Category: Apple

Mac Defender and MacKeeper

Although Macs are fairly good at defending against viruses that may try to make your way on your computer, they can’t protect you from everything. Below is an older post from the Computer Doctor of Maine, talking about Mac Defender, a program that claimed to help rid your Mac of viruses. However, instead, it would not defend your Mac at all. It would ask for your credit card info, and just take your money while causing further problems to your computer. Many people would download this program from a pop-up ad, telling them that their computer had a virus and that they should install Mac Defender immediately.

While viruses for Macs have been around for a long time, they are generally few and very far between. I have said on countless occasions one of the best ways to prevent virus infection on your computer is to use a Mac. While I still stand by this, for now, the tide may be turning. Mac Defender is a rogue antivirus program that has been running rampant as of late. These programs have been infecting PCs for years and work by trying to get you to purchase a fake product and enter your credit card info. Your information is compromised, the program is now embedded in your system and can cause a host of issues, from performance issues to hard drive corruption and data loss.

– Computer Doctor of Maine, 2011/06/02

Although Mac Defender is much less common now, there are still many programs like it, such as MacKeeper. MacKeeper can get all through your Mac, making it difficult to remove it. If you have installed it, you can bring your Mac to the Computer Doctor of Maine in Bangor, and we can remove all traces of it, keeping your computer safe. In addition to this, we can help you install real anti-virus software, to protect against any threats.

10 Signs Your Computer Has a Virus

Viruses are known to plague millions of computers each year. They can cause a lot of frustration and annoyance because your computer is not acting the way it should be; it is the difference that you notice that can prevent any further damage done to your computer. It is important to keep a look out for any indication that your computer is infected, so here are 10 simple signs to help you notice a computer virus:

Your computer is really slow. Like really, really, REALLY slow.

Nothing responds when you click on an icon and/or your software applications do not work correctly anymore.

The system reboots, freezes up, or crashes for no reason.

Your antivirus security program and/or firewall is suddenly disabled.

You can’t access your disk drives or hard drive.

You are suddenly unable to print

You start seeing strange pop-up windows stating that you have a virus or that your computer is infected. (Usually the name of the virus program/scanner is something you have never heard of and you can’t seem to close the annoying window).

You start seeing pop-up advertisement windows at unexpected (random) times.

You have major problems trying to install or download software, especially an antivirus software.

You seem to have suddenly lost the icons on the desktop and/or all other program files in our folders.

If you are experiencing any combination of these symptoms on your computer, the best solution is to bring it in to Computer Doctor. We have seen the nastiest of viruses out there, and we are confident that we can nurse your computer back to health. If you have any concerns about your computer at all, please give us a call at 862-7019, we would love to take care of any computer issues you may have! You can take 15% off a Virus Removal and Tune Up service by mentioning this article before November 18, 2016!

Attention All Dropbox Users

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Ransomware is a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system. This type of malware forces its victims to pay the ransom through certain online payment methods, usually BitCoin, in order to grant access to their systems or to get their data back. Some ransomware (called CryptoLocker) encrypts files and will not decrypt them until the ransom is paid. All businesses are vulnerable, especially small businesses without the right protection and prevention strategies; however, the average consumer is also at a great risk. We have customers come to Computer Doctor frequently with ransomware virus attacks, both residences and businesses. Almost no one is exempt from these threats, but you can take the necessary steps to protect yourself from the ransomware’s damage.

This week we have worked with two companies that were compromised due to targeted attacks using dropbox. One received an email from a subcontractor offering to share a file. Once this was clicked on, the customer’s email account was sabotaged and the phishing email was sent out to all his business contacts.

The other company had a ransomeware infection that spread via the company shared dropbox. The infected computer was encrypted and subsequently spread the virus to every machine in the company.

These 2 events happened to small, local businesses in the Bangor area. We assessed the events and initiated a plan of action to remediate the issue. Virus threats are everywhere and they are not only targeting large corporations; we need to make sure your important information is secured and there is an effective strategy in the event of a data ransom because it can happen to anyone.

