The 702 Weekend computer spot for October 2009 Weekend had a look at the Conficker worm which a year after it’s release continues to plague Windows users and has moved Microsoft to offer a $25,000 reward for the writers. Details on the Conficker worm and how to avoid it are on the PC Rescue website.
As usual, we had a wide range of callers ranging from recovering info from an iPod, strange desktop icons and excess Internet usage and how to avoid it.
Choosing an Internet plan
Alan is finding his Internet connection is always being shaped. That is, his speeds are dropping once his household exceeds their plan’s data allowance. James called with the same problem.
The simple solution to this is to choose an Internet plan with a higher download allowance. For instance, if you are being capped halfway into the month on a 12Gb limit, then you should look for a 24 Gb plan.
When choosing a plan be careful you aren’t locking yourself into a longer term plan as that 24Gb may be enough now, but you may have the same problem of exceeding your allowance in a year or so.
The good thing is both James and Alan are on capped plans as the alternative are excess use plans where you are charged for the usage that goes over the monthly allowance. This is like writing a blank cheque to your ISP and we strongly recommend people avoid them.
We have a rundown on what you should look for at the PC Rescue Choosing an Internet plan page. It’s a useful checklist for avoiding nasty and unexpected Internet surprises.
Unwanted downloads
Having unexpected icons appear on the desktop is a good reason to be concerned and Jan called about a link for McAfee antivirus appearing on her desktop.
The reason for this is probably from a software update. Many packages will now include downloads for other products as part of a marketing deal and that’s probably what happened in this case.
Although Jan’s computer is probably safe, it’s worthwhile downloading and running Malwarebytes just to make sure the system is clean.
Recovering an iPod’s music
After her dad cleaned up the family computer, Nicola found she’d lost her iTunes music. She wondered if it were possible to get it back.
Because the music is still on her iPod, she can copy the music off the device and into a folder on her computer. From there, it’s relatively simple to get the import the music files back into iTunes.
A good guide to doing this is on the makeuseof.com website’s How To: Move Music from iPod to PC in 5 Easy Steps where Mark O’Neill shows you how to go about getting the files off and organising them.
The next show is November 8 and we’ll be looking at what’s in the shops for Christmas. Hope you can tune in then.