Troubled Waters with Roku and Netflix

Photo by: Amancay Maahs



I know some people have been having problems with Roku and I wanted to comment and tell you how to fix it. You will need to go to your Roku settings and Disable the browse and search feature. This seems to have fixed my issue but I still wanted to warn people how to fix the problem with “Retrieving…” in the NetflixWindow and getting the error message “unable to connect to Netflix at this time” messages. If your getting these message try deactivating the search feature. Although a quick not people are want to roll back to the earlier version of Netflix. I do hope they fix this problem because I really did like the search feature!!

Anyone else having these Problems??

UPDATE 10/21/10

If your are unable to connect to the Netflix through the Roku box, there is a quick way to watch shows from your queue. This has worked for me in the past! Go into your Settings and under Netflix disable “Browse and Search in Netflix” to be able to watch shows and movies from your Roku box!!


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AVG 8.5 Free Version Best on my system

AVG Free 8.5

Pcworld has a released there top free Antivirus software picks.     Now let’s be clear on this, I am an a average user, and have tested these products out on my own laptop plus others and here is what I find.

According to Pcworld, Avira Antivir Personal is the top pick and claims to block 98.9 percent of samples:

Such less-than-friendly default behaviors make Avira AntiVir Personal a better choice for tech-savvy users who know how to muck about in the settings. If you’re willing to put up with a somewhat clumsy interface and the recurring pop-up ads, in return you’ll enjoy top-notch, free protection against malware. It’s not a bad trade-off by any means.

[Via Pcworld : Avira Antivir Personal Antivirus]

[ad]Now with Pcworld saying it isn’t a bad trade-off to have the Pop-ups and the default behaviors of this program, it doesn’t make me want to use this program since I am a gamer and the pop-ups would interfere with playing online games, not to mention if your not that tech savy person you’d have a lot of head scratching to  figure out this program.

Then we go to the Second pick and Avast Antivirus Home in this pick Pcworld claims to blocking 98.2 percent of samples tried with this program:

Avast Antivirus will do a decent job protecting a PC from malware, but if you’re willing to put up with a less-than-perfect interface (and some ads), you’re better off going with Avira’s top-notch blocking.

[Via Pcworld : Avast Antivirus Home Edition]

Now unless you want to be scratching your head on this product you have to go through the Tutorial that pop-ups after installation to walk you through how to use this product.   Then there are some more ads that popup during the day that reminds you that this is a free program and suggesting you pay for it.   Also you will have to register with Avast  to get a personal free license to be able to keep this program running on your system.  The interface of this Antivirus makes you think you will be playing music, which can cause some confusion when it comes to understanding this product.

Third place was AVG 8.5 Free edition according to PcWorld.   With there being no pop-ups reminding me this is a free product.   Also the easy to understand interface also makes this very user friendly.   I also like the Linkscanner and blocked 95.8 percent of the samples meaning it is still rather good to use for the daily user who wants a less intrusive  pop-ups or ads.   AVG has not yet done a pop up with me but it is far less annoying than the others because of the interface and the ads that are shown in the main program.

Now if you want to add even more security to your system and keep it cheap as possible I would suggest Downloading and using  SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes.  These with AVG 8.5 Free edition to better protect your system and these don’t interfere with AVG and actually helps boosts the removal of virus, Trojans, and Malware.

Download Malwarebytes Download Malwarebytes

Download SUPERAntiSpyware Download SUPERAntiSpyware

If your current antimalware software let an infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes License to protect your computer in the future. SUPERAntiSpyware Professional or Malwarebytes License features highly advanced Real-Time Protection to ensure protection from installation or re-installation of potential threats as you surf the Internet (Both are trusted Vendors by CCSS Forums).

Buy Lifetime Subscription SUPERAntiSpyware For $30, save $8.90 if you order now. This is a special offer from this website.

What Laptop is good For gaming?

I been thinking of getting a new laptop but would like to get one that is good for gaming.   The system I have right now is an Aspire Series 5610z and Yes it a good system.

The current system of this is:

Acer Aspire 5610Z
Intel Pentium dual core 1.6Ghz (533Mhz, 1Mb L2 Cache)
15.4 WXGA CrystalBrite
Intel Grahics Media Accelerator 950
1GB DDR2
120GB HDD
DVD Duper Multilayer burner
802.11b/g
bluetooth
Vista Home Premium

[ad#ad2-right]Now I want to consider getting another laptop but don’t know which would be good for gaming.  I know it will have Vista.  I actually like the O/S.  Although people don’t.   Here is what I want from my readers.  I want to know which system you suggest for gaming, and need as much detail as possilbe I would like to buy this from Amazon but if Amazon, so please give me links to the amazon page.   I am wanting to play some current games on this from last year but this system is not able to do some of the games.  So leave a comment and tell me which ones you suggest.