Computer Doctor is proud to offer customized managed services to everyone in the Bangor area. There are fully managed, proactive, and essentials packages depending on your security need. These packages include superb security, monitoring, and data backup services to help prevent or reduce ransomware virus attacks. These devastating outbreaks can cost you hundreds of dollars and a lifetime of photos and files. You can finally have peace of mind knowing you are taking the steps to protect your valuable information with Computer Doctor’s managed services.

If you are interested in protecting your family’s, business, or personal data from destructive viruses, please stop by our office at 50 Main Road N in Hampden or call us at 862-7019. If you mention this article, you can receive 10% off a virus removal with tune up!

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Warning Signs of Your Hard Drive’s Imminent Failure

Every one of us owns precious files like personal documents, photos, videos, or audio files, and we typically store them on hard drives. Surprisingly, hard drives are one of the few mechanical devices left in a computer because most other components are electronic; and as with any mechanical device, they are bound to fail eventually. The average lifetime of a stationary hard drive today is around 5 – 10 years, depending on the type and manufacturer, and it rapidly declines if the drive is subject to strong variations in temperature, humidity, and motion as in not being stationary. Since a majority of people today own laptops and external hard drives, which get dragged around quite a bit, a realistic hard drive lifetime is probably around 3 – 5 years.

Hard drives can die all of a sudden without warning, and can be especially devastating if you haven’t backed up your data recently. The best case scenario would be for your hard drive to fail gradually, which gives you the chance to react, get a copy of your data, and replace the storage device before facing a fatal disaster. There are a host of signs that hint to a gradual failure of your hard drive, and if you work quickly, you could save your most important pictures and documents before your hard drive’s clock runs out!

1. Slow Computer, Frequent Freezing, and the Blue Screen of Death

While these computer characteristics don’t always indicate hard drive failure and can actually be triggered by a thousand different factors, it is always a good idea to back up your data after experiencing any of these symptoms. Pay special attention to slowness or freezing after completing a fresh installation of an operating system on your computer, or if you boot your Windows computer into Safe Mode to check diagnostically. If the symptoms still persist in these situations, then it is very likely there is an internal hardware issue and possibly a failing hard drive.

2. Corrupted Data

If you begin finding your files take 30 minutes to open, refuse to open completely, or even disappear entirely, that is not normal computer behavior. If your file does open and you see that it has errors or is corrupted, that is a bad sign. This could be caused by a malicious Ransomware Virus or something similar, but it could also be caused by gradual hard drive failure.

3. Accumulation of Bad Sectors

Bad sectors are areas of the hard drive that do not maintain data integrity. They are automatically masked by the operating system and thus hard to identify, especially if large amounts of the disk are currently in use. If you somehow run into a bad sector on the hard drive, however, that is not good. To check your hard drive for bad sectors, there are several ways to do so. Here are step-by-step instructions to perform a hard drive error check for each Windows operating system. Windows Vista. Windows 7. Windows 8 (click “to repair a drive” tab). Windows 10.

4. Strange Sounds

If you previously didn’t hear a peep from your hard drive, but now you do, check it immediately and be prepared to backup your data and replace the drive, because it is about to fail if it hasn’t already. If your drive is making regular clicking or grinding sounds, or a sound known as the “click of death,” chances are you have a mechanical failure within the drive. If you hear anything out of the ordinary, turn off your computer as soon as possible because continued use may damage the disks and make your data unrecoverable. The longer the drive is powered on, the more damage you may be doing. You should then make a note of what happened and contact us at the Computer Doctor immediately!

The only way to protect your personal and important data is to create a backup drive. Purchasing an external hard drive to load all of your documents and pictures on is a smart solution, but a blank DVD or thumb drive would also do the trick if the storage space is large enough. Ideally, having 2 backup locations is the best data loss prevention strategy you can have. It is just as easy to drop your external hard drive as it is to drop your laptop, and without a third backup location, you could lose everything!In the devastating event of hard drive failure or data loss, the quicker you call us at the Computer Doctor the better chance we have of recovering your precious pictures and documents. If you need any help setting up your backup drives or need any advice on products, we are happy to help! Just call us at 862-7019 or stop by our shop at 50 Main Road North in Hampden. If you mention this article, you will receive 10% off a data back up!

