I love when Mark posts, he really knows how to delve deep into windows internals and explain in relativity simply language what is going on and why.

The support tools he has developed are essential to anyone working in Windows technical support.

In his recent post he diagnoses a defective 3rd party Windows Vista Sidebar Gadget. It’s like watching a master at work.

Link:http://blogs.technet.com/markrussinovich/archive/2007/10/15/2178879.aspx

Just a quick post for today.

Check out his  Microsoft guide with tips about improving your wireless connection.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/athome/moredone/wirelesstips.mspx

Take Winzip the file great compression software, currently on version 11.1, I own this software but I like the classic version 9.0.

or

Take Nero the CD/DVD burning software, currently on version 8.0, I own this software but like the classic version 6.0

Am I wrong? I hope not, I understand companies need to make money from upgrades and new features but with these two applications and lots of others it seems the older versions are just fine.

The newer versions just seem bloated and don’t offer me anything really new or compelling

Now comes the problem how do you track down the old version of the software?

Well the good news is there is a web site dedicated to this subject.

Link: http://www.oldversion.com/

They have old versions for about 180 different software titles.

As with any software you download from the Internet you have to be careful especially when it’s not from the original vendor but with www.oldversion.com they seem to have a good reputation.

In a rare moment of lightness from Microsoft UK they have a list of funny anecdotes about business presentations that have gone horribly wrong.

Brighten up your Monday by laughing at other people’s misfortunes.

My favorite is about the guy who super glued his foot the the floor tile.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/uk/atwork/work/presentationdisasters.mspx

On the other hand If you are looking for a great site all about Presentations then check out Presentation Zen here.

Link: http://www.presentationzen.com/

Well I got all geared up to fight my customers Spyware/Malware attack.

It was a Smitfraud variant I located a rather nifty removal tool.

Link: http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.php

I did some reading about the manual removal process just incase this infection was a new variant that the removal tool could not deal with.

I also took some time to update my mini arsenal of Anti-Spyware tools.

Sysinternal tools like Process Monitor and Autoruns amongst others.

Link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx

I also discovered a good online video from Mark Russinovich creator of Process Monitor called Advanced Malware Cleaning that was pretty good and worth watching. (1 hour long).

Link: TechNet On-Demand Webcast- Advanced Malware Cleaning

I  spent more time preparing than I did actually removing Smitfraud as the removal tool worked flawlessly.

With Spyware/Malware problems you can never be too prepared.

I have never lost a computer to Spyware/Malware however I have come close a few times. In this case I was lucky having the removal tool at my disposal.