Yet another email scam--this one with a .dot file attached

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With several email accounts and having the same ones for more than 10 years each, I pretty much get every email scam attempt known to mankind. Today, I got one that looked nothing like the thousands of scams in the past. I have copy/pasted it below.

The big difference with this one is it is not asking me to log into a fake PayPal, bank or any other account. It's not asking me for a reply (yet) or asking me for more information.

The big difference with this one is the alleged Vasbinder.doc that is supposedly attached except it's not a Vasbinder.doc, it's a Vasbinder.dot (with a T) and in the email, the scammer says there is a password that has to be entered.

I Googled the entire email and various parts of it looking for anyone else that has written about this scam but I haven't found anyone else.

Being the curious type, I tried to open the word.dot file in Google Docs (so I didn't have to download or open it on my computer) and Google Docs would not open it.

Once again, being the curious type, I think I'm going to reply to the sender acting like I'm falling for their scam, just to see what their next step is going to be.

I left the typos and obvious foreign language syntax in the below email. The P. O. Box is from many, many years ago but was legit at one time.

I'll update as I learn more from this scammer--but in the meantime, do NOT open an alleged word document with .dot as the ending. I did find this website explaining how .dot files are used to then take over your computer as ransomware, where the scammers will release your computer after you pay their "fee" (a/k/a ransom).

https://howtoremove.guide/dot-file-extension-ransomware-virus-removal/

Elvia Carles

Attachments 3:36 PM (4 hours ago)

to me

Greetings!

I have a quite delicate question, which deals directly to you. Don't be surprised how do I know you! The matter is that I have received already a second message from the person, I do not know which claims that you are engaged in fraud. He says, that you forced him transfer funds on your PayPal account under fictional reason. Andwith this information he specified your private information up to address:

Leonard Vasbinder

Post Office Box 850888

New Orleans

La

70185

Now he is collecting data and planing to go to the police. I suggest you to view the information that he is sending to me. I have attached Vasbinder.doc with a copy of all of his messages.

Document was encrypted - 4807

Please explain to me what's happening. I think that all of this was a absurd mistake.

Sincerely,

Elvia Carles

Announcing "Lenny The Computer Guy - Computer Tutoring, Repair And Malware Cleaning Services"

This will be my new blog for all of my past and future computer related blogs since I'm starting my new business.

http://LennyTheComputerGuy.blogspot.com
Here's a copy of my first Craigslist Ad for my services...

Do You Need Help With Your Computer Or Most Common Programs?

Introductory Pricing ONLY $30 for 2 hours or $50.00 for 4 hours.

Are you having trouble learning the basics or do you need help cleaning up your computer from spyware, viruses, etc?

Are you feeling overwhelmed by your computer or computer problems? Is it running slow or causing you more problems than you like?

I can help you in your home or office, days, evenings, nights or weekends.... or we can meet at a free public wi-fi hotspot like the Jefferson Parish Public Library (W. Napoleon between Clearview and Transcontinental), a coffee shop, etc., if that would be more convenient for you.

I can help you with most Windows and Microsoft products as well as most other commonly used software, not only teaching you how to use it but installing it, updating it and getting it set up right on your computer.. If I don't know your particular software already, I'll still help you learn it and not charge you while we're both learning it!* I'm also good with Microsoft Accounting, Quicken, Outlook and there aren't many common programs I can't help you with.

Most folks like one-on-one help instead of attending a class or reading a book.

I can also teach you how to use the popular search engines so you get better search results.

I can help you get your computer set up and secured, downloading and setting up Microsoft security updates, internet security suites, firewalls, antivirus, antispyware, etc. (and teaching you how at the same time) As well as downloading and setting up all of the other commonly needed programs on a new or older computer. I can help you clean up old stuff off of your older computers and get them running faster and more secure for you. I can teach you how to organize your computer files, backup your computer, etc. If you need your internet service set up and secured, I can help you with that also.

Here's my computer related blogs if you want to read some of my articles that I've written over the past ten years, mainly to help other people in many of the computer help forums. http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/  AND http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers

As you'll see, my computer related blogs go back to 2005, which is when I started it. Prior to this, I had a GeoCities website but Yahoo shut down GeoCities so I've moved a lot of my content to my blogs now.

I can also teach you how to surf the internet more safely, teach you how to do internet searches and get more successful results, etc.

I can diagnose and fix some computer issues although I'm ot a certified computer repair technician. I have upgraded RAM on my computer, clean them on a regular basis to remove dust and dirt buildup from the inside, fans, etc., so your computer will run more efficiently and not be subjected to overheating issues which will then cause a computer to have many other problems, including shutting down, blue screen errors, etc.

I've been computer literate for more than a decade and have been helping friends and relatives and helping in online forums and Yahoo Groups for the past decade but I've never really done this as a business before but I'm suffering from an injury right now so I can't do my normal work so I thought I'd give this a try and see if I can help people and help myself at the same time. I've been doing it for free for so long, I don't know how much to charge so my rates will probably be low while I'm getting started building this new small business.

I'm thinking $30.00 for the first two hours or $50.00 for four hours... of in home/office help. After that, I can probably give you lower priced one on one help via phone, instant messaging or email (don't worry... I'll help you learn how to email and instant message also, if you don't already know how) or if you need follow-up in home/office help, I'll keep the initial rates the same, regardless to whether I go up on my rates later as I get more customers.

Send me an email or give me a call and let me see if I can help you out... while you help me grow my new business! I'll try to make this a win-win situation!

Also, if you are on a fixed income or you are having financial difficulties, I may be able to give you a discount or give you more of my time for my already low rates.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/
Phone - 504-667-5111
Skype - LennyTheComputerGuy
Yahoo Msgr. - LennyTheComputerGuy
Email - LennyTheComputerGuy@gmail.com

CCleaner - How I Use It To Manage My Cookies And Clean Some Crap Off My Computer

When you first download CCleaner from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner, in the default download mode, it will clean a LOT more than some folks might want.  The things it cleans may not cause folks any problems but could cause inconveniences if folks relied on the things that CCleaner cleaned in the dafult mode.

Here's how I have MY CCleaner set up.  You can follow the way I do it or use something more or less than what I am doing.  Just make sure you understand how cleaning that particular item will affect your computer and web browsing.

This first image shows how I've un-checked most of the items in the Windows Tab.
 

(Open images in a new tab or window to see them full size while reading this article)

This next image shows how I've un-checked most of the items in the Applications Tab

This next image shows how I clicked Options, then Cookies to show how I manage which Cookies I allow to stay on my computer.  The ones on the right are the ones I keep, the ones on the left are the ones that I'll review and possibly move one or more to the right and keep them, otherwise they will stay in the left column and be deleted when I run the Cleaner.

This next image shows how I just ran the Analyze button but haven't actually cleaned anything yet.  You can click on any of the items to see more details.

This next image shows the Cleaning is complete.

This next image shows where I've gone back to the Options > Cookies section to show the left column is now empty after the Cleaning was completed.

This next image, shows the Registry Section and I've already clicked the Scan For Issues button.

This next image shows how I've Cleaned the 10 Registry Issues that CCleaner found when it scanned my Registry.  Please note that I also use WinASO Registry Optimizer or the online scan from Windows Live OneCare to scan and fix registry entries. 

