Category: Journal

Sneaky Ways Criminals Gain Access To Your Computer

burglar - Microsoft scammers try to gain access to your computerSooooo…  while I was working late tonight a malware/virus company made the mistake of calling me (Angela) to try to get me to allow them access to my computer. And I have to say, I had a GREAT time with these guys — obviously Steve and I don’t get out much. I happened to have my cellphone nearby and I recorded the entire affair. Is it awful that I had a fun with these dweebs? (Does that make me a bad person?)

I’ve uploaded the exchange. Want to hear? Want to know what they are trying to do? Want an example of how this works? Take a listen. (And don’t worry about reporting their URL, we already did that!)

Please, please don’t let people like THIS bamboozle you. Microsoft will NEVER call you and no technical support will EVER call you. If someone calls you or if there’s a number that pops up on your computer for you to call to eliminate malware and spyware — it’s a scam. Don’t fall for it.

Again, I had an absolute BLAST with these jerks. It was fun to play dumb about what they were trying to do. And it was a wonderful opportunity to educate our clients (and the general public). Do you blame me for doing my best to frustrate the begeezus out of them? The typing you hear is me preparing a report to Google on them. Yeah. I did that while I was on the phone. 🙂

Be sure to listen until the end… what a hoot!

Now, with all this said. If you have any questions about your computer, call us. We won’t call you, but we are always here for you to call us. (And, unlike these guys, we actually want you to be safe online.) Truth.

You need to know that when these guys call, and they gain access to your computer, they are doing so to INSTALL malware and viruses and to charge you money to remove what they caused. It’s pathetic, really. They should be hung by their toenails. Seriously. *shaking my head*

Under the Title of “What a Piece of Crap”

McAfee Crapware Warning

Adobe Reader – used by so many computer owners – now does not even ASK before downloading McAfee Security Scan Plus in tandem with the Reader download. That is an underhanded practice.

At Danville Computer Doc, we despise sneaky “no options” downloads. That is called malware. And when it’s a piece of “you know what” like McAfee — that we never EVER recommend for any client. Yes, it’s that bad — as you can imagine since they now have to swindle unsuspecting users to download their junk.

In addition, Adobe Reader takes the liberty (again without asking) of changing your “default program” for PDFs to itself. What a royal pain!

So, if you want a better way to do PDFs — try Foxit Reader. It’s what we use. It’s faster, it’s lighter-weight, and it doesn’t come with piggy-backing, unwelcome programs — nor does it assume that it’s the only game in town and change your preferred program without asking.

Also be warned that this is automatically checked on Adobe Flash installs. So be careful to uncheck it when installing Flash too.

If you have already been suckered into this malware install you can uninstall it as follows:

  • Under Start menu, go to all Programs
  • Right click on McAfee Security Scan
  • Select “Uninstall”
  • Reboot your computer

If you have any questions about this, call us. If you want a recommendation for good virus protection (hint: It’s NOT McAfee), call us. 859-755-4344..

How Much Do You Want to Share?

WiFi Security Breach in Windows 10 Operating System

Today, Microsoft is sharing their new operating system — Windows 10 — for free to Windows 7 users and Windows 8 users.

And, if you take them up on that offer, you will be “sharing” stuff too — like, for instance, your wifi password — with every contact you have on Skype and Outlook — and possibly Facebook. No kidding.

This new “feature” called WiFi Sense doesn’t share your password, but offers an encrypted key to allow your contacts to use your wifi when they are within range. It also means that your information is stored on Microsoft servers. Yes, it’s encrypted, but that’s just a little too invasive for the Doc’s comfort level, so he doesn’t advise using this without seriously considering the possible security dangers inherent in sharing your information.

Yes, you can turn this off, if you don’t want to allow it — but you need to be aware of it, especially if you decide to use the easier, “express” installation, which will turn this on automatically.

You have now been warned.

Encrypted or not, if another device is accessing your network, it HAS your password and a savvy hacker can use that to gain a little more information that you might be willing to share.

For more information, consult the FAQ page over on Microsoft’s page — and then do a little independent research and see what the hacker sites and the security sites have to say about it — BEFORE you open up your private network to contacts.

If you have any additional questions about this, give us a call. We are here to help — 859-755-4344.

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All My Google Results Show Up In Italics – What Gives?

Italic Fonts in Google ResultsWhen your Google something, and the results in Chrome show up as Italics — it usually means that the font normally used for this is missing.

Determine What Font Is Used

If you right click on the text that is in italics, you can “inspect element.” A window at the bottom of your screen will come up and you can scroll through that to find information about fonts. If, for instance, you see Times New Roman — then it’s the Times New Roman font that has an issue. Most likely, the “regular” version of the font is missing so the browser is auto-substituting another version — the italic version.

Check Your Fonts Folder

To get to your fonts folder, go to Start –>Control Panel –>Appearance and Personalization –>Fonts. This will contain a list of all your currently installed fonts. Double click on the font you determined that your browser was using; in our example, this is Times New Roman. This will open up the font versions and you can see if the “regular” version exists. If it’s missing

Download The Regular Version of Your Font

If you Google “download Times New Roman font” you will have options of places you can download the font. Be careful that you use a REPUTABLE site to download, so you don’t end up with a bigger problem in the form of a virus.

Install the Font

Once you download the font, you can install it. Your italics issue should be gone now (but reboot your computer just to be sure.)

