How I succesfully removed "xml.oceanreefs.xyz"

If your internet browser keeps showing ads (at a higher rate than previously), and you notice that the browser is opening a new window with the address "xml.oceanreefs.xyz" that quickly redirets to something other (like https://www.aliexpress.com/), you have a virus in your computer. They call them sometimes ad-ware but let's face it, something that makes your computer make things you don't want it to make is basicly a virus.

I have opened several pages about "How to remove xml.oceanreefs.xyz" and nothing worked. No antivirus detected it, there was no mention of "xml.oceanreefs.xyz" in the registry or any folder with that name...

But finally I managed to get rid of it. This is how:

The virus has indeed modified the registry, but not using the address "xml.oceanreefs.xyz", but this other:
"cityskyscraper.com"
So this is what you have to look for.

Click on Start and type regedit (or reg.exe).
Once it opens click on Search (Ctrl + F) and type "cityskyscraper.com"

Delete every entry of the registry where this address is mentioned.

Just in case, you can search for "xml.oceanreefs.xyz" and delete any entry mentioning it (but in my case there was none with this address).

Messing with the registry is dangerous, so you want to be sure that you do not delete anything else.


I also made a second step afterwards to be completely sure, I scanned my PC with Malwarebytes (there is a free version).
So if cleaning the registry was not enough, you can try to scan your computer with Malwarebytes.

iTunes Crashes Every Time iPod is connected [Solved]

I have recently solved a problem I had with my iPod, that started suddenly without any appearent cause. The issue was that every time I connected the iPod to the computer, as soon as it was detected and the iPod appeared in iTunes, iTunes would crash and close.

So basicly the iPod worked but it was impossible to use it with iTunes, therefore impossible to update or change the content.

I tried installing several different versions of iTunes in different computers but I always had the same problem.

Finally I came to a solution that worked for me:

I connected the iPod to the computer but I didn't use iTunes. I accessed it via the file explorer.

To see the music folders you need to activate the optino "Show hidden folders" [1]. Then you navigate to your iPod and you  should see a folder called "iPod_Control" and inside it a folder called "Music". If you navigate into this folder you will see several folders with coded names and inside all your mp3 music files with, again, coded names (combinations of four letters).

So what I did was to "Cut" all these folders containing all my music, and move it to the hard drive of my computer.

When the iPod was empty of music (in fact, it worked without even removing all the music), I tried iTunes and it worked: I could access again (my now empty) iPod through iTunes.

Then I made an "Update and restore" of the iPod through iTunes.

How to put back the music into the iPod. As you may have guessed, you have only to drag and drop all the music folders (the ones with coded names) that you have copied into your computer's hard-drive to your iPod using iTunes. You will see the music will appear again (with it's properties), and you will have again a fully operational iPod.

You will have "only" lost your playlists.

[1] In Windows 7, I did it by pressing "Alt" in the file explorer. A bar with extra options appear on the top. You can also try this:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/14201/windows-show-hidden-files

How To Delete Several (Or Even All) Your Tweets

If you have a Twitter account, you may feel the need to clean your timeline, to delete SEVERAL tweets (for instance, when you get a new job). Or maybe you just want to delete ALL your tweets, because you want a change of your Twitter direction.

I have been looking the last days for a way to do the latter. I have tried several online webs and Chrome plug-ins and I have to say that they did not work at all, or they did so slowly or with constant failures that it made almost impossible to use them.

But in the end I found the solution to do it in a more than reasonable speed and without any failures.
And this was thanks to Twitter Archive Eraser, which can be downloaded here.

The steps to delete several or all your tweets are simple:

0. Before deleting your tweets, you need to download your Twitter archive. Here you will find an explanation, but basicly you have to go to your "Settings" in Twitter and click on the button "Request Your Archive". You should receive and e-mail with the link to download your Archive.

1. Download and install the program from the website.

2. Authorize the program to access your Twitter account.

3. Click on "Delete your tweets".

4. Load your Twitter Arhive. You just have to click on "Load/Add your Twitter archive files", and select the downloaded Zip file.

5. Click "Select all". You don't need to wait until your tweets appear on the screen (you can select more accurately later), just click on "Next".