Well, that's how I use CCleaner on a Daily basis for Cleaning out my browser's temporary internet files, cookies and flash cookies.  If you have any questions, please feel free to post a comment below or you can go to the CCleaner Help section or their own forums.

I hope this helps!

Lenny Vasbinder

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Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, to read all of my other Computer related blogs.

Please feel free to leave a comment below.  Click the Comments link if the Comments section is not already open.

Why You Should ALWAYS Do A Custom Install Of Any New Programs... So You Don't End Up With The Toolbars From HELL Browser

(CLICK ON EITHER IMAGE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE)

(CLICK ON EITHER IMAGE TO SEE IT FULL SIZE)

The top image was from someone I was helping to clean up their computer.  The bottom image is from an online forum "friend" that showed me their worse case customer.  Neither of these customers knew about the F11 key, which will compact all of the toolbars of a browser to give you more web page viewing real estate on your monitor so they only had an inch or two of web page viewing and had to scroll down one or a couple of lines at a time to read a website.

Now... for the way you SHOULD install a new program... to make sure you avoid this toolbar HELL situation.

After downloading many common programs, during the initial installation process, the program almost always offers you the choice of doing a custom installation or their "recommended" installation.  ALWAYS choose "custom" as many programs, as part of being FREE, have various add-on's installed when installing the main program.  Other companies pay to have their program added-on or piggybacked onto the main program you actually wanted.  Oftentimes, these add-ons are one of the many toolbars or search bars offered by all of the legitimate BIG companies like Google, MSN/Bing, Yahoo, etc.... but many other toolbars or add-ons are from smaller and sometimes less scrupulous companies, many times being actual spyware, depending on what program you downloaded and installed. 

Legitimate programs like various computer security programs (most antivirus, antimalware, antispyware), Adobe Flash, Sun Java, instant messengers, media players, etc., will offer various add-on's but give you the option to un-check them during the regular or custom installation process... and in my opinion, UNLESS you absolutely have to have the toolbar or add-on, you SHOULD UN-CHECK them since more than one toolbar and too many add-ons will start to cause problems with your browser and cause you to suffer from much slower web surfing or your browser will constantly freeze up or have other issues.  They will also use up a lot of your computer's resources and/or slow down your computer.

Some of the less scrupulous or outright malicious companies will add-on a malware infested toolbar and will not even tell you they are doing it during the installation... or seriously misrepresent what it does.  This is why you should ALWAYS Google or search for more information about any program you are going to install on your computer... BEFORE you install it and then find out it's a program from HELL with yet another toolbar or add-on from HELL.  Malicious add-ons will hijack your browser's home page and/or add adware that will only send you to sites that are part of their advertising network.  Other malicious add-ons will install trojans, viruses, spyware, adware, etc., on your computer and you will have to spend hours cleaning all the crap off of it.  Until you do, your computer could become part of a bot-net where the masterminds of the malware are using your computer and surfing habits to track everything you are doing on your computer... or to send spam, send out infected emails trying to infect others, or they will go through your computer looking for banking information or other personal information and steal your identity.

I hope this helps save one or two people from the BROWSER TOOLBAR FROM HELLLLL!!!!!!

Lenny Vasbinder

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Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, for all of my other Computer related blogs.

I welcome your comments.  Please click the Comment link below if the Comments section is not already open on the page.

Yahoo Messenger Virus Becoming More Of A Problem For Unsecured Computers

In my last blog, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-computer-security-programs-that-i.html, I listed some of the FREE computer security programs that I use and recommend. What I didn't post in that blog was the question that prompted my answer.  Also, see that blog for any updates I have done and may do about "Some Computer Security Programs That I Use And Recommend".

Since then, more and more of my Yahoo Messenger (YM) friends have become infected and then their YM program starts sending out IM's with a malicious link and if any of their friends click on the link, they can then become infected if their computers are not properly secured.

Below, is the original question in the Yahoo Messenger Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yahoo_Messenger, and my reply...

-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 7:43 PM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] virus I think

Every time I use messenger I get a window popping up giving a message, Is this your picture and a address (link)... This same thing is going to everyone in my address book for the messenger.. The address does not open up anything but it keeps duplicating itself.

How do I find out if this is a virus and help to get rid of it?


AND MY REPLY:


-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Sunday, July 25, 2010 8:23 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] virus I think

DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK.

Whoever is sending you those IM's is infected by having clicked on the link and now their YM is sending out malicious IM's to everyone on their friends list... and probably every other person out there as well.

If you've already clicked on the link, you are likely infected as well, unless you are absolutely, positively sure that your computer is super secure.

Since I do keep my computers super secure, I did test the link when I got one of those IM's from someone on my friends list and it immediately tried to start downloading a file which my security software promptly stopped and alerted me to the malicious attempted download.

If your computer security programs did not alert on the file and allowed the file to download, then you are infected.

You should update all of your computer security programs (antivirus, antispyware, antimalware, etc.), disconnect from the internet, re-boot your computer into safe mode and run scans until you have removed or quarantined all traces of the infection.

With Yahoo Messenger and EVERY other IM program that I've ever used, you will get a certain number of malicious IM's, mostly from strangers but occasionally from infected friends. If you get an IM with a link, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK without first asking your friend if they sent the link and ask them what the link is to (usually they have no clue they are infected and their YM is sending out these malicious IM's). When they say "Huh???", you know they are infected and you can forward these same instructions to them.

The prevalent use of URL shortening services is making this even more of a problem as hackers who start these virus campaigns can use a URL shortener so folks don't even know the real URL that they will be sent to. I ONLY use http://TinyURL.com and use the PREVIEW mode so when I click on a TinyURL link, it will open to a TinyURL page that shows the full sized link and then I can choose to go to that link once I know where it will be sending me.

BTW, there is no need to spend a single penny on security programs. ALL of the *good* companies make their programs available to home users at no charge, either by a fully or mostly functioning download or as an online scan.

I use and recommend:

Comodo Internet Security http://www.comodo.com/ as a FREE and fully functioning security suite that has a professional featured, award winning firewall, good antivirus with real-time and scheduled scanner and good real-time antimalware protection.

MalwareBytes http://www.malwarebytes.org/ as a backup scanner for when needed or folks that surf the net wildly, they can do weekly scans just to make sure that their main security didn't miss anything. NO SINGLE PROGRAM IS 100% EFFECTIVE.

SuperAntiSpyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ as another backup scanner for when needed as above.

a-Squared FREE http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/antimalware/ as another backup scanner for when needed as above.

SpywareBlaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html - This doesn't do any scanning or use any system resources. You simply download the updated definitions on a weekly basis and enable them to protect your computer from LOTS of malicious websites, adding them to your Hosts file, and also block LOTS of malicious drive-by software.

Spybot http://www.safer-networking.org/ - I really only use the Immunization feature on this program although it does have a scanner as well. The Immunization feature will build a nice Hosts file to supplement the one with SpywareBlaster and also further protect your Registry. I do use the scanner from time to time to look for Flash Cookies that CCleaner might miss.

I haven't used this next program but I have read lots of good reviews about Microsoft Security Essentials. I think Comodo is TEN TIMES better especially as far as the firewall since MSE only uses the standard Windows Firewall which I find to be NOT very good. You can get MSE for FREE and also use the FREE online scan from Microsoft, called Windows Live OneCare. http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm - RUN the FULL SCAN once a month and it will check your system online for virus/malware and also do a cleanup and tune-up of your computer, repair your registry and also defrag your hard drive.

