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Chillblast Fusion Elixir

February 9, 2012 IT Product Reviews

Chillblast's latest aims to tick all of the boxes for £599, but can it prove its worth in every department?

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Quiet PC Streacom FC5-Z68 Fanless Media PC

February 8, 2012 IT Product Reviews

Another passively cooled PC arrives, but is this one worthy of such a considerable price?

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Check Point 2205 Appliance

February 7, 2012 IT Product Reviews

This compact security appliance is more capable than it looks, as we find out in our review

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Error code 0×800704ec removing Alureon.E

February 6, 2012 Uncategorized

This is one of the rare infections, where I found it easier to re-partition the hard drive, rather than remove the infected.

I initially just ran malwarebytes, and by using a combination of safe mode, and UBCD4Win, I managed to (apparently) clean the system (it took 2 hours!).

So, the next day, the same customer calls, saying they tried to install AVG (I didn’t have time to re-install an antivirus on the day, and the customer seemed competent enough to do it himself)… but he kept getting errors, and now the computer won’t start.

So I bring the PC back to the office

Starting the Windows 7 PC only results in an initial attempt to start windows, followed by a re-boot

So I remove the hard drive, and install it into my bench PC.

Sure enough, malwarebytes finds and removes more infections.

But while malwarebytes is scanning, Microsoft Security Essentials say it found an Alureon.E infection in boot:\device\harddiskvolume2

But then it gives an error code 0x800704ec and says something like: I can’t remove it due to permission problems.

A second scan with malwarebytes, says the disk is clean… and I get the same report from SuperAntiSpyware, only Microsoft Security Essentials keeps detecting, and complaining about Alureon.E

I try TDSSKiller, but it can only scan the current active system, so thats useless for fixing a non-booting system.

I put the disk back into its original PC, and boot the Windows 7 CD, and attempt a “repair system startup”. After a few attempts, its obvious that its not working.

I even try to manually fix the bootup, using “fixboot” and “fixmbr”, but the fixboot gives an error.

I try a huge array of options to clear the boot sector, and I eventually manage to get fixboot to work, but MSE still says that there is Alureon.E on the disk.

Eventually I see a few forums that mention that even if Alureon.E is removed from the boot sector, once the system starts, its possible that the system will get re-infected.

At this point, I decide I’ve wasted enough time on this, and I backup all the user data, re-install windows (I make sure I delete all the partitions, and then re-create them, so that there is no chance that Alureon.E can find its way back).

Its a pain to recover lost data and applications, but at least it will save me from wasting more time on trying to fix something that might not be fixable.

Its strange: I would have thought that most anti-virus software would have the access rights to override a boot sector, yet it seems like thats not the case.

If I ever see this type of infection again, I’m going straight to the “backup and wipe windows” option!

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AMD Radeon HD 7950

February 3, 2012 IT Product Reviews

AMD launches its second 28nm card, but is the HD 7950 worth a whopping £340?

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Which is the best online services for the businessman on the go and how can he benefit from it?

February 2, 2012 Uncategorized

The era of the mobile office has truly transformed business people’s lives. Formerly obliged to attend a physical office in person every day for set hours, with long commutes and fairly ineffective working practices to contend with, today business people can work flexibly wherever they wish, using the power of technology to carry out their jobs more effectively.

Business Changes

The advent of new technologies doesn’t simply change the platform or equipment that applications are delivered on – it also changes cultures. Mobile working and wireless-internet facilities provide the scope for flexible work patterns and negate the need for a physical office space. Staff can work from home, at client locations and also remotely while traveling. This has huge potential benefits in terms of cost savings on fixed overheads and office servicing, time, carbon-emission reductions and improved staff morale.Where once distance was seen as a problem, it now poses no barrier, as online networks allow remote teams to communicate and collaborate across wide areas. Web conferencing, file sharing, online collaborative work spaces and other tools facilitate remote business and often improve its effectiveness. Each piece of technology has its own benefits that can help businesses to grow, while keeping costs down.

onConference

This useful app offers web conferencing and local-to-international conference calling. One of its key benefits is the ability to teleconference using existing phone lines rather than the internet. There are call-recording options to capture meetings for later playback and a free Meeting Manager service online that sends out invitations in a simple, professional and streamlined format. You can use interactive webinars and even share your personal desktop, so that other enabled users can see data, documents and applications first hand. The package is paid for by user and by minute, rather than by a subscription, so it can be great value for money.