Tools for Virus Removal : The ones I like to use!

In this post I want to talk about virus removal tools that I like to use when I need to remove a virus.   Some thing to consider when using these tools are:

Each of these have to be dealt with differently because each requires something different.  Like rootkits if you have one installed and know that it is a rootkit you only options are to download some rootkit removers like:

  • Sopho’s Anti-rootkit remover —  This is good for those more known viruses and can remove several types of rootkits.   This isn’t the only one I use, but it is a part of group that does the rootkit removing for me.
  • Microsoft Rootkit Revealer —  This is good for proving there is a rootkit.  I’ve not seen it not detect a rootkit.  Most of the time when I find a rootkit from the other rootkit revealers this one actually dos better with information.
  • Panda Anti-Rootkit Remover — This one is another one I use when the other ones can’t remove it.  Each one does remove certain rootkit differently and works better than the other.
  • Aries Rootkit Remover from Lavasoft — This is good for those really tough rootkits but have some great benefits for removing some of the really tough rootkits.

These are the ones that work well with me when it comes to removing the rootkits.  I’ve not had one of these to remove a rootkit but that depends on how you deal with the virus in the first place.  Now for Anti-spyware and Anti-Virus software here are some of the tools that I suggest:

  • HijackthisRun it, and when you get the LOG file you will want to go to HijackThis Log Analysis Site 1 and HijackThis Log Analysis Site 2, and see what it says.  This is the best software because it will scan all of the registry and tells you like a wiki what might it be.
  • MSCONFIG — Sometimes it is hidden but if you check through the MSCONFIG for any files that might not need to load. Also check the services tab and see if there is any services that may not be needed.
  • Pctools Antivirus Free Software — This is a free software so what can I say.
  • AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 7.5.503 — This is another free one that can remove viruses really easily. Download this and you don’t have to worry to much.
  • Avast Home Edition — AVG does better than this one but people seem to like this so I have to add this for people who like this better than the others.
  • Clamwin Free Anti-virus — This is a good one because this is open sourced and easily can help detect so many viruses. This is good for those people who like open sourced.

These are just  the ones that I like to recommend that does pretty good on removing the viruses but there are others that I recommend on my Malware Resources that people have recommend to me but I haven’t tried them out yet.    Some of the Spyware and Adware removal and here are some of my favorites:

  • SuperAntispyware — Easily remove pests such as WinFixer, SpyAxe, SpyFalcon, and thousands more! Repair broken Internet Connections, Desktops, Registry Editing and more with our unique Repair System.
  • Malwarebytes can provide the needed assistance to remove the infection and restore the machine back to optimum performance.
  • Ad-Aware — This is a very good tool to get rid of some of the most annoying little viruses that try to fool you that you have a virus.
  • Windows Security Trojan Scanner — a Free online scanner to let you see if you might have a Trojan.
  • SmitFraudFix — A great little program to get rid of those Desktop hijacks, those programs that take over your browser or other file system.

If your current antimalware software let an infection through, you may want to consider purchasing the PRO version of SUPERAntiSpyware or Malwarebytes License to protect your computer in the future. SUPERAntiSpyware Professional or Malwarebytes License features highly advanced Real-Time Protection to ensure protection from installation or re-installation of potential threats as you surf the Internet (Both are trusted Vendors by CCSS Forums).

These are just a few that I like to use when it comes to fighting those virus programs and the people behind the virus programs.   If you consider how hard it is sometimes to recognize a virus, you can see the problem with some of the programs they can sometimes  say a file is a virus and delete it and the next thing you know it won’t boot into Windows.  This is what needs to be considered whenever you see a warning on your system so you must be careful when you remove files.  You should always have backups that is what I always recommend because the likely hood of something terrible happening to your data.  You should come up with a way to back up your system every week like a sunday back or even a Monday while your at work backup.

PS3 launches “HOME” so you don’t have to go anywhere for the Holidays!

Sony, Launches “Home” today and according to the Washington Post and I’ll quote:


PS3 owners will be able to download and check out the new service starting tomorrow. Home is free to Web-connected owners of the game console, though users may opt to spend money to spiff up their avatars and virtual apartments.


[via Washington Post]



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It looks very much like it will be a success with the users.   This should make it a lot easier to meet people and discuss what they are playing.   It looks like they are trying this in BETA and should out of beta in a couple of months.  Sony should start offering service for everyone  as they roll out it to all parts of the world.   It will take time for it to get to all the pople so please be patient.