April 15, 2010

Don’t Fool Around with the F1

Filed under: F1 Scam, Microsoft, Microsoft Security Essentials, Viruses, security advisory — Tags: computer, computer help, computer security, computer service technician, computer services, computer technician., computers, F1, F1 Scam, internet explorer, keep your computer safe, malicious web page, march Microsoft advisory, march Microsoft security advisory, March security advisory, Microsoft, Microsoft advisory, Microsoft Essentials, Microsoft Security, Microsoft Security Essentials, Microsoft virus, Microsoft viruses, security advisory, security services, security virus, security viruses, service technician, snopes, snopes.com, virus, Viruses — admin @ 12:59 pm

It sounds like it couldn’t possibly be true, but Microsoft itself confirms it: pressing F1 on a computer keyboard can actually activate malware for Internet Explorer users.

Microsoft released an advisory March 1, 2010 that warns of the F1 scam.

“Microsoft is investigating new public reports of a vulnerability in VBScript that is exposed on supported versions of Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 through the use of Internet Explorer. Our investigation has shown that the vulnerability cannot be exploited on Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008. The main impact of the vulnerability is remote code execution. We are not aware of attacks that try to use the reported vulnerabilities or of customer impact at this time[…] Upon completion of this investigation, Microsoft will take the appropriate action to help protect our customers. This may include providing a security update through our monthly release process or providing an out-of-cycle security update, depending on customer needs.” By: Microsoft TechNet.

With this security issue, a dialog box is displayed by a malicious web page or other Internet site. Then a prompt occurs that urges users to press F1. The prompt often appears repeatedly. When users hit the F1 key, malware can cause malicious code to be run on the user’s computer.

Microsoft admits that there is not a patch for this vulnerability at this time.

If you are online and a site is trying to convince you to press F1, you are advised to simply log off the system. You could also use the Task Manager to kill the Internet Explorer process. Making sure that you have working security software such as Microsoft Essentials is most essential to keeping your computer and information safe.

The F1 scam is currently one of the Hot 25 on the scam-busting website Snopes.com.

Check back for updates on security advisories!  Should you suspect that your computer has been infected with a virus, contact your local computer service technician.

April 8, 2010

Open your eyes when surfing the internet!

Filed under: E-mail, Online Safety, Viruses, Wireless Internet — Tags: computer, computer expert, computer security, computers, cybercrime, Internet, minneapolis, minneapolis minnesota, minneapolis mn, minnesota, open wifi, security, spam e-mail, spam emails, spyware, surfing the internet, surfing the net, virus, Viruses, WiFi — admin @ 2:57 pm

Would you cross the roads with your eyes shut?  Open your eyes when surfing the internet!

Reading the Star Tribune on Sunday, we learned that Minneapolis is now ranked the seventh-riskiest city in America for cybercrime!!  Eeek, now that is hitting a little close to home.  Every day we are hearing or seeing in the news something about a new virus attack or online threat to our computers.  It’s not like all the computers in Minneapolis are going to grow legs and arms to strangle us.

The Minneapolis area does have one of the highest populations of in-home computers and computer users in the nation.  Minneapolis is growing to become known as a very internet savvy city.  Due to this, we are more likely to encounter spyware, spam emails and other viruses.

Keep yourself safe by never fully opening an email, use a preview window to read your messages  (both entourage and outlook allow you to do this), do not log into confidential sites when you are on an open wifi network unless it is secure, and make sure you know what you are downloading before you hit ok.  It’s just like you’re a kid again and your mother is teaching you how to cross the road. Look both ways to ensure that there are not any viruses coming before you begin to access the site and keep looking both ways as you access the site to make sure a virus doesn’t pop up out of nowhere.  If you are nervous or have questions, ask a computer expert. We’re here to help and answer questions.

