Enkay Blog

Free Virus Removal Tools & Softwares

So lately there have been a lot of things going around the blogosphere about worms getting into old Wordpress systems and that was one of the main reasons that I hesitantly upgraded to the new Wordpress. To let you know how scared I am of messing with the database, I hadn’t upgraded my Wordpress since the 2.6 release about a year or so ago.

Although I create weekly backups or so of the database, I am always worried about what would happen if the main contents got ruined. Well the only thing I can think of is to schedule a backup to your hard drive of your ftp folder. The first time you do such a backup, it will take a while to copy all the files but every time after that, only the changes will be added on or taken off. So, basically, if I create a full backup today and then add a picture to my blog tomorrow. If today was the first time I ever did the backup, then it would take a while but tomorrow, it might only take a few seconds to download that picture I had added. This can really help you save time and keep your mind at ease.

My Computer & Specs
Lately, however, I have been worried about my computer. My computer isn’t that new. It is about 5 years old now but it has been upgraded and for those of you who are curious and want to know the specs, here they are:
22″ HDMI Connected Samsung Monitor
Pentium 4, 3.0 Ghz with HT Technology
3GB RAM + ATI Radeon HD 3600 with 512MB RAM
Dual Drives – DVD Burner + CD Burner
1.2 TB Internal Hard Drive + 250GB External
Audigy 4 SE 5.1 Audio Card + Logitech THX 5.1 Z-5300e Speakers

The specs are not bad considering that I have invested quite a bit of time and have upgraded the computer over time. Lately though, I have began wondering about the Antivirus protection on my computer. Many people swear by Norton but I am not such a big fan of Norton. It has turned out to be a memory hog for me and I was wondering if you guys had any suggestions. Some software that comes to mind is as follows:

Trend Micro
Trend Micro is a company that comes to mind mostly because of the free tools that they have out. They have this tool called HouseCall which you can check out here. Basically, the tool allows you to scan your computer for malware, viruses and spyware online and best of all, its free. Now, this isn’t something that will protect you all the time, but its good if you need to quickly check your computer. Aside from that, they also have a few Clean-up tools to help you get rid of malware and bots such as HijackThis and RUBotted that you can check out here. They also have some prevention tools for the iPhone, your email and your computer here.

AVG AntiVirus
Other popular choices are AVG AntiVirus which is a resident antivirus software that is completely free. The thing about AVG that bothers me is that although its free, it does have upgrade options which means that sometimes updates are delayed and you may not have the best coverage at all times. I know that companies need to make money, but as far as I can remember, AVG never had upgrade options before and used to be completely free. Aside from that, and the fact that AVG also hasn’t been too good at blocking some Trojan horses, I wonder how effective it really is.

Avast AntiVirus
The software that I use is Avast which is also free with several upgrade options. Avast, is good and although I’m not a big fan of the user interface, it does seem to do a pretty decent job. The only thing that really bugs me about Avast is that its not too user friendly. The interface can be a pain and the software is a bit of a memory hog. I mean, its free so I really can’t complain but it has worked for me quite effectively.

I’m trying to think of some other free solutions but nothing really comes to mind. At the moment, I’m trying out Trend Micro’s HouseCall and seeing how well that works. Generally, I would use Panda Antivirus’s free online solution but that has deteriorated over time and from the looks of it, Trend Micro’s HouseCall is definitely looking like a great replacement. Hope you guys are having a great day so far and if you have an antivirus software thats free or has free tools, do write me back so that I can check them out!

Brighten Up Your Dull Walls

How many of you think that your walls are too plain? Well, if you have seen some of my videos, you’ll notice that everything looks pretty plain and natural in my room and thats because I don’t have any paintings or any wall hangings of that sort. I decided to look on eBay for some paintings but the ones I liked were either too expensive or were just re-prints.

Then i headed over to WendoverArt.com which is primarily an office wall art store but they offer some great prices and they have lots of paintings and art to choose from.

They are based out of Clearwater, Florida and they have wall art choices for your home, office, or both. They even have a line of wholesale art that you can actually find in stores across the US. They custom design and frame all their art themselves and they can even design some art for you based on what you want.

They have art selections that are geared towards retailers, interior designers and purchasing agents for project-based artwork. Their art can be placed in homes, restaurants, hotels, office, or any other suitable location. They even have categories of art to match each setting so that you can find the art you need to satisfy your needs.

The company has been in existence since 1992 which is great for credibility and their design staff also provides corporate art services to help you with your current project as well as later on if you decide to purchase any artwork from them. I have to say that I will be ordering a piece of artwork from Wendover Art so when it does arrive, I’ll have to make a video about it. For those of you who buy art, what is your preference?

CountryWide Training? Better than KAlliance?

CountryWide Training is a company that offers courses to help you improve yourself and in a way, help you help yourself. In todays economy, whatever you have on your resume is what employers are seeing and it helps them recognize a good candidate for the job from one who doesn’t really fit the bill. If you’re in the computer industry, then this might help you out. Countrywide Training offers lots of great courses but their microsoft training courses can help you get certified in Microsoft’s Office suite and help you stand out that much more in front of potential employers.

They have several types of training classes such as Excel, Quickbooks, Adobe and even Powerpoint. They even offer classes that allow you to train in more specific areas in the IT sector such as UNIX, Oracle, SQL, etc. They have online as well as physical locations that you can visit in order to get the most out of your learning experience. Their live instructors help teach the courses and allow students, such as yourself, to interact with themselves as well as other students. This really helps boost your motivation and helps you feel comfortable with the material, the class and your peers.

