God knows…there must be a lot of bitter and desperate people in the world. Not only to sit around creating parasitic viruses (virii??), but then paying other desperate people to include them in their freeware/shareware. I have no idea how I ended up with this thing…but it’s ugly once you’ve got it.

The Get-Answer-Fast virus slows down all browser activity, and then sends you to a series of websites when you try to visit any legitimate ones. No doubt the sites they send you too are looking to milk your personal info or get your credit card number as you search for a solution. This exhausting process makes it practically impossible to find information on the removal of the virus. And things are complicated even more when most of the websites about getting rid of the thing are trying to earn affiliate commissions by getting you to buy some anti-spyware software.

Anyway, here’s what solved it for me. Download this tool from Kaspersky:

http://support.kaspersky.com/downloads/utils/tdsskiller.exe

Run it. When it finds the rootkit, tell it to “cure” it. Then, the software will require a reboot.

It worked for me. That’s all I know. Good luck!

For your Average Joe and Jane…when it comes to web browsing, speed rules!

However, for those of us who do business online or build web sites…it’s critical that we always know that we’re seeing the very latest version of the page. In order to ensure this, we need to disable the cache in our browser of choice.

As of this writing, it’s generally agreed that Google Chrome is the world’s best browser. It’s fast, full-featured, has a relatively-clean interface…and the Chrome Web Store is jam-packed with powerful extensions that bring huge functionality to the rather staid web browser market.

But…disabling the browser cache in Chrome isn’t the most straightforward process (although it’s still simpler than in Firefox…ugh!). It took quite awhile to figure this out…so I thought it would be helpful to share it here in just a few easy steps:

1. Within Chrome, click on the little wrench icon in the upper-right corner of the window (the hover description reads “Customize and control Google Chrome”).

2. From the dropdown menu that pops up, choose Tools >Developer tools

3. A Developer Tools section opens at the bottom portion of the screen. Click on the small sprocket icon at the bottom-right of the Developer Tools section.

4. A Settings overlay appears in front of the Developer Tools section. Click the box to the left of Disable cache at the middle top of the menu.

5. Then click the X to close the Settings menu window, and the X right above that to close the Developer Tools section.

That’s it…you’re done! I hope you found this little tip helpful.