Bits'n'Bytes

As heard on CJCD

Episode 16

I've had more than one person approach me and ask me what my favourite software tools are to help me fix computers. This topic's a little more advanced, but I figured I'd let everyone know - just so you have an idea of what I'm doing with your computer when I'm repairing it.

First, I have several different antivirus and antispyware programs I use on just about every machine I get. These programs give me a rough idea of what's wrong with your computer, and can remove about 90% of the stuff we don't want. The rest has to be taken out manually - that's where my favourite tools come in.

If you have an older system, running Windows 98 or ME or a newer XP system formatted with the FAT32 file system, my tool of choice is a plain old Windows 98 startup disk. Most malware running on your computer won't run in what's called a DOS environment. That's that black screen with just writing and code on it that most people are kind of afraid of. Using a Windows 98 startup disk gets me to this screen, where I can delete files that have been identified by the antivirus and antispyware programs I use first. The drawback for a normal home user is you have to know how to use DOS commands.

For newer systems that have been formatted with the NTFS file system, I use my BartPE CD. Bart PE is a bootable CD created by a guy named, you guessed it, Bart, and PE stands for pre-install environment. Basically, it loads a bunch of programs into memory so you can do stuff on hard drives that can't be read with a Windows 98 startup disk. Again, I just look for the programs that the antimalware programs can't delete on their own and delete them myself.

Another program I use is the Security Task Manager you can get from neuber.com. It'll usually run even if the Windows Task Manager doesn't run properly. Security Task Manager is shareware, and I'm pretty sure it has properties that could classify it as a spyware program itself, but I don't leave it on any machines…

For those of you I lost while I was talking about FAT32 and NTFS file formats, stay tuned next week so I can explain them to you.

I’m Computer Dave, thanks for your time.