That Computer Show

Sometimes popular antivirus programs like McAfee and Norton Antivirus are damaged from viruses that sneak through, bad installs, botched software upgrades, or just too many antivirus apps on one machine. In those cases it’s best to remove them from the affected systems.  Norton and McAfee both provide tools to perform a manual removal.  I would even run these tools after I used the standard uninstallers.  Before we can run these tools, We have to get them from the Internet first.

• Norton (http://www.symantec.com/index.jsp) Search for “Norton Removal Tool” on thier site.  For Norton, follow the first two steps if you plan on upgrading or reinstalling their products.
• McAfee (https://us.mcafee.com/root/ProductUpdate.asp?cid=35172) McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool is listed under solution 2.  Not the easiest to find on thier site. 
• Major Geeks (http://www.majorgeeks.com/).  You can find both tools listed there.

Now with the tools in hand, let’s run them.  It’s pretty straight foward, just follow the steps on the screen.  Once they are completed I would reboot the computer to make sure the uninstall is complete.  The computer is now ready for the installation or reinstallation of the antivirus software of your choice.  My personal recommendation would be found at http://www.grisoft.com/. We use AVG at That Computer Store daily, and also offer it for sale on our custom built computers. The retail version is great, and they also have a free version for personal, non-business use.

I hope that helps aleviate some of your virus woes!
Ben

Amazon Unbox is a revolutionary new service from the fine folks at Amazon.com that will whiten your teeth, keep your clothes fresh, and let you affordably and easily download TV shows and hit movies to your Tivo or home computer! Unless…. you use a Mac, Linux, or a 64 bit edition of Windows Vista. I can’t exactly help you with the Linux or the Mac part yet, but I managed, with a little fiddling, to get it working! (Did I just use too many Commas? Don’t you hate sentances like that?) Read the rest of this entry »

Well, on this weekend’s show (March 1st, 2008) we reported that GrandCentral was taking open registrations again. Either it was a very shortlived window of opportunity, or we were mistaken. I blame Chris. I don’t have any real backing to legitimize that blame, but if we all blame Chris it doesn’t make very much sense to blame me, does it? Good, I’m glad we all agree there. Thanks Chris! *mutterings from the horde of angry villagers behind Stephen*

Either way, check out GrandCentral, the phone service that lets your centralize all the phones in your world under one handy number… if they ever let you sign up. You can “reserve” your number here. Translation, if and or when they start letting people sign back up, you’ll already have a spot in line.