Your Guide to Organize Your Christmas Shopping

No matter what type of shopper you are– the early bird who has everything wrapped up before Thanksgiving, or the mad-dasher that goes to grab everything the night before, it is easy to lose track of everybody on your gift list. There is the challenge of making sure that nobody gets the same present twice, especially if the same lists are circulated throughout your family. Here are a few tech tools that you can use to organize your holiday gift giving.

Keeping track of what you want to get for somebody, or what you have already purchased for others is challenging, particularly in large families. What good is planning ahead if you forget what you bought and where you hid it last month? How can you really keep your budget in mind when you are just wandering the store shelves aimlessly buying random gifts? If you have an iOS device, you can get the Santa’s Bag app. This gift giving app helps keep track of what everyone wants, how many gifts you have bought for each person, how much money remains in your budget, and even whether or not you have wrapped the gifts yet. You can add recipients as you go, as well as input what they want or what you think they want into a “gifts and ideas” list. You can set a certain budget for each gift recipient, sort out what store you will be buying the gift from, and set the status of wrapped or unwrapped, and add a gift location so that you don’t forget where you hide it!

A great gift giving app for those who do not have iPhones is the Christmas Gift List for Android. This app tracks ideas for what you want to get each person. The Christmas Gift List app also has quick click icons that let you update the status to bought, or from unwrapped to wrapped. Much like Santa’s bag, you can set personal budgets for each recipient- and see how many gifts you still need to buy at a glance. There is additional room for notes about each gift such as how you wrapped it, how large it is, and what color it is. This app is great for keeping you on top of your holiday gift giving.

The apps mentioned above are great for staying on track of your own gifts, but for those who need to coordinate with friends and family to avoid gift overlap, consider using Google Sheets. Google Sheets will help you form a complete gift giving spreadsheet, with each recipient having their own tab. The only downfall of this system is that users will
be able to see when a gift from their list has been crossed off. The best thing about Google Sheets is that it is free and can be accessed from any device that has an internet connection. All you need is a Gmail account, and family members can see who has added what. As soon as an item is purchased, it can be removed from the wish list so that no item is gifted twice. Although Google Sheets was designed to be more of a tool for school or business, it is surprisingly effective for use as a gift giving organizer.

Of course, there are some families that are spreadsheet challenged. For those families, there are several online wish lists that are good for beginners. MyRegistry allows you to add gifts from any online store, as well as sync any existing registries you may have at places like Amazon, Target, Walmart, Macy’s, and more. You can also use the smartphone app to scan bar codes of items that you find in physical stores. After you have compiled your list, you can share it on social media, a custom link, or allow people to search for it using your name. People with whom you have shared your list can update an item to show you when it is purchased. If every member of your family signs up for a MyRegistry account, everybody gets what they want and nobody ends up with three of the same gifts. MyRegistry is probably the most comprehensive tool for organizing your gift giving, but it does not work unless everybody is on board.

No matter how many people are on your holiday shopping list, staying organized can be a challenge. When it comes to gift giving, it is best to stay on top of things and not wait until the last minute, but no matter what your holiday shopping approach is, these tech tools will surely help organize your gift giving.

At the Computer Doctor, we can help you give the best gifts to your loved ones. We have an iMac in the shop, as well as two laptops ready to go– one of which is touchscreen! A newly refurbished computer by a certified and trustworthy technician is the perfect present to give this season.

Call us at 862-7019 or stop by and visit us at 50 Main Rd N in Suite B in Hampden, ME to check out our selection! If you mention this article, you will even receive 15% off!

Apple Products: Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

With a couple days still to go until one of the biggest shopping days of the year, a mixture of leaks and early announcements have revealed the best product deals at some of the biggest retail chains!

