What will you do when you hard drive fails?

Let me propose a hypothetical situation.  Its 3:00 AM and you are putting the final touches on a company proposal you have just spent the last two weeks writing.  This proposal is going to make your career when you present it in tomorrow’s meeting with your boss.  You hit save and decide to get a few hours of sleep before you have to get ready for work.

At 6:00 AM you wake up and go to your computer to email a copy of the proposal to yourself, but all you see is the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” and you can clearly make out the words “Hardware Failure” on your display.

Panicking you punch the power button off and then back on only to find the computer will not boot, displaying “No Boot Disk Found”.  The big meeting is in less than an hour and you have nothing to show for the 2 weeks of hard work you spent on this project.  What do you do now?   Data recovery in this situation can take 3-4 weeks and generally cost between $600 and $1,800.

Well you have 2 options:

1)      Panic

2)      Panic more, because you just lost all of your children’s pictures as well.

How can you be sure that this doesn’t happen to you?  It’s easy, Backups.

There are two basic types of backups you can perform.

1)      Onsite Backups

• Onsite Backups consist of an external hard drive which utilizes a special backup program to scan for file changes and backup all of your important data as needed.

2)      Offsite (or online) Backups

• Offsite (or Online) Backups consist of a special program that installs on your computer.  This program also scans for file changes and backs up all of you important data to a server that is in another location.

How do you decide which backup plan is right for you?  Well let me tell you about some of the different aspects of each.

With an onsite backup you have the convenience of being able to restore your files to another computer as soon as needed.   This can be a plus if you need access to your files immediately.  The drawbacks however are that even external hard drives are subject to failure.  Also, if your computer and external backup drive are subjected to a fire then you have still lost all of your data.

With offsite backups you get a managed backup that will warn you if files are not being backed up properly.  We at Computer Trouble Shooters of Flower Mound offer an online backup option using a server which we maintain.  One of the added benefits of this option is we can restore your most important data to a portable drive and bring you that data quickly.  One of the added benefits of an offsite backup is that your data is safe even in the event your computer and external backup drives are damaged in a fire.

The choice really boils down to which option do you feel safest with?  Either option you decide to go with, our experienced technicians at Computer Trouble Shooters of Flower Mound can help you setup you backups so that your precious data will be safe.  Give us a call today to answer any questions you might have (972) 353-8888

© Microsoft, Inc.

Conflicker.  MyDoom.  Sassar.  Blaster.

If you have heard any of these name before you know that they mean trouble.  These are some very common, and very difficult to remove viruses.  Each one of these viruses detects and exploits weaknesses in your system, and each one will thrive whenever it discovers that you system has not been properly updated.  Each month, Microsoft releases updates for their Windows systems.  Included in these updates are patches which will eliminate any software holes the Microsoft Developers discover.  By taking away these holes in your system you greatly decrease your chances of contracting a major virus.

To date, Microsoft has published thousands of updates.  But the most important updates are the Service Pack Updates.  These include major patches to keep unwanted viruses and hackers out of your systems.

To see what Service Pack your computer has been updated to all you have to do is go to Control Panel> System

Located in the “General” tab you will see what version of Windows you are running (i.e. Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7) and you will also see which Service Pack your Windows Operating System is running at.

• Windows XP users should see Service Pack 3
• Windows Vista users should see Service Pack 2
• Windows 7 users you will be getting your first Service Pack in the first half of 2011

Getting the latest service packs as well as updates is easy, all you need to do is make sure that your Automatic Updates is turned on and set to download and install automatically.   It really is that simple.  If you don’t want the updates to interrupt your daily computing then you can set the Update schedule to a time after you typically go to bed (it is set to 2:00am automatically).  After all is setup you just need to make sure your computer is running at the time your updates happen.

If you are one of the many people who wish to save energy (and I commend you for this) and you like to turn off your computer at night, there is an easy option for you…A manual Update!  It’s easy, I promise.  If you choose to download your updates manually, I suggest you check them at least once a week to make sure you have all of the latest updates.

• For Windows XP users, if you open Internet Explorer and in the upper right hand corner you click on “Safety” (or tools if you are still running an older version of Internet Explorer) you will find a link for “Windows Update”

• For Vista and Windows 7 Users all you need to do is go to Control Panel> Windows Update and you will see a link called “Check for Updates”

See that was easy, and now you too can keep your computer up to date and running smoothly with the latest patches and releases for Microsoft.

Not so hard, and you can save yourself many frustrating hours of virus infections by following the simple steps I outlined above.

Well, here we are again, time for a blog update.  This time we are going to talk about passwords.  Everyone knows the importance of passwords in our new digital age, but do you know how to create a truly strong password?  I’ll bet you good money that by the time you have finished reading this article you will have been convinced to change your password.

