SEO Guide

Computer Virus: How to Remove It

Computer Virus: How to Remove It - If your PC has ever been infected - or worse, if it's infected right now - you're probably groaning. Yes it's a pain, but the good news is: you can remove viruses yourself, for free.

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STEP 1: Back Up Documents, Photos and Videos.

Save your important data to an external drive. Be sure to scan this drive and its contents after you remove the virus; you don't want to re-infect your computer after the clean-up.

STEP 2: Reboot in Safe Mode

You have to prevent the virus from running when you try to remove it. To do this, reboot in safe mode. Safe mode runs only the Windows operating system and a few key programs. It's a way to limit any malware from launching. Restart your computer and hit the F8 key on the keyboard repeatedly until you get to a black screen with the option of restarting in Safe Mode. Choose "Safe Mode with Networking" so that you can still get on the Internet.

STEP 3: Download Virus Scanner/Removal Tools

I recommend downloading two to three different programs to find and remove the malware. One may do the job, but three will almost certainly do the job. These three have worked for me and come highly recommended by PC Magazine and CNET:

STEP 4: Run Virus Scanners

Download, double-click to install, accept all the defaults they recommend, and then run each. This will take a while. When the programs locate a virus or any suspicious items, allow the programs to delete the files.

STEP 5: Reboot Normally

Reboot your computer normally; no need for safe mode. You should be back to normal now. If you have files backed up on an external drive, plug it in and use the security programs you downloaded to scan that drive before you open or transfer any files. If the virus is gone, go to step 6.

**IF YOU STILL HAVE THE VIRUS**

Many people will recommend you reinstall Windows or try system restore or download a registry cleaner. I say that at this point, most people should take the computer to a local PC repair shop. Where I live, it costs about $120 to get the virus removed and a clean version of Windows installed. It is a personal decision how you proceed from here, but take into account the value of your time.

STEP 6: Add Security

How did you get that virus in the first place? Even if you don't know, it's clear you need more protection. PC Tools is a real-time virus scanner that you can use as your ongoing protection, or install something like Avast or AVG. All three are very good, free, anti-virus programs. Also Microsoft's Security Essentials comes well recommended.

You should also go to the Control Panel of your computer, and in the security section click Windows Update. Make sure that it's set up to regularly update. And if you think someone else accidentally installed malware on your computer, it's a good idea to give other members of the family their own sign-on accounts that don't have admin privileges. This way, if the kids try to download software that could harbor viruses, they won't be allowed to. And yes, this means you should keep your admin password private. (Also, if they've installed any file-sharing programs, now would be a good time to remove them. P-2-P music and movie sites do expose you to a lot of junk.

STEP 7- Damage Control

Viruses are a gateway to identity theft and spam. So after you disinfect your computer it's a good idea to check your credit (annualcreditreport.com is the credit report site that the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act forced the credit unions to create for consumers to access yearly free reports). You should also change all your passwords, especially your email password and any passwords for your financial institutions. Here's my method for creating easy-to-remember rock-solid passwords. ( yahoo.com )

What You Need to Know About Using Hashtags on Twitter

If you're new to Twitter, or even if you've been using it for years, you may wonder what all those words preceded by the # sign are. They're hashtags. And you should consider using them if you want to potentially get more out of your experience.

Problem is, many people don't use hashtags correctly. Here's a primer on hashtags, plus some recommendations for using them effectively for your business.

What are Hashtags?

A hashtag is simply a relevant word or series of characters preceded by the # symbol. Hashtags help categorize messages and can make it easier for other Twitter users to search for tweets.

When you search for or click on a hashtag you'll see all other tweets that use the same hashtag. Only others who are interested in the same topic thread will likely be using the same hashtag.

For example, if you search for #Apple, you're less likely to see tweets that include references to the fruit and more likely to see information about the technology company.

Keep in mind, however, that Twitter is a real-time platform and its search function only goes back one week. If you want to pull older conversations, try using third-party services, such as Topsy, that archive messages sent over public social networks.

Why Use Hashtags

Twitter is an open social network, and anyone can see your public tweets provided you haven't set up your account to be completely private. But few people want to follow everyone in the world. Hashtags can make it easier to discover other Twitter users who are interested in the same conversations you like.

For instance, by conducting a Twitter search for #NFL, you'll see only the tweets with that hashtag for the National Football League.

Because you can use any hashtag you want, your tweet about how awesome singer Bruno Mars was on the Grammys could be seen by more than your 150 followers. If you used the #Grammys hashtag, the droves of people who were following that hashtag could have seen your tweet.

