Windows Updates

It may sound obvious to some people, but one of the things I see the most is a Windows system that does not have the most current Windows update.  Every second Tuesday of the month Windows issues a Windows Update to improve the system or to patch security holes. If there is a critical security problem then Microsoft will do an out of cycle patch and issue a fix as soon as they have a solution. It is VERY important to allow your computer to install all these patches – don’t ignore them.  How do you know if there is an update?  On the bottom right of the screen (near the clock) you will see an image indicating that an update is available.  The two images above show the Windows 7/Vista update icon and the Windows XP update icon.  To install the patch just double click the icon.  You can also force an update by clicking Start and, for Win 7 and Vista, start typing in Update.  For XP go to Start > Programs > Windows Update.

If a computer is not updated with the update then you are very vulnerable to being a victim of a hacker, virus or malware  How?  When an update is issued to fix a security hole hackers then know that there was a hole and they go out looking for computers that haven’t patched that security hole.

Stay safe, stay updated.

New Telephone Scam

Here is an email bulletin I just received from Microsoft.  I haven’t seen or heard of this personally, but it’s something everyone should be aware of.

In the last few weeks we have received a number of complaints about a scam that seems to be making rounds in Canada. You receive a telephone call, the person identifies himself as a technical support representative from a company that you trust. They inform you that their software is reporting that your machine has some issues and ask you to open a particular error log file. There are files on your computer that keep error logs for various programs so on opening the file when you find the conditions that were described by the ‘tech support representative’ your guard is down and your level of trust has increased.

From there they can ask you to download a ‘diagnostics’ program or coax you in to performing a series of steps that will give them complete control over your machine and complete access to your data. How do you prevent yourself from these scam artists? Never follow instructions given through an unsolicited telephone call, contact your IT department for verification and use your common sense. When in doubt, verify, it cannot hurt. Do keep on checking www.microsoft.ca/protect and www.microsoft.ca/security to stay informed about the latest threats and prevention techniques.

Back it up – Twice!

There is a saying among computer people (i.e.. geeks) – if it’s not backed up twice it’s not backed up.

I am a huge proponent of doing regular backup’s of data.  Most people don’t back up until they’ve suffered the pain of losing data and I’m one of those people.  About 10 years ago I lost an entire hard drive and it cost over $800 to retrieve all the data.  Ten years later and those prices are about the same – it’s not easy to retrieve data from a bad hard drive.  Ever since then I’ve done regular automated backups to an external hard drive using 3rd party back up software (currently I’m using Genie-Soft, but if you have Windows 7 the built-in back-up software is actually good – it was pretty useless in XP and Vista).  If you don’t have a lot of data you can save some money and use a USB flash drive to back up your essential pictures, documents, etc.

But what happens if a real disaster happens?  Your house catches fire, your computer (and backup drive) are stolen, a tornado rolls through the area.  It was this last one that really got me thinking since the Midland tornado was only a few kilometers from where I live.  The solution is to back up off-site – somewhere on the Internet.  My first thought was that the one thing I could never recreate were all my digital pictures.  For this I started to use Google’s Picasa.  The basic Picasa account comes with 2GB of free storage space, but I quickly surpassed that and purchased 20GB of space from Google for an amazingly low $5 a year.  I like Picasa because I can back up all my pictures and mark them Private (so only I can see them, but they are still backed up) plus I can mark others as public so then I can show all my family and friends pictures online instead of emailing everyone pictures.  You can see my public gallery at http://picasaweb.google.com/dennisjmadison

Now what about a complete online backup that is really automated?  For this I use Carbonite. From their website:
”Carbonite installs a small application on your computer that works quietly in the background looking for new and changed files that need to be backed up. It looks and feels just like part of your computer, and is integrated with your operating system - there's no new interface for you to learn.”

It is priced from $54.95 a year to $129 for three years (the package I went with).  It works extremely well and doesn’t slow up your computer.  As a bonus you can access your files from anywhere in the world.  Just log into your account online and you can access all your files.  Just make sure you use a strong password and that you never lose it.  Carbonite encrypts all your data twice – once on your computer and again on their servers.  Even they won’t be able to access your files so make sure you know your password.