DealNews performed a study from Black Friday Season 2014 to help you score the best deals for anything you are looking to buy!

Because of the Blue law in Maine, almost all businesses must be closed on Thanksgiving Day, particularly the big department stores.

This means that the DealNews Editors’ Choices that vote in favor of deals on Thanksgiving Day won’t apply to us Mainers.

As of now, not very many sales have been advertised for Cyber Monday. But as a general rule, Cyber Monday is a tech-holiday for tech-minded people.

Fortunately, Amazon has announced some of its deals for Cyber Monday. The announced deals are primarily Amazon-exclusive products, such as various Kindle models and a year of the Amazon Cloud Drive storage.

The official Amazon Cyber Monday Deals hub has some limited-time offers that are going on right now which is definitely something to check out if you’re hunting for the best deal on a specific product!

A lot of deals on Cyber Monday will already have a certain percentage taken off of the full retail price, but I have found that most websites will also accept additional coupon codes for you to get an even better deal.

Here are some Apple coupon codes to redeem on the Apple store website, while RetailMeNot is my personal favorite website for finding more coupon codes to redeem on nearly any retail website.

To get the best deal for Apple products, try not to purchase them directly from the Apple Store, even if you use a coupon code. Purchasing from a department store will actually save you an average of $36 on any given iPad on any given day– not even including Black Friday or Cyber Monday! The same can be said for other Apple products as well, but this site has presented the savings data for iPads as of April 2015.

There are a few ways you can get the best deal for the Apple product you are looking to buy, and that usually means taking the time to research when and where you need to be to get it! Here is a basic breakdown of Apple deals this coming Friday.

Best Deals for iPads this Black Friday 2015:

iPad Air 2: The 16 GB is $399 at Best Buy and Walmart or $374 at Staples.

The 64 GB is $499 at Best Buy or $449 at Staples.

If either size is bought at Target, you will receive a $150 gift card with the full purchase price.

iPad Air: At Staples, the 16 GB is $319 and the 32 GB is $359.

If either size is bought at Target, you will receive a $100 gift card with the full purchase price.

iPad Mini 4: The 16 GB is $299 at Staples. At Best Buy, the 64 GB is $399 and the 128 GB is $499.

If any size is bought at Target, you will receive a $100 gift card with the full purchase price.

iPad Mini 2: The 16 GB is $239 at Staples or $199 at Walmart. If bought at Target, you will receive an $80 gift card with the full purchase price.

Best Deals for Apple Watches this Black Friday 2015:

Best Buy claims you can save up to $100 on Apple Watches, with the regular price $349-$699.

Target will give you a $100 gift card with any Apple Watch purchase.

Best Deals for iPhones this Black Friday 2015:

At Target, you will receive a $250 gift card with $0 down for an iPhone 6s or 6s Plus installment plan.

Or, for those that are eligible for 2 year contracts with Verizon or Sprint, you get $50 off the 16 GB iPhone 6s or 6s Plus (now $150 and $250 respectively).

At Walmart, you get $100 off any iPhone as well as a $100 Black Friday Gift Card.

Apple Macbook and iMac deals are a bit harder to come by. Best Buy’s Black Friday ad claims you can save $200 on a brand-new Macbook Pro or an iMac, making them $900 each. However, to get an even better deal on an iMac, stop by the Computer Doctor at 50 Main Rd N in Hampden to check out our $650 21-inch iMac.

Our technician refurbished iMac in the store has similar specifications to the advertised Best Buy one– with 1 huge exception: our iMac has a blazing fast Solid State Hard Drive. In addition to the obvious computer speed difference, our iMac will also have a full 6-month warranty following the purchase and you can expect nothing but the best technical support from the Computer Doctor for the entire computer’s lifetime.

Call us at 862-7019 or stop by our store to get the best deal on computers this holiday season. Even receive 25% off any purchase if you mention this article before December 25!