April 6, 2010

Gmail Introduces New Security Against Scammers

Filed under: E-mail, Gmail, Google, security advisory — Tags: computer, computer security, computer security expert, computer security expert warns, computer security experts, computer security experts warn, computers, E-mail, e-mail security, gmail, gmail account, gmail account hijacked, gmail advisory, gmail hijacked, gmail scam, gmail security advisory, gmail security system, gmail’s new security, gmail’s new security system, Google, google engineering director, pavni diwanji, scam, security advisory — admin @ 12:28 pm

A friend in need is a friend indeed, says the old axiom.

Computer security experts are warning you to be wary of old friends who show up in your e-mail box and in need of your money. Your friend may be an innocent and unknowing pawn in an elaborate scheme that seeks to rip you off.

One of Google’s own, an engineering director named Pavni Diwanji, was targeted by such a scam. The Google executive reports that he recently received an e-mail from one of his legitimate acquaintances who was reportedly in a jam in London, broke and desperate due to a series of unfortunate events.

Turns out a scammer had hijacked the acquaintance’s account. That allowed the scammer to not only know where the acquaintance was, but to also have access to all of his e-mail contacts.

It’s not an isolated case. The Data Doctors have seen several cases where local clients have unknowingly had such e-mail pleas issued from their accounts.

The scam prompted the Google engineering director to initiate tightened up security measures in an effort to prevent Gmail customers from having their accounts hijacked.

The new measures are especially effective when logins appear in quick succession from different countries.

Here is the link to find out more about how to protect yourself and to learn about the new “security system” in place with Gmail accounts.

March 31, 2010

Picking Better Passwords Is Key to Security

Filed under: Internet, Online Safety, Passwords — Tags: choosing a password, computer, computer security, computers, online security, password, password security, password use, Passwords, security, security expert, security experts, symantec, symantec report, symantec survey — admin @ 10:31 am

Security firm Symantec heard from 400 customers in a just-completed survey about password use.

Turns out far fewer of them (a mere 3%) admit to using the old favorite ‘password’ for their password.  The name of a pet is the top category of passwords in the survey, with 10% of respondents reporting that they tap in ‘Tigger’ or somesuch name when logging into secure accounts.

Security experts frown on using the name of a pet, a significant other, a child’s name, a middle name or a birth date when choosing a password. All of these passwords could be ascertained from information readily available or easily guessed, especially with the information now available on social networking sites.

Choosing and using effective passwords is considered an efficient and effective way to keep your online accounts secure and lower your risk with online scammers.

A whopping 59% of those who responded to the Symantec survey reported that they relied on their memory for recalling a password.

Here are some suggestions on how to choose passwords that will be memory-stickers for you, but will be tricky enough to thwart a thief:

• A longer password is more secure than a shorter one
• Alter passwords with numbers or symbols at the beginning or end
• Mix up letters and numbers. Toss in punctuation symbols as well. For example, if “Billie Jean” has always been your favorite song, replace each ‘e’ with a number, and toss in an exclamation point at the end, so now you have Billi9J9an! which is both memorable and difficult to crack.

You can view the full responses to the Symantec survey.

January 25, 2010

Is airline Wi-Fi any good and is it safe?

Filed under: Internet, Tips, Viruses, Wireless Internet — Tags: airline, airline wi-fi, airline wifi, cloud computing, computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, file recovery, Gogo, internet safety, IT, IT department, laptop repair, recovery, repair computer, Row 44, safe airline internet, safe internet, Virtual Private Network, VPN, Wi-Fi, Wi-FI safety, WiFi, wifi safety — admin @ 3:17 pm

In-flight Wi-Fi brings a whole new meaning to the term ‘cloud computing’! In past years, the offerings were expensive, restrictive and inconsistent. But not anymore!

In our experience, speed, reliability and cost have all been reasonable. We’ve tried Gogo and expect Row 44 to be good, too. Just check with your airline before you go to see what is being offered.

Although Wi-Fi on airlines only works above 10,000 feet, the providers and airlines are not currently blocking access to any specific content or websites and are relying on passengers to behave themselves (this could change)!  One exception is voice traffic. The airlines decided that their passengers didn’t want to get stuck next to loud, obnoxious ‘deal makers’ flapping their gums about their latest conquests during these long flights.