Even if you don’t back up your data twice, please back it up in at least once spot and be sure to do it on a regular basis – daily, weekly, monthly.  An old backup is better than no backup.  Two backups are even better.

Dangers of “Free” Music

Many of you know that I always warn of the dangers associated with “free” music through such programs as LimeWire, FrostWire, Bit-Torrent, etc.  My warning has always been that you never know what you getting when you are downloading movies or music though these services.

The way these programs work is that you are connecting to another persons computer to download their copy of a song/movie.  The danger is that you don’t know if that person’s computer is infected or not and you could be downloading a virus without knowing it.  Even if you pay for the premium version of LimeWire you are still getting your files the same way and there is still no assurance that the files are safe

But I have an Anti-Virus, aren’t I safe? Unfortunately no.  The people who these write the viruses are very clever and they can actually insert code into a song that carries another program with it which is not a virus.  This program, referred to as a “trojan downloader”, can then go out and download other programs onto your computer without you knowing it.  These programs are not necessarily viruses, but instead programs that spy on your web viewing thus targeting you for advertising, or even stealing passwords.  By all means run a good anti-virus program (I recommend Mircosoft Security Essentials) which will catch some true viruses or poorly written virus attempts.

The reason I bring this up again is that just this week I worked on a computer that had one of trojan downloaders embedded right into an AC/DC song. Once that song was played it ran the program which included shutting off all anti-virus programs.

The safest thing to do is not download “free” music because it’s not always free – there is always a catch.  If you want music go to iTunes and pay the artist.

Netflix Comes to Canada

The big news for this week is that Netflix has come to Canada!

For those of you not familiar with Netflix, it is a service that has been running in the USA for many years.  Using a computer, Wii, PS3, XBox 360 (coming soon), or Boxee (coming November 21 – more on Boxee later in this post), you can view thousands of TV shows and Movies for $8 a month with your first month free.  In my opinion, a great deal. In the US it is $9 a month, but that also includes one free DVD rental a month – something they don’t plan on doing in Canada at this time.

I signed up right away and I plan on continuing my subscription once the trial runs out.  Before you get all excited that you will now be able to cancel your satellite or cable TV, wait until you see the selection.  I had no illusions that Netflix would be a replacement, but rather compliment my cable service (Rogers).  The main complaint with the Canadian Netflix is that is does not have a very current selection of TV shows or movies and that everything is old and obscure (with the except of Mad Men, which they don’t even have on the US Netflix) and that it doesn’t compare to the US version.

All of this is true, but I find the selection more than enough to keep me happy until they add more content.  The service has been running less than a week up here and Netflix needs to negotiate with all the Canadian partners to get the same rights to some more shows and movies – it’s not a simple matter of flipping a switch so we can watch the US version.  You can thank the CRTC for that.

I recommend that everyone with any interest in streaming TV shows and movies give this a try.  I’ve hooked up a laptop to my plasma TV with an HDMI cable and it’s just like watching cable TV.

Bandwidth Warning: Netflix uses about 1GB per hour of viewing. Unlike the USA, Canadian internet providers have put relatively low bandwidth limits on how much data you can transfer on your internet account. In the US it’s either unlimited or really high (250GB per month) while my middling Rogers account has a limit of 95GB.

Boxee

As I mentioned above there are several ways to watch Netflix on your TV including Boxee.  I was thrilled to see that Boxee is available for pre-order at Future Shop and Best Buy for $199.

Boxee is a device that hooks up to your TV and, using a Wi-Fi connection, connects to the internet.  The US version of Boxee allows you watch NetFlix, though your existing Netflix account, as well as YouTube and several other “web-casts”.  What excites me the most about Boxee is that it hooks up to your own home network and will play any movies, pictures and music that are on you home system.

There is another system called Roku in the US that is not currently offered in Canada, but hopefully with the introduction of Netflix this will be coming soon.