Improving Your Wifi Signal

We have all experienced that frustrating moment when Netflix suddenly stops loading and the room goes silent. For some reason, the WiFi signal dropped again, and the binge watching is put on hold until this annoying issue is fixed. Sometimes, just walking a bit closer to your router will revive your program, but what about those of us who believe WiFi should be everywhere and we should not have to walk a foot to access it? Routers often do not get as much attention as they deserve, which is why we put together a few recommendations for how to improve WiFi signal. From a simple solution like changing the location of your router, to a more high tech option like a high-range antenna or signal repeater, there are ways to ensure your WiFi signal reaches every corner of your home.

The first step in improving WiFi signal is to make sure your router is set to the proper settings. Some older routers still support 802.11g or 802.11n. 802.11ac is now much speedier and has been available since January 2014. Older technologies will likely slow down internet speeds. This can be checked in your router settings, and if you do not see an 802.11ac option on a router you have rented from your service provider, contact them immediately and request an equipment upgrade. A simple solution for how to improve WiFi signal is to put a password on your network to lock out any unwanted users. The fewer devices on a network, the faster the connection will be. Once you have confirmed that you are using the “ac” option and have set a network password, the next tip for how to improve WiFi signal is to physically move your router to a more centralized location.

Most of us install our routers and set them up, then leave them in a corner or a cabinet until they have an issue. Some of the best advice for people who ask how to improve WiFi signal is to put your router near the middle of your home so that its signal can reach all areas. A relatively good place to keep your router is behind the television in your living room. If you have a two story home, be sure that the router is near the ceiling if placed on the first floor and near the floor if it is on the second floor; this way both floors will have more even coverage. Although walls and barriers do weaken the signal from a router, interfering signals can have a much larger impact. Be sure to check for interfering devices such as baby monitors, Bluetooth devices, cordless phones, and microwaves. The signals put out by these devices can weaken the WiFi signal from your router drastically.

Another recommendation for how to improve WiFi signal is to use a dual bandwidth router. Most electronic devices run on a 2.4Ghz band, which means that interference will come from all of the devices on this bandwidth. If you can, switch your router to use the 5.0Ghz band, as it will be less crowded and offer less resistance. If replacing your router seems like a step too far, we have a few alternatives for how to improve your WiFi signal with simple additions to your router.

We have discussed ways to improve your WiFi signal, but what about range? By adding a high-range antenna to your router, the perimeter that is reached by your WiFi signal will increase, meaning that those troublesome corners of your house can once again become WiFi hot spots. Most routers have external antennas that can be unscrewed and replaced; we have done research and this antenna seems to be the best value. But, if your router does not have an antenna, consider investing in a network repeater or range extender. Netgear’s EX3700 WiFi Range Extender costs about $60 and is very easy to use. Simply plug it into an outlet and it is capable of transferring speeds over dual bandwidths up to 750MBps. Adding an antenna or extender is a great answer to how to improve WiFi signal without adjusting any router settings or getting a new router altogether.

If you are hesitant to perform any of these upgrades or changes on your own, feel free to call us at 862-7019, or click on Request Service on our website to connect directly with our technician. If you are struggling with how to improve WiFi signal in your home, don’t fret, just give us a call and we can get your network roaring in every corner of your home or office. Don’t bother dealing with your internet provider who will leave you on hold for hours only to tell you to try turning your router off and on again; get real help from the real Computer Doctor!

We are located at 50 Main Road North in Hampden, Maine. If you mention this article, you will receive 10% any at-home service!

Broken Laptop Screen? We’ll Pick Up the Pieces!

Imagine this:

You’re scrolling your Facebook feed and checking your email when you remember you left those cookies in the oven! You set your laptop down on the couch and run to the kitchen. Your trusty golden retriever follows you everywhere, so when you run off the couch, he follows! But his excitement moves your laptop just enough to slide off of the couch and land sideways on your hardwood floor.

Ouch!

It isn’t until you go back into the living room to gingerly inspect your laptop for damage. You open it up and see the devastation that has occurred– the display has lines everywhere in all different colors and keeps flickering, not to mention the crack that is spreading across the screen.

