CompuClever Blog

Sitting Down with a Good eBook

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The holidays are upon us.  At this time of the year we tend to find ourselves overdoing it when it comes to consumption and the ever-growing amount of items we have.  When it comes to books, some of us are running out of room on our bookshelves and boxing up the extras.  Then there’s the amount of trees used to create books.  One way of being more space conscious and eco-friendly is to go electronic.  You may be surprised to know that there are vast amounts of digitized books available.  We’re going to examine the popularity of eBooks, describe in brief just what they are and what you need to know, and we are going to introduce CompuClever’s Ultra eBook Reader.  Finally we will provide a list of free resources to whet your appetite for eBook reading if you haven’t already taken up this convenient and easy pastime.

Popularity:  Just how popular are eBooks?  Amazon announced[1] that it sells more eBooks than traditional printed hardcover or paperbacks.  In some cases authors are able to have their written work published in an eBook when they are unable to have it published to hard copy.  There are even websites that are dedicated to cataloging and making eBooks available to the general public.

What are eBooks and eBook readers? Let’s take a step back and talk about some of the basic concepts and items you need to know.  The term “eBook” comes from “electronic book” and can also be referred to as a digital book.  It is in fact a book-length publication that has been digitized to be viewed on an eBook reader, the software that is installed on your computer device to view and read the eBook.  This means that any previous or new publication can be found in an eBook form; although, of course, not all books have been, or could be, digitized.  What’s more… some publications can only be found in eBook form and have not been hard-printed.  There are commercially produced and distributed eBooks that are meant to be read on dedicated eBook readers.  However free alternatives are readily available and even borrowing eBook items from the library is now possible.

We highly recommend that you try out the CompuClever application Ultra eBook Reader.  There are numerous advantages including:

  • You can easily open 12 of the most popular eBook formats.
  • Multiple view layouts such as: single page, two page, and book view.
  • Ability to bookmark, convert, and print your eBooks.
  • Designed for your PC, laptop, or tablet.

Plus there is the added advantage of knowing the makers of the software are trustworthy and offer an outstanding support service.  Check out: http://www.ultraebookreader.com/

The Devices:  Mobile devices are in the hands of the many.  eBooks can be read by more devices than just your PC.  You can view them on your laptop, tablet, mobile phone, smartphone… you get the picture.

eBook Formats:  Just as a Word doc has a particular format and a certain extension that signifies the the type of file it is (“.docx” for example), so too are there designated formats for eBooks.  Leading the list of the many formats are: ePub, MOBI, PDF, AZW, LIT, and ODF.  Some of these, like the Amazon format AZW, are exclusively used for the Amazon “Kindle” books.  While we won’t go into the intricacies of eBook formats and the many formats available we will say that one item to be aware of is that some eBooks can be…

“… protected by a digital rights management (DRM) wrapper. The DRM, which is used as an anti-piracy tool to protect authors, can prevent you from opening an e-book file even if the format is compatible with your reader.“[2]

It is also useful for you to know the formats that are supported by your eBook reader.  For a list of the formats supported by Ultra eBook Reader go to this page.

Advantages

There are numerous advantages to eBook reading.  Here is our list:

  1. Space:  Top of the list and perhaps tied with the number two item, is being able to save on space associated with hard copy books.  Having books collect dust on a bookshelf is not an ideal situation.  On top of this, finding an eBook on your PC or tablet is a lot easier than digging through boxes or trying to find it on a shelf.  There are even advantages here when reading in bed or when in transit.  With eBooks you are only limited by the capacity of your device and it’s quite feasible to have thousands of eBooks on hand.
  2. Mobility:  If you are traveling, what could be easier?  You can have thousands of eBooks at your finger tips and not take up any extra space or weight.  You won’t have to pick just one book to travel with or have to worry about excess luggage weight and space.  You can also read in dark places and in most any situation such as when waiting in line.
  3. Publication: Some publications go out of print while eBooks, once in electronic form, do not have any limitation with respect to copying and distribution.  Also, you can get an eBook immediately rather than having to go to the library during specific hours, visit the bookstore, or wait for delivery.
  4. Cost:  Many eBooks are free and there are other paid options as well.  Scribd, one of the major players in document sharing and downloading companies actually offers a subscription based model with a monthly fee (much like Netflix), in exchange for unlimited access to all books they have for download.  Of course there are some upfront costs but if you already have a laptop or tablet or mobile device, you will find that the electronic form is more affordable in many cases.  As for free… all works of fiction from before the year 1900 are in the public domain and most libraries lend current eBook titles for limited times. The reality is, eBooks can be printed for less than the price of new hard copy books.  For students, there is a very real potential to reduce education costs of publications and having the information in electronic form would be very useful when it comes to studying and writing papers.
  5. Reduced reliance of physical materials:  Yes, you need to have a laptop of mobile device to begin.  If you already have one then you are on your way to saving trees and the energy that goes into the making and distribution of books.  This is especially relevant for more disposable publications such as magazines and newspaper.  Imagine if these items were in electronic form for the most part and deleted rather than stacking up in landfills or recycle plants.
  6. Borrowing eBooks:  As mentioned, libraries can lend out digital publications and this means having these items available with no restriction in terms of library hours.  For students this is a major advantage.
  7. Loss or damage:  eBooks can be replaced with little effort.  Hard copy publications are susceptible to wear and tear, fading, water / fire damage, and of course dogs and small children with the single intent of shredding.  Depending on the DRM (Digital Rights Management) policy, you may be able to backup your digital publication or even recover it without cost from the distributor.

DRM – Digital Rights Management

One important consideration to be aware of when acquiring eBooks is some are protected with a DRM wrapper.  That is to say some formats can be protected by a digital rights management (DRM) anti-piracy tool which has been put in place by some publishers and copyright holders.  While the intent is to protect “intellectual property” there are those that believe there is no evidence to support this and it simply inconveniences the legitimate customers.

Due to the controversial aspects of this technology, CompuClever has simply chosen to not support eBooks that come with a DRM wrapper. These items need to have the required authentication (think of it as a type of encryption). The good news is, there is a plethora of available eBooks that do not use a DRM wrapper and many of these are free.

Free eBooks

There are many eBook sites available and some offer free publications and others include both free and paid items.  We have taken a look to see if these sites are legitimate according to a reliable website security scan (we use www.urlvoid.com).  Here, in no particular order, is a list to get you started:

eBook Sites
Gutenberg.org This site has offers over 42,000 free eBooks and a link to 100,000 more free eBooks.  You can “choose among free ePub books, free Kindle books, download them or read them online.”  They also accept donations – one way to help with the effort of digitizing more books.
The Online Books Page Hosted by the University of Pennsylvania library, this is a simple site that claims to list over 1 million free books.
Scribd Scribd is the world’s largest digital library, where readers can discover books and written works of all kinds on the Web or any mobile device and publishers and authors can find a voracious audience for their work.
Kobobooks This one also claims to have over 1 million free books.  It also has copies for sale at reasonable rates.

For those adventurous and keen readers check out this site, which provides 20 of the best websites to download free eBooks with screenshots and links.

We fully appreciate that hard copy books have a certain appeal and some people will not substitute them for a digital version.  We also fully believe that real books will not simply disappear as a result of eBook popularity.  It is our feeling that eBooks offer a viable alternative and can be used in conjunction with owning and reading actual books.  We hope we have provided you some new insights about eBook reading.  We will continue to introduce new technologies in a manner that is not beyond the reach of average, everyday computer users.

[1]Amazon.com Press Release
[2]The 6 Most Popular eBook Formats To Know About

Due to the controversial aspects of this technology, CompuClever has simply chosen to not support eBooks that come with a DRM wrapper. These items need to have the required authentication (think of it as a type of encryption). The good news is, there is a plethora of available eBooks that do not use a DRM wrapper and many of these are free.

Can’t open an important file?

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Synopsis:  This month’s article addresses a commonly experienced occurrence – not being able to open a file.  We will begin with some basic questions that need to be answered in order to prevent opening the wrong type of file.  It’s unfortunate that in today’s cyber world there are so many pitfalls to maintaining a healthy and secure PC but caution is a must when downloading, installing, or opening files on your computer.  After that we will look at how to deal with the problem of opening files using PC TuneUp Maestro.  There are tools that can help you in several instances including being able to recommend a free program, when one is available, that can open and view the file.

So let’s begin by first examining the particulars.