So how are passwords cracked?  There are several different ways, but the most common way is by understanding the way a person thinks.  Social engineering is what this type of hack is called.  By trolling your social networking site (i.e. Facebook, Myspace, and blogging accounts) a hacker can quickly determine the name of your children, spouse, and favorite hobbies.  Using this info I’ll bet that half of the readers here would easily have their systems hacked into.

The second most common way passwords are cracked is by simply reading them from your computer.  In the early days passwords were stored in “plain text” format.  Very quickly, software creators realized that saving passwords in such a way created a great security flaw.  And so they encrypted the passwords.  Ever since then hackers have developed many new ways to crack a password.

What can you do to prevent someone from easily accessing your personal data?  The best solution is to create a difficult password that only you can remember.  One of the best methods for developing a strong password is to first create a phrase you can remember.

“I go to New Mexico to fly fish”

Now using this phrase, take the first letter of each word “I g t n m t f f”.  For the “to” in the phrase substitute numbers and then capitalize some of the letters like this: Ig2Nm2Ff

You have now created an unbreakable password that is extremely difficult to guess.

Thank you for reading, be safe and enjoy your technology.

© 2000 Randy Glasbergen

Why do we encrypt our wireless networks?  To keep the spies from watching us of course, but seriously there are several good reasons to encrypt your home wireless networks.  The most obvious one being that anyone can connect to an unsecured network.

If you are going to spend good money each month for your internet service, why would you give it to your neighbors for free?  This is especially bad in an apartment complex, here up to 10 of your neighbors can steal your unsecured internet connection and greatly slow down your internet speed.  But there are far greater dangers to sharing your internet connection with the strangers around you.

At the top of our dangers list we have Trollers.  These are people who drive around looking for unsecured wireless networks and steal as much data as they can from the networks in hopes of finding out your personal information.

So how is this possible?  Well, in a network all data is viewable by all computers.  Now this data is fragmented and requires reassembly (this typically happens at inside the program you are using) but with enough knowledge anyone can steal passwords, bank account info and credit card info from your network.  All they need is a connection to your network, and this is where your unsecured wireless network comes into play.  The best way to stop these Trollers (and your no good neighbors) is to encrypt your network.

Right now there are two different ways to encrypt your network:

• WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy)
• WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)

WEP is an older technology that has been around since the mid 90’s.  This type of encryption uses a 128-bit key to encode the data between your computer and the wireless router.  There are some downsides to using WEP to secure your network, most notably the fact that readily available cracking software can break the encryption in a matter of minutes.  The only reason that WEP is still available as an option today is because some of the older operating systems and network cards cannot handle the newer WPA.  I know for a fact that Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 and under cannot handle WPA encryption (this is yet another reason to keep your Windows Operating System up to date).

WPA and WPA2 were developed by the Wi-Fi Alliance in the early 2000’s as an answer to the security flaws in WEP.  This type of encryption uses a much stronger 256-bit encryption key which is derived by applying a PBKDF2 key derivation function to a user definable passphrase and then “Salts” the key using the wireless SSID.  Have I lost you yet?  Now do you understand why this type of encryption is much more secure?

So, what have we learned? If you want to keep your data safe from nefarious characters, encrypt your wireless network.  And use WPA2 encryption for true safety.

Next time I think I want to talk to you about the importance of password complexity.  Until then, be safe and enjoy your technology.

Hello readers, it’s time once again to learn something new about your computer.  Now, I know that I promised everyone that I would talk about the importance of encrypting your home wireless network…but I have changed my mind.  Recently I have had a rash of customers with hardware failures and I wanted to take this opportunity to discuss the causes and preventions of hardware failures.

Hardware failures tend to happen when you least expect it.  You can be surfing the internet when suddenly the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” appears and your computer will no longer power on.  So what happened?  Why now all of a sudden?

Typically your computer will actually shows signs that something is failing before the day it dies, however interpreting those signs can be rather tricky.  Sometimes just a slower running computer can be a sign that a critical piece of hardware is about to fail on you.  More often than not this slower behavior will be mistaken for a virus infection, or my personal favorite excuse “That’s just Windows for you.”

So what causes hardware to fail?  The most common problem is heat.  Like all electronic devices, computers generate a lot of heat when they run.  It is important that your computer can remove that heat properly, and the preferred method of heat removal is the computer’s fan.  But like all objects which move, over time the computer’s fan can slow down or stop working.  Even a large enough collection of dust inside the computer case can cause the temperature to rise.  Over time that extra heat damages the delicate circuits on the system’s board and eventually causes a failure.

Due to their compact size and limited room, laptops are usually the most susceptible to heat problems.  Most laptop users become well aware of the heat issue after using the computer on their lap for an extended period of time.  One of the easiest methods of cooling your laptop down is purchasing a cooling pad.  These cooling pads sit underneath the laptop and blow air across the bottom of the computer to help remove all of that heat buildup.

