Beware the fake Windows 7 compatibility checker + keyboard layout

If you’re thinking of upgrading to Windows 7, you’ve probably come across the Windows 7 compatibility checker. It’s a small tool from Microsoft, which tests whether your PC hardware is capable of running the latest version of Windows. However, some hackers are trying to exploit people’s desire to upgrade to the latest Windows version with a Trojan horse infection disguised as the compatibility checker. The Trojan, which arrives in your inbox via an email, rather than being downloaded from the Microsoft website, implants a Trojan on your system, identified by the security company BitDefender as Trojan-Generic-3783603. This Trojan will open a back door to allow other malware to gain access to your PC.

Our advice is: if you receive any kind of email claiming to help you upgrade to Windows 7, or containing an attachment purporting to be the Windows 7 compatibility checker, then ignore it. The only place to get the genuine compatibility checker is the Microsoft website.

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Fix an incorrect PC keyboard layout

Usually, Windows should detect your PC’s keyboard properly, meaning that each key produces the character printed on it when you hit it. However, if you have a non-standard keyboard, you may find some of the keys produce the wrong character – the technical term is that the keyboard is incorrectly mapped. Usually, this leaves the “ and @ keys swapped over, but it can mean that other keys are incorrectly mapped depending on your type of keyboard. To fix the problem, you need to change the Keyboard Layout from the default setting to one that matches your actual keyboard. Here’s how:

Windows 7/Vista:
Click Start, type intl.cpl in the Start Search box, and then press [Enter].
On the Keyboards and Language tab, click Change keyboards.
Click Add.
Find your current keyboard settings (probably English (United Kingdom)) and click Show More under the keyboard list.
Select the keyboard layout that you would like to use and then click Preview to see the layout of the chosen keyboard.
Click OK > OK to select.
On the General tab, use the dropdown list to select the default keyboard.
Click OK > OK to finish.

Windows XP:
Click Start > Run, type intl.cpl, and then press [Enter].
On the Languages tab, click Details.
Under Installed services, click Add.
Select your default language (e.g. English (United Kingdom)) from the Input language list.
Select the keyboard layout to use from the second drop-down list.
Click OK > OK > OK to use the new keyboard settings.
:)



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