Lots of companies are out there looking for candidates who have the credentials and the knowledge to help them succeed and to help them move forward in these times. They want someone who is knowledgeable, shows motivation and is willing to learn. Taking one of these several courses hows your potential employer that you are motivated, willing and capable of learning and pushing yourself to not only perform at a high level but also produce reports and documents or whatever they may require at a high level.

A big part of learning is hands on training and Countrywide Training fulfills those needs as well. Aside from the physical class locations, you can even study from home allowing you to make the most of your time, whenever you do have time. Learning from home means that you can work at your own place and read and complete assignments and modules as you progress through the course. So if you haven’t checked out CountryWide Training make sure to check out their microsoft training courses.

How To Be Noticed In Today’s Job Market

As many of you know, the economy today is slowing down and aside from the job cuts and layoffs, there has been a huge decline in jobs out there for new graduates. This is a problem because as many of you know, I am a new graduate and although I’m not in the masters program, the reduced jobs, affects me as well. The problem is that lots of graduates in certain majors, don’t have jobs and the lucky few that do get jobs, are taking a huge pay decrease.

The reason I am talking about this is because although we are bloggers, we are seeing the effects of a slowdown as well. Many bloggers that once blogged and worked, are now focusing more on work and less on blogging. Others, have completely left blogging once and for all. Also, current bloggers are seeing a decline in advertisers and money making opportunities. I wanted to throw out a few tips, I have noticed, that can help you get a job in today’s economy:

1) Don’t Be Good, Be Great – If you want something badly then you not only have to do great, but you have to go above and beyond. Excellence shouldn’t be the exception but the standard. You need to make sure that everything you do, is your finest work so that people notice you and take note of the things you are accomplishing.

2) Be Friendly – This seems to affect a lot of people and although some jobs are considered to not be “people based”, you still need to maintain relationships with the people you work with so being friendly shows others your more personable side and makes them like you not only on a professional level but a personal level as well.

3) Don’t Over-talk – We all know the person that goes to recruiting events, and decides that telling the recruiter about how they saved the day at their previous job, will help them get this job. Well, that doesn’t work. In fact, recruiters want to be able to ask you the questions and judge your character and the qualities you possess. They don’t really want someone who will keep shedding light on their accomplishments. They want to notice it for themselves as well.

4) Criticize? I Think Not - NEVER under any circumstances should you criticize your other job, your manager, your boss or anything for that matter. They don’t want to risk ruining their image if you happen to be let go later. They want someone who will be happy with any decision – even if they truly aren’t happy.

5) Take Anything You Can Get – No job is too good for you. I mean, if youre an astronaut and the only job you are finding is at McDonalds then maybe that is a stretch but for most park, you don’t have a wide selection of choices. Pick what you can based on what you have in front of you at the moment.

6) Improve Yourself – There are several ways you can improve yourself such as trainings, boot camps, continued education. It shows the employer that youre motivated to do better and learn more. For example, recently a friend of mine was looking for some MCITP training courses and found this mcitp boot camp online. Its easy to sign up online and you can become a Microsoft Certified IT professional and although that may not seem like much, it definitely helps brighten up your resume and get you attention.

So if you’re looking for a job then maybe these tips have helped. If you need more advice or more specific advice then do not hesitate to send me an email. I hope everyone is having a great weekend and do keep sending me the nominations for the Top 100 Twitter List and follow me @enkayblog !

Learning At Your Own Pace

This may be the last set of reviews you’ll see for Kalliance but if you haven’t heard yet, they offer several different varieties of online courses that you can access and learn at your convenience from your home.

They have the following upcoming courses:
ILM 2007, Small Business Server (SBS) 2008, Windows PowerShell Training, CISSP-ISSEP, A+ 2009 Certification Training, CISSP-ISSAP, Security+ 2008 Certification, Maintaining Microsoft SQL 2008, Network+ 2009 Certification, Hyper-V Training, CCNA Security,Microsoft Office 2010 Training, CCNA Voice

and these are their most recent releases:
Windows Server 2008 Training, MCITP Server Administrator, MCITP Enterprise Administrator, MCTS Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Configuration, MCTS Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure Configuration, MCTS Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Configuration, Crystal Reports 2008

Something that KAlliance is known for is distance learning courses where students can participate in an online based class training session. This way you can maintain your interaction with other students virtually without actually having to be in a physical classroom setting. They also have an option for you to visit a physical location to participate in these distance learning courses so that you still have a more physical interaction with your peers while being in a distance learning course.

KAlliance focuses on allowing you to pace yourself as you proceed through these courses. Everyone knows that people learn at a different pace even in a normal class setting so allowing students to go through these programs independently at their own pace allows you to take that flexibility one step closer. Their courses do contain self assessment, lab simulations and quizzes that allow you to test yourself on what you have learned in order to ensure that you are getting the most out of your learning sessions.

Sometimes, you may not find the course that you need so you can actually have a custom course developed to fit your needs. The course will have a custom curriculum and create learning elements to meet your needs. They can design the courses to fit you and your company’s needs so that you can have the most effective learning solution for your team.

So I hope that these posts have been useful to those of you looking to expand their knowledge and even to those of you who didn’t know what Kalliance was. Have a great week ahead!