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Strong Passwords Keep Your Personal Information Secure

A recent ZoneAlarm survey revealed that 79 percent of consumers use risky password construction practices, such as including personal information and words.

The survey also revealed that 26 percent of respondents reuse the same password for important accounts such as e-mail, banking or shopping and social networking sites.

In addition, nearly 8 percent admit to copying an entire password found online in a listing of “good” passwords.

Given these numbers, it’s no wonder that 29 percent of respondents had their own e-mail or social network account hacked, and that over half (52 percent) know someone who has had a similar problem.

The first step a hacker will take when attempting to break into a computer or secure account is try to guess the victim’s password.

Automated programs are available to repeatedly guess passwords from a database of common words and other information.

Once a hacker gains access to one account, almost 30 percent of the time that information can be used to access other sites that contain financial data such as bank account numbers and credit card information. To ensure you stay safe online, here are a few tips for creating a strong password.

Use Unique Passwords For Each Account
Choose different and unique passwords for each account.

Passwords Should Be Eight To Ten Characters Long
Choose a password that is at least eight to 10 characters long. This should be long enough to prevent brute force attacks, which consist of trying every possible combination of a password until the right one is found.

Avoid Using Personal Information
Make sure your password is difficult for someone to guess. Do not use names of any kind, including your login name, family member’s name or a pet’s name. Also avoid using personal information such as a phone number, birthday or place of birth.

Avoid Words In The Dictionary
Avoid words that can be found in the dictionary. With the availability of online dictionaries, it is easy for someone to write a program to test all of the words until they find the right one.

Avoid Repeating Characters Or Sequences
Stay away from repeated characters or easy to guess sequences. For example: 77777, 12345, or abcde.

Use Numbers, Letters And Special Characters
Choose a password that is a mixture of numbers, letters and special characters. The more complex and random it is, the harder it will be to crack.

Use Word Fragments
Use fragments of words that will not be found in a dictionary. Break the word in half and put a special character in the middle.

Frequently Change Your Passwords
Change your passwords often. Even if someone cracks the system password file, the password they obtain is not likely to last long.

Cyber crime is on the rise. Taking the time to actively choose secure passwords will protect your identity, banking information and personal information. And remember, writing your password on a sticky note on your monitor isn’t secure!

The Three Scariest Threats To Small Business Networks

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.
While spam, pop-ups, and hackers are a real threat to any small business network, there are three security measures that you should be focusing on first before you do anything else.

Worry About E-mail Attachments, Not Spam
Sure, spam is annoying and wastes your time, but the real danger with spam is in the attachments.

Viruses and worms spread primarily through cleverly disguised attachments to messages that trick you or your employees into opening them.

Another threat is phishing e-mails that trick you by appearing to be legitimate e-mails from your bank, eBay, or other financial accounts.

Here are three things you must have in place to avoid this nightmare. First, keep your anti-virus up to date and enabled. This sounds like a no-brainer, but it’s not uncommon for an employee to disable their antivirus software “because it bothers them.”

Second, educate your employees on what is and isn’t allowed on company computers, e-mail, Internet access, etc. One thing that should be on the list is that they should never open suspicious attachments or respond to phishing e-mails. We highly recommend creating an acceptable use policy (AUP) to teach your staff what NOT to do.

Third, put monitoring software in place to maintain the health of employees’ desktops and automatically “police” employees from accidentally visiting a phishing website, downloading a virus, or visiting questionable web sites.

Fear Downloads Before Pop-Ups
Did you know that most computers and networks get infected with viruses because the user actually invited the threat in by downloading a file (screen saver, music file, PDF document, pictures, etc.)?

Again, this comes down to training your staff on what they can and cannot do with your company’s network. Again, the best way to avoid trouble is to remove temptation by installing monitoring software that will prevent employees from downloading or opening dangerous items.

We also recommend installing and maintaining a good firewall, which will block Internet traffic to and from dangerous sites.

Lose Sleep Over Backups, Not Hackers
You are more likely to lose data from hardware failure, accidental deletion, human error, flood, fire, natural disaster or software corruption than a hacker.