NOTE - See the UPDATE that I did to my main blog about security programs that I use and recommend here...  http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2010/07/some-computer-security-programs-that-i.html

HTH!

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves, Opinions & Information)

FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI  Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

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Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger for more of my blogs about Yahoo Messenger and this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, for all of my blogs about Computers.

Please click the Comments link below to leave a comment OR if you need help with any of the above programs.

Some Computer Security Programs That I Use And Recommend

Updated - August 08, 2010 - a-Squared Free changed to a-Squared Anti-Malware
Updated - August 04, 2010 - Added info about VirusTotal.com since I forgot that info initially.

So... I just replied to a "Help" request in one of the Computer Tech forums that I participate in and decided to give them a long reply with lots of details about the computer security programs that I use and recommend. This isn't everything I use since I don't want to alert the cyber-criminals about some of my other defenses but this is a good list that most beginners should be able to use and utilize.

Here is a snip of my long reply...

BTW, there is no need to spend a single penny on security programs. ALL of the *good* companies make their programs available to home users at no charge, either by a fully or mostly functioning download or as an online scan.

I use and recommend:

Comodo Internet Security http://www.Comodo.com as a FREE and fully functioning security suite that has a professional featured, award winning firewall, good antivirus with real-time and scheduled scanner and good real-time antimalware protection.

NO SINGLE PROGRAM IS 100% EFFECTIVE. While Comodo Internet Security will keep most computer users malware free, for folks that do not practice safe surfing habits, it's a VERY GOOD idea to have multiple backup programs to also scan for things that CIS might miss from time to time. Here are the other programs that I use from time to time.... or all the time for a couple of them.

Also, remember that ALL programs will report false positives from time to time so check things out before deleting files if you are not sure of what you are about to delete.  For those instances, I use Virus Total http://www.VirusTotal.com which will allow you to upload the suspicious file and then scan it against ALL of the major security programs to see if more than just your scan is showing it as an infected file. If only one or two show it to be infected, it could be a false positive and you should check it out with the security program's help section, tech support, online forums, etc., to see what they say... before deleting the file.  If you find it to be a false positive, make sure you report this to the security program's tech support people so they can keep others from having a problem.... otherwise, someone might delete a file that causes their computer or one of their programs to no longer work.  While s-Squared is one of the best free scanners available to us, it's also the most likely to find false positives... at least that's been my experience when using a-Squared Anti-Malware.

MalwareBytes http://www.MalwareBytes.org as a backup scanner for when needed or folks that surf the net wildly, they can do weekly scans just to make sure that their main security didn't miss anything.

SuperAntiSpyware http://www.superantispyware.com/ as another backup scanner for when needed as above.

a-Squared Free, now called a-Squared Anti-Malware, which can be a paid for full-time scanner or the FREE scanner which does not provide full-time scanning but can still be used as one of the backup scanners, which is what I suggest - http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/antimalware/   Obviously, feel free to pay for the full-time scanner but if you run Comodo Internet Security or other full-time antivirus/antimalware scanning, it's not good to run others full-time since they can cause conflicts and slow down your computer.

SpywareBlaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html - This doesn't do any scanning or use any system resources. You simply download the updated definitions on a weekly basis and enable them to protect your computer from LOTS of malicious websites, adding them to your Hosts file and registry... and it also block LOTS of malicious drive-by software.

Spybot Search & Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/ - I really only use the Immunization feature on this program although it does have a scanner as well. The Immunization feature will build a nice Hosts file to supplement the one with SpywareBlaster. I do use the scanner from time to time to look for Flash Cookies that CCleaner might miss.  I DO NOT recommend using the Tea-Timer real-time scanner from Spybot as it seems to cause more problems than it fixes.

I haven't used this but I have read lots of good reviews about Microsoft Security Essentials, but I think Comodo is TEN TIMES better, especially as far as the firewall, since MSE only uses the standard Windows Firewall which I find to be NOT very good. You can get MSE for FREE and also use the FREE online scan from Microsoft, called Windows Live OneCare. http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm - When using the Windows Live OneCare Scanner, RUN the FULL SCAN once a month and it will check your system online for virus/malware and also do a cleanup and tune-up of your computer, repair your registry and also defrag your hard drive.

There are many other online scanners from nearly ALL of the other computer security software makers so I will not go through that list. The above should be all that most folks need.

I hope this helps... and if you need any help with the above programs, feel free to leave me a comment below and I'll post a reply... or you can hunt me down in one of the many forums I'm in or go to your own favorite computer tech forum. Most of the above programs have their own respective specialty forums listed on the main website as well.

Lenny Vasbinder

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Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, to read all of my other related articles about Computers.

You can click on the Comments link below to open the Comments section to leave your comments.

Internet Archive Wayback Machine... And How It Saves Copies Of Closed Down Websites

I've written about and used the Internet Archives Wayback Machine many times in the many forums from hobby to computer tech forums that I participate in on a regular basis but I've been seeing MORE and MORE websites shutting down in the past two years so I wanted to write this short article to inform people of how the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (IAWM) works so you can find information from any of your favorite websites that have gone away.

There's a couple of ways to get to the IAWM.

http://archive.org/ - The home page for the Internet Archives, then on that page, right near the top middle, you'll see a section about the Wayback Machine, where you can enter a URL (website address aka a link) into the field and click Enter or click the "Take Me Back" button and it will bring you to a page of dated links for every snapshot that the Wayback Machine has concerning that website URL.

The other ways to get directly to the IAWM page is:

http://www.archive.org/web/web.php  or the advanced search page, http://web.archive.org/collections/web/advanced.html.

Here's how it works...

I use to publish articles on a free Yahoo website called GeoCities but Yahoo decided to close down GeoCities in 2009 so folks no longer have access to their web pages unless they know about the Wayback Machine.

Here was one of my original GeoCities links (which no longer work)...

http://www.GeoCities.com/LennyVasbinderPI/Politics_Start

Of course, clicking that link brings you to a page saying the site no longer exists.

Now, if you go to the IAWM and copy/paste or type that URL into the blank field and click "Take Me Back", it will bring you to this page, http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.GeoCities.com/LennyVasbinderPI/Politics_Start, where you will see a series of dated links where the Internet Archives Wayback Machine took snapshots of my web page between 2002 and 2006, which would have been the last time I updated that site since I started using Blogger Blogspot's to post my blogs/articles since then.

Other websites that have been archived include many of the articles on MSN Groups when Microsoft decided to close them down in 2008.

For my fish keeping hobby, at least three LONG-TIME very good websites have shut down in the past two years, http://www.aquatic-hobbyist.com/, http://www.plecofanatics.com/ and http://www.plantgeek.net/ but most, if not all of their articles and many of their forum threads are preserved on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

I never did use AOL (aka AOHell to many) but I know that AOL shut down millions of web pages in their "home town" section, at least I think that is what it was called, and many AOL members complained viciously when they lost all of their web pages, online photo albums (which reminds me that Yahoo shut down Yahoo Photo Albums a few years ago when they bought out Flickr.com), etc... so hopefully, any of those folks that thought they lost everything might be able to find some of their data and/or pictures using the Wayback Machine.

All that said, some websites prevent search engines from crawling their pages and for those websites, the IAWM may have also been blocked from crawling the website which means all data may be lost forever in those cases.

