Smilin' Duck Computer Services provides computer repairs, virus removal, DSL and cable modem setup, data back-up & recovery, virtual support, and technology consulting for Windows, Macintosh, and networks. Serving the Worcester and Boston metrowest areas.
Researchers
with Matousec.com recently found a way to circumvent some of the most
popular security programs for Windows computers, including products
from Symantec, McAfee, Microsoft, AVG, Avast, Trend, Kaspersky, Sophos,
ZoneAlarm, and others. In other words, viruses and other bad software
can hide from all of today's anti-virus programs and similar tools.
These malevolent programs can then spread easily with very few
restraints. The problem exists only on the Windows operating system;
Linux and Macintosh users are not affected.
Keeping up with Windows viruses, Trojan horse programs, spyware, and
other problems can be scary at best. The best defense is to keep a good
anti-virus program installed, and always make sure it is up to date
with the latest updates. Also, you should avoid web browsers with known
problems.
I have repaired many computers that were infected with
various "malware" problems. (Malware is an acronym for "malevolent
software”). Many of the computers I fixed had anti-virus programs
installed, but those programs had not been updated recently. An
out-of-date program is as useless as no protection at all: the computer
is not protected against the latest attacks. And new attacks appear
every week.
Nearly every digital copier built since 2002 contains a hard drive -
like the one on your personal computer - storing an image of every
document copied, scanned, or emailed by the machine.
Used, discarded copiers then get sold without the previous owners
having a clue about all the data they just let go of. In a way it’s
worse then disposing an old computer with a “live” hard disk – at least
in the case of the computer, you know what information may still reside
in it…
OOOPS! My desktop Windows XP system wouldn't print to the HP LaserJet printer so tonight I downloaded and installed new printer drivers. One problem: after installation, the Windows XP system immediately locked up. Control-Alt-Delete did nothing. I eventually powered off, waited a few seconds, then powered it on again. A few seconds later, a message appeared on the screen: "Boot: Couldn't find NTLDR - Please insert another disk"
Protect Your Computer With Our Online Backup Serviceand receive unlimited storage space for as little as $5 a month!
Most
computer users make no backups at all. That means they will lose data
someday. All computers will fail sooner or later. Will YOU be prepared?
Research
shows that tape backup fails to recover data as much as 50% of the
time. Furthermore, most computer users do not have adequate offsite
protection for their data in the event of a major disaster, such as
fire, flood or storm damage.
We use a reliable and secure backup solution from U.S. Backup Systems. This online backup
solution eliminates unreliable tapes while providing critical offsite
data storage for disaster recovery.
The U.S. Backup Systems'
Online Backup Service seamlessly integrates online backup, offsite
storage, archiving and recovery into one tape-free solution that
guarantees 100% recovery.
A new
program is available from a company that knows quite a bit about
Windows' security problems: Microsoft.
Every Windows computer
needs to have an anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-rootkit, and
anti-Trojan program installed. You can find several to choose from at
your local computer store for perhaps $20 to $60 or so. However,
knowledgeable computer users have successfully used free anti-virus
programs for years.
Note: While all the free
anti-virus programs do seem to protect against viruses, not all of them
protect against the other problems: spyware, rootkits, and Trojans. The
new program from Microsoft claims to protect against all of those.
I have written before about the "threats" of identity theft.
Know-nothing politicians and bureaucrats often try to restrict access
to public domain records and online databases with an excuse that
restricting such access will somehow reduce identity theft. Sadly, that does little good.
A recent research report by
Heith Copes of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Lynne
Vieraitis of the University of Texas at Austin has proven the point.
The two examined identity thieves and their methods. Copes and
Vieraitis searched federal court records in the US for people convicted
of identity theft and then interviewed the thieves. They were able to
find 297 inmates, from which they sampled 59 inmates in 14 prisons
across the country. The convicts agreed to do detailed interviews, in
private, to talk about themselves and their crimes. I would suggest the
results should be studied by every politician and bureaucrat.
