Microsoft will not call you

Pardon the redundant warning ...

I hope this reminder falls in the same category as “buckle your seatbelt” and just reinforces the diligence you already take to treat every offer from a stranger with a grain of salt. My saying it now was inspired by a warning in a WindowsSecrets (1) that there is a current rash of this type of scam.

Microsoft will not call you offering to fix a problem you didn’t know you had. (Neither will Dell, Google, Facebook, the IRS, or anyone else.)

If you get an unsolicited call, email, or popup on your screen  referring to some critical issue that you must use their assistance to repair right now – it’s likely to be a scam!

• Do not click anywhere inside a popup.
• Do not install anything that you didn’t go looking for.
• Do not ever give anyone you don’t know access to your computer or your money.

The exception to these rules might be if you can’t open any of your files and the only thing you can see is a message that you need to send some anonymous entity money – usually via Bitcoin. This is a ransomware infection and it is probably real! In this case, immediately unplug your computer and contact your computer professional. Most likely, you are toast. The only solution is to pay up or start over with your backup data. Also, unfortunately, if you delay or attempt to get around this on your own, you run the risk of even corrupting the good backups you do have.(2)

Actually, some people may legitimately initiate the call such as to inquire or warn about an atypical credit card charge. If they ask you for privileged information such as an account or Social Security number, you are perfectly right to make them identify themselves. The best thing is to for them to be able to give you a piece of non-public information such as the first digits of a Social Security or credit card. For more ways to verify a caller, see the tips in "Should I Open This Email" (July 2012). If you independently have a contact number for them such as the support number on a the back of a credit card or 911 if they claim to be police; hang up and call them back. do not trust a callback number they give you.

Feel free to share this with all your friends and relatives who have a computer or telephone and use the internet.

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(1) Here’s the open link for WindowsSecrets, because you never click to go to unknown websites from a link you might not trust: http://windowssecrets.com/newsletter/better-localcloud-management-for-big-data-sets/
And a couple weeks later Windows Secrets alerts us to a "support" scam directed against Dell owners: Support scam alert for Dell users: http://windowssecrets.com/field-notes/tech-support-scams-take-a-disturbing-turn/ (note: this is a 2-part article; scroll down past "Windows 10 ..." to read the report on the new scam). 
   
(2) Which is where I make my pitch for you to buy your Carbonite automatic, online backup service from me:
http://partners.carbonite.com/thetechnologyinterpreter

. This work by Bill Barnes is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://zaitech.com/satellite/contacts.htm.
(cc) 2016- Bill Barnes - Disclaimer - Home Page - Blogs Home

Malware Alert !

Ransomware. It’s not a new form of malware (ie: viruses, trojans, worms, phishing, spyware, even spam), but neither has it faded into the background over time. Many of my clients needed my assistance after encountering it sometime during 2010. It first came to my attention 3-4 years ago in the form of “AntiVirus 2008.”

The vector is that, after visiting an infected website, a notice pops up on your screen that there is “a problem with your computer.” The “problem” it refers to may be a virus infection, update due, or disc defrag needed. The popup could vary from a poor imitation of a Windows information box to a dead ringer for the Windows Update shield and dialog or a Microsoft Security Essentials notice. Typically it uses spyware tricks to reload even after you’ve left the website or rebooted the computer. Usual Windows close window buttons in or on the window are often ineffective and you can only get it off your screen by right-clicking its icon on the taskbar. The window advises “click here” to resolve the problem – but beware! – clicking anywhere in the window could run the program. Then you’re in trouble!

You asked the website to install a program. It doesn’t need a rootkit or worm to run the malware. You asked it to install. Check out a full discussion of the process at http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/lizamoon-infection-a-blow-by-blow-account/.

Once the ransomware is installed, it locks up your computer only allowing you to go to their website to undo the damage. Of course, the “repair program” costs $20-$150. If you don’t shell out, it may have already encrypted your hard drive or it may corrupt your data before you can stop it.

Luckily, most of my clients contacted me and did not actually install the program. While they couldn’t get rid of the popup, I could log on as an unaffected administrator and squash it with a System Restore and multiple malware scans from different sources such as antivirus vendors, Malwarebytes, and Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool. Between alert refusal to install the program, antivirus scans, storing data on a server – not an active client computer – and backups; only one home user lost significant data. Everyone lost significant time and incurred the expense of my services.

. This work by Bill Barnes is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://zaitech.com/satellite/contacts.htm.
(c) 2011 Bill Barnes - Disclaimer - Home Page - Blogs Home

I hate getting a new computer

Mea culpa.

My computer died. About a third of my important data was on that computer, without a recent backup.

Yes, that does happen; even to professionals who should know better.

I spent five days trying to ressurect it before I gave up and decided to start over from scratch. I promoted my test bed to be my primary computer and set this one aside to be rebuilt and used in situations where I’ll never trust it again.