I'll probably be adding to this article from time to time so check back... or if you have any questions, please feel free to leave a "Comment" below (click the Comments link at the bottom of this article, if the Comments box isn't already open).

Lenny Vasbinder

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Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, to read all of my other related articles about Computers.

You can click on the Comments link below to open the Comments section to leave your comments.

My Review Of Mozy Home Online Computer Backup Program

Get Mozy Home for FREE here, with BONUS online backup storage. When you get to the main page, click on Products, then Mozy Home, then click Download button or on the left side, next to the FREE sign, click "Learn More" or the "Try It Free" button. Any of those steps will get you the FREE Mozy Home version with the BONUS 0.5 GIGS of online backup storage. While the UNLIMITED online backup storage is only $4.95 a month, the FREE 2.0 GIGS of online backup storage becomes 2.5 GIGS by clicking this link... enough storage for thousands of pictures, music and other backup of your important files.

Based on an email from a fellow member of the Outlook-Users Yahoo Group, I replied with a rather long reply about Mozy and it ended up being more of a review so here it is...

-----Original Message-----
From: Steven T
Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 12:04 PM
To: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Subject: FW: Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager - email issue - OFFLIST

Lenny

I want to ask you about the "Mozy" add you have in your mails. I am not interested in how online backup works, only online restore ;>) What is your experience with restore from them? At what speed etc....


TIA

Steven T

AND MY LONG REPLY/REVIEW:

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 2:01 PM
To: 'Steven Teiger'
Subject: RE: Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager - email issue - OFFLIST

I've only had to use the restore a couple of times over the past several years that I've been using Mozy (I was involved in the initial Beta testing).

Most recently, I had to restore my Favorites folder in IE8 (currently 10.3MB, 2,662 files, 332 folders). I started using XMarks a few weeks ago, to synch my Favorites folder for IE8 and FF on my laptop and desktop so they would all have the same Favorites/Bookmarks and when I first did the XMarks synching, it (or rather I) completely messed them up... and I mean a major SNAFU, mostly due my not setting XMarks properly or rather not understanding the instructions properly.

Fortunately, I had my Mozy online backup of my Favorites folder on my desktop computer, which was done about an hour before I did the XMarks installation and fouled up the sync so bad. I uninstalled XMarks on both computers, emptied my Favorites folder on my desktop and then used Mozy to restore it. Mozy actually keeps several *copies* of backups... kind of like restore points... so you can choose which date/time you want to restore to. It didn't take long... maybe 10 minutes or so... I didn't time it but it wasn't long. I have over 2,500 URL's saved and well organized in my Favorites folder and all of it's sub and sub-sub folders.

As far as the speed, it depends on your own internet speed and what else you are running. If you shut down all other programs that might be using up internet bandwidth, then Mozy will be MUCH faster and I'm pretty sure it will download the restore as fast as your bandwidth and computer can handle. I've NEVER seen any slowdowns related to Mozy servers... only my own bandwidth limitations, especially if I have all three of my computers working on the internet on my DSL line.

Of course, uploading the initial backup and even my twice daily scheduled backups takes much longer than a restore since most internet access has much slower upload speed than download speed. My average online backup on my main computer takes about an hour or two, depending on how many new files I've added. I use the scheduled backup, rather than the constant backup, so I can have each of my computers backing up at different times so I do not see as much slow-down in my internet speed. If all three computers were backing up at the same time, I see a BIG slowdown in my internet service since Mozy would be using so much of my upload bandwidth.

Mozy also uses a moderate amount of system resources during the Backup process on my two oldest computers... one with only 384MB of RAM and the other with 768MB of RAM. I do not notice any slowdown on my newest Vista-HP laptop with 3Gigs of RAM.

Folks get 2Gigs of FREE backup if they sign up at Mozy.com or if someone signs up using my referral link, in my sig, they actually get an added .5Gigs. I know 2Gigs or 2.5Gigs isn't a lot of storage but it's usually more than enough for most of the people that I've helped install the free version, as long as they pick and choose which files/folders to back up. I actually only use up around 6Gigs of backup on my main computer, just to backup My Documents folder, my active PST file and certain other folders (like Favorites). I use an external HD to do weekly backups and clones of all three of my computers for major issues and just use Mozy for backing up my most active files/folders.

Sorry.. I didn't mean to write an entire review of the program but I really like it and think everyone should have at least the free version of Mozy to back up their most important files, photos, etc. I've read so many horror stories online and with helping my friends with their own computer problems.

I might have to use this for a blog article about Mozy. LOL

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves, Opinions & Information)

FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files...
https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----------

Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, to read all of my other related articles about Computers.

You can click on the Comments link below to open the Comments section to leave your comments.

I'm going to upgrade to Yahoo Messenger 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here

I meant to do this blog last year but it got put on the back burner. Since this YM 10.0x BETA upgrade, YM 10.0x has been updated several times. Besides the below information, also see my other LONG Yahoo Messenger article http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2007/11/how-i-always-do-clean-instal-ofl-yahoo.html OR http://tinyurl.com/How-I-Always-Do-YM for more details. This is a series of emails to the Yahoo_Messenger Yahoo Group with some replies from other members of the group.

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 9:24 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

Well, the subject says it all.

On one of my older computers, I'll still have YM 8.1x, my Vista laptop will have 9.0x and my main XP computer will have 10.0x BETA, just to try it out and be able to help more folks who might be having problems with it.

In preparing my main computer, I will be uninstalling YM 8.1x, then rebooting, then I'll run CCleaner Registry Cleaner and WinASO Registry Optimizer to clean out remnants of 8.1x. Then I'll look at the Yahoo Messenger Program file to see what is left and possibly delete some things manually and I'll move a copy of my Archived Chats out of there to my desktop in case something goes wrong with the 10.0 upgrade.

Then I'll install the FULL version of YM 10.0.0.542 BETA that I downloaded from FileHippo.com, http://www.filehippo.com/download_yahoo_messenger/. I'm still not brave enough to use the installer version from Yahoo.com. LOL

I'll post later to let you all know how everything goes.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 10:03 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

Well... things aren't going so smoothly so far. NOT with YM 10.0 BETA but rather with trying to uninstall YM 8.1x. The uninstaller has been running for about 15 minutes and seems to be stuck or at least bogged down heavily at around the 90% uninstalled point. Task Manager is showing the UNWISE.exe process (I'm not sure that's a "wise" choice of a name for the uninstaller process...lol), is using up 70% to 95% of my CPU processing ability.

Well... I take things back... partially.

While I was typing this message, whatever was bogging down the uninstaller seems to have been fixed/uninstalled and the uninstaller finished the job although now, GLB1A2B.EXE process is using a large percentage of the CPU processing ability. This type of file name is usually a Temporary file name created when installing certain programs so I'll see how long this process is going to continue to run. It's 9:55AM CDT as I type this. I'll finish and send this email when this TEMP file stops running.

OK. It's 10:00AM CDT and the TEMP file quit running. Time for a reboot and then running the registry cleaners. I'll send another update as events occur.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.


-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 12:47 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

OK. The registry clean up and install went OK. I didn't see any bundled software like toolbars, etc., attempting to be added with the full version download from FileHippo. I'm not sure if Yahoo gave up on trying to push all that crap on people or what but I was glad to see I didn't have to make sure I unchecked all the junk.