As for desktops, it is essential that the fans be in good working order.  If the fans are old they can start running slow or intermittently.  It is a good idea to have your computer’s fans checked by a professional when your computer gets to be a few years old.  Replacing your fans is relatively inexpensive compared to replacing your motherboard.

Besides making sure the fans work, it is a good idea to occasionally remove the dust that builds up inside.  Don’t be scared to open your computer up to clean it out.  After turning the computer off and unplugging it from the wall outlet, you can typically remove one side of the computer’s case by taking out 2 screws located in the back.  Once the side is off, you can gently blow out the dust using a “can of air” purchased at any office supply or computer store.  It is not a good idea to vacuum out your computer case or use your mouth to blow the dust out because damage can occur to critical components.   As always, if you do not feel comfortable cleaning out your computer call us and one of our technicians will clean it out for you.

Well readers, that is all for today.  Next time I will talk to you about Wireless Network Encryption…maybe

Until then, be safe and enjoy your technology.

***Warning!!! Fake Anti-Virus***

Why is it that viruses target my machine more than my daughter’s iMac? Have you ever asked that question before? If not, then chances are your daughter owns a PC too.

All kidding aside, there is good reason why virus creators target computers running Windows, Adobe Flash or Java. The short answer is 90% of the world’s computers run on Microsoft Windows, and 95% of the computers in the world run Adobe and Java products. These aren’t exact figures, but they are pretty close.

So, lets put ourselves in the virus creator’s shoes for a minute. If I wanted to target the largest audience, and steal the most information from computer users, I would want to structure my virus to work best in those computers that are running similar software. And since most of the computers in the world run a combination of Windows, Adobe and Java, I’m going to target those computers specifically.

Now over the years virus creators have become smarter. They have started to disguise their viruses to look very similar to legitimate programs. Just recently, I have seen an increase in the number computers infected with fake anti-virus software. For those of you who are fortunate enough not to have been effected by such a program, fake anti-viruses will start with your computer and “scan” your system for infections. A few seconds later this fake anti-virus will show that indeed you are infected (big surprise) and ask you to pay $60 to upgrade to the full version of the program in order to rid your computer of these “detected” infections. Unfortunately, I have had several customers who fell for such a trick, and soon afterwords were calling their bank to cancel their credit cards.

How can you avoid such scams? Well the easiest method is to be careful of what you download, and always make sure your Windows, Adobe, and Java software has the latest security patches installed (see my last blog for more info on that subject).

But of course the best course of action is by installing Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware on your computers. There are many different Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware programs out there for you to choose from, so which one is the best? Honestly, any of the major brands (just not their free versions).

I know, everyone was hoping that I would blurt out some wondrous program which will protect you 100% of the time and not cost anything. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but nothing in life that’s worth it will be free.

I do however know of a way for you to get both Anti-Virus and Anti-Spyware programs for a great deal….

****Warning! Shameless Plug Alert****

We offer just such a bundle!!! By partnering with AVG and SuperAntiSpyWare, we are able to offer both products together for practically a steal.

Now, the lawyers won’t allow me to post the actual price of our bundle (some mumbo jumbo about trade restrictions or something, I’m not very good at all of that legal non-sense), but there are other ways for you to get the price. Give us a call (972) 353-8888, and we will tell you the price absolutely free! At least something was free

Anyway, I think I have talked for long enough today. Stay tuned because next week I will discuss the importance of encrypting your home wireless connections. Until then, be safe and enjoy your technology.

© copyright Adobe Systems Inc.

Hello all, My name is Ben and I am a Senior Computer Technician with Computer troubleshooters of Flower Mound. I want to take some time each week to discuss topics related to your computers, how they work and how to keep them safe. This week I want talk to you about those annoying Adobe Flash and Java updates that pop up on your computer from time to time.I have heard all sorts of reasons for why people don’t install those updates. The most prevailing reason seems to be a distrust of the programs. Clients have told me that they fear these updates are actually viruses in disguise. Unfortunately these fears are not entirely unfounded. Virus creators have become experts in the art of disguising their malicious programs to appear as legitimate programs running on our computers. The worst consequence of this being that when the time comes to actually update certain programs we start to question whether clicking install will help or harm our computers.

Let me put a few of these fears to rest. To date, I have not encountered a malicious program which can disguise itself as a Java or Adobe update. This is good news, because those updates are essential to helping keep viruses and spyware out of our systems. The reason Adobe and Java require so many new updates is because virus creators a on a constant search for weaknesses in their code. With each update a hole is covered to keep the latest viruses from sneaking in and damaging our data.

It is always a good idea to install the Java, Adobe Flash and Adobe Reader updates whenever they come out with new updates. Don’t worry about searching the internet for when new updates will be released, these programs have built in abilities to search on their own and will let you know when its time to install the latest patch.

Next time I want to touch on the topic of why virus creators target Windows, Adobe, and Java software more than others. Until then, be safe and enjoy your technology.