However, if you require extra protection because you are not entirely confident with your current protection, and would perhaps like a second opinion, there are alternatives to installing another anti-virus program on your computer. That alternative is online antivirus scanners.

These free scanners require no installation. They will simply run as an add-on to your internet browser that will scan your system without disrupting your current protection. They are designed to work around your current configuration.

The add-on allows the online malware scanners to be browser independent, which means that it doesn’t matter whether you’re using Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or another browser, the online malware scanners are designed to work with all of them.

Online virus scanners are useful in many situations. You may have recently suffered from a virus on your PC that your current anti-virus solution has eradicated, it might be best to get a second opinion and to check if there are any more viruses your current protection failed to detect. Perhaps you have downloaded a file you suspect is suspicious and you wish to scan it with an online malware scanner.

Online malware scanners can offer you the same, if not increased flexibility over your installed protection, with full scan, quick scan, individual file scan, and many more options, whilst using minimal system resources to automatically remove or warn you of infections on your system.

With online malware scanners you can be sure that it will detect and destroy the latest viruses, as the virus database is updated constantly. Some of these solutions will even alert you if your current protection is out of date.

There are many online scanners available from all of the major anti-virus companies, including AVG, BitDefender, Kaspersky and many more!

Note: Because online scanners do not offer real-time protection, they should never be used as your main antivirus solution, only to complement your existing protection.

Fortunately there are ways to make sure that your data is completely safe from recovery:

You can physically remove the hard drive from the system. You may wish to keep the hard drive and install it in your new system, or purchase a hard drive caddy and use it as an external hard drive.

Alternatively if you don’t wish to keep the hard drive you can physically destroy it. How you do this is up to you, but you will need to make sure that the platters inside the hard drive are destroyed, as these contain the data. Exercise caution when destroying the hard drive so you do not cause yourself injury. This method will guarantee that no one will be able to recover any information on the drive. However if you intend to sell your old system, this may not be the best solution.

At Ugeek we have the tools that enable us to securely remove everything from your hard drive to the highest possible standard, without having to physically destruct the hard drive, making sure that there is not a trace of information left. So you can be safe in the knowledge that no matter where your old computer ends up, your personal information will not be there with it.

Note: After performing the secure format there will be absolutely nothing on the hard drive, not even an operating system (i.e. Windows). However we are able to also reinstall the operating system that came with your PC if required.

If you are interested in this service, call us or email us for more details and a quote. You can find our contact details on our homepage.

Fortunately you can get rid of these and it only takes 5-10 minutes. Just follow the steps in this guide.

Disclaimer: Modifications to the registry are performed at your own risk. A registry backup and recovery guide is included in this how-to.

For Windows XP users: Go to the Start menu, open Run, type regedit and hit Enter.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Go to Start menu, type regedit in the Search box and hit Enter.

This will open the registry editor. You will have a window that looks like this:

Before starting we’ll make sure the registry is backed up so that if anything goes wrong, or you are not happy with the changes, you can easily recover your previous settings.

To do this, click the Computer tab on the left of the regedit window, then select File and Export…

Now create a name for the file such as Backup of Registry like the one illustrated, and save it in a safe place such as your My Documents folder. This may take a few moments, so be patient.

Now you are backed up, you are ready to get rid of those annoying menus!

In the left-hand tab, you will see a list containing the following:

If you click the arrows on the left of these directories, it will expand the menu and provide further menus for you to navigate to.

There are 2 places you need to navigate to in the registry. Firstly to remove right-click menus from individual files, and secondly for removing them from when you right-click folders.

For removing them from files you need to click to the following

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Expand the list by clicking the arrow to the left of the menu

Now select the * menu expand it

Then expand shellex

And finally ContextMenuHandlers

Under the ContextMenuHandlers menu, you will see a list of folders for all of the right-click options. What you need to do is delete the folder corresponding to the menu you wish to remove. So, for example you wish to remove the right-click menu for 7-Zip, you would delete the 7-Zip folder.