6. Select the tweets you want to delete. You can select all. You can filter by word, or by date, or just select all.

7. Click on "Erase selected tweets".

El ordenador se apaga solo (por uso del CPU y calentamiento) [Solución]

Otro problema que he experimentado desde la actualización a Windows 10, es que el ordenador se apagase sólo. Gracias a la aplicación de Toshiba "Supervisor del estado del PC de TOSHIBA" ("Toshiba PC Health Monitor") (supongo que otras marcas tendrán aplicaciones similares) pude comprobar que el problema el apagado se producía siempre que la velocidad del ventilador se acercaba al 85%, y que además dicha velocidad estaba directamente relacionada con el uso del CPU.

La solución en mi caso ha sido instalar un programa llamado "Battle Encoder Shirase", que puede descargarse aquí. Aunque el nombre sea más propio de un videojuego, lo que este programa hace es limitar el uso del CPU por parte de la aplicación que le indiquemos.

Por ejemplo, en mi caso, una de las aplicaciones que demandan más recursos de la CPU es Photoshop, y especialmente cuando utilizo los filtros de Google Nik Collection desde Photoshop. Limitando el uso por parte de Photoshop y/o Lightroom de más del 30% de la CPU (en mi caso) he conseguido que el equipo no se haya vuelto a apagar.

El uso del programa es bastante sencillo:

1. Con "Target" seleccionamos el programa que queremos limitar.

2. Con "Control" decidimos que % de la CPU dicho programa podrá utilizar. Es interesante remarcar que el % seleccionado NO es el que se le permitirá utilizar al programa sinó el que tendrá "bloqueado". Es decir, si queremos que el programa sólo utilice un 30% tendremos que establecer en "Control" un 70%.

Obviamente, limitar el uso del CPU por parte del programa hará que éste sea más lento, así que lo ideal sea ir probando diferentes porcentajes hasta hallar el porcentaje que evita el sobreuso del CPU, pero al mismo tiempo permite mayor velocidad.

El principal inconveniente de esta solución es que tendremos que realizar esta limitación cada vez que vayamos a utilizar el programa responsable del consumo "excesivo" de recursos.

Uso del disco del 100% permanente [Solución]

Desde que actualice mi portátil a Windows 10 (anteriormente utilizaba Windows 7), me surgió un problema con el uso del disco (el uso del disco se puede comprobar con el Administrador de tareas - última opción que aparece al presionar Ctrl+Alt+Supr).

Ésto provocaba que el ordenador funcionase mucho más lentamente de lo habitual, aparte del riesgo de futuros problemas en el disco duro.

Había probado deteniendo diversos problemas (principalmente los relacionados con nVidia, cuyos drivers provocaban muchos problemas de calentamiento en Windows 10).

Finalmente, la solución para el problema, al menos en mi caso, fue utilizar CCleaner.

Una vez instalado el programa, que se descarga aquí, lo utilice para la limpieza "General" ("Cleaner") y también para la del Registro.

Tras estos dos pasos, y la reinicialización del equipo, el problema del Uso del disco del 100% ha desaparecido.

Manual Equation Ecotec (también llamado Haverland) [Enlace actualizado]

Se puede descargar el manual del Equation Ecotec aquí.

"No se puede establecer conexión con el sitio [nombre-de-la-web] auténtico"

En los últimos meses, por algún extraño motivo que desconozco, han proliferado los errores SSL al intentar acceder a ciertas páginas de Internet (Twitter, Linkedin, Wordpress, Dropbox...), errores con el mensaje:

"No se puede establecer conexión con el sitio [nombre-de-la-web-a-la-que-intentamos-acceder] auténtico"

Mensajes que usualmente tienen  un aspecto parecido a este (en el idioma en que tengamos el navegador):

Estos errores normalmente se producen en equipos que utilizan el navegador Google Chrome y el sistema operativo Windows XP. La solución suele ser muy sencilla: instalar el paquete de actualización de Windows XP, SP3.

Este paquete se puede descargar gratuitamente desde el sitio de Microsoft.

Si ésto no funcionase (o ya tuviesemos instaldo el SP3), probaría de reinstalar el navegador.