Sure, you should do everything to keep hackers out of your network, but not backing up your data to a remote location is incredibly dangerous. At a minimum, you should have an onsite and offsite copy of your data, and you should be testing your data backups regularly to make sure your data can be restored in the event of an emergency.

So, here’s the scary Halloween question for you: If you came into your office tomorrow morning, and your computers and server were destroyed or missing, could you recover your data, and how long would it take?

Common Problems With Printers And How To Solve Them

If you have to print on any kind of regular basis, you know how frustrating printers can be. Fortunately, most printer problems are a lot simpler than they appear and are relatively easy to resolve.

Here are a few tips:

First, think about what has changed on your computer and printer since the last time you were able to use the printer. If nothing has changed, the problem should be easy to solve.

Check to see if the printer is on, you never know if someone during the day might have unplugged the printer or just turned it off.

Next, check the display on the printer if it has one. If it does not have one, then check for a status light. Usually if there is an issue, it will be blinking.

If it is blinking or there is an error code, then look in the owner’s manual which should give you a list of all the errors that occur with the printer. Most manuals will also give you a way to diagnose the problem.

A lot of printer issues are related to toner or paper and can usually be resolved very easily.

Check for obvious paper jams. There are usually a few covers that can be removed to help try to get the jam undone.

Most printer jams can be avoided if you flip through the paper before you put it in the printer. This eliminates static and clears any paper dust that might be on the paper.

If there is a toner issue, then it might be because either the cartridge is bad, low, or completely empty.

Almost all printers will give the computer user some sort of error message by either the display on the printer, status light, or the actual computer itself.

If the printer is a laser printer, then there is a toner drum that should be replaced about once a year depending on how much it is being used.

If your printout is fuzzy or faded, then this is a sure sign the drum needs replaced.

If there are no signs of issues with the printer then check the USB cable connected to the printer. Most cable problems will say the printer is offline due to connectivity issues.

Printers can be connected to a computer via USB or parallel port. Check both ends to make sure the cable is completely connected. If you have another cable, it never hurts just to swap them out to test the cable.

If you have an ink jet printer and you get smudged or blurry images, you might want to look up the utility on the printer that cleans and or aligns the print heads.

Most ink jet printers either have software that can start this process or have a setting on the printer itself that can kick start it.

If your printer produces strange characters, it’s likely that you have a printer driver problem. When a printer acts up and there are no hardware problem, the solution is often a driver issue.

A driver is a piece of software that helps the computer communicate with the printer. Drivers are updated constantly – be sure to check yours.

These are just a few problems that can happen. These should help a novice user start to troubleshoot typical problems with a printer.

Did You Know?

If you don’t know how to open a certain file type, go to www.openwith.org. There you can search by the extension (.doc, .mp4, .zip, etc.) or by the type of file (video, document, etc.), and the site will tell you which programs will open that file.

To delete multiple files, click the first file…press and hold the Shift key…then click on the last file. All the files from the first to the last clicked will be selected. Then drag to the recyce bin. To select files that are not next to each other, keep the Control keep pressed as you click on the files, and every file you click on will be selected.

To save a Web page as a PDF, enter the page you want to save at www.html-pdf-converter.com, and you’ll have a free PDF copy in moments.

If you need a quick and simple timer, use the “egg timer” website. Simply enter the time you want to count down at the end of the address. For five minutes, you’d enter http://e.ggtimer.com/5minutes. For three days and 12 hours, enter: http://e.ggtimer.com/3days12hours

 

Desktop or Laptop? What To Consider When Choosing

Are you out shopping for a new computer, but are unsure of what to buy as far as a laptop or a desktop? If so, here are some simple factors to keep in mind to make that decision.

Price
Because of the higher cost of computer components and assembling them, a laptop computer will be more expensive than a desktop model with the same specifications.

If you are only going to be using the computer for basic tasks such as word processing and surfing the Internet, a laptop would be perfect for you.

