The other day I told my elderly mother that I needed to perform a Windows XP virus repair on my computer. My mother was clearly confused. “Did you say your computer has a virus?”, she asked, “How does a machine get sick?”

While her words made me chuckle, the truth is that machines (specifically computers) can get sick. If the illness is not taken care of, then it can be deadly.

A computer virus acts very much like a human virus. It has the capability of reproducing itself. It travels through networks and the internet (just as a human virus travels through the air). A virus can also be caught by sharing DVDs and USB flash drives (the computer equivalent of eating off someone else’s plate.) Once inside your computer it goes about attaching itself to files and programs (the human equivalent of a viral infection).

Some viruses aren’t viruses at all. They are adware and spyware. Adware is more of a minor ache; it allows pop ups and unwanted advertisements. Spyware is a cancer, it can go undetected until your life is in ruins. Spyware is the most common means of identity theft.

Then there is your actual virus. Some are like head colds, they make it hard to get started, and then cause you to move slowly. Others are more like the flu, you just can’t function at all.

No matter what type of virus your computer has caught, it needs some medication to get well (Windows XP virus repair). Some tests need to be run in order for your computer to get the proper medications. These tests are called scans.

Scans are like human x-rays. They look around inside your system to see what is going on. Once the problem is found, then the proper medication is administered (a Windows XP virus repair).

I spent a load of money taking my computer to the doctors. These doctor visits were usually time consuming because there are many sick computers (just like humans, if a virus is floating around, it tends to make everyone sick at the same time.). Then I discovered my own private physician to perform Windows XP virus repairs as often as I needed. My private physician is antivirus and repair software. And the best part is, I only had to pay once and I get to call on him as often as necessary.

To sum up, Windows XP viruses are similar to human viruses in how they function. The best way to care for an infected computer is to perform routine Windows XP virus repair operations using antivirus software. Viruses leave behind corrupted files as well. Its not enough to just clean up a virus. It is also necessary to repair the corrupted files. An online Windows XP repair service which fixes corrupted files after virus infection is Reimage. For this online repair service I have written a Reimage Review here.

The Microsoft Point to Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP) is used to create a Virtual Private Network (VPN) between a PPTP client and server. It is used for remote access from mobile users to connect back to their corporate network over the Internet. A PPTP client connects and authenticates to the PPTP server which assigns an IP address to the client and attaches the remote user to the network. After that, the remote user has full network connectivity just like being connected locally.

In the older PIX version 6.x, you could configure the PIX firewall itself to work as a PPTP server, thus you didn’t even need to have a Windows PPTP server in place. With the new ASA firewall however, you cannot terminate PPTP on the ASA itself. Therefore you must have a Microsoft PPTP server in the network in order to terminate PPTP connections from clients.

PPTP uses two protocols: GRE to encapsulate PPP packets and a control channel at TCP port 1723. Any stateful firewall would have a problem with allowing PPTP protocol without any special “fixup” because of the two protocols needed for communication (GRE and TCP 1723). Cisco ASA allows you to pass PPTP traffic through with a special “inspection” mechanism which checks the control traffic (TCP 1723) in order to dynamically open also access for GRE traffic to pass through with no problems.

In this post we will see two scenarios of allowing PPTP traffic through a Cisco ASA. In the first scenario we have a PPTP client on the inside of ASA which communicates with a PPTP server on the outside zone. In the second scenario we have a PPTP client on the outside of ASA which communicates with a PPTP server on the inside.

Scenario 1: PPTP client on inside and server on outside

The first scenario above depicts a PPTP server located on the outside of the ASA (Internet) and PPTP clients on the inside. Using the “nspect” command in the global policy-map we can enable access from inside to outside for PPTP.

! enable Port Address Translation on the outside interface
ciscoasa(config)#nat (inside) 1 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0 0
ciscoasa(config)#global (outside) 1 interface

! Add PPTP inspection to the default policy-map using the default class-map
ciscoasa(config)# policy-map global_policy
ciscoasa(config-pmap)# class inspection_default
ciscoasa(config-pmap-c)# inspect pptp

Scenario 2: PPTP client on outside and server on inside

This scenario depicts a PPTP server located on the inside network. Here we must configure static NAT for the PPTP server and allow the appropriate protocols from outside (GRE, TCP 1723)

! translate the PPTP server private address 192.168.1.1 to public 50.50.50.1
ciscoasa(config)# static (inside,outside) 50.50.50.1 192.168.1.1 netmask 255.255.255.255

! allow the appropriate protocols from outside to inside
ciscoasa(config)# access-list acl-out permit gre any host 50.50.50.1
ciscoasa(config)# access-list acl-out permit tcp any host 50.50.50.1 eq 1723
ciscoasa(config)# access-group acl-out in interface outside

Reimage Review – Repair Windows XP Online

The Reimage repair service has been a savior for thousands of Windows XP users that do not have much time and money for repairing their computer when it starts to become problematic. All you have to do with the Reimage repair service is to just connect online to their website and perform a thorough scan and repair of your Windows PC. Many people have done this and have taken the benefits of a cheap, reliable and safe repair service without needing to call for an expensive computer technician.

Here are some of the key benefits of Reimage online repair service:

• Repairs a damaged Windows XP operating system remotely. You just need to have an Internet connection.
• Repairs Windows XP even if the computer cannot boot (use the Bootable CD builder).
• Refreshes native operating system drivers and rebuilds the windows platform.
• By rebuilding the whole windows platform, it allows your system to run like new again.
• Fixes registry keys.
• Eliminates pop-ups, viruses, Trojans, spam etc.
• It will not harm your user data or the other software programs already installed.

As you understand, reimage is basically an online computer repair service that for the moment works only for Windows XP operating system (Vista support is planned for the future). It can fix your Windows XP system when it becomes dead slow, when it crashes all the time, when it gets infected from viruses and Trojans, and basically when its stability and security are compromised. It has received many positive reviews, not only from regular computer users but also from giants in technology like NetworkWorld, InformationWeek, eWeek.com etc.

When you visit the reimage website, you can download their software program which is used to scan your computer and diagnose all the windows operating system problems. With surgical precision, the software will pinpoint all corrupted, missing or problematic objects in your system and will use the Reimage web repository (25 million components, files, registry objects etc) to replace all problematic objects and files in your computer. With this patented technology, the Reimage Service repairs programs, refreshes drivers and removes bugs and glitches – while maintaining the integrity of the user data. The result is a reborn computer system that will run like new again!!

A major problem which people are facing nowadays is concerned with PC security. The Trojans and viruses present online get into your operating system and spoil it drastically. Virus problems can be solved by just visiting the Reimage website. Spyware, adware, Trojans, hijackers, identity theft malware, rogue antivirus, keyloggers and other unwanted software will be a distant memory for your computer system. Traditional antivirus tools just remove the virus code but do not fix any other damage. Reimage, however, is designed to fix any damage caused from viruses by replacing the corrupted files and restoring the registry keys making your computer run like it was before the virus.

My opinion is to visit the official Reimage website and download their scan tool on your computer. Install the software and then perform a free scan of your system to verify its capabilities of identifying all of your Windows XP problems. If you like what you see then go ahead and purchase the repair service in order to get your PC back to life again.