Any device that is Wi-Fi enabled and has a browser can make use of the connection:  laptops, Netbooks, smartphones and even the iPod Touch and some handheld gaming systems should work.  You must have a browser in to get past the ‘I Agree’ terms of use gateway page.

As far as safety goes, this shouldn’t be approached any different than any other public Wi-Fi connection.  If you aren’t careful, you could expose your computer to others on the flight, just like in the airport or at a hotel (our column on public Wi-Fi safety is posted here: http://bit.ly/2ldfHp.)

Be very mindful that those in the row behind you can easily see through the gaps in the seats to your screen or lots of folks if you are seated in the aisle seat.  This means you should avoid typing in any sensitive information or websites that will display sensitive information.

As should be expected, if your company requires you to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to connect to the company network, you may have problems getting it all to work depending upon how restrictive your IT department has set the VPN to be (check with them before your flight for the best results).

January 22, 2010

What should I consider when buying a new monitor???

Filed under: Screens/Monitors — Tags: BluRay, computer, computer monitor, computer screen, computers, connect computer to tv, DVD's, DVI, HDMI, High definition, monitor, screen, tv resolution — admin @ 12:41 pm

When it comes to buying a new display for your computer, there are both technical and non-technical considerations that are pretty important.

1. Physical considerations

The first is your desk space, especially the height of the monitor if it must fit under a shelf or cabinet, so be sure to measure your space to start.

The next non-technical consideration is viewing angle.  Some cheaper displays can have a small viewing ‘sweet spot’ which means that colors and contrast can get washed out as your viewing angle changes.  This is especially important for anyone that will use the display for presentation purposes or for those that like to gather a group around the computer to view Internet or other video content.

Make sure to also check how flexible the adjustments are for the stand (swivel, tilt and height).

2. Display Size & Shape

From a technical perspective, start by deciding whether you want an older 4×3 (square) aspect ratio or a newer 16×9 (widescreen) aspect ratio display.  If your computer is more than 4 to 5 years old, it may not have a video card that is capable of supporting a wide screen display in its ‘native’ resolution, which can cause degradation in the quality of what is displayed.

The newer widescreen displays are optimized to display today’s video content in its proper resolution (no stretching or cramming of images into the older square resolutions) and can allow side-by-side displays of documents on larger displays.

They’re also better at displaying ‘widgets’ that are common with Windows Vista and Windows 7 (via the sidebar) without crowding the rest of the screen.

Some widescreen displays are designed to pivot from landscape to portrait mode, which is excellent for those doing page layout work in documents or graphics programs.

3. Contrast Ratio

This spec is important, but has been completely overblown by many manufacturers as a marketing tool.  Contrast ratio refers to the difference between the whites and blacks in the display, with the higher the ratio the better.

Look for contrast ratios in the 400:1 to 600:1 range as anything above that is likely difficult to perceive and may be overstated (for reference purposes, a movie theater display is generally 500:1) and ignore any spec that is called ‘Dynamic Contrast Ratio”.

4. Resolution considerations

If you plan on using the display for both computer content and want to view BluRay DVDs at their full resolution, then you will need a display with at least a 1920×1080 resolution (typically 23” to 24” widescreens).

With resolution, however, bigger is not always better for those with older eyes.  The higher the resolution, the smaller everything on the screen will become. Make sure you view Internet content in the native resolution of any display that you plan to purchase to ensure that the text isn’t going to be too small to read comfortably.

5. Connectors

In the old days, the connector was the connector (15-pin SVGA), but today there are several options worth your consideration.

The first is DVI (Digital Visual Interface) which is a common way to connect high-resolution video cards for gaming, video or photo editing.  Even if you don’t own a computer with a DVI output, you likely will in the future, so this one is generally worth the additional cost.

For those with very high-performance needs, the HDMI (High-Definition, Multimedia Interface) connector will allow you to directly connect home theater sources as well as the latest in very high-performance gaming video cards and keep up with these uncompressed digital signals.

