With the influx of iPhones and Android phones now being used in the office, we have the ability to be productive almost anywhere, but the opposite can also true. Personal email, texting, web surfing and social networking have the possibility of becoming huge time leaches. These items are now literally available at your fingertips. Many people are using their work time to conduct personal business or chat with friends and this is not always done from the user’s PC anymore. The enormous amounts of apps that are available have put a lot of people at risk of “playing” on the job.
This also goes for some additional items such as iPads and Android tablets. The ability to watch streaming media as well as downloading games and movies to these devices is very easy to do. This can also make it very tempting to enjoy these things on the company clock. This also gives the ability to view inappropriate data such as porn in the workplace. This leads us to another discussion altogether.
Both smartphones and tablets have the ability to be security risks as well. People can download files to these devices via their USB connections or over a Bluetooth connection. This opens companies up to the possibility of having sensitive data taken offsite without anyone knowing. A lost smartphone, can allow someone access to company email if it not setup for password protection or to have the data wiped if the device is lost.
Smartphones and tablets do have their place in a work environment and can help those want to be productive do so. It can also help those who are less apt to stay on task follow that path. Each company should have a policy on their employee’s usage.
We’ve recently been seeing a rash of people infected with seemingly real but in reality what is completely fake anti virus malware. The user reports that they were surfing the web innocently enough and suddenly a window appears that looked like it came from Microsoft informing them that their system is seriously infected. The window wouldn’t close when clicked and when they restarted their machine the fake anti virus software appeared to have become installed on their machine and couldn’t be removed, urgent warnings of infections are appearing everywhere, popups to embarrassingly raunchy websites are coming up and the machine is basically unusable. Uttimately the software wants you to subscribe in order to remove these “infections” and this is the object of Fake Anti-Virus it's all about getting your credit card.
If this should happen to you, DO NOT CLICK on anything and do not attempt to navigate through the Fake Anti-Virus user interface, It is not legitimate and all roads lead to you inputing your credit card. Immediately restart your computer.
Hopefully you have caught it in time but if after the reboot, you find your machine is infected, you can try to restore it to an earlier time if you are familiar with how to do this but if all else fails call a professional to clean your computer as malware infections can be very difficul to remove and you may actually damage your computer if you're not sure what you are doing or following bad or incorrect instructions.
Check out the video below from SophosLabs to see a Live Demo of Fake Anti Virus in action.
Many of you have undoubtedly seen the screen pop-up and say "Your computer has a virus!" The scan starts and many infected files are found. Once, finished, you are asked to “upgrade” the software, at a price of course. As you look at the screen, you realize that this is a program that you have never seen before and are certain that you did not install it. Welcome to the world of Fake Anti-Virus.
These programs are everywhere. You can unknowingly install this on your PC just by performing a web search and opening one of the results. They tend to hide themselves in inconspicuous places so as not to draw attention to them. Some of these install rootkits or master boot record viruses in addition. Unfortunately, most real anti-virus programs do not catch them so it takes some digging and specialized tools to remove them.
This type of software can and has caused many users much grief. They tend to create registry entries and change system settings. I have seen them do things as simple as enabling Internet Explorer to look for a proxy server so no internet access is available, to making the icons on the desktop and programs list hidden, and as complex as changing a registry entry so the executable files are no longer able to run. This type of malware is very persistent. You may think that it has been removed and the PC shows no signs of it being there, but it pops back up a few hours or possibly days later.
There are many help boards that explain how to remove this type of virus, but it can be risky. Editing your registry is not for the inexperienced computer user. You can cause a lot of damage to your operating system if you are not sure of what you are doing.
My advice; back up your data on a regular basis. This is a good practice to follow anyway. If you do start getting messages about your PC being infected, scan it right away with the anti-virus you have installed. There is some good scanning software that will remove most of the infected files for you but most likely, it will not get everything. Be careful and if you are not completely sure of what you are doing, let a professional do it for you. Data is not easy to recover.
Has this ever happened to you?
You decide to make an online purchase or join a web service or something similar and at some point in the process you are asked to choose a password. Oh great, another password to choose.
So you try to use your good old favorite password that you’ve used for everything for years only to find out that it doesn’t have enough characters in it.
So you add a few extra letters or numbers only to find out that it also has to have Letters and Number, so you fix that.
Then you learn it has to have UpperCase and LowerCase characters so you change it to satisfy that requirement only to find out it also has to have special characters as well.
After about half dozen or so attempts you finally end up with some really long password that you’ll never remember but you are happy to move on to the next step in the process.
