Some years ago I was provided with a computer running CA eTrust antivirus. Having been alerted that the antivirus software was no longer current, presumably because the subscription has expired. I decided to uninstall CA eTrust and install McAfee Virus Scan. However, even after uninstalling eTrust the McAfee product refused to install as it detected a remaining component of eTrust on the computer. Furthermore, even after obtaining technical support from both CA and McAfee I have been unable to install McAfee Anti Virus. As such, I have now sought a refund from McAfee. However, there is now no antivirus protection on the computer. What should I do? (more…)

On several occasions I have noticed that you express a preference for the free version of AVG as an antivirus program. Some 18 months ago, after I became disenchanted with the problems and complexities of another bloated antivirus product, my computer maintenance person convinced me to have the paid version of AVG installed. I am very satisfied with both its simplicity and its performance. However, given that there is a free version, am I wasting money or are there significant protection benefits to be had with the paid version? The computer is running Windows XP SP3. (more…)

Intermittently I have found the LuComServer_3_4.EXE process running on the computer and chews up a lot of CPU resources. As a result this slows down everything on the computer, often at a rather inconvenient time. What does this process do and how can I stop it from being such a resource hog? The computer is running Windows XP SP3. (more…)

Recently I purchased a Bluetooth headset for my mobile phone. The headset works perfectly with my phone, but when I attempt to pair it with my computer Windows XP does not recognise the device as a headset. Researching this problem on the internet it seems that I need a Bluetooth headset profile to use the device with the computer and the recommended advice is to install the profile which came with the headset. However, this headset did not come with any software. Is there some kind of generic headset profile that I can download and use or do you have an alternative suggestion? (more…)

Many users believe that when something is deleted from the computer it is gone for good. However, deleting a file or folder simply tags that the space previously occupied by that file or folder can be overwritten. To be more secure, you need to delete the file or folder and then immediately overwrite that space with something else. In Mac OS X you can use the Secure Empty Trash function. Instead of right-clicking on the Trash just emptying the trash, in the Finder go to the “Finder” menu > “Secure Empty Trash”. There is no in-built way to do this in Windows, but a good free utility to accomplish the same is Eraser (eraser.heidi.ie).