At the end of the day, looking at the display will go a long way to helping you determine if the display is the right one for you, so don’t over-think this purchase!

December 28, 2009

Does a backup copy the infection, too?

Filed under: Backup, Viruses — Tags: computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, data recovery software, disk recovery, easy recovery, file recovery, hard drive recovery, laptop repair, partition recovery, recover files, recover my files, recovery, recovery software, repair computer — admin @ 8:15 am

The simple answer is “It depends upon your backup routine.” Most of today’s malicious code attacks the average computer in one of three main areas: The operating system, software programs or data files.

So, if you execute a typical backup of only the data files, viruses that affect the operating system or software programs (like a browser) will not be included. Moreover, data infectors are in the minority these days because most of the focus for the very sophisticated cyber-gangs is Internet based applications, such as browsers and operating systems that can spread their infection to other computers on the Internet.

If you believe you have a virus or unruly spyware, the real focus in cleaning up your main system should be on your data. Most important, any backup, even an infected one, is better than no backup.  You can always disinfect the backed up files individually or an entire external hard drive.

So, in most cases, here is a basic plan of attack:

Step #1 – Even if you know you have a virus, backup everything that you care about (data, pictures, music, video, favorites, address books, etc.) to an external hard drive or online backup service.

Step #2 – Disconnect the backup unit or internet connection for online backups. Then, go through the disinfection process on your primary hard drive (the steps will vary depending on the type of malicious code).

Step #3 – Once you have verified that your primary drive is clean and that none of your critical data was corrupted as a result of the cleanup, you have two choices: run through the same cleanup procedure on the external drive or wipe it clean and produce a new backup of your clean system (if you are using an online backup service, deleting the infected files from your backup and backing them up again is the most efficient.)

If program or operating system files become corrupted by the disinfection then reinstalling those items from your original disks will put you back in business, HOWEVER, if your data files become corrupted as a result of the disinfection, don’t perform the same cleanup on your backup drive (consult a professional)!

If all of this sounds too complicated, do yourself a favor and keep your security software up-to-date and keep a regular backup going with redundancy and validation.  If that sounds too complicated, consult a professional!

December 23, 2009

FireFox running slow?

Filed under: Internet — Tags: computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer stores, computer support, computers, firefox, internet connect, internet connection slow, repair computer, slow firefox, slow internet — admin @ 8:00 am

Is your Firefox browser running slow on your computer?  It may not be your computer or it’s hardware that is slowing it down.   Here is a tip for speeding up your Firefox browser!

1. Type “about:config” into the address bar and hit return. Scroll down and look for the following entries:

network.http.pipelining

network.http.proxy.pipelining

network.http.pipelining.maxrequests

You will see that these are turned off (“false”). Normally the browser will make one request to a web page at a time. If you enable pipelining it will make several at once, which really speeds up page loading.

2. To turn them on, alter the entries as follows:

Set “network.http.pipelining” to “true” by double-clicking on it to toggle to “true.”

Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining” to “true” by double-clicking on it to toggle to “true.”

Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests” to some number like 30. This means it will make 30 requests at once. (Double-click and a box will open where you can type 30.)

3. Last, right-click(PC) or control click (Mac) anywhere and select New-> Integer. Name it “nglayout.initialpaint.delay” and set its value to “8243”. This value is the amount of time the browser waits before it acts on information it receives.

Hopefully this helps!

The information is from Cnet Help Forum.

December 11, 2009

Fun holiday tips from Data Doctors

Filed under: Google, Tips, Viruses — Tags: beware of virus', computer, computer recovery, computer repair, computer service, computer services, computer stores, computer support, computers, data recovery, data recovery software, disk recovery, e-commerce, easy recovery, file recovery, Google, hard drive recovery, holiday shopping tips, holiday tips, laptop repair, partition recovery, recover files, recover my files, recovery, recovery software, repair computer, shopping, shopping tips, virus removal — admin @ 7:45 am

As the holidays near, shopping online continues to grow.  Great deals are out there and consumers are more savvy than ever when it comes to online shopping, but there are a few things that you want to watch out for while shopping online.

