My computer is experiencing quite a few problems so I am hoping that you could assist with a resolution. First, Google Mail gradually slows down after a few minutes of usage and within 10 minutes it is completely unusable. In particular, the output on the screen cannot keep-up with my typing speed. This does not happen when using Google Mail on other computers. Researching the problem on the internet suggests that I should revert to an earlier version of Google, but I do not know how this is done. Second, when using Skype a message appeared inviting me to download a new version of Skype. I declined but it seems to have downloaded anyway and now whenever using Skype the blue screen of death appears making the computer unusable. Third, when I am done using the internet I always disconnect but leave the computer running. Several mornings I have come back to the computer finding that it has done a reboot with message informing that Windows has been updated which required a reboot of the computer. How can these updates be installed if there is no internet connection? Finally, I regularly use my laptop for internet banking and other transactions. Would it be easy to identify a fake banking site as some look quite convincing! The computer is running Windows XP.

Before we commence looking at each issue individually we should consider the possibility that some of the issues are linked. In particular, the first two issues (slow Gmail access together with Skype update and subsequent crashes) could be related to malware or a virus being present on your computer. Malware and viruses often manifest themselves in ways that disrupt your normal usage of the computer. Furthermore, the Skype “update” that downloaded sounds quite suspicious since you specifically declined the update but it still seems to have downloaded and installed itself. Therefore, I would recommend that you do a complete virus scan of your computer. If you do not have a virus scanner installed at the moment, or you are dubious regarding the reliability of the scanner, then a good free alternative is Microsoft Security Essentials (www.microsoft.com/security_essentials) which is a free antivirus and antimalware package by Microsoft. If you are looking for a more substantial commercial antivirus package then I also recommend ESET NOD32 (www.eset.com.au). This is a very good product which, unlike many other commercial antivirus products, has a small footprint and does not adversely impact on system performance.

Should any malicious items be found on your computer then you have two options. First, you can use a virus scanner to remove the threat from your computer which will hopefully restore the machine to a well-working, clean state. However, as you may have read in my previous columns, I am of the opinion that once your computer operating system has been compromised it can never be trusted again given that you cannot be completely certain that the scanner has removed all traces of that particular malicious package from your computer. The significance of this really hits home when you consider the amount of highly confidential and sensitive transactions which you conduct on a computer such as internet banking and also online purchasing with a credit card. Therefore, my preferred recommendation should you find that your computer has been compromised is to backup any important data that you wish to keep then format and reinstall Windows from scratch. Some people say that this is a heavy-handed approach, but when it comes to security I always prefer to be safer than sorry.

In the event that you scan your computer for viruses and malware and none are found (which is a good thing!) we need to look at other reasons for the various problems. I am a bit confused with the suggestion you found on the internet regarding reverting to an earlier version of Google, since Google and Gmail are online services rather than software on your computer and therefore you can’t downgrade to an earlier version of the software. However, when searching for Gmail is slow in Google I did find an article on the Google website called, strangely enough, “Gmail is slow”. The help article is available at mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=80446 and I would suggest that you go through the steps and suggestions provided to see whether any of those will fix the problem, as they list the most common causes of a slow response in Gmail.

If you continue to find that Gmail is running slowly then another possible cause is the web browser that you are using. There could be an add-on or like which is interfering with accessing Gmail. As you have not mentioned the internet browser that you are using I will assume that Internet Explorer is being used. We will try disabling all add-ons within Internet Explorer to check whether that fixes the problem. In Internet Explorer, go to the “Tools” menu > “Manage Add-ons”. The window that appears will display all add-ons installed within Internet Explorer. Write down the add-ons which are currently enabled (as you will need to re-enable these later) and then select all (using the CTRL-A keyboard shortcut) and click the “Disable all” button. Click “Close” and then restart Internet Explorer and check whether the problem still happens. If not, then one of those add-ons is the cause so we now need to track down the particular one with the issue. This is mainly a process of elimination, so go back into the Manage Add-ons window and then re-enable one of the add-ons which you previously disabled, click “Close”, restart Internet Explorer and then check whether the problem happens. Repeat this process, individually enabling the add-ons, until the problem reoccurs at which point you know the particular add-on causing the problem. You can either leave that add-on disabled or do some more research into how the problem can be resolved, now that you have more information at your disposal about the problem. Don’t forget to also re-enable all the other add-ons after you have found the one causing the problem.

