PCs do the darnedest things. When a program crashes, your system slows down, or a file or program refuses to open, it's probably due to a problem with an application or device. But not always. Computer viruses and worms will cause your PC to exhibit many of the same symptoms as a failed or failing component or program.
Here are some of the primary indicators that your system is infected:
• Your system slows to a crawl for no apparent reason.
• The machine crashes, with or without an automatic restart.
• Error messages pop up repeatedly.
• Programs or files open slowly or not at all (especially security apps).
• You can't access drives or other storage media.
• Certain Web sites won't open in your browser, especially those of security software vendors.
• You can't download updates for your antivirus software.
• You can't print.
• A program disappears from your system.
• Strange icons are added to your desktop, or programs appear that you never installed.
• The unused space on your hard drive disappears (which could mean a worm is making copies of itself).
• People in your contacts list receive e-mail from your account, often with a virus attached.
• There's a big jump in the amount of traffic on your network, especially outbound.
How to disinfect a PC
Whenever your system starts acting funky, the simplest remedy is to use Windows' System Restore feature to turn back the clock to a time when the machine worked. (Note that many viruses and worms can outsmart System Restore, so this is far from a cure-all.)
Microsoft's Help and Support site offers step-by-step instructions for using System Restore in XP (which also describes how to undo a restoration). Vista users will find information on System Restore and other system-recovery options for that operating system on the company's Windows Help and How-to site.
Even if System Restore appears to fix your PC, update your antivirus software's definitions and do a full system scan with the program. If you don't use AV software, download and install a copy. You'll find a list of free and low-cost antivirus programs on this Download.com page. Two freebies that get rave reviews from most users are Avira AntiVir Personal and Avast Home Edition.
Another option for virus and worm removal is Microsoft's own Malicious Software Removal Tool, which can disinfect a PC but doesn't prevent infections. Note that if your system is set to receive automatic Windows updates, it probably already has the tool installed. You can read more about MSRT on the Microsoft Help and Support site.
Of course, if the virus or worm has blocked your PC's access to the Internet or is preventing your security software from running, you'll have to use another system to download and install an up-to-date antivirus program on a flash drive, optical disc, or other external storage device. Then plug or insert that device in the infected machine and run the AV program from there. One option is the free ClamWin Portable, though many other free AV programs can be installed and run off external media.
Where did the virus/worm come from?
When you're in the midst of a PC disinfection, the source of the virus may not be your first concern. But once your system is working again, you want to avoid whatever action caused the problem.
In the past, most viruses and worms traveled via e-mail and latched themselves onto your hard drive when you clicked to open an attachment, or sometimes when you merely viewed a message. Now infections are more likely to occur after you browse to an infected Web site or download and open a file.
The recent Conficker worm takes advantage of Windows' Autorun feature that allows programs to open simply by plugging in the USB flash drive, CD, or DVD on which it's stored, sometimes even if you thought you had disabled Autorun and AutoPlay on the machine. Microsoft released a patch that closed this hole late last year, though you still must disable these features manually. You'll find instructions for doing so on this site.
Your best virus/worm-prevention strategy is to keep Windows and your antivirus/antispyware/firewall software up-to-date, don't open e-mail attachments you weren't expecting (even if they appear to be from someone you know), and avoid file-sharing and other dicey Web sites. This is no guarantee of keeping your PC virus-free, but it will keep the odds in your favor.
As new Web applications debut, and older ones are enhanced, we spend more of our work time in a browser. Unfortunately, we also seem to be spending more time trying to figure out why our browsers aren't displaying the sites we visit correctly, or at all.
These days it's tough being a Web designer. Even if you create sites that comply with the latest HTML and other Web standards, you can't be sure that the pages will open or function as intended for all of the site's visitors. The fact is, Internet Explorer plays by its own set of rules, so in effect sites need to be designed twice.
Microsoft claims that Internet Explorer 8--currently in beta--will support more standards, but this itself could cause problems as sites designed for IE7 don't load correctly in the new release. Web designers will be able to add a "meta element" to pages that allows them to open in the new IE release as they would in IE7.
Get Internet Explorer 7 back on track
Microsoft offers an IE7 troubleshooting guide, but I can save you some time by summarizing its advice: First, check for Windows updates; second, scan your computer for viruses; third, if you don't mind losing your customizations, reset the browser to its default settings by clicking Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset (a last resort); and fourth, disable your add-ons and toolbars, and enable them one at a time to find the one causing the problem.