If you said something insightful or answered a question, others may respond and engage you in conversation by using the hashtag you used. Conversely, if you're following a certain hashtag, you can tweet a question to others who are observing that conversation stream, engage other interested users in real time or find people to follow.

When using hashtags it's important to consider scale. Doing a search for the #NFL on Sundays will most likely subject you to a litany of tweets and keeping up with the conversation may be difficult. But if you still want your opinion thrown out there with everyone else's, use the hashtag.

How to Use Hashtags for Business

By creating your own hashtag, you can use it to drive conversations about your business. Are you having a spring sale at your furniture store? You can tack #SaveBigAtMurphys on to your tweets, for example. Encourage your Twitter followers and others to use the hashtag. Maybe even do a daily giveaway or prize for the person who tweets the funniest pitch line for the store and uses the hashtag. At the end of each day or the end of your sale, you can do a scan for the hashtag and measure how many tweets were posted using it and how many Twitter users you reached.

If you're hosting a business event, you can create a hashtag for it, too. Encourage attendees to use the hashtag when tweeting about the event. This will help organize the Twitter conversation while also promoting your brand.

If you create a hashtag for your business, an event or certain topic of conversation, make sure it's distinctive. Try to include your business name or, if it's long, your initials. Before tweeting with your chosen hashtag, search to make sure people aren't already using it for a different purpose.

Twitter highlights trending topics, which often represent conversations around hashtags. This list is found in the right hand column of your Twitter home page and can be filtered by geographic areas. To become a trending topic and reach a wider audience, you must tweet a lot in a short time. The best approach could be hosting events with a lot of Twitter users posting to the same hashtag.

By using third-party applications such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, you can set up permanent search columns to monitor certain hashtags all the time. If you want to keep tabs on tweets about your industry and competitors, for instance, there's a good chance you can find hashtags to follow.

But don't overstuff your tweets with hashtags when you're promoting something. Some people add on lots of hashtags so the tweet appears in more conversations on Twitter. For instance, if I wanted more people to read Entrepreneur magazine, I could tweet:

You should read Entrepreneur! Great magazine! #entrepreneur #finance #business #investing #nfl #potatoes #PowerRangers #BritneySpears

While a couple of those hashtags make sense, many don't. And too many hashtags in one tweet are distracting to other users.

With all this advice in mind, go ahead and search for a few hastag topics that are relevant to your business. Searching and using hashtags on Twitter can help drive more conversation about your brand and your industry. ( entrepreneur.com )

Brand Building vs. SEO

Brand Building vs. SEO - There’s no doubt you should aim to both build brand awareness and improve your company website’s search engine optimization (SEO). But how should you plan your marketing efforts when the two priorities don’t always align well?

For example, if your small business suffers from low brand awareness online, optimizing your website to rank well for brand keywords in search results might not be effective. An example of this could be targeting the phrase “Best Buy” instead of “32 inch LCD TV.” After all, few people are likely to be searching for those specific phrases if they aren’t familiar with your company in the first place.

The converse also holds true. If you’re looking to build a business that’s successful in the long run, you need a recognizable brand, not just a few high rankings for generic search terms. Home Depot, for example, doesn’t fare well in organic search results but still leads the home-improvement industry and enjoys enormous brand recognition.

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Here’s how to balance these competing opportunities to promote your brand and build traffic through search engine results:

Analyze the Potential of Branding Your Business

Decide whether to focus on brand building or SEO by analyzing your business model and long-range goals. Are you simply looking to make a few dollars selling products online? If so, there’s no reason to build traffic for brand keywords. Concentrate instead on the buyer-oriented phrases your target customers will be looking for in search engines, as determined through keyword research and the search keywords found in your website analytics program.

On the other hand, brand building can be a must if you want to expand your company’s web presence and become recognized as a leader in your industry. In that case, consider splitting your efforts. Increase brand recognition by commenting on and contributing to industry websites and social networking sites, which can also help to improve your rankings for brand keywords. Consider targeting generic keywords in your SEO efforts -- at least, until your recognition grows to the point that brand keyword traffic is self-sustaining.

Consider the New Role of Personalized Search

Recently, Google launched “Search, Plus Your World,” which displays items a business determines will be relevant to it based on its personal connections. They appear alongside the traditional SEO-based results.

As an example, say you subscribe to the RSS feeds of several different blogs about bodybuilding -- a notoriously competitive search environment. When you search using keywords related to bodybuilding, you might get results from certain blogs because you’re already following them. With Google’s new feature, it doesn’t matter that the blogs aren’t strong enough to achieve high rankings on their own.

Because of this new development, a case can be made for the power of brand building. Companies with established brands are often more likely to be mentioned in blogs and on social networking sites than businesses without a strong image. Because these social mentions are now included in search results, brand building can be an important way to leapfrog the traditional SEO rankings and draw more traffic to your site.

