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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:45 pm
We all get computer issues every now and then and solving them is the key to online happines. ^^
For us booty grab players and tank owners problems with flash hit our gaia economy hard. It's worth to know that the latest flash updates for windows are adapted to suit windows 7 and 8, the 64-bit version. If you have a vista your computer only supports the 32-bit version of flash so installing any newer version of flash than 11.2 could give you some serious problems with lag and both flash and firefox crashing.
A modest computer expert by the name ToushinYusuke have helped me with his guides and he have given me permission to post them in the guild. There's some useful tips to be found if you take the time to read them through.
You can also Pm ToushinYusuke if you need some computer related help or advise.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:48 pm
Yusuke's quick and easy fixes.... :by ToushinYusuke I'm not an expert, and I'm not "officially certified". However I am slightly tech savvy and am able to fix most minor issues with computers for people by a few simple steps.
I say screw tech support and taking the computer to some fancy repair place that charges for what you, yourself can do!
If my lack of official papers hasn't scared you off, let me point you in the right direction.
---This is if you use a PC, I know relatively little about Mac computers.
First up, lost important data? Change something on the computer you didnt want to?
There MIGHT be away to recover it...
If you didnt do anything strange to the hard drive and if the computer is newer than XP ( as I think XP has to be turned on manually. But can test it... )
There is something called a system restore, you can restore your computer to a previous saved point on the hard drive to before you lost the files; if there is a system restore present that is around the same time you lost your data.
A system restore stores data on the computer every time a system change is made.
Say you upgraded your browser, decided you hate it and want to go back to a time before you updated. Well, by going to system restore to a previous date, you just might be able to.
You can try that and see if it gives you your data you lost back.
Yep, just kinda rewording a rather long PM I just wrote and thought it would be beneficial to all. =D
For any time you think you might have any computer issues at all
--Or even if you want to make sure you dont.
Goto google, and type in Malicious software removal tool. LOOK FOR MICROSOFT LINK ONLY. Go there and use the tool on a full scan. This can take HOURS depending on hard drive size but its a great tool.
Also there is something called: Microsoft Safety Scanner Another handy tool I recommend using when ever you think you might have some sort of issue.
This coupled with a good antivirus program ( I use AVG ) will typically stop most computer issues or fix them. You just need patience with these scans. They can take awhile depending on drive size and how much you have stored on them.
Also handy little thing about these tools, they'll clean up your computer of minor clutter, do a defrag most probably are lacking in and help keep the computer running smooth and efficiently. Now, who doesnt want that?
Best of all, its by microsoft, so you know it is trusted. =D!
Battle of the browsers!
I personally think it is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS a great idea to use firefox.... Now I have heard versions 11...or was it 12.... one of the two is having conflicting issues with antivirus called AVG ( great program )
However, if you have it, make sure you have the add ons. "No script" and "Adblock plus."
Now, with no script it can be a pain until you set it up, however, with each site you goto, only allow the basics of that site ( this prevents 3rd party added in ads and trackers --such as those evil tracking cookies from being active ).
Such as Gaia would need Gaiaonline.com and yahoo.something.something or another for it to run correctly at minimal. But if you want to allow facebook or meebo, that's fine too, however, I personally dont have those scripts allowed and gaia runs fine with out them.
Adblock is just that, an adblocking program. When you set it up, choose easy list USA (...obviously ONLY if you're in the USA. If you're in another country, select an appropriate premade list in the list of options it gives you. ) and that'll block most of the ads for you on gaia. And if you see a function, a picture, anything at all, that you just dont want to see on any site... you can easily get rid of it with a click of a button.
Both of them help keep your computer safe. You can find them at the offical mozilla addons site, or you can search for them on google and goto their own offical sites and read more about them. =D
Another helpful tip
Another good idea if you have the money for it, is get an external hard drive that you can plug into your computer that is a little bigger than your own hard drive.
So if you have 500GB harddrive, would go with atleast 700GB to 1tb external hard drive. That way you can store your pictures, games, music, files, etc.
You can back up your computer regularly so if there is ever an issue, you have it all right there on your harddrive back up.
There are several brands, I recommend walmart.com for best deals on them, I've only used western digital, so I'm not up to date on other brands, but walmart.com has user reviews on products. Also check Amazon for user reviews on products. =D See which is best for you should you want to go this route.
In closing. Hope this little easy to process, long winded little babble helped. If you have questions on something, you're free to ask me. I will try to help.
If some of the wording in this doesnt make too much sense, sorry. I essentially wrote most of this in PM to a user and thought all would benefit from it over here.