Before you resort to option 3 or 4, try what Microsoft describes as options 5, 6, and 7: Delete your temporary Internet files, browser history, and cookies. Doing so is simple, relatively painless (sites you revisit will load more slowly), and most importantly, the likeliest source of the problem. Choose Tools > Internet Options > General, click Delete under Browsing History, and select Delete files under Temporary Internet Files, History, and Cookies. Click Yes at each warning, and then Close and OK.
If the problem persists, go the no-add-on route. To open IE7 with no add-ons or toolbars enabled, click Start > Run (in XP), or press the Windows key (in Vista), type iexplore.exe -extoff, and press Enter. If the problem disappears, close IE and reopen it normally. Disable all your add-ons but one to determine if that's the source of the problem: Click Tools > Manage Add-ons > Enable or Disable Add-ons, select the add-ons one at a time, and click Disable for each, but keep one enabled. If IE works OK, enable another and test the browser again. Enable the add-ons one by one until the problem recurs. When it does, you've found the troublemaker.
Disable all the add-ons in Internet Explorer except one, and then re-enable them one at a time to find the source of the problem.
(Credit: Microsoft)In the event that none of these steps cures what ails IE7, it's time to break out the big guns: Boot into Safe Mode with Networking, log into a different user account, or go the clean-boot route. Microsoft offers step-by-step guides for these and other IE7 advanced-troubleshooting techniques.
Diagnose Firefox failures
Figuring out what's wrong with Mozilla's open-source browser is similar to the troubleshooting steps for IE, with two big exceptions: First, you can search for solutions at the Bugzilla service; and second, if you think you've discovered a bug in the program, you can report it (Bugzilla account required).
As with IE, start your Firefox troubleshooting by updating to the most recent version of the browser by clicking Help > Check for Updates. Next, update your add-ons by selecting Tools > Add-ons > Find Updates. MozillaZine provides a list of problematic extensions.
Recently Firefox refused to load my Gmail in-box. I fixed the problem in a jiffy by clearing the browser's cache: Click Tools > Options > Advanced > Network > Clear Now > OK. MozillaZine describes other standard Firefox diagnostics, and it also provides a Firefox support forum.
Clearing Firefox's cache can be a quick fix for many common problems.
(Credit: Mozilla Foundation)Bonus tip: All the attention paid to Firefox and Internet Explorer makes it easy to forget that there are many other worthy browsers available--for free. One of my favorites is Opera, currently at version 9.26. This browser has a reputation for being lightweight but full-featured. I've also been spending time with Apple's version of Safari for Windows, but I prefer browsing with Firefox on a Mac, and I haven't seen anything in the Windows version of Safari that would make me want to switch. If you spend a lot of time on social-network sites, you may find the Firefox-based Flock Browser to your liking.
Monday: better ways to search Outlook, Thunderbird, and Gmail.
Some people like to know everything there is to know about what their PC is doing. Not me. I just want the dang thing to work, and when it stops working, I want the simplest, surest, fastest, and cheapest fix available, skip the details.
This puts me at odds with PC pros who believe there's nothing blissful about tech ignorance. Okay, I see their point, but there are a world of things I'd rather be doing than scrolling through Windows event logs.
When I described ways to diagnose a hanging application, several readers took me to task for not mentioning XP's Event Viewer and Vista's revamped Windows Event Logs, nor the free Process Explorer utility from Sysinternals. While all three tools provide a great amount of detail about what your system is up to, they are designed for IT folks. Figuring out how to make sense of their logs is daunting for non-techies.
Zero in on errors and warnings
It's one thing to know what the problem is, but quite another to solve it. XP's Event Viewer helps more with the former than the latter. Open it by right-clicking My Computer and choosing Manage > Event Viewer. Double-click one of the entries in the right pane, or click the plus sign next to Event Viewer and select it in the left pane, to view the event log for that category. Double-click one of the log entries to see more details about it. The ones you're most likely to be interested in are labeled "Error" (with an X in a red circle) or "Warning" (with an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle).
Double-click an entry in XP's Event Viewer to view more details about it.
(Credit: Microsoft)If you click the link promising more information, the chances are you'll be directed to a page on Microsoft's Help and Support Center that offers only general information, or none at all. You're more likely to find an explanation by entering the Event ID and Source into a Web search engine and looking for a link to a support forum. This is far from a guarantee that you'll find a fix for your specific problem, however.
Vista's improved event logs
The event logs have been revamped in Vista to give you more viewing options, but unfortunately, the end results are about the same. Open Vista's event viewer by pressing the Windows key (or Ctrl-Esc if your keyboard lacks such a key), typing event viewer, and pressing Enter. Events are summarized in the middle pane, and the right pane provides options for changing your view or saving a log. Click Administrative Events under Custom Views in the left pane to see all errors and warnings in the logs.