Does this sound similar to a situation you’ve been in? We understand how hard it is to look at your beloved laptop and see a shattered screen or a rainbow of colors that shouldn’t be there.

The Computer Doctor can help you! There are two highly skilled technicians in the shop that will remove the broken screenn right now and install a brand new one for you. The parts we use are the highest quality; this means your new screen won’t be flimsy and easy to break. It will be the same quality as the screen you received with your laptop originally or higher!

We often find ourselves fixing the mistakes of others. Many repair shops don’t have technicians that have the experience and training we have, so they are fixing devices without the skills required to do a competent repair. What ends up happening is that those devices develop problems after the repair, and often the screens they install can be of inferior quality and can easily crack. I don’t think there is anyone that would want that to happen after just getting their laptop repaired.

At the Computer Doctor, we specialize in all types of computer repairs. Computer Doctor is a full service repair center; we repair hardware and software ailments on all brands of PC’s as well as the full range of Apple products, from iMac’s to iPod’s. We have you covered!

We are located at 50 Main Road North in Hampden, Maine; across the street from the Circle K in the same building as Rivertown Family Eye Care. You can also call us anytime at (207) 862-7019.

Mention this article and receive an additional 5% off your screen replacement for any device until December 9, 2015!

Get More Life Out of Your Mac

Although Macs are well known for their dependability and relative long life, they can still get bogged down and benefit from . Here are some services we can do for your iMac, MacBook, or even Mac Mini to prolong it’s useful life.

Memory Upgrade

It is very common for a laptop or computer to only have 4GB of RAM. If you upgrade to 8GB of RAM, that would be comfortable for most people’s computers and would noticeably speed up your Mac. If you need storage for huge amounts of data, such as video editing or graphic design, then 16GB would be ideal— but that would be too much unnecessary space for your thousands of pictures from vacation or a few videos of your children blowing out candles on their birthdays!

Hard Drive Replacement

A Solid State Hard Drive will revolutionize your experience on your Mac. It will feel much more responsive, and even if you have a small amount of memory, swapping to a Solid State Hard Drive will also help because an SSD is especially fast at the transfer of data from the memory to the hard drive— much faster than an ordinary hard drive. An SSD is nearly 100x faster than an ordinary hard drive, and can even extend the battery life in a laptop as well!

Solid State Hard Drives have no moving parts, so they are much more reliable because over time the ordinary hard drive parts will wear down and fail with use. SSDs also generate no noise and significantly less heat than an ordinary hard drive does.

Utilize Your Additional Storage Options

Computers perform badly when their main storage drive is full. A common rule is to leave at least 10 % of your drive free—so consider adding additional storage and offloading files you don’t use often to it. This might be external storage, such as a USB flash drive or external hard drive. Getting those extra files that you don’t need on-hand off of your hard drive will free up some extra space and make your computer run more efficiently.

Update your Operating System

It is highly recommended to install the latest Operating System on your Mac for the increased security and features. Technologies such as App Nap— a feature that pauses apps not being used and reduces power usage— and compressed memory in OS X 10.10 Yosemite can actually improve performance on weaker hardware, such as your original hard drive.

Updating your Operating System can be tricky. The newest version of OS X for Mac is El Capitan, but we have seen some issues with completing the upgrade and computers not rebooting quickly afterward. If you tried to update your operating system and there was a problem with the install, then we encourage you to bring your Mac to us to get it back on track. If you bring your computer in to the Computer Doctor in Hampden for us to update your operating system, then you will receive $10 off if you mention this article!

The benefits to updating your OS X definitely outweigh the drawbacks— that is, if you have a newer Mac. If your Mac model is older than 2008, then it might not be the best idea to update it to the newest operating system. We’ve heard horror stories of older Macs completely grinding to a halt under the strain of the new OS X, and there’s definitely a danger with older Macs that newer operating systems will demand too much. At the Computer Doctor, we have every Mac operating system since Snow Leopard came out in 2009. We can install any of the operating systems that have come out in the past 6 years directly onto your Mac, and we will advise you which one would be the most efficient for your computer.