The first question to ask is: Where is the file located? It could be that you are trying to open a file from one of the following:

  • A website
  • An email attachment
  • Your PC

Website:  If you are attempting to open a file that is on a website, it is possible that the site itself could be potentially dangerous as determined by the Windows security zone.  To see more about this go to the Microsoft website. [1] [2]

When to trust a website:

Microsoft lists[3] a number of signs that are good indication that a website is unsafe. A website might not be trustworthy if:

  • It is referred to you through an e‑mail message.
  • It offers objectionable content, such as pornography or illegal materials.
  • It makes offers that seem too good to be true (could be a possible scam or the sale of illegal or pirated products).
  • You are lured to the site by a bait and switch scheme, in which the product or service is not what you were expecting.
  • You are asked for a credit card as a verification of identity or for personal information that does not seem necessary.
  • You are asked to provide a credit card number without proof that the transaction is secure.

When in doubt use caution!  You can copy and paste the URL (the website address) of the website and check it out here to see if it is a known offender: http://www.urlvoid.com/.

  1. Go to URLVoid.com and type in the website address in the field provided.  Alternatively, you can copy and paste the URL address.
  2. Press the Enter key or select Submit to find the results.

The results include an overall “Blacklist Status” and a “Website Blacklist Report”.  There are also valuable articles on PC security including malicious and fraudulent activities to keep you up-to-date on potential PC threats.

As for email attachments and with files on your PC we need to look closer at what is happening.

Do you know where this file came from? If it is from a trusted source, continue.  If not, take a closer look at where it came from.  If it is an email attachment from an unknown source you do not have to open it.  If it was downloaded or installed on your PC from the Internet see if you can identify the manufacturer and if it is a trusted source.  Sometimes all it takes is to do an online search for the file name.  If there is any suspicion that this came from a questionable source – do not open the file.  It could lead to a PC infection of a virus or other form of malware which could have serious consequences in terms of PC performance and function.

Next question: Are you receiving any error messages? In some instances opening a file can result in you receiving a notice that a virus has been detected.  If this is the case you can research and install a good anti-malware program to both clean and protect you from virus and malware attacks.  In other cases, and in fact in most cases, you will notice an error message as seen here.  This means your PC is unable to open the file and the rest of this article deals with how to solve this issue.

Can Your PC Open the File?

It could well be the cause for not being able to open the file is that your PC simply cannot perform the desired action.  There could be several reasons why this is happening including: the file is corrupt, the filename has been altered, or the correct program to open the file is not installed.  If the file is corrupt or altered in some way you will need to attempt to get a good copy of the file and delete the faulty one.

In most cases there will be one of two reasons you are having issues.  It could be the file is incorrectly registered in the system registry or it could be that your PC does not have the right program to open and run the file.  The correctly associated program is referred to as the host application.  You can use the Open File tool in PC TuneUp Maestro to solve this state of affairs.  Here’s how.

  1. Launch PC TuneUp Maestro and in the left panel menu, click Open File.
  2. Enter a file extension or locate and select the file.  You can either type in the file extension in the text box or use the Select File button to locate and select the file.
  3. Begin the scan.
Open File tool - a handy function offered by PC TuneUp Maestro

When the scan is complete, the results are displayed.  In some cases errors are detected and you can view the results and select the items you want to fix.  For example, it could be that the file type is improperly registered in the system registry.

Bottom line… The majority of the scanned issues for Open File can be corrected.  You can use the Smart Scan or a registry scan – the onboard tools available with PC TuneUp Maestro.  Or, as we have instructed here, you can use the Open File tool directly which works very well if the answer lies in not having the right software to open the file.  An added bonus with the Open File function scan is that it will recommend a free file viewer (if one exists), for the file format of interest and this information is presented at the end of the Open File wizard.  The Open File Wizard contains a database of over 5,000 unique file extensions.

We hope this information will provide the easy solution that will alleviate the frustration of not being able to open a file.  We will continue to introduce solutions and provide instruction in a manner that is not beyond the reach of average, everyday computer users.

 

[1] why cant I open or copy files from the web
[2] How to use security zones in Internet Explorer
[3] When to trust a website

SyncToy – A free tool for PC backup

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Synopsis:  In some of our previous articles we have advised our readers to perform a backup of files for a variety of good reasons including to avoid loss or destruction of data file and to better organize files so as to reduce clutter and free hard drive space.  We have also recommended Microsoft’s Sync Toy and have encouraged users to run this free tool when doing backup procedures.  In this article we are going to go in to some depth on how to use this technology.  While we do not benefit from others using this program, we do feel its merits are to be shared.  There are some terms and actions that require explanation and instruction.  Once you get familiar with this program you can be backing up files on a regular basis and you’ll be impressed by just how fast and easy it is.