Vista's Event Viewer provides a summary of errors and warnings in its log.
(Credit: Microsoft)
New look, same results
Vista's enhanced event view is nice, but in terms of figuring out how to fix the problems, the results are about the same as in XP. After being led down a few dead alleys, you may ask yourself if these tools are worth the time and effort. Depending on the severity of the problem, you may be better off living with it in hopes that some Windows or application update provides a remedy.
If you're not ready to abandon your quest for a solution, give Process Explorer a try. The program lists all the processes running on your system. Select one in the top pane, and all the files and Registry keys it is using are listed in the bottom pane. Or click View > Lower Pane View > DLL to see the DLLs the process is using.
Sysinternals' free Process Explorer shows the DLLs and other files being used by all the processes running on your system.
(Credit: Sysinternals)You can also determine which programs are using a specific DLL by clicking Find > Handle or DLL, entering the name of the DLL, and pressing Enter. Select the process in the search-results pane to highlight it in the main Process Explorer window.
You can tell that a program has stopped responding but failed to close by noting the amount of memory it uses: If this stays constant, the program has likely stalled. Determine whether a program is using the appropriate version of a DLL by double-clicking it to open its Properties dialog box. Note the version number and date, as well as the file path to ensure that it's stored where the programs that need it are looking for it.
Often the only "repair" option available for problem programs is to uninstall and reinstall them. You'll find more information about using Process Explorer to diagnose system glitches at Sysinternals' forums. I only wish that someday we'll be able to fix problem apps without having to become software engineers.
Tomorrow: troubleshoot your browser.
The last time Windows' System Restore failed on me, I didn't blink an eye. I gave up trusting Microsoft's own Registry safety net a long time ago. And considering the quality Registry freeware available, there's no reason you should rely on Windows to repair and recover from Registry-related problems. These four freebies will keep the Windows engine purring like a kitten.
Clear out the clutter with CCleaner
Piriform's popular Windows-optimization utility includes a Registry-scrubbing component that clears out old application paths, ActiveX controls, shared DLLs, fonts, icons, and other Registry detritus. The program gives you the option to fix some or all of the problems it discovers, and before it starts the cleanup you can create a Registry backup so your system can be rolled back if something goes wrong. Two nice extras are CCleaner's options for uninstalling programs on your system, and for clearing the temporary files and recent-file lists from Firefox, Office, Windows Media Player, and other popular apps.
The free CCleaner utility improves your PC's performance by removing unused and duplicate entries from the Windows Registry.
(Credit: Piriform)
ERUNT out-restores System Restore
Windows' built-in Registry backup utility is better than having no Registry backup at all, but just barely. It seems the times I need it most are the times System Restore is most likely to crap out. Lars Hederer's Emergency Recovery Utility NT program has been saving Windows users' bacon for many years. Despite the program's name, it works with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista as well. You can set the program to back up the Registry every time Windows starts, or create backups manually to the folder of your choice. The accompanying Registry optimizer is just as quick and simple to use as the backup program. ERUNT lets you back up the Registry for all users on the system, or selected users, and it even provides command-line switches for automating backups and restores. It works when Windows fails to load, though doing so may require a boot disc (which you can create with the great BartPE freeware).
The free ERUNT utility lets you back up the Registry for all users or only the current user.
(Credit: Lars Hederer)
Keep an eye on the Registry with Process Monitor
Sysinternals combined its FileMon and RegMon system-monitoring utilities into this program, which gives you a snapshot of your PC's activity in real time. In fact, Process Monitor provides so much information that it's difficult to keep up with the file and program activity it tracks. You can view your system activity in a simple graph, and display a summary of file and Registry accesses. There's even an option to log activity during the next Windows boot to help diagnose startup problems. A geek could easily kill the better part of an afternoon just rambling around the many monitoring options provided, though the program is most valuable when it's used to track down a system problem.
Get a real-time view of your system's file and process activity with Sysinternals' free Process Monitor utility.
(Credit: Sysinternals)
Find your keys faster with RegScanner
NiriSoft's Registry-scanning utility makes it easy to navigate to a specific Registry key, and then open it in Windows' Registry Editor by double-clicking the entry, or by clicking File > Open In RegEdit (the keyboard shortcut is Alt-F, R). Other time-saving features let you copy a Registry key to the Clipboard and then open the Registry Editor to that key automatically, and to scan for all keys containing a specific value. You can also search by data length, value type, or date modified.
Search your Registry keys in a jiffy with NiriSoft's free RegScanner utility
(Credit: NiriSoft)Tomorrow: maximize your Office workspace.
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