Apple has produced a line of outstanding products, and at the Computer Doctor we have found Macs to run better, quicker, and be more dependable than other brands of computers. If you bring in any Mac computer, laptop, or mini on or before November 28, 2015, then you will receive 10% off any service if you mention this article!

Come see us at 50 Main Road North in Hampden, Maine; across the street from the Circle K in the same building as Rivertown Family Eye Care. You can also call us anytime at (207) 862-7019.

Easy Tips to Prevent Viruses

Viruses and malware take advantage of any gaps in security your computer might have. The Computer Doctor of Hampden has years of experience in getting rid of viruses; and although he doesn’t have a prescription pad for your computer’s virus, he does have some tips to prevent it from getting infected.

Keep your Installed Programs Updated

Viruses and malware can slip right past antivirus programs and infect computers via outdated and unsecure programs you already have installed. Java and Adobe Flash and Reader are programs that have been known to lack security features. If you don’t use some of the programs you have installed on your computer, then uninstalling them will minimize the safety threat. However, we are not encouraging you to get rid of the programs you use, we are just advising you to update all your programs frequently.

To make sure your programs are always updated, Secunia Personal Software Inspector will automatically update unsecure programs to maintain protection for free, as well as limit the countless pop-ups and notifications of the new updates.

Be Careful with the Programs you Install

Viruses disguise behind programs and applications you think are safe so you install or run them. These are the most common ways to contract viruses, but can be easily prevented by being especially careful and using common sense.

These are the easiest ways to avoid unknowingly installing viruses:

Never open emails from unknown senders, especially messages with intriguing subjects!
Avoid visiting unsafe websites. Websites that begin with https:// and the lock icon are secure. Otherwise, get off of that site quickly!
Use strong passwords and have a few different passwords for different websites.
NEVER provide sensitive information by email, even if you think you know the recipient. If your bank is asking for your account or personal details via email, give them a ring just to make sure it’s actually them.

Keep your Operating System Updated

Just like viruses and malware use outdated and unsecure programs to infect your computer, they can use your operating system security vulnerabilities. Make sure you have the latest security patches and Service Packs installed to prevent viruses from getting into your system.

Use and Update your Antivirus Software

At the Computer Doctor, we highly recommend Avast Pro Antivirus. If you have brought your computer in with a virus, it is very likely we have already installed Avast on your computer! Avast has automatic software updates similar to Secunia, and scans your network for security threats to help prevent attacks to your router and network, and therefore, your computer. It has maximum financial security for banking and paying bills as well, and we have found it to be the most effective protection for your computer.

If your computer has a virus, we will gladly take in any infected computers or laptops and try our best to make it healthy again. He is the Computer Doctor for a reason!

If you bring in your device to the Computer Doctor before November 16 and mention this article, you will receive $5 off any service or 10% off a virus removal with tune up!

We’re located at 50 Main Road North in Hampden, Maine; across the street from the Circle K in the same building as Rivertown Family Eye Care. You can call us anytime at (207) 862-7019.

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Stuck with Vista? Might be time to try Windows 7.

Microsoft seems to hit the mark with operating systems about 50% of the time. Going back to when I first installed windows, Windows 3.1 worked remarkably well and...

by kevin
19 Mar 2020
0

Grade School to Grad School we are all learning from home.

As we all continue to make adjustments to how we work and learn given the social distancing guidelines. Let’s make your current technology work better for y...

Category: Apple

Mac Defender and MacKeeper

10 Signs Your Computer Has a Virus

Attention All Dropbox Users

Warning Signs of Your Hard Drive’s Imminent Failure

Apple Products: Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

Improving Your Wifi Signal

Broken Laptop Screen? We’ll Pick Up the Pieces!

Get More Life Out of Your Mac

Easy Tips to Prevent Viruses

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Stuck with Vista? Might be time to try Windows 7.

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