I did have to go through all of my Preferences and fix many of them as the new version DID NOT remember all of my previous settings. This could be due to my cleaning out all the junk from the old version but I did leave the various .ini files and a few .dll files that I thought would save my settings. Maybe I saved the wrong ones. Another thing the new download had as default settings was adding YM to the startup processes of my computer so every time the computer starts up, YM would start up. I HATE programs that try this. I changed that setting in my Preferences and also went into MSCONFIG and made sure YM was unchecked in there also. It was no longer checked once I changed my Preferences and restarted YM.

I'm typing this now as YM 10.0 BETA just froze up on me and I had to close it using Task Manager. It was showing as (not responding) in Task Manager. It froze after I turned on my cam using the main Messenger Menu> My Webcam link... and then when I went to tweak some of the camera settings, as soon as I clicked the Settings button on the Camera window menu, it froze up. It could have been a quirk. I'll know after I try it again.

One MAJOR thing I noticed with YM 10.0 BETA is there is NOT a way to send JUST a cam invite to someone on your friends list who is not using YM 10.0 also. The previous versions had buttons for sending a cam invite or starting a voice call but this new version only has the voice call OR Video Chat which is their new supposedly SUPER video chat mode but only works when both folks have YM 10.0. However, when I signed in on one of my other computers, under a different Yahoo ID and I had my cam turned on in YM 10.0, I could request a cam view from the other computer... but I could NOT send that other ID a cam invite without requesting it from the other computer. A minor annoyance but I guess it's not a major problem. I usually am chatting with someone and mutually agree to turn on video chatting anyhow... they'll just have to ask to view my cam instead of me being able to send them an invite on my own. Although, sometimes when I'm in a chat room, I'll use a cam invite as a way of weeding out a potential bot. LOL Bots can't accept or decline a cam invite so it lets me know if the person is real without them getting my Yahoo ID for future spamming, which is what happens if you send a bot an IM.

OK. I just re-started YM and turned on my cam again.

Then I went to the Preferences for my webcam again and clicked the Camera Settings button again. This time it did NOT freeze up so the last time could have just been a quirk.

I'll report back with any other notable things.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of Budmaas
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 2:18 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

IT IS THE BEST. Iupgraded to 10.0.542 BETA & it is working fine with win vista.

try it. thanks Yahoo messenger team & whole corporation

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 12:10 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

Well.. I'm not so sure "It is the best". I've been finding some really good things BUT also some really bad things with it. Hopefully, the really bad things will be corrected as Yahoo continues to fix this BETA version.

Since playing with YM 10.0x BETA for the past 24 hours, here's some pros and cons...

CONS -

I am not able to send a cam invite to people as easily as I could with previous versions. There is NO regular Cam Invite button or even a menu option under Actions Menu to "View My Webcam". There is the new Video Chat button but that is grayed out for most people who are still using older versions. After a lot of experimenting, if I have my cam on, the other person can request my cam but I can't just send them an invite. That's a flaw that needs to be fixed. Further, in chat rooms, when right-clicking on a name in the list, there is an option to Invite to View Cam but in the private IM windows, that option does not exist. Obviously, it works since the other person can request a cam invite and I can even send one by right clicking on their name in a room but I can't send a cam invite by right clicking on their name in my friends list or any other way.

YM 10.0x BETA uses a LOT more system resources even when just sitting there signed in and idle. YM 8.1x used around 40,000K of Memory when it was just sitting there whereas YM 10.0x BETA uses over twice that amount... around 88,000K of Memory. This can be seen in Task Manager>Processes Tab>Mem Usage column (click on it to sort highest to lowest). So, folks with older or less powerful computers should be careful about upgrading to this version. When I first opened YM 10.0xBETA, before signing in, it was using only 30,000K, then when I signed in, it jumped up to 65,000K and even without doing anything, that number kept climbing just now and it's up to 94,000K now... even higher than when I shut it down a little while ago when it was showing 88,000K. Well, while typing this, it dropped back down to 89,000K. When I minimized the Friends List window, it did drop down to only 7,000K so that's a good thing if folks need to run other programs and need some system resources freed up... same with IE, if you minimize it, it quits using as many system resources in one of the IE processes.

PROS -

When going to a Chat Room, the CAPTCHA process DOES NOT have to open in a browser window any longer. The CAPTCHA process opens right in the Chat Room window which is a much quicker and easier way to do things and saves some system resources since it doesn't have to open a browser window each time you change rooms. It also makes changing rooms quicker and easier.

NOT SURE ABOUTS -

When I first did the Invite To My Cam to someone in a chat room (by right clicking on their name), a pop up window came up with the option to do the Video Chat, Webcam or Cancel. Stupidly, I put a check mark in the "Do Not Show This Message Again" and chose Webcam and now that message does not show up any longer. I'm not sure if this is going to affect anything or not. I guess, once IM'ing with someone else with YM 10.0x BETA, I can still do the Video Chat thing from the IM window so this shouldn't be a problem but others should be warned to NOT put that check mark in that box. Someone with a MAC and the YM for Mac version could not view my cam no matter what but I'm not sure if that was a one time issue or something that will affect how YM 10.0x BETA and YM for Mac's work for everyone. I do not know a lot of Mac users to check this out. The one person I did try with, we had to go to a Chat Room so I could Invite To View Cam from the Chat Room list since they did not have a menu option to view my cam and I couldn't send them a cam invite as previously described above. Even when I did Invite them to view my cam and they accepted, it would only open the Cam window in a grayed out screen and they could never see me. I'll have to wait to test this with other Mac users to know if this is something permanent or not.

That's it for now... I'll report back later with more info as new things become known to me.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of malibu.angel
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 10:46 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Re: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

Thank you, Lenny. My computer is 6-7 years old and sometimes things really slow it down, did you find that at all with the new beta version?

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 12:45 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

See my previous reply in answer to an earlier reply by another member. You might also have too much junk running on your computer which slows it down. Post your System Resources and look at your Task Manager to see how many processes you have running. I'm sure you could speed things up quite a bit... almost any computer can be speeded up rather easily if folks would get rid of some of the junk running on their puters.

Yes, 10.0x BETA uses a LOT more resources than YM 8.1x but in the interim since that last reply, I opened up 9.0x on my Vista laptop and it's using up 120,000K while just sitting there open and even when I minimized it, it was still using the same 120,000K. This could be as a result of the Vista OS instead of YM. (see below.. it was just a quirk that it was using that much.. maybe because I had a cam invite going on that computer yesterday and it might have never released the memory usage even after the cam was turned off). I'll have to check that again another time.

I'm also looking at my oldest computer.. about 10 years old with only 384MB of RAM and only a 16Gig Hard drive... to give you an idea about how old it is. LOL I have YM 8.1x running on that one and when just sitting there open, it was using around 60,000K and then when I minimized it, it dropped down to only 4,000K.

I'm restarting YM 9.0x on my Vista computer to see if the 120,000K was a quirk or not. When I first started YM on the Vista, before actually signing in, it was using 31,000K. After signing in, it started climbing to 65,000K and then settled back down at 62,000K. When I minimized it, it DID NOT use less resources and stayed at the 62,000K level. Once again, I'm not sure if this is a Vista issue or a YM 9.0x issue but at least with 10.0x BETA, it does use much less resources when minimized, just like 8.1x does. I'm not sure how 10.0x BETA will react on a Vista computer.

