OnsitePCSolution Transfer Malwarebytes License

Malwarebytes, widely acclaimed for its thorough ability to detect and purge malware from PCs, has two versions.  The premium version affords you with live protection, but it requires you to purchase a license.  What do you do if you purchase a new computer and Malwarebytes is registered on your old one?  Here’s a step by step guide to transfer your malwarebytes license.

Fortunately, there is a way to transfer your Malwarebytes Premium license to your new machine.

First, you must completely remove Malwarebytes from your old machine by downloading the mbam-clean.exe utility from here and by double- clicking it.  Allow it to run, and reboot the computer when it prompts you to do so.

On your new machine, go to the following link to download the free version of Malwarebytes. Run the program. After installation, click the activate tab at the top of right of the Malwarebytes console.

activate

If you do not have your ID or key, go to this url. Once there, enter the email address you used when you purchased Malwarebytes on your old machine, and click Next.

You should receive a reply email containing information for all orders processed with that email address. This should include your original Malwarebytes ID and key. Click Activate after you have typed in the ID and the key to activate the Malwarebytes Premium license on your new machine.

For more information on this or other issues affecting your PC, consult your local IT professionals.

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OnsitePCSolution_MalwareBytes_Logo

Since its first release in 2008, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware has been one of the go-to tools for malware detection and removal.

It’s no wonder that its critical reception among computer journals has been stellar. Let’s take a look at what makes Malwarebytes synonymous with anti-malware for end users.

1. Installs easily and quickly with no reboot required

If you have to equip multiple computers with anti- malware software, installation ease and time is an important consideration.

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2. The free version of the software is great at detecting malware than most paid versions of other programs

When you download Malwarebytes, you have the option of choosing between the free and the premium versions.

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While the free version is a manually activated scanner, the premium version gives you real time protection, allowing for a relatively worry- free web browsing experience.

As an added bonus, Malwarebytes allows you to try the premium version for 30 days before committing to purchase it. Simply check the Enable free trial of Malwarebytes Anti- Malware PRO option during installation.

3. Minimal system resource usage

It uses little CPU and memory compared to other applications such as Webroot and Spybot and especially less than programs like Norton and McAffee.  You will likely want to perform other tasks on your PC when your anti-malware application scans for threats.  This also means it doesn’t grind your PC’s progress to a snail’s pace.

Bonus: Detected the most malicious virus of 2013, CryptoLocker.

Malwarebytes was one of the few programs that could successfully detect early variations of CryptoLocker. This infection allowed criminals to ransom the personal files of hundreds of thousands of PC users worldwide.

If these reasons aren’t enough to opt for Malwarebytes as your personal defense against malware threats, consider the case offered by Techrepublic.

For more information on malware or other issues affecting your PC, consult your local IT professionals.

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Onsite_PC_Solution_Outlook_Wont_Send

Are your emails sitting in your outbox but not going out? Do they not show in your sent folder? Moreover, are you getting the message “Cannot send the message.  530 Authentication Required.” ? Or does the error you’re getting look something like this?

outlook-2003-office365-530-5.7.1-error

The error code may be 530 instead of 503. Whatever the case, this is a common error in Microsoft Outlook. Your outgoing server is not allowing you to send messages without your mail client authenticating itself. This may be easily corrected without having to set up your mail account again.

In Outlook 2003, click Tools at the top bar and select Options.

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Choose the Mail Setup tab from the Options box, and click E-mail Accounts.

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Select the email account you are trying to send mail from and click Next. To allow outgoing authentication in Outlook 2003, check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box.

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Leave the Use same settings as my incoming mail server box dotted.

In Outlook 2007, click Tools at the top bar, and select Account Settings.

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In the Account Settings window, on the E-mail tab, select the appropriate email account and click Change.

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Click More Settings.

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This will put you on the General tab of the Internet E-mail Settings.

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Click the Outgoing Server tab. Check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box.

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Click OK.

In Outlook 2010, click File -> Account Settings.

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Click Account Settings again and select the E-mail tab.

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Select the email account with sending errors, and click Change. In the Account window, select More Settings.

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In the Internet E-mail Settings window, click the Outgoing Server tab and click the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box.

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Click OK.

In Outlook 2013, go to Tools -> Account Settings.

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Double click the email account you wish to correct. Next click More Settings.

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For Internet E-mail Settings, select the Outgoing Server tab.

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Check the My outgoing server (SMTP) requires authentication box. Click OK.

If you still cannot send email after going through these steps, the problem may be with your outgoing mail server configuration. Logging into your account with your web browser and checking your mail server settings will likely give you the information you need to correct this problem.

For more information on this or other issues affecting your PC,  consult your local IT professionals.

