Thank you for calling Tech Support, my name is Weez, how can I assist you today?

If you want help with computer problems, you can email me.  I've done a lot of help desk support and if I don't know the answer, I can usually get it.

****************************************************************************
Anti-virus
****************************************************************************

Sorry, but I am not a fan of Norton.  I have had so many people complain about their computers freezing up, getting errors of various sorts, and many times when searching the internet, the errors are Norton related.  

Worst yet, Norton is embedded on computer systems about as bad as AOL Hell.  You think it's easy to remove Norton?  Try the conventional methods and you will still have remnants all over that'll wreak havoc on your PC until one day you crash.

One of the worst problems with Norton is that it runs in the background all the time and it is a memory hog.  Same with firewall software. 

I do not have either of those running on my machine.

If you want a good, free anti-virus program, google search AVG anti virus, or go to antivirus.com.

AVG can run in the background, but I choose not to because I do not want it draining my memory.  I run antivirus and other scans when my PC begins to lag, or I start getting popups, or spam.

What you can also do to prevent popups on the internet is search google for google toolbar, and install the enhanced version.  This will block virtually all popups and install a google search bar so you do not have to go to google every time you want to perform a google search (which for me is pretty much daily).

*****************************************************
SPAM
*****************************************************
if you ever get email from someone you don't know and it says, "to be removed" or "to unsubscribe", do NOT click it. 

If you do, you will not be removed or unsubscribed.  What you've done is told the spammer your email address is valid, thus you will get more spam as they'll toss your email around to other spammers.  Once they know your email is valid, they'll keep spamming in hopes that maybe one day you'll buy from them. 

and that's rule number 1:  NEVER click on a spam or purchase anything from a spammer, unless you like spam. 

There is an exception.  Lets say you signed up for amazon (or another reputable company's) mailing list, then the unsubscribe links will actually work as they're supposed to.

Never reply to spammers.  Never bitch them out.  They don't care about your feelings, they don't even listen to you.  You need to understand, most spam is generated by software.  Best way to stop spam is ...

1)scan your computer for spyware.  You may have software inadvertently downloaded onto your system which retrieves your email settings and sends you spam

2)scan your puter for Adware.  Adware launches advertisements in hopes you will click them, which could install spyware, trojan horses, viruses, worms, etc.

3a)If you still receive spam after scanning your system with multiple programs, your address may have been sold.   Thus, you can go through a tedious process of tracking the origins and complain to the company the spammer is advertising for... you can email me for details

b)delete your email address.  If you are like me and have verizon with various aliases, you can just delete the alias.   You know, many people spam you by simply guessing your email address.  If it's a common english name, you'll probably get spammed whether you do anything inadvertent or not.

c)use an email address like hotmail or yahoo that has a bulk mail folder to filter spam out.  Or download some anti spam software.  It works against spammers that are sending email bulk.  It's harder to block people who are wasting their time typing in email addresses individually. 

Some spammers will go away.  Pay attention to the "From" line because the subject and body of the spam may be identical to an email from someone with a different name... that's the software spoofing a name before it's sent. 

****************************************************************************
MS Installation error
****************************************************************************

The following value in the .SIF file used by Setup is corrupted or missing:
Value 0 on the line in section [SourceDisksFiles]
With key "sp3.cab"
Setup cannot continue. To quit Setup press F3.

I got this error when I installed XP.  I could not figure it out.  Various websites said to reinstall a file on the XP boot disk, but nobody seemed to have an easy solution.

Well, XP is bootable, you do not need boot disks, but that is how I had installed XP Pro prior, so I assumed I needed them.  I had a moment of clarity, rebooted my machine, pushed DEL to enter setup, changed the boot sequence to read my CD rom first, then pushed a key when it asked something about booting from CD.   After that I was asked for format, then it began installing.  No boot disks needed.   Using the boot disks caused the error.

****************************************************************************
 

If people come here and want more tech info, I'll add stuff as time goes on, but I don't expect a lot of traffic here.  Just keep my email handy and email me if you have questions.  I've done tech support for about a half dozen years and been on computers for a dozen.  I'm troubleshooting, fixing, and learning new things daily. 

****************************************************************************