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• Post a description of your gripe on consumer-complaint blogs. People who bought the defective HP and Dell notebooks would have been out of luck if it hadn't been for the rising power of Internet communities and blogs — ironically, some of which were on the vendor's very own sites. These grass-roots efforts demonstrate that consumers are not powerless when they own a lemon PC, even in the absence of a lemon law to back them up.
  
  As the number of postings about the problem on gripe sites rose, HP and Dell could no longer hide from their customers. For example, the site HP Lies was created specifically for consumers to fight back against what the site calls "HP's cover-up of the Nvidia defect." A massive number of people who had bought now-dead HP notebooks that fried due to the overheated Nvidia chip not only spewed their venom at the company but also offered legal and logistical advice to others who shared their misfortune.
  
  Surprisingly, many burned customers discovered the HP Lies site through links on HP's own Business Support Forum. Likewise, news of Dell's offer of a limited warranty enhancement with a list of affected units was reported at Dell's Direct2Dell user-community blog as a response to the thermonuclear anger expressed by unhappy customers at the site.
  
  
• Take it to court. Many customers went the legal route and filed lawsuits that were consolidated into a class-action complaint against Nvidia, Dell, and HP last September. While less effective in getting a full reimbursement or replacement, lawsuits serve as a wake-up call to corporations and produce corresponding action to mollify the plaintiffs.
  
  
• Skip low-level tech support and go directly to the top. If you have a PC problem that's been proven to result from a defect, ask to speak to a high-level tech-support representative, who will be more empowered to address your complaint — and likely more knowledgeable about the issue as well.
  
  Be persistent, but keep your cool (which may be more than your PC is doing). Advice at the HP Lies site suggests going the corporate route and obtaining a case manager to get free repairs or a replacement, which standard tech support might not provide.
  
  
• Buy an extended-service warranty. HP and Dell customers who had extended warranties got no-charge repairs and/or replacements for their Nvidia-murdered systems. Because cheaper components are used in most of today's low-cost computers, chances are those components will fail sooner than in the past. Extended warranties generally offer no- or low-hassle tech support and repairs for up to three years beyond the standard warranty.
  

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• "I would completely disagree with Ms. Lovato's response statement to Brian's Conficker article, where he says:
  
  Microsoft doesn't provide all its patches to unlicensed copies of Windows, leaving the vulnerable machines free to attack us — a self-defeating policy recently described by security expert Bruce Schneier.
  
  "She says:
  
  This is actually not accurate — Microsoft issues security fixes via Windows Update to all Windows systems, regardless of whether or not that system is genuine.
  
  "Microsoft does require, on many occasions, a 'verification' of your license before allowing the download of a patch. This happened to me just a short while ago when I went to acquire the AutoRun patch.
  
  "As I refuse to use Missie [WGA], the online 'verification' failed. I had to download and run GenuineCheck.exe and then copy and paste the code into the window to obtain this patch. This on an HP 2300 series machine with XP Pro and SP3 that's less than a year old!
  
  "In addition, they have twice, to my personal knowledge, blocked the automatic Windows Update operation to other machines where a bulk license was legitimately used — because the retailer went out of business and MS subsequently 'canceled' the bulk license.
  
  "Neither of these cases could happen unless they were 'verifying' that the license was legitimate! I can't remember the message that was sent in a pop-up, but the implication was that the Windows Update system had a 'pirated copy' of the OS! ...
  
  "The effect was that the Windows Update machine would not function until the 'update' was completed. This user had been automatically updating for some two years without a problem, which points to the final verbal admission by MS that they had in fact 'canceled' the user's license!
  
  "In one case, this so locked the machine that the family's banking records and online transactions were effectively frozen. It took nearly a week to get MS to reply and finally acknowledge that the user did have a legitimate copy, and to supply a very painful workaround.
  
  "I would also comment that MS's bloat so affects rural users who are still on dial-up that Windows Update cannot be allowed. One does not have hours to download 50MB to 70MB of bloat at 5 or 6 megabytes per hour, even presuming that one can stay connected for that length of time!"
  

• "Is there a better newsletter for prepping us for the upcoming Conficker events? I don't think so! Thanks for this authoritative look at the subject. I've taken your advice, downloaded as much as I can, and feel ready. Wow. You guys are good!
  
  "Anyone who isn't a paid subscriber should feel bad and pay up now. It's worth every penny. Free subscribers should become paid subscribers just to say thank you, based on this issue alone."
  

• "Soon after installing the public release of IE 8, I noticed that it was very slow to start. I've since discovered that it's not just my XP SP3 machine alone. It seems there's a conflict between IE 8 and some resident (real-time) antispyware applications that centers around these applications' restricted-zones lists and IE 8's SmartScreen security function.
  
  "Spybot Search and Destroy and SpywareBlaster are the ones commonly mentioned, but I use SuperAntiSpyware Pro and my zones list is short. That leaves [as the cause] an add-on conflict, which I didn't check. There are some workarounds proposed until MS fixes the problem, but the easiest one — and the one I chose for now — is to go back to IE 7. That brought IE back up to speed."
  

• "Saw Mark Joseph Edwards' article in the latest newsletter and thought you'd like to hear another reason for not rushing into IE 8 (though, after uninstalling it, I discovered a workaround). I installed IE 8 the other week, and at first things seemed OK — until attempting to add a C++ function within Visual Studio 2008 Pro using a wizard. This resulted in a script error.
  
  "I quickly uninstalled back to IE 7 and rebooted. The add function, etc., worked fine in VS 2008 again. A week later, I was checking the Visual C++ Team Blog and found this blog post [with the workaround].
  
  That solves the problem, but you would've thought they'd have caught this one before release!"
  

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By Katy Abby Hollywood has spoiled us; it's rare in this day and age to see a truly unusual, impressive feat accomplished and recorded without the use of special effects. When such a daring deed is pulled off by unassuming amateurs, it's even more remarkable. Take a look as these self-proclaimed "extreme shepherds" take to the hills with their fleecy flock. The results are illuminating! (Thanks to reader Jeff Smith for tipping us off to this pastoral parade.) Play the video

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TOP STORY By Michael Lasky Dell and HP balk at replacing bad Nvidia chip How to get vendors to respond to your gripes KNOWN ISSUES By Dennis O'Reilly WGA blocks some updates on legit Windows PCs More reasons to postpone that upgrade to IE 8 WACKY WEB WEEK By Katy Abby Don't be sheepish, they're a shear delight!

	LANGALIST PLUS By Fred Langa Recover lost passwords in Word and other apps Encryption complicates password recovery Change boot-menu order and boot-option names Laptops with no CD or DVD drive Hey, where did that download file disappear to?
	PERIMETER SCAN By Ryan Russell Multiple tools required to disinfect a PC Manual malware removal puts you in charge Before you begin, do your malware homework Disinfection requires a malware-removal arsenal The debate continues: Which security tools?
	PATCH WATCH By Susan Bradley Update services are a vital security component Free services identify out-of-date programs Update Java 6, but skip the MSN Toolbar offer Version 2 of the Firefox browser is insecure Windows Genuine (pain in the) Advantage Microsoft anti-malware tool fixes Facebook bugs Windows XP enters extended support April 14 Office Live update doesn't know when to quit

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