There's not that much of a difference between 40,000K (around 40MB of available RAM), 60,000K or 90,000K (around 90MB of available RAM) unless a machine is already running a lot of processes or has very limited system resources like on my old computer with only 384MB of RAM. I run MS-Office Outlook and have at least one IE window open at all times on that old computer and also run other programs from time to time. The only time that old computer really slows down is when one of my security programs is running a scan or when MozyHome is doing it's daily backup. I try to shut down everything else when they are running just so they'll run faster. I do have most of the other non-essential services and JUNK turned off so when I first turn that computer on, it only has 29 processes running, which includes Comodo Internet Security (3 processes), MozyHome backup (2 processes) and LogMeIn (2 processes). When I boot that computer into Safe Mode, there was only 14 processes running. To give you an idea about how my Vista computer works, it starts up with about 70 processes running.. many of them, various HP processes but since it's still under warranty, I don't want to take off all the HP junk that came installed on that computer. As soon as the warranty expires, all that HP crap is coming off. LOL

Until next report...

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Friday, October 16, 2009 10:56 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Re: I'm going to upgrade to 10.0.542 BETA and document the success or mess here ;-)

Update on the below...

One of the CONS that I listed below was premature. There is a way to send a cam invite to friends or others that one might be chatting with. It's just that the menu option was moved. On previous versions of YM, the "Invite To View My Webcam" was listed under the main Actions Menu or you could right click on someone's name on your friends list and the option would be listed there. NOW... you have to go to the Actions Menu on an individual IM window and then under More Actions, the "Invite To View My Webcam" option is listed. When right-clicking on a friends name, then choosing "More Actions", this option to send a cam invite does not exist.

Further testing of cam invites with other versions are meeting with mixed success but this would also happen with previous versions of YM so I'm not sure that this is a result of incompatibility or just YM server issues. I haven't had any noticeable problems with PhotoShare although occasionally photos will bog down and not come through all the way (staying pixelated on the recipients end) but this also happened with previous versions of YM.

I still haven't tried the Video Chat feature (which is supposed to be like a Super-Duper Hi-Def Webcam and Audio chat session) with someone else that has YM 10.0 BETA so I'm still not sure how that is going to work out yet.

I still haven't found anyone with YM for Mac that I've been able to invite to view cam either so I'm not sure if that was only with that one friend or if it's a conflict with all YM for Mac users.

Also see my two replies to others that included additional information, besides all of the information in this thread of emails.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/
FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files... https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

-----Original Message-----
From: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
On Behalf Of kevin a
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 2:13 AM
To: Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Y!M] Messenger ver 10

I was having constant trouble signing in to Mess v 9, so upgraded to ver 10. Have lost all the contact information - phone numbers / notes etc .. but all the contacts are there with their screen names only. Anyone explain why or help please ?

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Sunday, May 09, 2010 2:40 AM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: [Y!M] Messenger ver 10

I think this will help you.

Go into your Preferences (from the main Messenger menu) and then click on the Appearance section. Then put a bullet in "For each contact, show: Nickname or First and Last name"... if you have the bullet in "Yahoo! ID", I think this affects things.

I remember when I upgraded from YM 9.1x to YM 10.0x, I had the same problem and thought I lost everything as well but when I changed my Preferences, it all came back.

I hope that fixes things for you as well.

All of that Contact Info is saved on Yahoo Servers so you will see it whenever you sign into YM, no matter which computer you're on so there's always a chance that Yahoo Servers are acting up but hopefully the above will fix things.

Let us know if that did the trick.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves & Information)

FREE and automatic online remote backup of your documents, photos and files...
https://mozy.com/?ref=SY4ZSI Check out how simple and secure it can be to use the Mozy remote backup system. Mozy will back up your most important files and folders every day/night while you aren't using your computer.

----------

Click this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Yahoo%20Messenger, for more of my blogs about Yahoo Messenger and this link, http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/search/label/Computers, for all of my blogs about Computers.

Please click the Comments link below to leave a comment.

Adventures With Windows Vista Home Premium From An XP User

I bought a new laptop last night with Windows Vista Home Premium and the first thing one should do with a new computer and uninstall all of the junk software that comes pre-loaded on most new computers.. like Norton Internet Security, etc. After that, then it's time to install all of the security software that one needs... like an antivirus (I downloaded Avast Free edition), antispyware (I'm giving Windows Defender another try since it came pre-loaded) besides the main antispyware that runs in the background (WD in my current case) like Spyware Blaster from Javacool.com, Spybot - Search & Destroy from Safernetworking.com and Ad-Aware. Then all of them have to be updated and properly installed. Then add a free firewall... my current firewall of choice... Comodo Firewall Pro.

My first adventure was with Spybot when it wouldn't let me immunize my system saying I didn't have administrator rights... although I do and I'm the only user on the laptop. After doing a little Googling, I found a Spybot forum thread http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=19135 but trying the things listed there didn't work for me either. Finally, after looking around and based on the things I read in that thread, I decided to right click on the Start Menu - All Programs - Spybot start and chose Properties. Then in one of the tabs in Properties, I was able to put a check mark in Run As Administrator and that fixed Spybot.

I'll edit and add more to this post as I come across more "Adventures".

Lenny Vasbinder
http://www.neighborhoodhomeservices.com/

How I ALWAYS do a clean install of Yahoo Messenger (YM) on Windows XP, With Updates For Vista And Windows 7

Notice - See my NEW computer ONLY blog at http://lennythecomputerguy.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-i-always-do-clean-install-of-yahoo.html for the most up-to-date version of this article. Check out all of my other computer related blogs at http://LennyTheComputerGuy.blogspot.com

Edit/Update -
July 17, 2010 - Added "Quick-Steps" to the top of this post;
June 24, 2010 - added new location for Yupdater.exe file;
May 08, 2010 - added an email sent to someone with some info;
April 14, 2010 - fixed a link;
January 31, 2010 - to add more info about using Revo Uninstaller and to add info for Windows Vista and newer YM versions;
Many other updates prior.

Quick-Steps To Summarize The Below Information:
(NOTE: Create A Restore Point before each step if you are unsure of your computer tech abilities)
1. Uninstall Yahoo Messenger (YM) using the Revo Uninstaller. Save a copy of your Archives folder if you keep archives of your chat sessions. Turn off and re-start computer.
2. Run CCleaner Registry Cleaner (or WinASO or other legitimate registry cleaner)
3. Run Secunia Online Scanner to see if it finds any OLD remnants of YM.
4. Make sure you have updated versions of Adobe Flash Player and Sun's Java browser plugins for Internet Explorer, preferably version 8 (mainly for use in the Chat Rooms, not as much for YM)
5. Download a FULL sized version of YM from FileHippo.com or your preferred download site, to your desktop or preferred download folder.
6. Turn off and re-start your computer and make sure IE is working properly, including the Java and Flash sites.
7. Go to your downloaded FULL sized version of YM and run the .EXE file to start the installation. You may not want to install any toolbars or other add-ons that Yahoo may have included in the download. DO NOT RUN YM YET.
8. Move your copy of your archive folder back to where it should be.
9. Start up YM and go through all of the Preferences Menu setting things up how you like them since the above steps would have removed all of your previous settings.
10. Start IM'ing your friends, testing all of the features and go to Chat Rooms to make sure things are working well. If they aren't, leave me a comment below or go to the Yahoo Messenger Yahoo Group (link in next paragraph), join the group and post your questions there.