(Note: if you are missing basic Windows fonts, chances are great that you are missing other essential Windows files. It may be time to backup all your data and wipe your computer, putting a fresh install of Windows on your machine. If you need help with that, give us a call, it’s what we do!)

Computer Doc Changes Business Direction

Danville Kentucky Computer Doc Changes Business DirectionWe love our clients — the business clients, the individuals, the creatives, the entrepreneurs, the nonprofits and the public in general. We have found a wonderful place to do business here and it is gratifying to help people. We love it!

We don’t want to lose that, but we also want to have weekends occasionally and be able to stop working before the wee hours of the morning. After two years, the time has come to find a little work-life balance and to get enough rest to be able to deliver the best possible work to our clients.

We are Only Two

Steve and I recently had to consider how we do business, how many hours we can work per day, how many days we can work per week, and how we could help the most people and make the biggest difference in our community with the 24 hours available in each day.

Our business has grown to the point that we either had to hire more people — one to work in our reception area, another to work in the shop with Steve, and a third to help with graphics and website development — or we had to trim back on our client list — which we didn’t want to do.

The City’s Decision Helped Us Make Our Decision

While we were mulling over if we wanted to grow our payroll to continue to expand our services, the City of Danville decided to raise payroll taxes. Our decision was made. We will not be hiring additional staff. With that new information, we had to make additional difficult decisions on how to trim our workload and still help as many people as possible.

Why We Do What We Do

Steve and I both want to be sure that our work makes a difference. Simply “making a living” is not enough for either of us. We want to be a part of improving the local economy, of supporting small businesses and nonprofits, and helping our neighbors succeed in their businesses and organizations.

  • We believe that positive change starts at home.
  • We believe in grass roots approaches to improving our world.
  • We believe that the only way our country will get stronger is through the power of small business.
  • We believe the work of local non-profits matters and that assistance should come from neighbors not government.

Continue reading

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Radio Show: Ubiquitous Computing

Ubiquitous computing, computing everywhere, and The Internet of Things is the topic for this week’s Radio Show. We talk about:

  • The creepy, eavesdropping “Hello Barbie”
  • Automating and remote controlling your car
  • The dangers of connecting to public WiFi
  • Appliances and gadgets to automate your home
  • and other topics

Listen now:

 

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LiFi the Next Generation of WiFi?

What’s LiFi?

LiFi, which uses light waves rather than the radio-waves utilized by WiFi, may be the biggest advance in data transmission since wireless options appeared on the market. Visible communications is a low-energy, highly secure method to transfer data through the air.

How LiFi Works

LiFi uses an LED light that flickers at a rate too fast to be detected by the human eye (which translates it as a solid “on” light), these flickers are projected and detected to send and receive data packets without wires and with 10,000 times the available bandwidth of traditional WiFi!

Why You Might Want LiFi

Although it doesn’t require line of sight, the LiFi is stopped by solid objects such as walls — so your neighbors can’t try to hack your LiFi from their house! It also offers the following advantages:

  • Lower Cost
  • Requires Fewer Components
  • Extremely Low Energy Use
  • Higher Speeds Than WiFi
  • Safer for Humans and Animals
  • Won’t Conflict or Interfere with Other Electronic Devices (There’s no electromagnetic interference.)

How It Will Be Used

From standard “in house” and “in office” data transfer to specialized applications like:

  • Underwater applications which absorb radio signals too much can benefit from the use of light signals
  • Mines and Petrochemical Plants where Electromagnetic fields might be dangerous
  • Medical Applications where WiFi would or could interfere with essential equipment
  • Toys – safe interactivity between toys with low power requirements for longer battery life
  • Turning signs, streetlights, even vehicle headlights into data hubs
  • Offload excess data requirements of cellular networks to offer relief in bottleneck areas

Although it’s a relatively new technology, you can expect to see it grow in the near future.

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Danville Computer Doc on the Charlie Perry Radio Show!

Danville Computer Doc on the Radio

This morning, (on Friday the 13th no less) we had our first appearance on the Charlie Perry Show. This first episode of  DanvilleComputerDoc.com on the show, broacast on WHIR, will be followed by more on Friday mornings.

The show was hosted live, but you can hear the recording here:

 

If you missed us this week, we hope you will catch us next week from 9:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on WHIR, Hometown Radio.

In the meantime, if you have any questions you would like to pose, you can contact us here on the website, call us at 859-755-4344.

 

Danville Computer Doc's Steve and Angela on Charlie Perry's Radio Show in Danville, KY

We had a blast doing this show and look forward to next time… so JOIN US!

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The Computer Doc Has a New Robot Patient

XENEX-Robot in Danville KYEphraim McDowell Regional Medical Center has unveiled a cleaning robot that utilizes ultraviolet light technology to clean patient rooms. This new robot, by Xenex, already has a general practitioner on standby. That robot doctor is Steve Knight of DanvilleComputerDoc.com.

In order to qualify to be the robot’s primary care physician — Knight had to study the design and build of the robot, pass written examinations on the repair and care of the Xenex robot, and become Xenex certified to handle any and all “ailments” the machine might have.

The robot star was recently featured in the Advocate Messenger and the Computer doc is looking forward to working to keep his patient healthy, so the Xenex can work hard to keep our local facilities germ-free and help promote the wellness of EMRMC’s patients and our community.

The Xenex robot joins a long line of computers, networks, companies and tech-loving individuals that Danville’s own Computer Doc helps to keep healthy and happy.

Welcome to Danville, Xenex!

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