We just got word from one of our readers that ZoneAlarm Forcefield will be free for this Tuesay (August 12th) at 6am PST. Normally Forcefield costs $29.99 to purchase which includes a years worth of subscription updates. The offer is valid for 24 hours after the launch.

For those of you who dont know what it is, ZoneAlarm Forcefield is a virtualization system that isolates your browser from the computer. If your browser did fall victim to an exploit or you are tricked into opening something you shouldnt, your computer is safe because the malware cannot touch your computers actual files or registry items.

ZAFF also attempts to stop sites from stealing your personal information. While in this virtualization “bubble”, ZAFF includes technology to jam keyloggers and block programs that snatch screenshots while you are surfing.

To download ZoneAlarm Forcefield, goto the following site on August 12th after 6am PST:

http://www.zonealarm.com/patchtuesday

Edit: Offer is now available for download. You might want to use a service like 10MinuteMail.com because it requires you to enter an email address so they can “periodically send you promotional offers”.

Special thanks to Gary for letting us know about this. If anyone else hears about similar freebies they would like to share with the Technibble community, please email us via our contact form.

Have you ever had a clingy customer?
A clingy customer is generally categorized as someone who calls you very frequently about small problems they could have figured out themselves; or call you at inappropriate times.
So why don’t we just get rid of them?
Because often they are often our “bread and butter client” and generate a lot of work for us, so we want to look after them.
Here is a guide on how to deal with these clingy customers.
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As Technicians, we love our USB thumb drives. It makes it so easy to carry all or computer repair utilities and keep it updated with the latest antivirus definitions. However, being so small it is also easy to accidently leave at a clients place, especially if the only USB ports on their computer are in the back.

This is where LostDrive can help. LostDrive is a small tool set to autorun on your USB drive and when it is plugged in, the autorun will say “Help Im Lost!” and if chosen, it will launch a user configurable message. The point of this is so you can set this message to something like “If found, please return to…”. If they see that the device is plugged in via “My Computer” and click on its drive icon it will also launch this message.
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A few weeks ago we mentioned the website Virustotal.com which is a website that scans a certain file for viruses using the databases of many different antivirus brands. This week, we will be listing many other websites that are handy to technicians.
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I am sure that most of the technicians here have heard about “Spyware Doctor” by PC Tools at some point. If you haven’t, Spyware Doctor is a free spyware remover and provides real-time protection against spyware, adware, browser hijackers, trojan horses, key loggers etc.
From a Technicians point of view its a great tool to run on clients computers since it uses little computer resources and is effective at catching most spyware.

Anyway, we have discovered a way that you can get free legitimate Spyware Doctor licenses via one of their special promotions. Also, although I haven’t used their other products personally, you can also get free licenses for some of their other products at the same time. “Privacy Guardian” and “Firewall Plus”.

Read on for instructions on how to get your free genuine licenses. Grab them fast because I don’t know how much longer this offer will be available.
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The Crucial System Scanner is a freeware tool that scans your computer for what type and how much RAM it currently has in it and what your options are for installing more RAM.

Although the makers of this tool intended for it to be used to so you can buy the right type of RAM in their brand (Crucial). Its a really handy way to find out what type of RAM a certain motherboard can take. This tool can be an absolute godsend with laptop motherboards than tend to be a little sensitive to what type of RAM they can take.
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The other day I misdiagnosed a computer problem. It rarely happens to me but it does happen. I was working on a computer inside a large residential building that frequently call me as new residents move in and find they are unable to connect to the buildings free internet. This is what happened and this is how I dealt with a misdiagnosis.
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Last week, I held a small survey asking us technicians what hardware brands we like based on quality vs price to get an idea on what other computer technicians are selling to their clients. Here are the results.
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Glary Utilities is a freeware application designed to be a swiss army knife for maintaining PCs. It is designed to be very simple to use so it is something I would feel comfortable leaving with my clients (or family) to give them the ability to “house clean” their own computers. Although this application is powerful, it doesnt give them the ability to do any serious damage to their computer (unlike something like Hijack This!) Glary Utilities has the following features:
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I want to share with you a really simple trick to generate more computer and hardware sales. This article is a relatively short one because this trick is just so simple.

I have always been turned off by “salesman sleaze”. I hate salesmen that do this to me and I don’t want to become one myself either. I found the best way to sell to your clients without being a sleaze is to be a problem solver.
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