What to Backup:

When thinking about backing up your PC we suggest you visualize types of computer files in three categories: system files, application files, and other files (including your personal data).  System files are those items that are critical to your PC for it to run and operate as you expect it to.  These files are part of the operating system and they are typically hidden and are not meant to be modified, moved, deleted, or tampered with.

System File Backup:  For all versions of Windows you can make use of the Backup & Restore tool available with PC Tuneup Maestro.  This is a way to backup system files quickly and easily and by doing so you can restore your system to a previous date when it was working before a change was made.

Keep in mind this is not a method of backing up your personal files – it restores your PC based on an earlier configuration of your system files.  Here’s how you can do it:

  1. From the Fix & Clean page, click the BackUp & Restore link.
  2. Click the Create a Restore Point button.
  3. In the dialog that appears, enter in a description and click Create.
  4. Click OK in the confirmation dialog.

Application files include all the programs that you have installed on your computer.  Most often, with a healthy computer you do not have to re-install programs.  In the rare event that something happens to your computer you can re-install from your original CD discs or you can go online to the software manufacture and download and install the program again.  Having your license code previously written down may save you some time but in most cases you can contact the manufacturer and they can pass the license to you.

Personal files most often make up the bulk of your PC files in terms of space required, items you interact with directly, and data that changes on a frequent basis (new files added, files deleted, renamed items, items modified, etc.).  These are the files that we are going to focus on here more specifically.  This is where a good program like SyncToy will save you a lot of time and give you the sense of security that comes from knowing you are not going to lose recent data.

When, Why and Where to Backup:

Let’s look at some of the basics to good backup management.

When:  With creating a System Restore point you want to have a Restore point created before making significant changes to your PC.  With PC TuneUp Maestro, there is an automatic restore point creation built-in when you apply certain functions.  You can see it happen during the process.  This includes registry cleanup and defragmentation of the registry or the hard drive.  It is these types of system changes that warrant having a Restore point created.

With personal data files you need to do regular backups even if this is on a monthly basis.  Think of it as building up a wealth of some sort (in this case, new and modified documents and media files all represent time and effort and in some cases cannot be replicated easily or at all).  Once you build up wealth to a certain point you want to bank it so it is safe.

Why:  As just stated backing up your files provides a sense of keeping your digital “wealth” safe.  There is also the added benefit of being able to better organize hard drive space.  If you take advantage of virtual storage (like Dropbox for instance), as well as storing on an external hard drive, you can free up space on your computer.  The added benefit to this is that your PC has a greater chance of operating at optimum speed rather than having to wade through fragmented data files.  In some cases you need to create enough free space in order to defragment your PC.  Finally, duplication and backup is good practice in the case of hard drive failure as well as destruction or theft of your PC or laptop.

Where:  We recommend using an external hard drive for personal files.  With files that require duplication, as they are of considerable value when you consider having to replace them, we recommend having two copies: a combination of your PC and either external hard drive or cloud storage (we have given the thumbs up for Dropbox).  As stated above, if you are struggling for disk space on your computer, you may want to consider removing personal data files from your PC and storing them on two external hard drives (one to backup the other).  Or, you can use a combination of cloud storage and an external hard drive.  The downside is that you may not have much free space for cloud storage and it fills up fast.  If you have a lot of files (like most of us do), we recommend taking on the additional cost of a second external hard drive and keeping two copies of your personal data files.  The good news is that external hard drives have really come down in cost and they have very large capacity of storage.

How To Use SyncToy

If you decide on cloud storage and external hard drive(s) or some combination of these, you can use SyncToy even if the files are not directly stored on your PC.  For example, you can hook your USB key and your external hard drive and use SyncToy to backup and synchronize.  Once you have connected external storage devices you can create a folder pair to sync the original files to the backup location.

Note: In this way you can choose to create files directly to a USB key (for example) and backup to an external hard drive.  Keep in mind, in most cases you will be backing up from your hard drive (where your personal files are located), to a backup destination source.

After creating a folder pair, it is only a matter of choosing the type of synchronization and then running a preview before proceeding with the backup.

