Another example of why I don't like RAID systems...

RAID is a computer technology of automatic data mirroring via a "redundant array of inexpensive disks." It was invented in the 1990's and made sense then. It still can make sense in some limited circumstances. But many times, in many implementations, it's overkill--- and not very effective overkill, at that.

Some of you know that the e-newsletter I write for, Windows Secrets, comes out on Thursdays. Or rather, it's supposed to come out on Thursdays. This week's issue was massively delayed by a RAID failure that blew the entire Windows Secrets site offline for 48 hours. The RAID array was the source of the trouble and did nothing to help the recovery: The entire site had to be reconstructed from backups. Because of an excellent backup system (entirely separate from the RAID array), no data was lost. But two days of uptime went down the tubes, and the week's issue was delayed.

In short: It was ugly, and 100% caused by the RAID system.

It's explained more here by someone who was actually in the trenches when the RAID hit the fan. I waited all day yesterday (Thursday) for the site and the issue to come back, but by the time it did, it was too late to post the usual weekly column summary here, as I normally do. My apologies.

Anyway, the top topic in my column this week is:

How To Remove a persistent Trojan once and for all.

Reader Peter Klugherz encountered sophisticated malware that just wouldn't let go of his son's PC:

"My son called me for help last night because his computer has become infected with the Trojan Advanced Virus Remover (pavrm.exe). Among other things, pavrm.exe blocks access to Task Manager. Norton Internet Security detects it but apparently cannot remove it.

"Similarly, I can't find any reliable information on the Web on how to remove it. When I search the Web, many sites recommend the purchase of their own anti-malware software. Do you know of any way to get rid of this software?"

The "Advanced Virus Remover" is some bad, bad malware. In an effort to get you to pay for a service you don't need, the program pops up bogus warnings about malware it's supposedly found on your system. What's more, the warnings are styled to resemble Windows' own security alerts.

As Peter discovered, if you try to remove the Advanced Virus Remover, you find that your access to Task Manager and the Registry Editor (Regedit) are blocked, making removal of this malware harder than normal. But there are several approaches to rid your system of this and similar kinds of malware. Even if you don't encounter this specific Trojan, the same techniques can work whenever a similar problem occurs.

The in-depth topic in my column (finally!) posted at Windows Secrets this week explains how to remove this specific Trojan, and others that work the same way.

Also in this column:

• Restore a Recycle Bin that's missing in action
• USB ports give only intermittent service
• More possible sources of 'nasty' photos found on a PC

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