As a final suggestion, if you continue to encounter difficulties try using a different web browser. This won’t actually fix the problem, but is a potential workaround. Assuming that you are currently using Internet Explorer some alternatives could be Firefox (www.mozilla.com/firefox) or Google Chrome (www.google.com/chrome) both of which use different engines to render the web page so this will provide a good test as to whether the root cause of the problem is the browser. Should using a different browser resolve the problem then please contact me again for further advice, as this opens up a whole realm of other possibilities for fixing the issue in Internet Explorer.

Looking at your next question regarding Skype, this is quite an interesting scenario since the update installed even though you declined. The only possible reason that I can foresee this occurring (apart from this actually being a fake prompt to install malicious software, which you would now have eliminated as a possibility by the first part of our troubleshooting) is that some kind of automatic updating is enabled in Skype which installed the update anyway. Nevertheless, in the first instance I suggest that you uninstall then download and install the latest version of Skype from www.skype.com. This will have the advantage of fixing any known issues with the older version of Skype which was installed on your computer together with also reinstalling all the important files which are required for Skype to operate correctly, just in case any such files were missing or corrupted. Should the problem continue the most likely cause of the issue is some conflict with the audio or graphics drivers on your computer, since Skype relies on both these hardware devices fairly heavily for its operation. I suggest that you check the website for the manufacturer of your graphics card and audio card to ensure that you have the latest drivers and updates available. If you are unsure about the specific manufacturer and model of these devices you can go to the “Start” menu then right-click on “My Computer” and select “Properties”. In the “System Properties” window that appears, click the “Hardware” tab and the “Device Manager” button. This will provide a listing of all devices on your computer. Look under the “Display adapters” and “Sound, video and game controllers” sections for information on the graphics and audio devices installed in your computer. If you are not confident about undertaking the upgrade procedures yourself then you may wish to consult someone who can complete this process for you.

Considering your next question about Windows updating even though you are offline, the most likely reason this occurs is because Windows is downloading the updates in the background during the day but only installs the updates overnight (i.e. when the computer is not being used) to minimise disruption and disturbance. If you go to the “Start” menu > “Control Panel” and open the “Security Centre” control panel then “Automatic Updates” you will find all the settings for Windows automatic updating. Most likely your computer has been configured on “Automatic (recommended)” mode which will automatically download recommended updates and then install them at a particular time each day (if updates are available). This is a good solution, since it means that you don’t need to worry about manually downloading updates and also don’t need to be concerned about updates downloading automatically and then requiring an immediate restart of the computer.

A less likely explanation for the problem is that the computer detects an internet connection is required to download updates and is then automatically connecting and disconnecting when it’s done. We will not go into a deep-level of detail regarding this possibility, since it is more unlikely, but if you would like to double-check that this is not occurring then physically unplug the internet cable from your computer when you are done for the day. Then, next time you find the computer has rebooted with the update message you know that it did not connect and download updates, but simply installed those already downloaded.

Finally, let’s move onto your final question regarding the detection of fake bank websites. You are correct that these fake websites often look legitimate, but there is an easy way to tell whether the site is legitimate. Basically all banks use an Extended Validation (EV) certificate on their internet banking site, which allows both the connection to the bank to be encrypted but, more importantly in this case, the identity of the website to be verified as authentic. Depending on the web browser which you use, when you visit the internet banking website you should see a green bar or green text within the address bar with the site owner’s name. For example, in the case of the Commonwealth Bank it will say “Commonwealth Bank of Australia [AU]”. You can then click that text to view additional information about the owner, particularly verification of the owner (e.g. in Internet Explorer it will say “…. has identified this site as Commonwealth Bank of Australia, SYDNEY, New South Wales, AU” which verifies the identity of the website.

Given that some ways in which bank websites can be faked is rather sophisticated (and the address actually looks completely legitimate, but directs you to a fake site) you should always check the address bar to ensure the identity of the site has been independently verified. Be aware, many secure websites do not use EV certificates (i.e. “green bar” certificates) but instead just normal certificates. These encrypt the connection but do not verify the identity of the site, so just make sure you are double-sure the site is legitimate before submitting details to such sites. Don’t worry – not having an EV “green bar” certificate doesn’t mean there is anything wrong, they are very expensive to acquire and involve a lot of identity verification steps so they can only generally be afforded by big businesses such as banks. For most sites a standard certificate is fine just so the connection is encrypted, but when we are dealing online with banks it is better to have an EV certificate so the identity of the site can also be verified.