Let’s take a look at the SyncToy user interface.  As can be seen here it is fairly straightforward.

Folder pairs are listed in the left pane.  You can select one and see the Left and Right folders that you created in this pairing along with the file path where the files reside (for example: “F:\Docs\From Laptop”).  Below this, the type of synchronization action that you originally selected is identified.  You have the ability to change the action using the link that is provided.  Next, there are options to choose from; the ones that you have selected (typically by default) are listed.  Finally there are three action buttons relating to folder pairs and two on the right to perform the backup.

Folder Pairs: To begin you will be starting with a blank window and you need to create folder pairs.  When you first start you can think of this as having a folder that contains all the files you want to backup on the left and the target folder (originally just an empty folder you have created) on the right.  Now do the following:

  1. Click the Create New Folder Pair button.
  2. In the dialog that opens, locate and select the folder in both the left (source) and right (destination) folders.  Use the Browse buttons to more easily locate the folders.
  3. Click the Next button.

Note: At this time we are only introducing left to right, source to destination, pairing.  There are some synchronization actions that provide the option to have files duplicated both ways so that both folders contain the same data.  The following section will describe this in more detail.

Sync Type: The next step of the folder creation is to choose the synchronization action type.  Here is what you see:

  1. Choose one the action types listed on the left.  You can select one to get a short explanation.  (We recommend “Echo” to begin.)
  2. Click Next when you are done.
  3. Choose a name for your folder pair (for example, “BU – My Pics”) and you are done.

Recommendation:  For our purposes… let’s simplify.  We are referring to backing up data.  In the case of backing up from a source destination to an external hard drive you would want to use the “Echo” action.  With this action all copying happens from left to right including changes to any files that are renamed and deleted.  What you get is an exact duplicate.  You would not be modifying the files in the source folder in any way in this situation.  If you are duplicating from one external hard drive to another (you would have to plug in both drives to your PC with available USB ports), you would still use the Echo option.  That way you get two identical backups.

For the Synchronization action type… you would use this when you have two existing folders with, for example, music and you want to easily make both of these folders contain the same files.  The shortcoming of this is that you need both folders to be fairly similar – deletion occurs in both directions to achieve a mirror of the other.  It is better to do some manual organization first.

With Contribute, you would have a backup folder on the right constantly building up all the files you ever had on the left regardless of what items you have deleted in the left (source) folder.  This is a backup for people who do not want to permanently delete their files stored in the backup location.  As the description says… there are no deletions.  You could use this option but we recommend that you have a lot of storage space.

With all these actions you can use the “More information” link to get a more complete description in the available help file.

Preview and Run:

With a folder pair created you can now perform a backup.  Do the following:

  • 1. Select the folder pair listed in the left pane.
  • 2. Click the Preview button.  You will now see something like the following:

  • 3. Review the items in the list and clear any items you do not want to duplicate (for example, maybe there is an item you want to delete in the left folder or it is a temporary file).
  • 4. When you are ready click Run.
  • 5. Review the results and click Close.

You are done!  We are quite sure you will be surprised at how fast the preview and run works.

In Summary:

Backing up data and file is one of those tasks that can be a painful experience if attempted manually.  With the onset of the computer age, our valuable items – photos, music, family video, and more – are stored digitally.  The thought of losing these or having them stolen or destroyed in some way is motive enough to backup these irreplaceable items.  Having the means to do this quickly and easily is the only real obstacle to performing this task.

We hope this information will provide the easy solution that will get you well on your way to regular backups.  We will continue to introduce and research available technologies explained in a manner that is not beyond the reach of average, everyday computer users.

Foistware – Remove and Restore

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Synopsis: In our companion article we introduced foistware and focused on detection and prevention. Here we look at how to remove these items and restore your browser settings. We will cover removal of foistware from Browser toolbars and uninstalling unwanted items using the Uninstaller tool available with PC Clean Maestro. After this we will cover the basics of restoring your browser to its previous condition.

To reverse the impact of foistware on your PC, you need to do the following:

1. Remove foistware items.
2. Restore changes to your PC made by foistware items, especially to your web browsers.

Removal

One of the most noticeable effects of foistware is having one or more applications installed. Most of these applications nag you to acquire and/or pay for extra software or services. For example, the 24×7 PC support foistware installs itself to your PC, nags you by attaching itself to every active Window, and shows signs of reluctance when you go to uninstall it.