Also read http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/2010/05/im-going-to-upgrade-to-yahoo-messenger.html where I documented my uninstall of YM 9.0 and upgrade to YM 10.0.

Following is a message and amendment that I posted in one of my Yahoo Groups, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Yahoo_Messenger, back in May 2007 but I've been meaning to post it to my blog as well so here it is about five months later! And I have updated this article many times since.

Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:21 PM
To: 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: How I ALWAYS install Yahoo Messenger on Windows XP

Hi YM Group,

I thought I had done this before but after someone contacted me off list, I searched through the archives and couldn't find my post so I guess I've just added bits and pieces of this information in various replies over the years but here is how I prepare my computer before downloading a new version of Yahoo Messenger (YM).

Uninstall old version of YM using Add/Remove programs for the YM uninstaller. Reboot computer. OR BETTER YET, use the Revo Uninstaller and use it's default settings to find and remove a lot of the junk that the normal YM uninstaller leaves behind. http://www.revouninstaller.com/ Go through each step and delete the files and registry keys that it highlights and recommends except you might want to save a copy of your archived chats and other archived info as mentioned later in this article.

Reboot your computer after each step in this article.

Run a GOOD registry cleaner. I use and recommend WinASO Registry Optimizer http://www.winaso.com/download.htm which is FREE to download and use as long as you like, but the trial version has a limitation that is more of an annoyance than anything else, in that it tries to get you to pay for the unlimited version but if you don't mind dealing with the annoyance, it works as good as the paid version. I've been using the FREE trial version for several years since version 1.0. I've never had a single problem using it to clean and optimize my registry. The downside/annoyance of the free trial version is that it will only clean 10 items each time it is run. The first time you run it, you may find several hundred items that need to be fixed so you will have to run it dozens of times.  OR BETTER YET, you can run CCleaner's Registry Cleaner option, http://www.ccleaner.com/, to get rid of most of the junk and then follow it up with WinASO to do a full cleaning since it does a better job than CCleaner. After that, if you run WinASO 1-2 times a week, it will be much quicker, easier and keep your computer from being bogged up as much with junk. After cleaning/fixing your registry, reboot your computer.

Another FREE registry cleaner is offered as an online scan from Microsoft by going to the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/cleanup.htm and run the Clean Up scan. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE ACTUAL ONECARE PROGRAM that is advertised on that page. It's not needed to use the free scans and it's not that great of a program anyhow... compared to other free security software that is out there.

Now download and SAVE (to "desktop" or your favorite file folder for saving things where you can find the download after you reboot) the full version of Yahoo Messenger from http://www.filehippo.com/download_yahoo_messenger/ or your favorite safe program download site. DO NOT chose "RUN" during the download and DO NOT RUN or execute the full version after it is downloaded. The full version of YM is around 10-15MB (depending on which version) in comparison to the Yahoo Messenger "official" installer that is only around 484kb when downloaded from http://messenger.yahoo.com/ I find that the Yahoo installer will have more problems especially if someone has a strong firewall or slow internet connection.

It's this "installer" version that causes so many problems, IMO. Because when you run it, it then starts downloading other bits and pieces of the program and if there are any glitches in your internet service or with Yahoo servers (and we all know there are those! ;-\), you can end up with a bad download with various bugs. When you download the full version from FileHippo or another download site, after you download it and get ready to run it, there should be Publisher listed, which should be Yahoo! Inc in a blue link which is to a digital verification site to verify that you have a legitimate version of the program. This works for most programs you may download although there are many that will not have this digital verification capability and when you go to execute one of these "unsigned" programs, you will get a little warning message on the box. If I know I downloaded the program from a reliable site, I don't worry about this but if you are not sure, you should never run a program without a digital signature attached. Many other programs have a way to run a check-sum on the download to make sure you got the download in full without errors but I've never seen this available with YM. Usually, if you have the digital signature, it means things went smoothly and you have a full version without errors.

If you use CCleaner, you should run it now to clean out your temporary files and TIF files. I am not going into all the aspects of CCleaner in this post but for most folks, it can be a problem to remove things they did not want cleaned if they do not go through and become very familiar with the program. It will clean auto-complete info, search history, cookies, etc., when used in the default mode. The CCleaner Registry Cleaner is OK to use in default mode but the rest of CCleaner should be understood before running or the user could lose information that they actually wanted to keep. This is why I like WinASO as a registry cleaner. Even a rookie can run the registry optimizer without causing problems to their computer... at least it's never caused me problems in hundreds of times of running it.

If you don't use CCleaner and did not use the Windows Live OneCare Safety Center Cleanup Scan, you should use your web-browser Tools to empty the TIF files. Then run a Search on your computer for all temporary files and remove them manually. If you don't know how to do this, then you should download CCleaner and become familiar with CCleaner and use it for this purpose or use the Windows Cleanup online scan. Feel free to ask me here and I'll tell you how I have my CCleaner set up to run it daily to keep the junk files off my computer.

Reboot the computer and leave all other programs turned off except for anti-virus and firewall.
Then, if you downloaded YM full version to your desktop, simply click on it to execute the program. If you have a firewall, you should get a pop-up asking for access, from the YM program installer, to the internet and other areas of your computer. Permit this and if you use an advanced firewall (which you should be using over the Windows Firewall which isn't very good), put a check mark in the box to allow it on a permanent basis. You can always go back to the firewall user interface and delete this permission later if you want to.
Choose the "CUSTOM" install instead of Yahoo's recommended install. This makes sure that all you install is YM and not all the other junk they try to get you to install like tool bars, etc. I choose CUSTOM install on ALL programs that I install on my computer to make sure I don't install junk I didn't want. The CUSTOM install still gives you the option to install other things but it doesn't force them on you without your knowledge. This is common practice on all FREE programs as a way to help them pay for their free program. Google, MSN, Yahoo and other companies pay to have their toolbars and desktop search programs included in the downloads. Reputable download sites and programs give you the option of opting out of these add-ons.
Now, once the YM program is installed on your computer. Reboot again.

Rebooting is important to computers as it's a way of letting the computer put everything back into place. If you are in the habit of leaving your computer on for days at a time, if you find it getting sluggish, a reboot will normally speed it back up again.

Now start up YM and go through your preferences, setting things to work how you like them. Become familiar with the Messenger Menus and the Preferences Menus and ask questions here about anything you may not understand.

The last thing that I do with any new install of YM is go into the C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger folder (or for version 10.x, the Yupdater.exe is now located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Yahoo!\YUpdater and find the file Yupdater.exe and change the name to Yupdater-NOT USED.exe. You can also use your firewall to simply block Yupdater.exe from connecting to the internet but many folks do not utilize their firewalls in an advanced mode so Yupdater.exe would have access unless you went into your firewall and blocked it. This way with changing the file name, your installed version of YM will not automatically update to any newer release of YM without your express consent as YM will not find the Yupdater.exe file when it tries to contact Yahoo like it will do on a regular basis if you don't block it or change the file name. YM 10.0x does have a section in the preferences that allows you to check off saying that you do not want YM to update automatically and I have that checked off but I still change the Yupdater.exe file as well.

