virus installs itself into the System Folder, thus, if you remove it, good old System restore will put it back for you next time you boot up ( cheers Microsoft !! ). So. in order to prevent this from happening, you need to turn off System Restore first, if you need directions on how to do this then Click Here.

Once you have switched off System Restore, re-boot the P.C. then run the viruse removal tool, which you can eother open direct from our site or download direct from our site ( best option is to download it, preferable to a directory that you will remember, you can make a new directory, and call it say antivirus and keep any fixes there.

To get the Sasser worm fix from our site Click Here

More Information About How Your PC Works:

What is the RAM in your P.C. ( Personal Computer ), is there actually a hotblooded male sheep in there ?? and does CPU actually stand for Confused Parents Undetered ??

Wouldn't you just love to speak your kids techno-talk, or what about being able upgrade your own P.C. to install a DVD writer or Wireless connection to the internet ??.

Of course, if you are technically minded, but you realise no one actually knows everything about P.C. hardware, software, firmware, middleware, but there may be something you would like to know.. BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK !!!!.......... we have the solution......

( P.S. if you do actually know everything, then please get in touch, 'cause we have about 100,000 questions we need answered !! )

Don't worry, we're all in the same boat, even the guys that composed this site struggled with many of the concepts needed to make everything function ( OK, there are still some bugs, but we're working on them !!), and we had to take advice from "higher authorities" in their field.

Also, you can bet your last dollar ( or pound, or euro ) that even the Guru's of internet software development, struggle with understanding how the hardware of your computer is put together, and how everything functions at it's basic level... as I said, nobody knows everything, in fact it's quite astonishing how this huge complex jigsaw of knowledge produces all the technology we take for granted today, so don't feel put off by the fact you need to ask a question, the real trick is knowing who to ask or where to find out the information.

The following 2 links are about computers, how they work, what the terms all mean, and how you can get the best results from it all, so please feel free to visit them, and if you learn something you think might benefit everyone else, let us know, and perhaps we can start a forum, to share our experiences, and help make using and applying our computers in everyday life, that much easier and rewarding...

How Stuff Works Site

This first link is from a site called " How Stuff Works ". It's an excellent site which explains the concepts behind everything and anything. It isn't just about computers, it will explain for instance how you car engine works ( now that really is a mystery !! ).

The link here goes straight to the computer section, but you can also navigate the whole site to find out about many other things.... Enjoy !!

Click Here to go directly to "How Stuff Works"

PC Tech Guide Site

Another great tech' site, but this one is more biased toward computers, and does go into more detail, it's called the PC Tech Guide. A superb site with a huge amount of information about P.C.'s, including practical help on upgrading/fixing/understanding your P.C.

Click Here to go directly to PC Tech Guide.

Disclaimer

The good people at inverkip.com provide all advice with the very best of intentions and take all reasonable steps to make sure that all programs provided have been tried & tested by us first and that they are virus free.

However, we cannot be held responsible in the unlikely event that you feel that following our advice or installing one of the supplied programs has cause you P.C. or related software to malfunction.

All software has been obtained from legitimate sites which are fully supported by the program vendors, and none has been obtained illegally thru any P2P ( Peer to Peer ) unregulated sites such as Kazza, Morpheous, Napster etc.

If you do suffer an "irregularity" then please feel free to contact us by using the Contact Us link at the top of the page, and we will do what we can to help.