Evolutionary Designs Random Wonderings

Recently, I started picking up more IT contracts and I found that a common theme from clients were to fix systems that were infected with virus and other malicious software. During the troubleshooting process, I usually found that the infected systems did not have an antivirus program or if the system had one installed on it, the virus definitions have not been updated for some time.

I always recommend that if you own a computer that you at least need to have an antivirus program on your system and keep it up to date. But to truly keep your system safe you need to full internet security suite if its in the budget. If not, look into using free firewalls and free antivirus software. Then add your anti-malware protection suites for added protection.

How to Clean Up a Computer That is Infected With Malicious Software

When I get a request to look into errors on a computer I normally have the client describe to me what the error is and how it happens. Once I know how to recreate the error (if possible) I will trigger the error code and then look up that code to see what it is and how I can fix it. If there isn’t an error, I will use the computer for a little while and give it a tech evaluation. I am looking for things, such as a computer that runs to slow, programs crashing, getting blue screens, and any error codes that may come up. I also like to check system processes and see if there are any programs running that shouldn’t be. Then I check to make sure Windows is update, antivirus, firewalls, anti-malware software is update to date.

Once I gather enough information, I will talk with the client. Once I get the approval to start working on the computer, I try and run windows updates and update the antivirus software packages if there is one installed. If the system doesn’t have any antivirus software, then I will have to install antivirus software and run some scans. Of course this can takes time. Image Source: Tools – Flickr.

If the system doesn’t have an internet security suite, I usually recommend a few. But if they aren’t interested in getting one, I will offer a few recommend free anti-malware programs. If they still aren’t interested I will educate them on the dangers of not having these valuable tools on their system. If they still do not want them on their system, I will install them since they are needed to clean and repair their system. Once I’m finished, I will remove them from the system

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Back in December I wrote an article about the best internet security suites of 2011 and decided that it would be a great idea to share some free options. Although, I believe that the premium security suites are the best option when it comes to total computer protection and the other computers in your household.

For those that only need simple protection or it isn’t in their budget to purchase a premium security suite, then I recommend to at least get a free antivirus program and a free firewall suite to protect your computers. Today, I will share with you a few free antivirus programs that I found or have used in the past.

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It time for the weekly design resource. This week I have another set of textures. This set of textures I took earlier this week when taking some time off and did some shopping in Historic Downtown McKinney with the wife.

This set of textures is tree rusty metal textures taking from various buildings and structures that were around 100+ years old. Plus I also added one peeling paint (not really people, just worn down) diamond plate on an outdoor winding stair case.

Free High Quality Textures Creations

You are free to use any of my (Evolutionary Designs) textures on your projects as long as they are not for commercial use. If you want to use them for commercial purposes, you must contact me for permission. Please read the terms of use for each texture. They will be attached to the download page. Please make sure to link to article if you use  them. Thank You.

3 Rusty Metal Textures

Image Source: Rusty Metal

Do you like to do reviews about products and services on your blog. Do you companies offer products and services for you to review? If so, I have a plugin for your WordPress blog that will only help you out with your reviews.

Author hReview WordPress Plugin

The plugin that will help you build your review articles is the Author hReview Plugin by Hesham Zebiba. He originally created the plugin as a Thesis Only Plugin but had a change of heart. He made so everyone can use it. All you have to do is have a self hosted WordPress blog and its yours.

Please click on the link to read the rest of the review.

We all know that high-quality inbound links are an essential ingredient in an SEO campaign.  We also all know that it can be extremely time consuming, and sometimes frustrating, looking around the web for sites to approach for links.  I’m going to show you one technique for quickly putting together a list of sites that could be link prospects, without having to scour the internet for hours on end.

What is This All About?

Here’s what this post will show you how to do:  quickly create a spreadsheet of 100 (at a time) sites that may be good link prospects.  In addition to having all of the URLs in one place, the spreadsheet will also have a lot of great SEOmoz data for each URL, like Domain Authority, mozRank, etc.  Sounds good, huh?  Here we go…

Tools

First, you’ll need to get a few tools:

• Google Chrome with the free ‘Scraper’ extension installed.
• The Business Hut SEOmoz API spreadsheet that you can get here:  http://www.businesshut.com/seo/using-seomoz-free-api-excel/.
• An SEOmoz membership so that you can generate an API key.

Please click the link to see the rest of the article.