Refurbished laptops often get a bad rap because they’ve already been around the block before, and they’ve got a bit of experience. In the world of technology equipment, experience is usually a bad thing. They’re veterans, and even though they’ve been patched up, people are still afraid that they’ve suffered damage from their old battle scars. Despite the popular unflattering perception of refurbished laptops, they are actually a really smart buy. After reading the 3 reasons below, you’ll wonder why you haven’t bought refurbished laptops before.

One - Refurbished laptops work just as well as a brand new computer, at a very small fraction of the price. They undergo numerous examinations to check for fault and ensure quality. If any faults are found with any component of the laptop, they the problem part is replaced with a brand new one. They are rechecked again before they are sent out for sale, ensuring that the one you buy will be ready to go. With even new computers, glitches can occur that impede function, but with refurbished laptops, your really getting a great deal on a computer that’s been checked and rechecked many times before it’s reached your hands. It also benefits from brand new operating systems and application software. Many people worry about hidden viruses in their refurbished computer. This isn’t a problem at all, because your getting a thoroughly clean system.

Two. It’s much easier to upgrade to newer technologies when you don’t put away so much money on each one. With the money you spend on the newest, most exciting computer model, you can buy 10 or more upgrades over the course of several years. If your goal is to be technologically savvy and keep up with the latest features, at first it may seem like buying brand new computers, but when you do that, you break your budget, and the technological world whizzes past you while you save up for your next computer purchase. With refurbished laptops, you don’t have to be left behind the in the next technological wave.

Three. Buying refurbished laptops are a great way to go green because it supports the notion of recycling computer material that can be toxic to the environment instead of dumping them recklessly into our landfills to contaminate our soil and water. You reflect on that and relish your firm moral character as you conduct day to day operations on your refurbished laptop. Just remember to recycle it when you’re done with it, so you don’t release bad karma on the world.

As you can see, buying refurbished laptops are really a smart idea. They work just as well as new computers, the small price tag allows you to upgrade more often, and you can pat yourself for being a part of the green movement. In fact, with all these great reasons to buy a refurbished laptop, it almost makes people who buy laptops brand new look a little like suckers. But that’s okay, at least you have the inside information.

I got lazy and paid for it. Let me explain. A friend brought me his Windows XP workstation loaded with malware. I removed the malware with SuperAntiSpyware and MalwareBytes (since he didn’t want to buy any antivirus) in safemode. Once the first round of scans and removals were completed I rebooted. Bam! BSOD! Windows XP was looking for a dll, no name of course, just a dll.

Anyway in the end I had to reinstall Windows XP, very embarrassing to say the least.

So, I’ve created a checklist to use before I remove any malware in the future.

Follow the steps below before you remove any malware:

Backup important personal files. These files are usually located in c:Documents and Settings (for Windows XP) and C:Users (for Windows Vista). You may backup these files to CDDVD or to an external hard drive.

Enable System Restore. System Restore can return your critical Windows system files to a previous point in time (when your PC was working).

Enabling system restore for Windows XP

1. Right Click My Computer
2. Click Properties
3. Click the System Restore Tab
4. Choose the hard drives that you would like system restore to monitor

Enabling system restore for Windows Vista

1. Right Click Computer
2. Click System Protection
3. Under Available Disks make sure you system disk is check. This will most likely be C:

Create A Restore Point.

Creating a Restore Point for Windows XP

1. Click Start
2. All Programs
3. Accessories
4. System Tools
5. System Restore
6. Select Create a Restore and then click next
7. Give the restore a description
8. Click Create
9. It should say the restore point was created
10. Click Close

Creating a Restore Point for Windows Vista

1. Right Click Computer
2. Click System Protection
3. Click the Create Button
4. Give your restore a description

Backup your registry. Even though System Restore backs up your registry it’s still always a good idea to manually back it up. Follow the steps below to back up your registry.

1. Click Start (or for Vista click the windows globe at the bottom left)
2. All Programs
3. Accessories
4. Command Prompt
5. Type Regedit and click enter
6. Once the Registry Editor Opens click Computer
7. Click File and then Click Export
8. Choose a place to store the registry backup and give it a name
9. Wait a few moments for the backup to complete.

