Our Latest News

Daylight Saving Time Update

Beginning in 2007, daylight saving time (DST) will be extended in the United States. DST starts on March 11, 2007, three weeks earlier than usual. It ends on November 4, 2007, one week later than usual. In order for your computer to automatically adjust for the new daylight savings time dates you will need to install an update from Microsoft. You can find out more about the update by clicking this link

http://support.microsoft.com/gp/cp_dst

If you need assistance installing your update, please give us a call.

Data recovery is here.

We are now equipped to recover your data using our state of the art data recovery equipment. If you have a system failure, a hard drive crash, or just need to retrieve missing pictures off a digital memory card chances are we can retrieve your data. Our best chances for data recovery are immediately after the drive fails before you try other methods. If your data is a must, then call us. We have also partnered with DriveSavers, Inc. If we can't get your data they can. Our clients will receive a 10% discount.

One way to help avoid Internet scams.

Unfortunately in today's society it seems for every person out there trying to invent a better way to do things, there is someone else trying to figure out a way to scam it, steal it, or destroy it. Online scams have gotten extremely sophisticated. Many illegitimate websites ask for you to update or confirm your confidential data. They are exact duplicates of normal websites, but, instead use your information to steal your identity or your credit cards. Here is an example of a recent attempt we thwarted. We received an email that appeared to come from PayPal (an EBay company). This email asked us to confirm certain things about our account. We clicked the link in the email and it took us to an exact duplicate of the PayPal website. It was truly identical. We noticed in the address bar it didn't say PayPal but it still asked us to login with our user name and password. We forwarded a copy of the email to PayPal and asked them if it was legitimate. They answered us quickly and informed us the email was a scam and in no way associated with PayPal

Here is one way to help protect yourself. Most illegitimate sites do NOT know your user name and password. They give you a login and password area and hope you enter your info so they can steal it. Then they ask you to enter account info in hopes they can steal that also. The first thing we suggest is to purposely login in with an incorrect username and password. In fact, don't even come close to your original. The one we used was quite interesting (expletives deleted). If you are on a fake site in most cases it will still log you in and then ask you personal information. If that happens close the page and report the site. If you are not sure whether the site is legitimate contact the company in question directly (not from the site) and ask them. Our scam website said something similar to notifications.paypal.com. Even though it has PayPal in the name it not part of PayPal. The bottom line is be careful, be wise and if you are not sure, don't take chances.

Spyware, Spyware everywhere.

Most computer users have become accustomed to having pop-ups occur while surfing the net. Many users fight the pop-up war by installing a third party pop-up stoppers. We think this is a big mistake. Most pop-up stoppers activate a split second after the pop-ups start to occur. As far as your computer is concerned the pop-up has still occurred and it has to run additional software to suppress it. Eventually the amount of pop-ups increase and the computer has to work harder and harder to keep them suppressed. This severely degrades system performance and resources. In some cases it will take five minutes to complete an action that used to take five seconds. The worst case scenario is that the computer will stop functioning entirely.

The truth is you don't have to waste your computers resources fighting the pop-up battle. If your computer is clean of spyware and virus free, pop-ups would not be an issue. Windows XP Service 2 has a built in pop-up stopper. Spyware bypasses the built in pop-up stopper in Windows XP. We are amazed at how many people consider pop-ups something you have to live with while on the net. Our clients know this is not true. As an example our office computers are on 24 hours a day 7 days a week for years at a time without pop-ups! A computer with proper virus protection that is free of spyware does not have pop-ups.

Examples of spyware contributors:

Comet Cursor, Limewire, Kazaa, WeatherBug and Wild Tangent all decrease your computers defense against spyware and pop-ups. Certain web sites like lyricsdomain.com, ezone, imesh and thousands of others all contribute to spyware. P2P networking programs invite spyware in like its an old friend.

Protect yourself

There are over 100,000 virus/spyware threats out there. Statistics show that one out of every five computers has a virus. Proper virus protection is not a luxury, it is a necessity. There are many virus programs available, however, some work considerably better than others. Having virus protection is not the only key to a protected computer. Many people have protection but forget to update it. Outdated virus protection is like expired car insurance, worthless.

Symantec (Norton) has taken a huge leap forward in protecting your systems against viruses and spyware. Their latest product Norton Internet Security Anti-Spyware Edition is an excellent product and has taken detection and repair to a new level. The only problem we see with the program is your computer needs to have enough processor speed and memory to run the program properly without bogging your system down.

Floppies out?

Flash drives are now common, they fit on your key chain and some of them can hold as much as 1,000 floppy disks (yes I said 1,000) The need for floppies has diminished greatly and many new computers no longer include a floppy drive unless requested as an option.

Wireless is everywhere, but is it safe?

Because of its convenience, wireless networking is becoming more common. Unfortunately, many people do not bother to encrypt their wireless networks. This is a HUGE mistake! If you installed a wireless network and are not sure if it is encrypted please give us a call. An unencrypted wireless network is the equivalent of leaving your door open with a sign outside that says “Feel free to enter, snoop around the house and use it as a hangout.” Connecting to unencrypted wireless networks on the road will also expose you to the same dangers of people snooping around. For more info on the dangers you face you might want to do a google search for wardriving and warchalking. You would be amazed what some people make a hobby of!

What's new from Microsoft?

Microsoft has a beta release of a new anti-spyware tool and now also releases monthly updates of the Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool. Both of these products help protect your computer.

The bottom line:

Keep your system up to date and chances are you will have a much safer and more enjoyable computing experience.