Computer Q&A: Web nickname inadvertently triggers alert – St. Augustine Record
QUESTION: I had a problem when I tried to follow your directions for removing the Google Redirect Virus. When I went to the Symantec website you suggested to download the virus removal tool, I was greeted with a page saying that there could be problems with the website. The warning came from Web service "bitly." Should I continue to the site?
--Carol Singer, Lakeville, Minn.
ANSWER: Yes, you can continue on to the Symantec page without worrying. I think you got the warning because you visited the Symantec page via a "tinyurl" address that I provided in the column.
What's a tinyurl? The term "URL" originally stood for "uniform resource locator" but has come to mean simply "Web address." You can think of a tinyurl, also called a URL shortener, as a nickname for a real website. Why use a nickname instead of the real Web address? Real Web addresses are often long and complex, while tinyurls are short, making them easy to include in my column or for you to type into a browser.
You got a warning about the tinyurl in my column because URL shorteners have been misused to direct people to malicious websites instead of legitimate ones. As a result, some providers of URL shorteners, such as bitly, warn you when you use a shortened URL that didn't come from them.
How you react to these warnings should be based on whether you got the shortened URL from a trusted source. If a tinyurl came from this column, it's safe to use.
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Q: The screen on my five-year-old Dell laptop shuts down whenever I plug in the AC adapter. The laptop remains on, but the screen goes black. I checked the PC's battery and replaced its charging cord, but neither solved the problem. The Dell help desk told me the flaw is inside the screen or the PC's main circuit board, and that it would cost $300 to fix. I didn't think it was worth that much to fix a 2006 computer. But, because it still works fine when running on battery power, I wonder if there's some other way to fix it. Is there some PC setting that could be changed?
--Serge Choquette, Ottawa, Ontario
A: This isn't a settings issue. Your computer has some serious electrical problems in either the screen or the main circuit board. But you were correct in deciding not to spend $300 to repair a 2006 PC. For that price, you can buy a new laptop.
While it's aggravating to have an otherwise well-behaved PC start to go bad, consider this a gentle warning. You haven't lost any data, and your computer didn't fail at the moment you needed it the most.
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Steve Alexander covers technology for the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Readers may write to him at Tech Q&A, 425 Portland Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55488-0002; email: steve.j.alexandergmail.com. Please include a full name, city and phone number.
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