Locate your Windows System Disc. Just in case your system files get infected with a worm you’ll want to have your Windows system disc handy. You can verify the integrity of your system files by running a simple command in your command prompt. To load your command prompt:

1. Click Start (or for Vista click the windows globe at the bottom left)
2. All Programs
3. Accessories
4. Command Prompt
5. Insert your windows system disc
6. Type-in sfc /scannow
7. Let the System File Check complete.

Ok, you’re ready to start selling something! Great. Now, let’s make sure we aren’t competing against too many other sites. First things first. We need to select a keyword phrase. A keyword phrase is what search engine users will type into the search engine when looking for a product or service.

Since most web users use the Google Search engine I will be discussing Google commands. To gauge the number of competing sites in our niche we will perform a Google search using our phrase in quotes. An example would be “garmin nuvi gps navigation”.

Ok, our results should be under 50,000. Anything more makes SEO optimization a bit difficult. This gives a general overview of the competition on the internet for that phrase.

Next, we will see how many websites have the phrase in their pages title tag. Let’s go to Google.com and search for: allintitle:”garmin nuvi gps navigation”

Here, we’re looking for a total result of 5000 or less (less is better). At this current time there are 324 websites that have specifically designed pages to fit that phrase. That, my friends is your true competition. Your SEO and website needs to be better that those results.

The final Google command that we will be discussing is allinanchor. First, what is anchor text. Anchor text is the visible link text in a url.

The anchor text (or visible text) would be: Garmin Nuvi GPS navigation, not my website name. Anchor text should be very keyword rich and if often one of the best ways to achieve an increased SERP. Instead of choosing example.org as my anchor text I have instead chosen a keyword rich anchor text (like Garmin Nuvi GPS navigation).

When searching for allinanchor:”my niche phrase” your results should be 5000 or less (the lower the better). The final Google command to use when searching for a niche is allinurl:”my niche phrase”. Allinurl is just as important as allintitle. Allinurl results means that your competition has designed and named a page around your niche phrase. An example would be www(dot)exampledomain(dot)org/examplepage(dot)htm

We need to make sure that there are a very low number of results returned. In this case 1000 or less will do (less is better).

So, those are the 3 Google commands I use to help me select a prospective niche. I hope this article makes sense and helps you find prospective niches.

Rogue Anti-virus applications are being produced in ever increasing numbers each week now. Why? This is a scam that works big time! Rogue Anti-Virus scams are able to steal money, credit card numbers and sometimes entire identities.

Below you can see the life cycle of a Rogue Anti-Virus scam.
1. You get infected with a Trojan like Virtumonde (via an outdated Java Runtime Environment).
2. The Virtumonde Trojan displays fake system alerts (in the form of system balloon popups), uses popunders and search redirection in your browser in an effort to convince you that your PC is infected and can only be cleaned with “special anti-virus software”.
3. At this point the user is in a panic and proceeds to purchase the rogue anti-virus.
4. Now the really bad part starts. The poor pc user just paid $30-$90 AND gave their identity with valid credit card info to an international ring of thieves.
5. Next, the rogue anti-virus gets installed, run and then does nothing. Our user just got duped.
6. Now, the user must hire a consultant (like myself) to clean the rogue anti-virus and all the other infections associated with it.

I see so many clients with Rogue Anti-Virus infections each week. Typically, about 1 out of 7 of my clients will purchase the Rogue Anti-Virus application and then they usually see numerous credit card charges about 3 weeks later (that’s before I get there). I usually instruct clients to cancel the credit card they used to purchase the Rogue Anti-virus and purchase some identity protection (for a year at least).

Thankfully removing Rogue Anti-Virus is really pretty easy; however the Trojans that downloaded and installed the Rogue Anti-Virus are sometimes very difficult to remove. They are 2 methods I use to remove Rogue Anti-Virus. One method is free and the other costs about 40 dollars.

Method 1: The free, but a bit difficult method

The best part about this method is that it’s free. It targets the Rogue Anti-Virus and the other malware associated with it. You’ll need 4 applications.
1. AVG Anti-Virus Free V8
2. SuperAntiSpyware
3. MalwareBytes’ Anti-Malware
4. Spybot Search and Destroy

First, uninstall your current anti-virus since it’s not doing the job anyway. We will be installing a new anti-virus (AVG Anti-Virus Version which you can start doing right now. After AVG 8 is installed and updated please go ahead and install the remaining 3 applications. Be sure to update each application after you install it (each application has an update menu or button).

