Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2013 April 6

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April 6

Check HD for errors

Carbonite says that my HD (on a Windows 8 system, NTFS) has a lot of errors when trying to read. Spinrite is supposed to test the HD and map out bad areas. Are there alternatives that do that (TestDisk may be one)? Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 01:13, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Is CHKDSK still on Windows 8 ? It works, but it does take forever, so run it overnight (maybe one night for each disk). StuRat (talk) 01:57, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Yes, it is still there. At first I ran it without the /R parameter, which it should have. But I ran it again. I had to tell it to do it when it reboots, and it only gives a % done, so I didn't get a report of errors. Bubba73 ^{You talkin' to me?} 13:33, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

What exactly is the error you're getting from Carbonite? If it's complaining about I/O errors, you need to get a new hard drive. If it's complaining that, say, it can't read a particular file, that probably just means the file is open in another program. Either way, chkdsk and Spinrite are unlikely to help. -- BenRG 04:35, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Antivirus companies creating viruses

I read some time ago that an antivirus software company (or companies) had been caught creating viruses in order to boost or drive sales of their software. I can't remember much more detail than that. I'm looking for articles (on Wikipedia or news sources) that detail these actions or allegations. Thank you ahead of time. Vidtharr (talk) 18:40, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

There's evidence of that happening in China, as this story details. (The Epoch Times is not a very trustworthy source, but that story looks legit to me.) In spite of widespread rumors, that's unlikely to have happened in the US to any significant degree -- a company that did it would be risking its existence for a rather small gain. Looie496 (talk) 19:42, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Not to mention, US companies could face lawsuits, damages, and maybe even criminal charges (IANAL). --Wirbelwind(ヴィルヴェルヴィント) 00:21, 7 April 2013 (UTC)

Not quite what you're talking about, but related: Rogue security software 38.111.64.107 (talk) 14:23, 9 April 2013 (UTC)

Problem with uninstalling Plustek USB scanner

I have a strange problem to solve: there is a PC with Windows XP, which has a Plustek USB scanner drivers and utilities installed. The files have timestamps from 1995–2000, directories were created in January 2008.

The hardware stopped functioning about 3 years ago and went to trash. Now I tried to cleanup the software, and ...the uninstaller refuses to work! It says:

Setup requires a different version of Windows. Check to ensure that you are running Setup on the Windows platform for which it is intended.

Error 102.

Possibly the Service Pack 3 has changed something in the system, so that the uninstaller no longer recognizes it. What can I do to properly remove the scanner software? --CiaPan (talk) 23:29, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

I've used the free version of Revo Uninstaller when a program's own uninstaller fails. -- Finlay McWalterჷTalk 23:30, 6 April 2013 (UTC)