Dangerous Malware and Malware Scams
Dangerous Malware and Malware Scams, how to spot them and keep them from infecting your computer. Prevention and using a layered security approach is best.
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Window 10: To upgrade or not?
Microsoft has announced that the next version of its operating system, Windows 10, is in development and available for preview and to be released soon.
But what happened to Windows 9?
Microsoft doesn’t really answer the question well. Tony Prophet, Microsoft Windows marketing boss says, “It came and it went.” To be honest, skipping around seems to be something Microsoft does. If you remember, there was Microsoft Vista and following that version was Microsoft 7 and then 8. Another point of view for skipping version 9 has been said that it is considered an unlucky number in Japan where Microsoft has a large presence. For whatever true reason Microsoft skipped version 9, I hope version 10 will live up to what Microsoft is selling.
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Watch Out For These Kinds of Viruses
My big repair today was the removal of a rootkit virus that damaged my customer’s computer. The rootkit apparently changed permissions on his folders and apps. This rootkit virus also stole my customer’s data.
In my second installment of viruses, I will describe different types of viruses. Identifying the type of virus is an important first step in the removal of the virus. Knowing what kind of virus infection you have may point to different removal steps. Also, if the virus is the type that steals password information, then changing your passwords may be an important step to protect your banking and financial data. Removal of viruses will be addressed in future blog posts.
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Removing a virus
The simple way to remove a computer virus is to never get one in the first place. Good virus protection will help to ensure this but even the very best virus protection cannot catch everything. So there are people who have virus protection and still get viruses. Usually these are people who have failed to regularly update their virus protection or have let their virus protection expire.
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Apple Watch
Apple has finally announced the launch of its Apple Watch on April 24, 2015. Pre-orders are being taken now. Just so you know, wearing an Apple Watch will be like wearing a computer on your wrist which will constantly beam messages at you. But like any computer it can break or get water soaked.
The watch has a colorful Apple logo on the standard model with zany hands that will give you time if you can figure out which numbers it is pointing to. I don’t think that many will care about the time but what this miniature computer will do for us that our iPhones can’t.
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Is Apple pay worth it?
Waving your Apple iPhone at scanners to pay a charge sounded so easy, but now increasing fraud is bringing this high tech phenomenon down. Cherian Abraham, a mobile analyst says that about six percent of Apple pay purchases are done with stolen credit cards.
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Superfish Adware Flaw
The discovery of a serious flaw in Superfish adware has allowed hackers a field day. Lenovo unfortunately had preloaded the Superfish adware on its new computers prior to February, 2015, but has released a tool to eliminate the adware. The adware acts by not properly validating website certificates and weakening encryption so that it can be read.
The same code library is used by an Israeli company, Komodia, to circumvent Web encryption with a proxy. The flawed software allows hackers to create bogus certificates to mimic legitimate ones used by websites, including those of banks’ online access. The hijacked website would be redirected to the attacker’s bogus website. The victim’s browser would give no warning that this redirection was happening.
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Tips for protecting your computer and your identity
Last year the Federal Trade Commission received more than one-quarter million stolen identity complaints. 13 billion dollars a year is spent by the private sector to protect against cyber threats. Recently, Anthem, a health care provider, announced that its files had been hacked and now 80 million customers faced the possibility that their important data had been stolen. Clearly, identity theft has become a growing problem. This blog will provide some tips for prevention of online identity theft.
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Apple iPhone 6
Have you got your new iPhone 6 yet? iPhone fans last Fall were lining up at stores to buy it. I had a look at one recently. My first impression was that the screen size was not too imposing and the feel of it in my hand was impressive. The new tech features include a second-generation 64-bit chipset, a new camera system and supports up to 150 Mbps LTG and 802.11 acWi-Fi.
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