Reboot your PC in safe mode (by tapping F8 during your PC’s startup). Once in safemode perform full scans with the 4 applications above (in that order). Quarantine anything considered an infection. Reboot. Your Rogue Anti-Virus has probably been removed along with the Trojans that downloaded it. If you’re using IE7 or IE8 make sure you perform a reset on the browser as well.

Method 2: The easy method, but it’s not free

Download Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus. Uninstall your old anti-virus. Install Spyware Doctor with Anti-virus and register it. Click yes to enable the OnAccess Guard and then click Smart Update. Download and install all the updates. Run a Full Scan and then fix everything the scan finds. Reboot. Your Rogue Anti-Virus has probably been removed along with the Trojans that downloaded it. If your using IE7 or IE8 make sure you perform a reset on the browser as well.

Final Malware Clean Up Notes
If you have system menus that are missing or inaccessible ComboFix does a really good job at restoring those. Download ComboFix. Disable Spyware Doctor or AVG. Run ComboFix. Let ComboFix reboot your PC. Re-enable your anti-virus.
At this point you should be malware free.

Virtumonde is a pernicious Adware Trojan that is usually installed into your windows pc (Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista) via an outdated Java Runtime Environment. Vundo, also known as Virtumonde and Virtumondo creates random letter DLL’s in C:windowssystem32 (tyeyavv.dll for example) that inject themselves into the winlogon.exe process as well as the explorer.exe process. Since Vundo injects itself into winlogon.exe removal can be very hard because winlogon.exe is in use almost every second. The biggest problem with Vundo is not necessarily the removal process, but it’s actually the detection process since Vundo creators make hundreds of variants a day in an effort to evade detection (which seems to be working unfortunately).

What are the symptoms of a Vundo Infection?

Vundo displays unblockable popup and popunder ads even when users are not actively browsing the internet. Vundo has also been known to display fake system alerts that try to scare a user into buying a fake antivirus application. Vundo is essentially a platform for delivering scams to your PC on a massive not-stop scale.

How to remove Vundo using free software - My Vundo Removal Kit.

Removing Vundo for free can be a little tough since there are so many Vundo variants and every free program has a different detection database and heuretics algorithm.

When I encounter Vundo and a client does not want to pay for any software I “break out” my free Vundo removal kit. This kit is currently comprised of:
-MalwareBytes AntiMalware (malwarebytes.org)
-SuperAntiSpware (superantispyware.com)
-VundoFix (from atribune.org)
-UnDLL (from eset.com)

To start the Vundo removal process:
1. Backup any personal data to CD, DVD or flash drive.
2. Download and install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware.
3. Load MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and click the update tab and then click update to receive the latest updates.
4. Download and install SuperAntiSpyware.
5. Load SuperAntiSpyware. SuperAntiSpyware will ask you if you want to check for new rules and definitions. Choose yes.
6. Close SuperAntiSpyware.
7. Download VundoFix.
8. Download UnDLL.
9. Reboot your PC in Safe Mode.
10. While in safe mode load MalwareBytes Anti-Malware and perform a full scan.
11. When the scan is complete click show results.
12. Remove any checked items.
13. Reboot if MalwareBytes asks you to.
14. Enter Safemode again.
15. Load SuperAntiSpyware.
16. Click Preferences and click the scanning control tab.
17. Check on “Terminate memory threats before quarantining”.
18. Close preferences and click the “Scan your computer ” button.
19. Select “Perform Complete scan” and click next
20. Let the scan complete and remove anything it finds.
21. Next, we’ll finish up the Vundo detection and removal process by using VundoFix
22. Open VundoFix and click the “Scan for Vundo” button.
23. If any Vundo infections still remain click the “Fix Vundo” button.
24. At this point Vundo has most likely been neutralized.
25. Reboot your pc.
26. You should be Vundo Free now.
27. Download and install the latest copy of the Java Runtime Environment and keep it updated.
28. Do yourself a favor and buy Spyware Doctor with Antivirus (one license protects 3 PC’s). It’s the only antivirus that I’ve tested this year to successfully detect and remove almost every variant of Vundo with very little effort.

If you think any Vundo Trojans have been missed in c:windows or c:windowssystem32 then you scan submit those files to virustotal.com for analysis. If the file you submit comes back as a possible infection then you may forcibly remove it using UnDLL. If you’re still getting popup ads then you may want to run a HiJackThis scan and email me the log file or just install Spyware Doctor with AntiVirus.