Uninstalling unwanted software.

 

The first step is to remove any application installed by a foistware. To do this we will focus on using the Uninstaller, one of the major tools available with PC Clean Maestro which is free to use. Our previous article covers in detail how to use the Uninstaller. The article also covers other important information such as backing up your system and using the Clean tool. With PC Clean Maestro you can also remove junk files and uninstall programs. You get the added benefit of freeing up space by ridding yourself of “clutter” which can bog down the system and lead to poor system performance. Please refer to the full article: The Clean and Uninstaller Tools.

Removing foistware item is the first step. The next step is restoring your PC. Many anti-virus software tools detect and remove these items but do not restore your PC to its previous settings.

Restore

If you have experienced slower performance in your web browser and changes that occur all of a sudden such as having a different and unknown search engine or homepage, then it is likely you have been subject to foistware. Typically in these situations your web browser settings have been modified without your consent. There are multiple causes of altered web browser settings including installation of browser adware and hijackers program as well as simple misconfiguration as a result of a manual change. The consequence always include poor user experience and often slower web browsing speed.

Excessive invasion of browser toolbars and add-ons.

You can use anti-virus software to remove virus, adware, and hijackers. However, most often security software applications don’t go the extra step – restoring your web browser settings. We provide this guide to show you how you can re-gain control of your web browser by restoring all important settings. Follow this link for more information and instructions:

How to restore your web browser

This guide covers complete sets of instructions for restoring three most popular web browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Chrome.

Foistware – Messing Up Your PC Experience

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Synopsis: How often have you experienced changes in your computer without knowing how it occurs? It could be that your Internet browser opens to a new homepage or your search engine is no longer the same. Or maybe there are more items in your Browser toolbar or you are getting popup messages appearing. It could be that, in general, these changes have slowed down your computer performance in one way or another. These changes are the direct result of something now known as foistware. This is also known as “crapware” and is appropriately named. In this article we will begin by describing the condition and then move into methods of detection and prevention. In our follow up article, we will get into more details of how to remove these items and restore your browser settings.

What is foistware?

Our CompuClever support team is dedicated to assist our customers who experience a noticeably slower PC in terms of performance. Recently when performing our initial investigations with the use of our support tools we have frequently come across common changes that result in poor PC “health”. Examination revealed that these changes were the result of what is currently considered foistware.

Having foistware on your PC can range from a mild annoyance to a real impediment.  Having additional browser toolbars foisted onto your web browser is a bit like having advertisements in a YouTube video; it competes for space.  The real impediment comes not only when performance is compromised but when attempting to revert the changes.  How these items become installed provides some insight as to why they are appropriately named.  The term “foist” means:

To force upon or impose fraudulently or unjustifiably: to foist inferior merchandise on a customer.[1]

The following screenshot demonstrates the state of a web browser that has been victimized by foistware.  There are three areas that are affected.

A web browser infected by foistware.
  1. The Home page URL was changed to search.conduit.com a third-party search engine that profits from every web search you perform.
  2. Extra browser toolbars and add-ons were installed to attract your attention, lure you to install more software, and bring you to other affiliated online services from whereupon the foistware benefits from “referral fees”.
  3. Blinking ads with scare tactics to entice you to download so-called PC optimization or cleaning software.
The invasive 24x7 PC support foistware.

Another example is the annoying 24×7 PC support foistware.  There is a man or woman’s face attached to every program window of your PC.  No matter what you do, you can’t get rid of this face that always appears on whatever active window you have open.  This little gem is the 24×7 PC Help software link and it is very much in your face and on your nerves.

In most all these cases you install this software without explicit knowledge of it or without knowing what the results will be.  There are other instances of foistware that are more aggressive and capable of doing more harm to your PC.

The Condition:  Foistware is known as software that gets installed in addition to another software install typically without your full knowledge.  Typically these fly under the radar by being bundled with software you install and, if you take the time to look closely, you can see how it’s done on one of the install screens where a checkbox is selected so that unless you clear the checkbox you will install the additional item.  Most often the result is an additional browser toolbars – those items that get added onto your browser toolbar that include searches or quick links.  Frequently the change that occurs to your PC happens automatically as soon as the foistware has been installed.  Other examples include changing your default search engine (for example, from Google to Bing), or changing your browser homepage.  Some of the more invasive instances involve displaying pop-ups with scary messages like “Back up your PC or lose it”, or “Your computer has 1000 errors”.  Even if you were to uninstall the original software, these changes would still remain.  In some cases there can be more than one of these items on your toolbar.  It is not uncommon to see three or four toolbar add-ons.  When this happens you can notice a difference in PC performance.