Sadly the holidays are a big time for virus’ because more people are spending time online, scouring the internet for deals on gifts so hacker’s and virus’ are in full swing as well.  Copycat sites and “cheap deals” are the main sources of virus attacks.

Here are some tips to remember:

Know where you are.

As you shop, try to stick to sites that you are familiar with and are reputable.  Sites like Amazon, Ebay and large retailers, Target, Walmart, etc. have great security on their sites so you are less likely to have to worry.  There are smaller stores who run great deals but be sure you know where your credit card information is going.

Beware of Flogs

The internet is one of the most used resources for finding information and is increasingly becoming a major spot for shopping.  As the e-commerce continues to grow, consumers need to be aware of reviews and what are called flogs.  Flogs are a form of “electronic communication that appears to originate from a credible, non-biased source, but which in fact is created by a company or organization for the purpose of marketing a product, service, or political viewpoint” (Wikipedia).

Flog can appear as consumer reviews and information about great deals, tips of where to shop, etc. but the perception is skewed.  Companies have created these to promote their own products and services, with great reviews no matter what.  The easiest way to decide if a blog is fake or not is to see if the only topic being discussed on the site pertains to only one particular product or service. Most bloggers generate new posts on a regular basis, covering a variety of topics or services.

Check reviews before entering credit card

An easy way is to see what information other consumers have.  Go to Google and type in the name of the store and reviews or the website address and reviews.  If it is a well-known scam site there, other people will be talking about being scammed.

Wifi

Public wifi’s  are a really nice feature when you are out and about, but can cause issues when shopping online.  The fact is that anyone can connect to that same internet that you are using and while not everyone is a hacker there are people out there that have the ability to electronically see what you are doing.  It is not a good idea to enter credit card or other personal information while connected to a public wifi. Another tip is to not have your user ID and passwords saved on web sites as hacker’s will be able to access this information over the public wifi as well.

E-commerce is rapidly growing and a great tool to decrease the amount of time and money spent shopping for the holidays.  Taking care while shopping online will keep that experience positive for you and allow you to continue to utilize the internet.

Safe Shopping!

From Data Doctors in Wayzata, MN

November 12, 2009

Upgrading from XP or Vista to Win7: What you should know!

Filed under: PC, Software, Windows 7 — Tags: computer, computer upgrade, computers, software upgrade, upgrade, upgrade to windows 7, vista, win7, Windows 7, windows vista, windows vista upgrade, windows xp, windows xp upgrade — admin @ 9:00 am

Windows 7, just release in October of 2009 is worth considering.  It’s not a first generation overhaul but a reworked version of Windows Vista.  Before you go online to buy your upgrade there are a few things you should know:

First, everything that made migrating from Windows XP to Vista a big pain has been overcome and the rest of the world has had time to update their support for Vista.  Thus, upgrading from Vista to the new Windows 7 is done easily by performing an ‘in-place’ upgrade, which will retain all the programs, data, settings, favorites, etc.

Windows XP users, on the other hand,  are going to have a tougher time.  An in-place upgrade is as easy as paying for an upgrade online and running the upgrade installer but for Windows XP users it’s not that easy.  They will have two choices: wipe everything out and start with a fresh installation of a full copy of Windows 7 or upgrade to Windows Vista and then upgrade again to Windows 7.  Both options have their downfalls, either loose all your data or spend a lot more money as well as each of time consuming in and of them self.

Your best bet is to start completely over.  The amount of junk and trauma that builds up in a computer over the years especially if it wasnt serviced regularly is best left behind during an upgrade.  A free upgrade adviser is available through Microsoft.  If you have to start over anyway, buying a new computer with Windows 7 pre-installed or getting a new Vista system with an upgrade coupon will be the smarter way to go.  Especially since mainstream support for Windows XP ended in April of 2009.