If you are more into playing video games or running video editing software, a desktop computer would be suited more towards your needs.

It will have the memory to run those programs and the hard drive space to store everything.

Space
It may seem like a contradiction, but while desktop computers are getting smaller, laptops are going in the other direction because of the greater number of functions they are being asked to perform.

A laptop is still more easily stored out of the way than a desktop. The laptop is the obvious choice if space is an issue.

The real question to ask is whether the space which the computer will be occupied can be permanently sacrificed for housing information.

Portability
If you are looking for portability then there is only one obvious winner here. However, it should be asked whether a computer is likely to get the most use out of it being placed in one spot or when it is moved around for use in different rooms.

If you are going to use your PC at home, at work, and on business trips, then a laptop would definitely be the better value.

Ergonomics
The most important thing is being comfortable while using your computer; especially if you are going to be using it for long periods at a time.

So a big question that you must ask yourself is “Can the existing area where my laptop will be used be made comfortable if I’m going to be using it for long periods of time?”

This can be a vital consideration in the choice between a laptop and desktop model. Their very lightness and portability work against people adopting a suitable posture when using a laptop.

The name suggests they are more suited to being used sitting anywhere other than at a desk, which is not true.

A bad case of hand, wrist, back, neck, or eye strain is too high a price to pay for portability and style.

Upgrade/Repair Cost
Laptops are less robust and more difficult to upgrade than their desktop equivalents. In general, your upgrade options for a laptop are limited to increasing the memory or replacing the hard drive for more storage.

Desktop computers, on the other hand, offer almost unlimited upgrade options.

An important thing to remember is damage to a laptop keyboard or screen will be much more serious than to a desktop because the vital working and moving parts have far less protection.

Wireless Fidelity Expands Its Broadcast

Every day, technology advancements are changing the way we live our lives.

From the way we communicate with family, friends and co-workers to the way we shop, provide healthcare, and even land that dream job.

Now, thanks to advancements in the standard known as “WiFi” or wireless fidelity, we can now add the way we watch television to that list.

A recent study shows that by the end of 2011, more than 20 million television sets equipped with WiFi connectivity will have been shipped worldwide to mainly North America, Western Europe, and a handful of selected Asian countries.

So you might ask yourself, “What is WiFi equipped television?” To better understand this new rising technology, we need to take a look at what WiFi is.

WiFi, which stands for wireless fidelity, is a communications standard that allows WiFi enabled devices such as laptop computers, MP3 players, smart phones, and soon televisions to connect to an access point (a wireless router or hotspot) which then connects your device to the Internet.

From there, the possibilities are almost endless as to what you can access.

TV industry producers now understand the power of this technology. They are also realizing how many people would love to be able to stream their favorite media websites such as YouTube, Metcalfe, CNN, Facebook, and MySpace directly to their television sets.

One of the big trends this year has been the rise of Netflix, (which seems to be why we’ve seen the fall of Blockbuster and any other video/media rental business).

Why would you ever leave your home if you could simply connect to a site like Netflix, or any of the other super popular media sites, and browse their thousands of movie titles right from the comfort of your own home, without having to leave the couch? You probably wouldn’t.

This is why giants like Sony, Samsung, and Toshiba are working closely with technology gurus to make what could be the next big thing in television. As of right now, the people who already have this technology in their homes are pretty limited to what content they can stream to their sets.

However, as this begins to boom in the marketplace, the evolution of full web browsing on your TV is something I’m sure we can look forward to seeing in the future.

What To Do When You Drop Your Cell Phone In Water

If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to drop your cell phone into water, take some solace in knowing you’re not alone.

Dropping a cell phone into the swimming pool, bathtub or toilet is such a common occurrence that some cell phone manufacturers include a sensor that will detect if it’s been submerged in water, so users can’t return them saying they are defective.

If it happens to you, it’s important to act quickly. First, don’t turn the phone on until it has been completely dried out or you’ll probably end up shorting out some circuits. Cell phone repair services recommend taking out the battery right away and wiping it off.