Potential symptoms:

  • Search engine changes
  • Homepage changes
  • Pop-ups come up luring you to click to download
  • PC performance slow down

Why? The reason for this is a simple one – money.  Often companies that offer freeware (software that is considered free in that you do not have to pay to use it), will come bundled up with other software.  These companies can profit from this as they are paid by the foistware companies.  The manufactures of the foistware get on your system and can provide advertisement or benefit from you clicking to their site.

Is It Legit? The reason that this practice isn’t considered to be malware (or malicious) is that you have the option of not installing it.  However, most users go quickly through the installation process clicking through the pages of the installer wizard, and do not even see the items that are checked on by default.  To be fair, we often are given the recommendation to keep the settings that are presented during an install and there is an implicit trust built into this procedure.  This is why software manufactures that are more reputable need to build their install wizard with pages that include an “opt-in” process.  That is, one where you can choose to install these extra items by checking the box and accepting the additional item rather than having to clear it.  In the case of browser toolbar add-ons… we recommend that you do not choose to include these as you can experience a performance loss.

Who Are the Offenders?  Surprisingly, even reputable companies can download bundled packages in this manner.  One website[2] has included Adobe and Skype in their hall of shame.  Another website[3] includes Adobe, Sun’s Java, CCleaner, Foxit Reader, and more.  Given pressure, these companies can make more ethical installations of their software.  We hope that these websites help to steer them in the right direction.

Detection:

In order to detect that you have suffered from a foistware “hit” you can follow this line of questioning:

  1. To your knowledge, have there been any recent installations to your PC?
  2. If “Yes”… did they include any foistware items?  (We’ll come back to this point.)
  3. Have you noticed any unusual changes such as more items added to your browser toolbar, a new browser homepage, a new search engine, or other changes such as popup messages?
  4. If “Yes” you can take note of the names of these items and we can identify these for the purposes of removal (as presented in our next article).  One example could be “Conduit Toolbar”.

Point 2 above may be difficult to answer.  However, if you did install something recently you could try installing it again to see if there are any extra pages which give you the option to install something extra (including a checkbox that is selected).  You can then take note of this and cancel the installation.

Once you have some names of software add-ons you can check online to see if it is best to remove them.  We recommend this site:  http://www.shouldiremoveit.com.  Once you open the webpage you can use the text field at the top right to enter the item and search for it.  We like this site as it has a very good database of software and it includes a very visual representation of the percentage of people that remove the software once having it installed.  This will give you a good idea as to whether you should remove the item.  Of course, if you never intended it to be on your system in the first place, that would be good reason to have it removed.  We will speak to removal in the companion article for those of our readers who have these items and need to remove them.  Before we do, we think it is best to look at ways to prevent getting them in the first place.

Prevention:

With respect to prevention, the best advice to pass to you is to be prepared when you install anything to your computer.  There are instances when you can be the victim of downloads without even knowing it such as in the case of drive-by-downloads.  In cases such as these you can get items downloaded to your PC or mobile device simply by visiting a web page that is compromised.  In these cases the software is likely malware or a virus and you need adequate software to remove the item and to either update your system to patch the security hole or to block the occurrence from happening.

In the case of foistware, you can detect and remove the item in a more straightforward manner as we have described above.  Prevention comes from paying close attention to what you are installing.  Here is what you have to do:

Whenever you install something, read the information closely on each install page and clear the checkbox of any items that you do not want to have installed.

In the case of downloading “free” programs – pay very close attention to what is offered.

Removal and Restore

If your PC has been affected with foistware, don’t panic. Under most circumstances, you can completely remove foistware and restore your PC back to its original state. We have prepared a comprehensive guide that shows you how to get rid of foistware and restore your PC:

Foisware – Removal and Restore

It’s been our intent to shine light on what our experiences have been when assisting our customer base. Providing you the tools and the know-how is a top priority for us as we are invested in bringing about a positive PC experience for you and your family.

 

[1]http://dictionary.reference.com
[2]http://www.zdnet.com
[3]http://www.howtogeek.com