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How to burn CDs with free and open source Infrarecorder

Are you using TrueCrypt to encrypt your hard drive but your computer doesn’t have a disk burner?  Here’s how you can get around this roadblock.

TrueCrypt will not allow you to encrypt your drive without burning a boot rescue disk. Burning this disk is important, but many newer computers are not equipped with CD or DVD burners. In these scenarios, it is imperative that you transfer the boot rescue image to a computer with burning capability. You must do this before encrypting your drive, as you run the risk of losing your data forever.

To launch TrueCrypt without having to burn the rescue disk, first open command prompt. Do this by clicking the Start button and by typing cmd.

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Click the cmd icon displayed under Programs in the Start menu. You should see a window like this appear.

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After the command prompt window opens, type C:\Program Files\TrueCrypt\TrueCrypt Format.exe /n. This will launch TrueCrypt. However, it will not task you to burn a disk to successfully encrypt your hard drive.

For more information on how to use TrueCrypt to encrypt your hard drive, please consult the following article.

For more information on this or other issues affecting your PC, consult your local IT professionals.

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Onsite_PC_Solution_How_To_Encrypt_Your_Hard_Drive

Do you ever worry about someone getting a hold of the data on your computer after stealing it from you?  With disk encryption, the information on your computer is unreadable without a key.

You may use encryption to protect specific directories or the entire hard drive. The latter is referred to as full disk encryption.

While there are many applications that perform full disk encryption, we recommend True Crypt. While some may lampoon this recommendation based on an announcement from its old source page, development of TrueCrypt has continued in Switzerland by a team committed not to compromise the software with legal limitations.

After downloading TrueCrypt from the new site, launch it normally if you have a disk burner, also known as a a CD/DVD-RW drive.  The disk burner will be required in later parts of the installation. If you do not have a disk burner, there is a workaround that will still allow you to proceed with encryption even though the program does not normally allow it.  For more on this workaround to allow to the program to launch without the disk burning requirement, consult the following article.

After you launch the program, click the System button at the top bar and select Encrypt System Partition/Drive.

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For Type of System Encryption, select Normal. Click Next.

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Unless you have a RAID driver or hidden partition at the end of your drive, Yes is the best option when you are presented with the Encryption of the Host Protected Area window.

encryption of the host protected area

When you are asked if it is OK for TrueCrypt to make changes to the hard drive, click Yes.

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TrueCrypt will then see if there are any hidden sectors at the end of the drive. Click Next when it is finished.

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Click Next again after selecting whether the computer has a single- boot or multi- boot configuration. If you are running only one version of Windows and no other operating systems, you will choose Single-boot.

single or multiple boot

For the Encryption Options, AES is usually a good choice. And full disk encryption only supports the RIPEMD-160  hash algorithm. Click Next.

hash algorithm

Choose a password for encryption. Choose a strong password of at least 20 characters. Click Next.

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In the next window, make random movements with your mouse for about a minute. TrueCrypt will collect data from these movements. Click Next.

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When User Account Control asks if it is OK for TrueCrypt to make changes to the hard drive, select Yes.

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Click Next after TrueCrypt generates the encryption keys.

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TrueCrypt will then create the ISO image of the Rescue Disk that will be needed if something happens to your boot image. The ISO image will be created in your Documents folder.

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TrueCrypt will next launch the Windows Disk Image Burner to write this image to a blank CD ROM. Because you will need this disk to access your computer if your boot image becomes corrupted, TrueCrypt will not let you get to the next step until you burn and verify the disk. Choose the correct drive to burn the image to, load the blank CD ROM, and click Burn.

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TrueCrypt will verify the disk after burning it. After it has been verified, click Next.

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The Wipe Mode allows you to choose how to wipe all traces of previous data that was unencrypted. Typically these were files deleted before this encryption was started. If there was nothing sensitive on this computer that was deleted, click Next.

wipe mode

Next click Test to allow TrueCrypt to make sure everything is working.

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When TrueCrypt displays instructions telling you what to do when the system fails to reboot, it is advised that you print these out for reference. Then click OK. Click Yes to reboot your computer.

After the computer restarts, you will need to enter the encryption password.

reboot password

If you enter it correctly, you will be able to log into Windows. After you log in, TrueCrypt will start up automatically. Click Encrypt to start the encryption. Print the instructions showing what to do if the process is disrupted and click OK. When User Account Control asks if you want to allow TrueCrypt to make changes to the hard disk, click Yes. During the encryption, you may do other things on your computer. The encryption should take a few hours.

encryption

You may pause and defer the completion of the encryption to a later time. But until it finishes, the information on your computer will not be fully secure. When encryption is complete, click Finish.

For more information, consult your local IT professionals.

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