Shake out any excess moisture from the phone. Unfasten the screws and open up the device. Then use an electrical-contact cleaning spray or rubbing alcohol to remove corrosive moisture. When you think it’s completely dry, wait another day before turning it on.

There are a number of recommended drying techniques, but the key to all of them is to dry the phone as soon as possible.

One proven phone-drying method is to use a hair dryer set on cool. You don’t want to use high heat – that could cause even more damage to the phone.

Another method is to seal the phone in a jar with uncooked rice. The rice absorbs the moisture, but it does take a few days.

Most important: Make sure you always back up your smart phone! Most cell phone providers offer this service, and many phones come with software you can load on your computer to perform a backup using a USB cable.

 

Fall Is The Perfect Time For An IT And Network Checkup

Thomas Fox is president of Tech Experts, southeast Michigan’s leading small business computer support company.

To make the most of your IT investment,  you don’t need to be a technology whiz. However, you should have a plan in place for making the most of your company’s data. As fall approaches, now is an excellent time to examine your company’s technology to determine what’s working well and what could be improved.

Is It Time To Update?
Technology changes rapidly. While your systems may appear to be working well, you may be missing out on new ways to protect your business information, help your business run more efficiently, and better serve your customers.

For example, to run some of today’s most powerful programs, you need a fast and large hard drive with significant memory capacity.

You might consider adding newer technology – such as wireless capabilities – to older equipment; but the cost of upgrading a computer is often more than the cost of a new model.

Check Your Power Protection
Loss of electrical power and power surges are the most common causes of data loss and weaken computer components. If your business depends on computers, protecting the power source is critical.

This is especially important if your area is prone to power fluctuations or electrical storms.

An Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) unit offers both superior surge protection and, depending on the model, anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes of backup power-enough time to save and copy critical files.

The idea of a UPS isn’t to continue your business dealings while the lights are out. Rather, it is to ensure that your data is available when the lights come back on.

Have You Patched Windows?
Have you installed the latest version of Windows on your computer, and do you keep it updated? Do you do this automatically?

It is incredibly important that you keep Windows and your software applications current. Updates improve performance, fix bugs, and many add new features. You should also regularly update and run anti-virus software.

How’s Your Backup?
Consider storage needs in terms of both capacity and physical location. Depending on the amount of data, you can back up to USB flash drives, CDs, DVDs, tapes, or an external drive.

You might also want to look into off-site backup. Our Experts Total Backup System is an excellent backup, disaster recovery, and offsite storage service.

Integrate Your Data
Over the years, businesses tend to produce multiple silos of data. Your inventory, sales data, and marketing information need to be linked together to better serve your customers and increase your company’s productivity and profitability.

Without this integration, you may not know who your best customers are or you could end up agreeing to provide a top customer with an item you don’t have in your inventory.

Avoiding Common Email Security Threats

Most companies today rely heavily on the use of email. Emailing is a very fast and cost effective form of communication for many different types of businesses.

Most companies use it as their main source of communication between employees. In fact, most employers do not realize the risk of using email.

Some risks range from viruses, hackers, to someone else just trying to gain a little information.

Here’s an overview of the most common email security threats in today’s Internet world.

Viruses
Viruses cause billions of dollars in damage to businesses every year.

Many corporate email systems are still quite vulnerable to viruses. In fact, in last year alone, an estimated 63 distinct email virus attacks hit the United States. These attacks come quickly and can spread quickly.

They mainly cause slowdowns across the internet. However some have been known to take down major corporation’s entire email systems.

Today’s viruses are very complex and often appear to be harmless such as personal notes, jokes, or promotions. While most viruses require recipients to download attachments in order to initiate infection and spread, some are designed to launch automatically with absolutely no user action required.

Spam
Studies have shown that 20 percent of corporate email is spam. A company that has a thousand employees could receive over two billion spam emails in a full year.

Most do not realize it until a lack of productivity ends up costing the companies billions of dollars each year.

While most spam is just annoying, some of it can be very dangerous. Most trick employees into opening malicious emails to spread faster. Also, many hackers have begun disguising viruses as spam.