If you decide you are not happy with your current version, you can then repeat the steps above and download a more recent version and install that version. I've found that allowing Yupdater.exe to connect to Yahoo, it constantly stays in contact with Yahoo whenever YM is in use. I've verified this with my firewall. I'm not sure why an updater process would need to stay in constant contact with the manufacturer. Even my Antivirus, Antispyware, etc., only contacts their updates once a day for new malware definitions. None of my other programs on my computer stays in constant contact for updates. They either run on a monthly basis or some other time interval. Certainly, Yahoo isn't releasing daily updates so YM should not need 100% access to Yahoo servers, IMO.

Hopefully, if all went well, your newly installed or reinstalled version of YM will be much more stable and cause less problems for you and you will not need to update to new versions as often.
I still run YM versions 8.1x, 9.1x and 10.0x and they are very stable on my computers compared to some of the stories I read about daily and with the people I help on a daily basis here and on other forums and my friends and neighbors that used the Yahoo Installer.

I hope this helps and feel free to ask any questions you may have. I'll probably put this on my blog with some screen shots of WinASO and CCleaner and how I have my CCleaner set up so it does not clean things some people actually want to keep and I'll post a link when I do.

Ooops. I almost forgot one step. It may not be critical but it could cause you to lose your archived chats if you have YM set to save them.  Before uninstalling and cleaning up your computer with WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility, go to C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles\(your yahoo name)\Archive and copy both of the folders in the Archive folder. There should be a Conferences and a Messages folder. Just copy and save them to your desktop or your other favorite place to save things.
Usually, during an uninstall and reinstall of YM, these folders are left in place but in the past, if I had a buggy YM install, I would sometimes go and delete the entire Messenger folder (C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger) to make sure I get rid of all traces of the buggy version. By saving copies of the Archive folders, I can move them back into their proper place after a new clean install. If you go to this extreme of removing everything associated with YM, make sure you run WinASO, CCleaner and Windows OneCare Cleanup utility before doing the clean install of the new full version download.

Hope this helps!

Lenny Vasbinder

Here are the emails that I mentioned in the May 08, 2010 Update:

-----Original Message-----
From: J
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 10:46 PM
To: lnvtm1@gmail.com
Subject: I'm back!!

High Lenny,

Thanks for the 2 sites you gave me to uninstall and check for updates, really good ones.

I did the complete uninstall and downloaded the latest IM 10.x and the scan said it was perfect, it also picked up 3 earlier versions of yahoo that are lying in my registry that uninstall has not removed. How do I identify that and erase it?

I have copied the new IM 10.x to a flash drive and am going to uninstall the sytem again and reinstall after I have erased the old Im's, as I still have the same display problem at 480 x 800 ech time I log on. Added to that, my cam works on IM, but when I choose a room it won't connect, just says getting room list and stays dead, so it's got worse damnit.

Thats why I want to start fresh again, also I now get a add on notification on any site saying website wants Adobe flash player wants to be added on. I have okayed it and run it but nothing changes the system and it keeps on appearing.

I have also checked my add ons in tools and they are all enabled.

So once again, would you kindly give me your thoughts?

regards,

MORSELS / Jerry

And my REPLY:

-----Original Message-----
From: LNVTM1 - Lenny Vasbinder
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2010 11:32 PM
To: 'J'; 'Yahoo_Messenger@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: RE: I'm back!!

Hi Jerry,

See one of my previous replies. After you did the FULL install of YM, did you check the YahooMessenger.exe file Properties>Compatibility Tab, to make sure that you don't have a check mark in the display settings box? It shouldn't be but possibly one of your old versions has a registry key that is affecting the settings of your new download.

If that isn't the problem, I'm wondering if one of the old version or some registry remnant from one of the old version is messing things up in other ways.

Did you save the FULL download from http://www.filehippo.com/ (or your preferred download site)? If you saved it on your desktop or in a folder in your My Documents folder or however you have your computer organized, then there is no need to copy that to a flash drive. When you uninstall YM, it will not delete the file that you downloaded so after you clean things up, you can just click on that .exe file again and start the install process all over again.

When you uninstall YM 10.x, I would use the Revo Uninstaller and then follow the instructions with Revo to delete all of the leftover registry keys and program remnants. See my blog article for more details.

Then run the Secunia Online Scanner again and see if it finds any remnants of the old versions of YM. If it does, it will actually list the file path to where that remnant was found and you can just follow that file path and just highlight and delete the files. OR... after running Revo, you can just go to your C:\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger and delete the entire Messenger folder but you may want to go through that folder and only delete the things you do not want to keep. For example, I save my archived chats so I move those Archive folders to My Documents folder and then move them back to their proper place after I install a new version. For Windows XP, the Archive folder is in the above file path.
For Windows Vista and Windows 7, the file path is:

C:\Users\\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files\Yahoo!\Messenger\Profiles\

If you feel comfortable fooling with your Registry, you could also search for Yahoo Messenger entries in your registry and clean them out manually, although I would use CCleaner's Registry Cleaner and then WinASO Registry Optimizer to look for and clean up any errant registry entries... and if you used Revo Uninstaller, it probably already got them all!

After things are all cleaned up, then do the installation again, check the Properties>Compatibility Tab to make sure nothing is checked there and if you are still having monitor issues, I would have to think it's one of the other problems with a driver that needs to be updated or rolled back. See my earlier reply for some of the other issues that caused monitor issues related to YM.

As far as Adobe Flash, once you've uninstalled it and removed the old remnants, using the same methods above, go to http://kb2.adobe.com/cps/155/tn_15507.html and it will check your version and http://www.adobe.com/software/flash/about/ will show an animated flash video that says "Adobe Flash Player Successfully Installed" and then change to another Adobe related Ad. If you aren't updated or installed properly, go to http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/ (you may want to uncheck the Google Toolbar thing... I NEVER install all of the add-on software that is often pushed from many free programs) Click on Agree And Install and follow the prompts to install Adobe. Prior to doing this, Secunia's Online scanner should have told you about out-dated Flash remnants and you can follow the file paths to delete the outdated flash files that were left over from previous installations.

As far as going to the rooms, I think you have to have Java installed. Did Secunia identify if you had Java installed and updated? If you didn't, get it here. http://www.java.com/getjava/ On that page, right below the Free Java Download button, there's a link to "Do I Have Java?" so you can check it first and that will also tell you if you have the latest version.

I probably need to add some of this info to my article on doing a FULL and CLEAN install of YM since Flash and Java are often needed with YM.

Lenny Vasbinder
http://lennyvasbinder.blogspot.com/ (Rants, Raves, Opinions & Information)

CLICK THE LINK "YAHOO MESSENGER" UNDER THE LABELS SECTION TO THE LEFT FOR MORE OF MY BLOGS ABOUT YAHOO MESSENGER


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P.S. - I no longer use AVG Free but instead I use the FREE Comodo Internet Security Suite from http://www.comodo.com/ which includes a GREAT firewall, good antivirus and antimalware protection. Of course, I still do my weekly updates with Spybot's Immunize feater and SpywareBlaster and I still run regular scans with MalwareBytes, SuperAntiSpyware, a-Squared Free and various online scans to make sure Comodo is catching everything but for the most part, Comodo's suite is doing a good job and is a very low resource suite compared to other suites that I've used. I even use it on an OLD XP computer with only 384MB of RAM and can still run other high resource programs like Outlook 2003, Word 2003, IE8, etc.