We often find this totally secure, impossible to remember, very strong password written on a yellow Post-it note and stuck to the edge of the monitor...
The next time you have to choose a password, try to remember to visit http://www.safepasswd.com where you’ll find a free and very easy to use web interface that will help you choose a strong password that you might have an easier time remembering.
In today’s world of fast PCs, super laptops and smart phones; has your need for printing quickly gone by the wayside? Here are some tips to help print faster.
1) Print to a wired connection. Wireless printers are a convenience for most of us, but it is much slower than a USB or Ethernet attached printer. If you must be wireless, accept the slowness. This goes for printing from a laptop or PC that is wireless as well.
2) Add more memory to your printer. Many business printers come with a fixed amount of memory. What a lot of people don’t realize is the memory can be upgraded just like a PC. More memory allows for more to be stored on the printer and it does not have to wait for the print job to finish spooling before it starts printing.
3) Update your drivers. Just as PC hardware has driver updates, so do printers. These updates are published for a reason. They usually correct an issue that the manufacturer has found and can help speed the process up. If you have a network printer, check to see if there is a firmware upgrade for your network card.
4) Print in a lower resolution. We all love to see the fantastic images produced by our digital cameras, but when we are printing a text document; do we need the same resolution? This will also save on your ink costs.
5) Look for a new printer. Some printers are just plain slow. There is no way around it. If it is an older printer or not manufactured to print fast, this might be your only option.
There is an abundance of printers on the market today. Lasers, inkjets, and thermal transfers are all out there. When looking for a new one, think of what you might be doing in the future. Are you considering a new camera? Are you looking to grow your business and might have a need to print flyers? There is something for everyone, but make sure your printer keep up with you.
The inclement weather that we’ve had in the DFW area recently got me to thinking, about how telecommuting has changed through the years. I’ve watched the news for the last few days and there is an emphasis about staying home from work and not endangering yourself or others by getting out on the road. They are pretty bad, covered in ice with a nice dusting of snow.
With all this going around me, I’m still able to get my work done from home. This type of work is called Telecommuting, and it has come a long way in the last 15 years. The main item that allows us to connect to our workplace is VPN, which stands for Virtual Private Network This is a connection that allows you to connect to the workplace network. This gives the computer we work on the ability to connect to the internal computers to do our jobs. It’s almost as good as being there in the office. The only downside is, you may not be able to access items as quickly as you would normally being actually in the office. Speed is determined through how fast your connection is at home. The upside is that you never have to get out of your PJ’s and bunny slippers.
Workplace doesn’t have VPN and you still need connectivity? I do not recommend one service over the other. These are merely alternate methods of connectivity. If you have an IT department, you may ask them if it’s ok to install these products on your work machine. If you have a desktop you need access too, there are a few software products you can use to access your work machine. Gotomypc and Logmein are 2 products that allow you to connect remotely to another computer as long as you have internet access. There is a small software piece you have to load on the target machine. After this is done, you just have to log into your gotomypc or logmein account and control your machine. From what I hear, both products are quite good and either would allow you to do your work from home.
Keep this in mind the next time you are looking at the weather report and see snow and ice around the corner. What is the saying about Texas weather? If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute and it will change?
Throughout the year, rolling blackouts are occurring. Be the energy consumption due to extreme heat or cold, they are occurring. Most business locations I have encountered have had a UPS or two in their rack, but are what they have enough?
An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is a battery backup device that helps to protect electronic equipment in the event of a sudden loss of power. Much of the computer and network equipment today can suffer damage if power to them is suddenly cut off. Servers provide file and data storage. This information can become corrupt if power is lost. Loss of power to network equipment can prevent communication on the network. A UPS can ensure that this equipment remains operational, even if you lose power.
The size and power of your UPS depends on your load. This is determined by what you have plugged into your UPS. Do you run your servers, switches, KVMs, routers, and PBX from one UPS or is each item on its own UPS? There are tools that the UPS manufacturers have made available to determine you load.
What does your UPS do when you lose power? Most UPS manufactures provide monitoring software with their equipment. With some software, you can configure your equipment to shut down gracefully when there is a power loss or to keep the equipment up and running and then shut down when the battery is nearing depletion. Remember that the more items that you have plugged into a UPS, the faster the battery supply will drain.
Uninterruptible power supplies come in a wide variety of capacities and price ranges. When you are considering a UPS, look at these factors. What equipment do you want to keep running and for how long? Do you want long term power or just enough to shut down? What are your space restrictions?
If your data and communications are important to you, UPS selection is not something to take with a grain of salt. Are you willing to possibly lose data? I would rather take my chances at the Blackjack table!