Phishing
Phishing is used to trick a person into thinking the email is legit and came from a real website, usually asking the person to verify their password or to change some sort of account information.

Then, taking them to a fake website and stealing what you have typed in. This is the number one way people get their identity and personal information stolen.

Spyware
The main purpose of spyware is to install itself on the victim’s computer. It monitors all key strokes and mouse clicks so that they can later go back and collect usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and bank account numbers.

These infections can stay installed on computers for many months without an antivirus picking them up.  Most are detected and removed instantly if the user keeps their antivirus up to date.

Having a great antivirus that scans files as well as emails can help prevent virus attacks, phishing and spyware.

Users should also have an up to date spam filter that prevents the infection from getting to your inbox to begin with. And most importantly never open an email attachment you didn’t specifically request.

Also, pay attention to links inside emails that appear legitimate. Many times, phishers will send you an email that looks like it came from an official source. After clicking the links, you’re redirected to a site on the hacker’s network. This is often used to collect personal information and passwords.

Configure Free Remote Access With DynDNS

With today’s work force relying more and more on information technology, services that allow us to connect to systems remotely is becoming  widely used and very popular.

Granted, not all of us are tech gurus. So, setting up a remote connection to a computer can become a real pain in the neck.

There is a free service called “DynDNS,” which stands for dynamic DNS. This makes setting up your remote connection very easy.

What Is DNS?
DNS is a key part of the World Wide Web.  Think of it as the phonebook of the Internet.  DNS converts a hostname (www.yahoo.com) into a readable machine name or IP address (69.147.125.65).

Think if everytime you wanted to visit your favorite web site, you had to type the IP address instead of the name.  You’d probably not be able to remember too many and it could become very frustrating and time consuming.

With DNS, all that is handled for you. All you have to do is simply tell your web browser I want to go to www.facebook.com and DNS handles the rest.

Getting Started
First, visit http://www.dyndns.com. From there, you will need to create an account with them by registering a username, password, and valid email address.

Be sure to use a real email as you will need to activate your account via a link that will be mailed to that provided address.

There are three options to choose from: 1 (Free) 2 (Pro) 3 (Custom).  You can choose a free account and if you like what you see, you can always upgrade later.

Once you’re registered and signed up, it’s time to log in and setup your device for remote access.

First you will choose your hostname. This is the name you’ll use when connecting to the machine.  For example, you can use (myhomepc.dnydns.org).

Service type for this will be “Host with IP address,” which is selected by default.

Next you’ll need to provide the IP address of your machine which can automatically be done by clicking on the link below the empty field.  It will automatically detect your system’s IP and add it for you.

Dynamic Updater
Most home users have an IP address that is provided by their ISP (Internet Service Provider) and this address changes frequently.

In order to keep your machine’s IP address updated with your DynDNS account, you’ll need to install the DynDNS Updater Tool which can be found at: http://www.dyndns.com/support/clients/windows.html.

Once installed, the updater tool simply asks for your DynDNS username and password.  Then, it automatically will do its job as you never have to touch it again.

The last step is to choose what services you want to include with your free account.

You can add things like VPN, remote file access, remote desktop (always choose this), mail server, web server, chat server, ftp backup, VoIP, bog, ecommerce, webpage, and many more.

Voilà!  You’re all set and ready to remotely access your machine.  Simply open Remote Desktop Connection. It can be found under Start > All Programs > Accessories > Communications.

Enter in the hostname you setup with your account, click connect, enter your username/password for the machine, and you’ll be instantly connected.

Connect World Wide
You’re now able to connect to that machine from anywhere in the world as long as you have an active internet connection.

A  little bit of advice: you should be sure you’re using a broadband or DSL connection. A dial up connection will cause issues with your access.

If you need more information, the website http://www.dyndns.org has plenty of video tutorials, step by step setups with screenshots, as well as several other resources you can use to get an account setup.

Remember, you can call Tech Experts at (734) 457-5000 for assistance setting up your remote access via DynDNS.