Due to overwhelming response, we have officially opened a new shop location!

Our new shop address is

4800 26^th St West

Bradenton, FL 34207

In-Shop services, drop off’s and pick up’s are available by appointment only. Please call us at 941.739.3600 to arrange a time for one of us to meet you there.

Of course we still offer our Free Mobile Service at your home or office, whenever it is convenient for you.

We are looking forward to seeing you there and continuing to provide you with the outstanding service you have come to expect.

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Facebook is becoming really popular for phishing scams, kind of like the ones I talked about Here and Here.

Here’s also a good article about Facebook’s privacy settings and what you should know.

A good rule to follow is always remember that the information you put on your Facebook (or anywhere else on the internet) is just that – on the internet. Limit what you share and be careful giving too much information away!

And hey, since I know you are on Facebook anyway, stop by our Computer Doctors page and say hello!

See you there, Jeanette

“The expression is a general term used by computer professionals to mean a variety of forms of hostile, intrusive, or annoying software or program code.”

This word is actually a proper blanket term for most infections currently circulating. This includes, worms, adware, spyware, or trojans. This software refers to the malicious intent of these kinds of infections. Malware is after all a short word for Malicious Software .

If “pink is the new black”, then malware is the new virus. Using this term in the proper context will show off your new Computer Infection Education!

Brad Button

“Worms use a computer network to send copies of itself to other computers on that network“

  This malware does self replicate like a virus, but it’s small and doesn’t piggy back with other programs. Instead, it clogs up a network by constantly trying to find other computers to compromise.

In my personal experience, these infections tend to by odd in nature and in most cases may not make itself known to the user. They can be used to compromise and control large amounts of computers on a network or lay dormant on a timer. These may be first noticed by a firewall or by network performance issues.

In my opinion, this is where good preventive measures really shine. If you suspect you have a worm, I recommend disconnecting from your current network (both wired and wireless.) This helps any other computers that you have on the network from becoming infected.  

Keep your antivirus and anti malware/spyware protection updated!

 Brad Button

“A rootkit is a software program or coordinated set of programs designed to gain control over a computer system or network of computing systems without being detected.”

  Rootkits are the scourge of all computer technicians and their customers.

This is the means by which your infection keeps coming back even after full scans and manual infection removal. This program can hide files so well that even windows won’t know they exist!

If the rootkit is so new that antivirus companies are unaware of them, it is possible the infection can only be removed by way of full system format. As stated above, they can be so elaborate that even after you do all the scans in the world, hidden files will not only slip through, but they will re-infect your system.

If you think you have a rootkit, I personally recommend that you call a technician as soon as possible if all other scans have failed. We have a very high success rate with these nasty infections, and the sooner you call the easier it is to avoid extreme measures.

Brad Button

“Trojan horses are designed to allow a Hacker remote access to a target computer system.”

  Trojan is another word used often as blanket term for malware or a virus. This sneaky program does not replicate itself like a virus. It’s not the malware you will eventually see from this infection.

When I come across Trojans they are typically used as the doorway that serious infections use to get in your computer. For instance, you may click the wrong pop-up, which then infects you with a Trojan - Usually by way of a scare tactic, system optimizer, or error fixing program.  Once installed, it lets a remote system know you are vulnerable to attack by the main infection. Preventing or removing this threat can mean the difference between an infection that requires a tech and a simple scan with your antivirus and/or malware removal program.

If your antivirus detects and reports a Trojan to you I always recommend you stop what you are doing. Save and close your current work and do a full system scan.

 Brad Button

In the lower right corner of our Web site, you will see a bubble that says “Need help?” Clicking that will connect you to someone in our office during most normal business hours. There, you can ask a question, get information, or leave a comment. It’s always free to chat with us!

This is an example of a an email you want to check out before you click (like we discussed in this post) This potential phishing email is telling you that someone wants to be your friend. It’s not from a bank like our last example talked about, it actually looks like it’s coming from a online community that you (supposedly) belong to.

But do you know who this is? Do you recognize the site that sent you this friend request? Probably not. I received this email and I have never heard of this ‘community’ or ‘friend’.

See the blue bubble box that is teling you that you have to click? Remember – You never have to click!

You can always do a quick Google search to get info about these types of emails if you are unsure if this is a phishing scam – See what other computer users are saying about the company. See if it is even a real company! Check out some of the forums that talk about them. Then you can make an informed decision before clicking that link.

Also, be wary of just clicking that bottom link (Click here to block all emails from…) because if this is a phishing scam, clicking that link will have the same same effect as clicking yes. You and your computer are vulverable to  identity theft and spyware attacks.

Not all emails are like this are phishing scams, but there are new ones coming out every day. Even if you find that this email is from a legitimate company, do you really want to click that? Be careful about giving your personal information out to an unsolicited sorce like that. If you didn’t ask for it, then don’t click it.

Thanks for reading,

Jeanette

Power surges occur when something boosts the electrical charge somewhere in the power lines. This can cause an increase in the electrical current flowing to your wall outlet. A number of different things can cause this to happen (like lightning or big appliances in your home that take a lot of energy to start up.)

There are a couple of things you can buy to help you protect your equipment and help prevent potential damage – Surge protectors and battery backups. You can find these at most retail stores that sell computers or accessories.

If you have a surge protector between the wall outlet and the computer equipment, you are helping prevent that surge from damaging those items. Some other good things to plug into surge protectors are your TV and entertainment system.

Battery backups (also called UPS or Uninterrupted Power Supply) will also help take the damage when a surge or power outage happens, and will also give you the added feature of keeping your computer running for a short time if the power goes off. This may be useful if you are in the middle of a large project and haven’t yet saved your work – you can quickly save and then safely turn off your computer while your battery backup keeps things running. Most battery backups only last a couple of minutes, so you won’t have time to finish feeding the Farmville animals on Facebook! It’s just designed to give you time to safely shut down your computer.

Please note that these items are only designed to help prevent damage – they are not always 100% effective. Sometimes even with the best equipment the worst can happen. That’s why it’s important to back up your data… but that’s a topic for another article!

Thanks for reading,

Jeanette

But some phishing scams aren’t so easy to detect.

For example, you might get an email from an address that looks okay and you can’t tell that it’s “Spam”. Sometimes it says that you purchased something and the email wants you to click the link to verify the purchase. Other times you might receive emails from your “bank” asking you to renew your online banking password or dispute a charge. You may actually bank with this company, and the email sounds alarming so you might be inclined to click and see what they are talking about.

Stop!

Before you click, look at the link the email wants you to click. Is it really leading you to where you think it is?

I found a great article from Microsoft about how to recognize phishing e-mails or links to help you see what I am talking about. Following those guidelines can help you protect you and your computer. Identity theft is a huge problem and “phishing scams” like these effect people all over the country every day.

Be careful about what you click!

Jeanette