Malware is software designed to interfere with a computer's normal functioning. This can include computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware, dishonest adware, scareware, crimeware, rootkits, and other malicious and unwanted software or program. Most of the time, these programs are installed without the users consent.
So how does it get on your machine? Usually, it is because you have installed something from an untrustworthy source. Does the phrase “Pop-Up” come to mind? Many toolbars open your computer up to the installation of malware. Once you are “infected”, the installed malware can install other malware. It is vicious cycle.
Recently, I have seen several versions of malware referred to as scareware. The software pops up messages saying your computer is infected and it asks if you want to remove the infection. According to the software, you will need to purchase the software to remove the offending program. In fact, it does not remove the program but continues to install more malware and has cost you money.
How can you prevent this software for loading on your PC?
- Have a quality anti-virus program. You must keep it updated to keep the malware from downloading and installing.
- Set your internet browser to alert you anytime something attempts a download.
- Avoid downloading software from unknown or un-trusted websites. Read the fine print on the download.
- Avoid pop-ups. You can do this with pop-up blocking software. Most internet browsers include a pop-up blocker.
- Disable cookies in your browser. Malware can install cookies on your computer.
The best advice is pay attention to what you are doing. If you don’t, you could be in for a lot of headaches, not to mention the time to remove these gremlins!
I was speaking with a client the other day that had recently experienced a brief amount of downtime on a mission critical server for their entire company due to a hardware problem.
We were able to resolve the problem quickly and place the server back online but the experience led to further discussion between us about the cost of downtime and the value of network uptime to a company.
The Gartner research group estimates the average cost of downtime to be about $42,000 per hour per company. Since this is an average, some companies lose far less, while others report seven-figure losses per hour.
Because there are so many variables, it can be very difficult to calculate what the cost of network downtime is with just a few factors being loss of business, loss of discounts, penalties for late payments, costs of idle equipment and telecommunications, costs of facilities, the cost of repairs, missed deadlines, overtime, data recovery etc. but one component that is fairly easy to calculate and usually the largest cost is the lost productivity or idle labor associated with downtime.
As a hypothetical and, very crude example, for a 40 person company with an average salary of $50K per year per employee, it costs approximately $1,200 per hour of downtime just due to the lost productivity. As I said, this example is unrealistically low and does not take a great many variables into account with the actual costs being much higher.
Obviously this is a deep subject that we could spend a lot of time talking about but the essence of the conversation is that today’s computer networks are an essential component to almost any company’s productivity.
Many companies recognize the importance of their computer networks and how IT enables their business to function but some companies have to experience a significant downtime period before they place the proper value on their network uptime.
In any event, when I speak with people on this topic I always summarize it like this. "Downtime is expensive, very expensive and should be avoided at all costs. It is much less expensive to avoid downtime than it will be to endure or recover from it."
Take good care of your network and it will go a long ways towards avoiding downtime. Your business depends on IT.
After fixing my large screen tv from the “blinking light of death”, I sat there awhile admiring my handy work. This started me thinking, If it were not for the internet and search tools, A tv repair man would have been called out to repair my TV. Given the age of my set, it would have cost me more than the TV was worth.
I used Google as my search tool. Maybe you’ve heard of it before? It’s been around a little while.
Simple to use, just start typing what you are looking for. “Mitsubishi Blinking light” without the quotes. Click on search and viola, you have results. I was looking for something specific, so it was easy for me to wade my way through all the items that did not pertain to my situation.
That’s searching in a nut shell. Just type in the items you are looking for separate by spaces. Sometimes we don’t really know what we’re looking for specifically. This can be overwhelming when searching. This is where search techniques come in handy.
I’m going to focus on the Google search engine because that is what I use the most. So here are some tips.
Try searching for specific terms. If you just type in Blue Sports Car into the search field, Google will return everything that has a Blue or/and Sports or/and Car. If you use the quotes “” , Google will search for those 3 items together. So type in “Blue Sports Car” with quotes and Google will return everything that actually has Blue Sports Car within the web page.
Still too many results and need to narrow it down some more? Try excluding items. I noticed with the above search of “Blue Sports Car” resulted in a few website advertising gifts. I want to narrow my search and exclude those items. We can do this by using the minus sign - . So I’ll narrow my search and exclude gifts by entering in “Blue Sports Car” –gifts. This will exclude any webpage with the word gift. If you have multiple items, just list them out separated by a space. Ie.. –gifts -twin -wallpaper.
These are just a few of many search techniques you can use to simplify and narrow your results. Hope they help you find what you are looking for.
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