Note: only delete those menus that you are sure you know what they are.

To remove right-click menus from folders, it is the exact same concept, you are just navigating to a different location in the registry.

Firstly go to:

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT

Then scroll down the list until you find a menu called Directory (instead of *).

Then navigate to shellex, and then ContextMenuHandlers

Once you have finished close the registry editor and restart your computer.

Registry Recovery

If you are not happy with the changes you have made, or the changes have caused any issues, you can easily restore the registry from the backup you created earlier. Navigate to the backup and double-click it. You will receive this warning message:

 Click Yes to recover your registry. Finally, restart your computer to complete the recovery process.

Have you ever been working away at your computer, perhaps on an important document or chatting with friends online, and all of a sudden your computer freezes, you’ve lost your work, and you’re impolitely greeted with a blue screen full of complicated text, similar to the picture above?

This is what is known as a “Blue Screen of Death” or “BSOD”. Unfortunately, these can happen for a many number of reasons, and can in some cases be hard to diagnose.

It could be that a piece of your computer’s hardware is at fault. It could be a recent software update or installation causing the problem. It could be due to a recent alteration of settings.

A Blue Screen of Death will usually provide a short paragraph of advice on how you can possibly alleviate the problem.  Sometimes these instructions can be fairly straight forward, that those with a little technical knowledge may be able to grasp. At other times it may give more complicated instructions that someone without technical knowledge may not understand, such as disable BIOS memory features. You may have tried all of the suggestions and you are still receiving the Blue Screen of Death. In some cases the BSOD may not give instructions at all, leaving you completely helpless.

However you no longer need to worry. Here at Ugeek we can diagnose these issues and provide you with a report of why this is happening. We will also provide you with a quote for repairing the problem.

Call or email us to book your PC or laptop in for diagnosis and repair. Our contact details can be found on our homepage.

This easy-to-use, all-in-one package takes care of all your online security needs, making sure you are safe and secure no matter what you do on the web. Included in this package are anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, firewall, link scanner, online shield, spam killer, email scanner, identity protection and much more.

Here’s a comparative list of features included in AVG Internet Security 2011:

Whether you’re browsing online, instant messaging with friends and family, online shopping and banking, downloading or emailing, AVG Internet Security 2011 will keep you safe and secure.

We can provide you with a 1-year license of AVG Internet Security plus installation for just £25!

For more information contact us via telephone or email. Our contact details can be found on our homepage.

We have been alerted to a new virus that is causing major issues. A screen print of the infection is below

harddrive-small-virus

If you get this infection please shutdown your machine immediatley, so further damage is not caused.

This virus is difficult to remove as often the machine will not boot normally or in to safe mode.

However here at Ugeek we can remove the virus manually, before running through our scanning machine

We have been alerted to an outbreak of fake anti virus messages, claiming that your PC is infected and that you should buy anti virus by clicking a link

Don’t click anything, shut your PC or laptop down immediately.

What should you do now – Call us on 01782 202 529 and book your machine in for a full clean, once clean we can suply and install AVG Internet Security 2011 (worth £38.99)

What will this cost to fix – £50 – This includes cleaning and a FULL version of AVG 2011

Image below are of the latest we have been warned about:

Apart from these message other symptoms inlcude

• Unable to access the Internet
• Unable to access their Desktop items
• Desktop messages
• Cannot open internet explorer

Ugeek is a computer and laptop repair company based in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire.
We repair and fix anything to do with a computer, laptop or network. Ugeek will fix anything from a slow PC to a full install at your home. We repair all makes and models of Laptop and Desktop computers including self build, Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Medion, Toshiba, Compaq, IBM, Lenovo, Acer, Sony, Packard Bell, Gateway, and HP Compaq machines.

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Thanks so much for visiting our blog. Enjoy!

- The Ugeek Team