Handy microsoft links:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/malware-removal.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16
http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/en-us/default.aspx
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:51 pm
Wanted to bring this to people's attention; JAVA ALERT :by ToushinYusuke For those of you who have not heard, Java has been rather... compromised as of late. And Java is a basic function of a lot of web pages.
You can read more on MSN:
Msn link
Msn story 2
Number 3 MSN
====================================================== Helpful notes: ======================================================
And if you don't want to disable Java as that COULD be more of a pain in the butt than what it is worth, let a handy add on do it for you.
Firefox users, I don't know how many of you use the add ons Adblock and No Script, but they are potential life savers for the computer.
______________________________________________________________
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/adblock-plus/ <---adblock
What it does is it blocks ads from showing up on the computer and prevents them ( and other content should you chose to block it -- say people with too big of signatures etc ) from showing up and running on the computer. It keeps the computer safe as with some ads they can contain malicious content just by being allowed to run on the computer. Even though the web page you found them on might be safe, they have no control over their ad content. ( Ads are generated through a META tag in a web page, which means the site lists a bunch of key word ' Family, fun, social, games, rp, anime .. etc' and the ads pick up on these and generate an ad based off those key words. )
You can also use it to customize gaia. Hate a feature SO much of Gaia that you wish you didn't have to look at it? Example: Suggested friends content on the My Gaia page. Or, maybe you dislike achievements or all the face book icons. Adblock can get rid of those too!
__________________________________________________________
No script: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/noscript/
This handy little add on will block any scripts running on the page, most you didn't even know were there. This can be a pain at the start because you WILL have to go into the site and allow it for the first time you use it.
Example, you get no script and log into gaia the first time, you'll need to click the no script icon and scroll through a list of scripts running that it gives you. Allowing ALL of GaiaOnline.com should fix most of it, though there is something that starts with yui. or another that Gaia did use to use, it was a yahoo application script that was fine to have.
Other items on Gaia that are not needed would be the Google-analytics and scorecardsearch. And various things of that nature.
But it prevents Java and flash and other things from running unless you allow them to run. Which with the security flaw mentioned above it is a good thing to have.
=======================================================
For those who can't and won't use firefox:
Chrome is alright I guess, it doesn;t have a no script feature that I am aware of but it does have adblock.
For those of you on any other browser, I can't say I know much about them sadly, other than try to avoid IE.
There was a news article for software that accounted for security flaws:
"Hackers discovered a new security flaw in Java and immediately set up ... Adobe Reader was second, attacked in 28% of incidents, and Adobe ... Windows and Internet Explorer were only directly attacked in 3% of security"
is a snippet of it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:55 pm
Yusuke's Rants :by ToushinYusuke Just thought I'd write this up...
The internet isnt as safe as it once was. ...Well, perhaps it was never "safe", however it has come a long, long way from the older days when "hackers" simply pretended to be mods, or staff and asked for people's passwords and information. WHICH YOU SHOULD NEVER GIVE OUT.
I don't care what site you're on, never give it out. No mod or staff will ever need such information to get into / reset / ban an account.
They have something called "back end" or "in house" tools that are built in / encoded / etc on their computers / sites already, that allow them to go in and monitor edit or change things as needed. They dont need to know your password maybe "I <3 fluffy".
How many have ever contacted tech support for something? Internet goes out, and they sit there and walk you through all the same steps every single time. Well, perhaps this time it is different and the tech support for your ISP ( internet service provider ) --Ex: AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Vonage, whatever you have, may ask "Do I have your permission to control your mouse?"
Which means they use those handy "in house tools" of their's, going to remotely control your PC from their end. They didnt need to know your window's log on to even do it. They simply did it with a figurative click of a button and off they go, controlling your computer remotely.
Now, "regular" users, aka hackers, crackers and other such things code / use other's similar tools to do that.
And once that gets on your computer, it can do some damage. There is alot out there and you dont even know its happening most times. A simple click of a link you may think is safe from google is all it takes.
Which is why I recommended the tools I did in my other topic. ( I'll edit the post later on with actual quick links. )
As of late, there are two nasty viruses going around. One of which is the flame virus. A link ---that is yes, safe--- to a news article on it on the huffington post, an online newspaper of sorts.
If you dont trust that link, goto microsoft and read up on it, I'm sure they have something on it there too. =D
So beware what you click, make sure virus protection is up to date. Make sure all security updates from your OS are up to date, scan regularly and if you suspect you have an issue, goto:
This post in the guild (see second post) and try all the steps mentioned that pertain to it.
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