Identify the Ideal Blend

No matter what industry you’re in or the type of business you’re trying to build, consider including both brand building and SEO in your marketing strategy. You don’t have to focus exclusively on one technique at the expense of the other.

If you determine that brand building should pay off better, focus on building links from other websites pointing back to your own pages that use brand keywords as your anchor text -- the underlined text that people click on to follow a link -- and invest a significant effort in your social media presence. Mentions of your brand in social media are likely to lead to increased exposure and greater awareness.

But because it may take some time for your brand to permeate the digital world, also consider investing at least a small amount of time in generic search phrases related to your business. As your brand awareness grows, you can dial down the amount of time spent on generic keywords.
And even if you plan to rely on generic keyword search results for the bulk of your traffic, there’s still value in doing some brand building activities. Google’s expansion of personalized search, as well as its elimination of thin content sites through the Panda updates, seems to indicate the company’s preference for strong, well-defined brands. Remember to include at least a few brand keywords in your SEO activities to reap the benefits they can bring to your website. ( entrepreneur.com )

Google Vs. Twitter - Competition and controversy

Google Vs. Twitter - Competition and controversy - This week, Google launched Search Plus Your World (SPYW), a set of features to personalize search results for users, which also happen to give Google+ content a lot more play in search results. The whole thing has sparked a great deal of controversy, with people talking about antitrust implications, relevancy issues, etc. Even Twitter called the day it launched "a bad day for the Internet".

Google Vs. Twitter

The Google vs. Twitter element of this thing has been very interesting to me. In case you haven't been following, let us recap this public back and forth these two companies have had this week. It started, when after Google announced SPYW, Twitter General Counsel tweeted:

Bad day for the Internet. http://t.co/Az4rdNVQ Having been there, I can imagine the dissension @Google to search being warped this way.

And Twitter emailed a statement around to the press, which said:

For years, people have relied on Google to deliver the most relevant results anytime they wanted to find something on the Internet.

Often, they want to know more about world events and breaking news. Twitter has emerged as a vital source of this real-time information, with more than 100 million users sending 250 million Tweets every day on virtually every topic. As we've seen time and time again, news breaks first on Twitter; as a result, Twitter accounts and Tweets are often the most relevant results.

We're concerned that as a result of Google's changes, finding this information will be much harder for everyone. We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users.

Google responded to Twitter on Google+ saying:

"We are a bit surprised by Twitter's comments about Search plus Your World, because they chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer (http://goo.gl/chKwi), and since then we have observed their rel=nofollow instructions."

I also found it a bit odd that Twitter would say this now, when really the lack of that aforementioned agreement renewal is what caused Twitter results to be less prevalent in Google search results. Twitter has not returned my request for comment on that at this point, but Macgillivray did tweet an example of where Google is surfacing Google+ over Twitter for the query "@WWE". I'm not sure this is actually a product of SPYW, though the new features do place a prominent box of recommended Google+ profiles on the right-hand side of the page.

In an article specifically about that, we asked if the "@" symbol really belongs to Twitter anyway. Let us know in the comments what you think about that.

Competition

A lot of people view Google's pushing of Google+ in search results to be anticompetitive. Some disagree.

One point that has been brought up repeatedly is that Google could be recommending public profiles from Twitter and Facebook alongside its Google+ recommendations. Sure, they could.

Facebook and Twitter don't grant access to Google for all of the stuff that would improve the personalization experience. Danny Sullivan was able to get Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt to talk a little about this:

Google Fellow Amit Singhal, told Sullivan, "Facebook and Twitter and other services, basically, their terms of service don't allow us to crawl them deeply and store things. Google+ is the only [network] that provides such a persistent service. Of course, going forward, if others were willing to change, we'd look at designing things to see how it would work." ( webpronews.com )

Those are basically the same responses.

Do you think what Google is doing is good or bad for the web? Let us know in the comments.

Google search changes are 'bad for the internet'

Google search changes are 'bad for the internet' - Twitter has criticised Google after the internet giant implemented new features that are said to 'warp' search results.

Google's new 'Search plus your world' feature, which combines Google search results with those from Google+, has been heavily criticised by Twitter's general counsel Alex Macgillivray, who is also a previous employee of Google.

Macgillivray tweeted from his account: 'Bad day for the Internet. Having been there, I can imagine the dissension at Google to search being warped this way.'

The changes, which are currently only active in the US, mean that logged-in Google+ users will primarily see results from the social network when they key in a search term.

Twitter has been angered by the fact that Google will show results for celebrity Google+ accounts but not for Facebook or Twitter ones.

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