SlideShare

SlideShare allows users to upload PowerPoint presentations for either private or public viewing. It’s compatible with Open Office (a free equivalent to Microsoft Office) and Mac Keynotes and there are both free and paid for ‘Pro’ options available. Once the slides are uploaded, they can be viewed by up to 60 million visitors a month, helping to generate a little awareness and buzz about your products and services and opening the door for new connections and linkages. If you need ideas for a sales presentation, the website allows you to browse for inspiration or use an existing template to work from.

GoToMeeting

There’s a 30-day trial for this service that’s entirely free and worth a try. It offers online meeting spaces and video-conferencing for up to 15 people using PCs, iPads, Macs or smart phones. If you want to sign up to the full service, it costs a flat rate of $49 dollars a month to host as many meetings as you want. It’s a cost-effective option for allowing project groups, disparate teams, clients, training groups or sales staff across branches to catch up quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. It can improve productivity through shorter meeting times and the reduced need for travel. For someone managing a business across several locations, it is an extremely useful tool.These are just some of the services available for the technologically aware business person. New ones are being released all the time, offering new features and even greater benefits.

About the Author:

The above article is composed and edited by Roxanne P. She is associated with many Technologies communities as their freelance writer and adviser. In her free time she writes articles related to mobile applications,  social media, dsl internet providers related articles etc.

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Sony Alpha NEX-7

February 1, 2012 IT Product Reviews

Sony's top-end compact system camera boasts a stonking 24-megapixel resolution, and rivals DSLRs for quality

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Oki MC851dn

January 31, 2012 IT Product Reviews

We find ourselves impressed by the entry point to Oki's new A3 colour laser all-in-one range

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wordpress weaver theme: how to change the sub menu width

January 30, 2012 Uncategorized

I’ve recently started using the weaver theme for WordPress.

One of the biggest mental hurdle to jump over, is to not directly alter the CSS stylesheet, but to use the CSS sections under the main options menu of the Weaver Admin panel, and in some cases, the <head> section of Advanced Options

However, I did find that using google to find the correct snippet of CSS code really didn’t work well, since most people go straight to altering the CSS stylesheet.

But I soon found out how to “uncover” the correct CSS on my own.

A good example was the menu bar along the top of:

Home Loan Advisors

I added the CSS:

{font-size:180%}

to the CSS sections for “Menu Bar text”, “Menu Bar hover” and “Menu Bar current page”

This made the menu font just the right size I wanted.

However…

The drop down menu was a fixed width, so the sub menu words were wrapping around, causing an ugly mis-alignment of the gradient background.

The solution:

I found someone who mentioned changing the #access and #access2 section in the stylesheet, but I decided to carefully look at the stylesheet myself (Appearance -> Editor)

The stylesheet is reasonable well documented, so I went to the menu section of the stylesheet, looking for something about “width” and a size of about 100 to 300 px (pixels)… which is what I guessed was the width of existing sub menu.

it didn’t take long to find a section that looked like this:

#access ul ul,
#access2 ul ul,
#access3 ul ul {
    box-shadow: 0px 3px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    -moz-box-shadow: 0px 3px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    -webkit-box-shadow: 0px 3px 3px rgba(0,0,0,0.2);
    display: none;
    position: absolute;
    top: 38px;
    left: 0;
    padding-left:0px;
    float: left;
    width: 180px;
    z-index: 99999;
}

So, what I wrote in the Advanced Options -> <head> was:

#access ul ul {width:240px;}
#access2 ul ul {width:240px;}
#access3 ul ul {width:240px;}

I was close: that altered the menu width, and the background shadow, but the gradient background hadn’t increased in width.

Another look at the stylesheet showed this code:

#access ul ul a,
#access2 ul ul a,
#access3 ul ul a {
background: #333;
line-height: 1em;
padding: 10px;
width: 160px;
height: auto;
}

So I also added the following code to the <head> section:

#access ul ul a {width:220px;}
#access2 ul ul a {width:220px;}
#access3 ul ul a {width:220px;}

Bingo!

Just the right width!

However, some alterations are more difficult than others.

Ultimately, more comprehensive documentation (or even more meaningful variable names), would make this process a lot easier.

I mean, why call sub menu widths: “access”, why not just call it “sub-menu-width”?

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Netgear DGND3700 N600

January 28, 2012 IT Product Reviews

Netgear's N600 brings ADSL and cable connections to the table, plus twin dual-stream, dual-band operation