Now I have to go about making “a” computer “my” computer again. Two weeks later, I’m finding significant programs I forgot to reinstall and nothing works exactly like I’m comfortable with. Oh, I did have a backup that was about 6 weeks old. Most of what I will weep over losing was a month-and-a-half worth of emails.

What's missing when you get a new computer?

PROGRAMS

The computer comes with Windows which includes Internet Explorer and Windows Mail for your primary online needs. It probably also included a 30- or 90-day subscription to a security suite. Maybe you bought it with an office program and even a personal finance program. What else could I want for my computer?

The first thing I do is uninstall the bloated security suite and install a cleaner updated antivirus only utility. Then I connect to the internet and run Windows Update.

Now I need a few utilities to work with the computer the way I want. These include Firefox, a compression program such as the free 7zip, a media player such as iTunes, a .pdf reader, and some administrative utilities appropriate to my business. Then come drivers for accessories such as my webcam, scanner, smartphone, and printer. Now I remake my network connections to file storage and printers.

Whew! I haven't even started on the application programs. In addition to an office suite and money manager, I use a graphics suite and a number of tools for web authoring. I'm sure I'll find more programs I need as I use the computer. Fortunately I'm mostly organized and can usually put my hands on the original CDs or downloads and activation keys of my programs.

Now, I've got a functioning computer, but it's not my computer. I keep most of my data on a network drive, so usually I won't have to restore that 100 GB. But some programs such as Outlook Express insist on keeping their data on the local drive, typically in some obscure location you wouldn't think about backing up. Even though I have my Outlook 2007 old mail and contacts data on a network drive, all of its connection settings are integral to the local computer so I have to look up user names, passwords and account settings for a half-dozen email accounts. And don't ask me how much I've personalized Word and Excel. Generally, the more complex the program, the more likely that it saves it's settings and preferences irretrievably in Windows.

Microsoft does offer a couple utilities that purport to help you save and transfer your settings between computers. The Files and Settings Transfer wizard (FAST) collects some important and some trivial Windows settings from your logon password to your desktop color. It also will copy your cookies and favorites from Internet Explorer and the contents of your My Documents folder. The last can take a long time and a lot of disc space if you keep music and pictures, as well as documents, in that folder. I recommend that you point it to a USB hard drive with lots of space. It will not get any data such as I mentioned above that is not in My Documents.

For Microsoft Office, you can also use the Microsoft Office Save My Settings Wizard which is usually in the Microsoft Office Tools folder. It will, with one operation, collect a lot of the more obscure personalizations in Word, Excel, Outlook, and other Office programs.

Both of these wizards apply only to the current user. That means your spouse and kids will have to run it individually. You'll also have to manually move data in Shared Documents. And, of course, they only pick up the customizations in Microsoft programs.

Now that I'm up and running, I can start worrying about hardware productivity features. My new computer did not come with an upgraded video, so I will have to move that from my old computer (if it's compatible) to use dual monitors. Also the keyboard has a slightly different layout that causes me problems. Unfortunately, my old keyboard uses a different connection and I will have to deal with that.

My situation was made more difficult because the old computer completely failed. If you are merely upgrading, you can always go back to the old machine to look at settings or get that template for your letterhead. I was saved, however, by the fact that most of my data is not actually on my computer. Even with a six-week-old backup, there was very little critical data that I lost.

. This work by Bill Barnes is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 US License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://zaitech.com/satellite/contacts.htm.
(c) 2008 Bill Barnes - Disclaimer - Home Page - Blogs Home

Protect your data!

Here's a cautionary tale that I heard on the net.

We had an incident that, not to get into much HR related stuff, appears to be a fired employee(s) initiating a mass deletion of files off the shared folder on the file server (over 100 GB). I happened to be looking at the file system at the time I started seeing all the files disappearing. Shortly after, I got calls from users that files were gone.

Anyone who has files shared by more than a couple very trusted users needs to read this type of article every couple months. It can happen to anyone either through malice, ignorance (that's a polite way to say "incompetence"), or accident. Poof - and years of work are gone.

Of course, that won't be a big deal since you all have good and current backups of your current data. A couple hours and it's all back where it belongs.

Even so, organizational and administrative practices - even for home users - will help minimize the likelihood of this happening to you and reduce the total lost time when it does.

• Organization - Know what and where your data are. Did you let your bookkeeping program put it's data somewhere deep in a hidden folder? Do you have momentary notes and personal letters mixed in with archival documents? Where do you keep data that should be available to all users?
• Permissions - Since we quit using Windows 98, we've been able to restrict who may view or change data on a file or folder basis. Are you using this capability to protect sensitive HR or financial files (or your paystub) from users who shouldn't be reading this information (your kids)?
• Backup - Now that you've got everything straightened out administratively, you need to protect it against physical disaster.

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