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Windows Updates

Windows 7: A Pain-Free Upgrade

Most small business owners feel software upgrades are about as fun as having a tooth pulled: Not really that much fun at all. But an upgrade to Windows 7 can actually be pain-free. Here’s why:

XP mode
Windows Vista had plenty of compatibility issues. That’s not the case with Windows 7, due to a new feature called XP compatibility Mode. XP Mode allows you to run older programs in Windows XP and simultaneously run every-thing else in Windows 7.

If your main business software runs well now in Windows XP it should run just fine in XP Mode in Windows 7.

For even more peace of mind, as part of the upgrade process, we will contact your business software vendor and get their approval before beginning an upgrade. You can also try this on a “test” PC before rolling it out on your network.

Installation time
The Windows 7 set-up process is significantly faster than Vista or XP installation, which saves your business money on the upgrade project. Windows 7 also offers some automated setup options that weren’t previously available – again, reducing your investment in an upgrade project. Start up time is significantly – and noticably – faster, which gets your staff to work that much faster at the start of the day.

More drivers and easier setup
When you plug in a new scanner, camera or other device into your computer, you don’t want to fight with pop-up messages that tell you to search for drivers.

You just want it to work the way it’s supposed to. With Windows 7 that’s what you get. No hassle. No fear.

What Is Windows Update?

Windows Update is a service  provided by Microsoft that provides updates for the Microsoft Windows operating system and its installed components, including Internet Explorer.

An optional feature disables access to Windows Update and enables access to Microsoft  update, an expanded version of the service which provides updates not just for the operating system & Internet Explorer, but also for other Microsoft Windows software, such as Microsoft Office, Windows Live applications, and Microsoft Expression.

Security updates are delivered on the second Tuesday of each month, called “Patch Tuesday,”
but security updates can be delivered whenever a software update is required to prevent an exploit targeting Windows users.

Windows Update can be configured to install updates automatically, ensuring that a computer is always up-to-date and not vulnerable to computer worms and other malware.

Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and the most recent Windows 7 provide a Control Panel to configure update settings and check for updates.

For previous versions of Microsoft Windows, updates can be downloaded from the Windows Update website, using Internet Explorer.

Conficker And Other IT Security Issues Got You Worried? Here Are Some Tips To Keep You Out of Trouble!

If you watch television or read the news on the web, you no doubt heard about the April fool’s virus, also known as the conficker worm. I have been asked by numerous people “What about Conficker?” This worm is designed to have all the compromised computers “phone home” at a certain time and launch a denial of service, or DoS, attack on an unsuspecting website.

A DoS attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users. It generally consists of the concerted efforts of a person or persons to prevent an Internet site or service from functioning efficiently or at all, temporarily or indefinitely.

One common method of attack involves saturating the target machine with external communications requests, so that it cannot respond to legitimate traffic, or responds so slowly as to be rendered effectively unavailable. That was the goal of the Conficker worm – to make sites unavailable on the Internet.

So, what should you do to prevent this from happening to you? Here are a few simple rules to follow to protect your system from these worms.

Disable the autorun feature
Although this is a nice feature to have cds auto start, this risk is not worth the few extra seconds it takes to launch a cd on your own.

Update your protection
Do not just rely on the automatic update features of your virus and malware protection software. It is smart to visit these update centers and make sure you have the latest software, particularly when you’re doing a lot of sensitive work on your computer.

Check your Windows updates
It should go without saying that in addition to your virus definitions, you should regularly check windows updates and do not rely on the automatic update feature. In the case of the Conficker C worm, Microsoft has had this patch available since October of last year. Still, as you heard on the news, thousands of computers still got infected.

Get a second opinion
Have a trained, certified technician review your computer to determine if you have the latest updates and security patches in place, along with removing any malware infections you might already have.

Back up your data
I can’t stress enough the importance of maintaining a backup schedule. All your important data needs to be protected. And, you should always take a copy of this critical data off site, so that if a natural disaster strikes, you have an undamaged copy of your data available.

You never know when tragedy will strike, or some brand new virus or worm will attack your system before anti-virus software can be updated.

Contact Tech Experts and we can help you select the perfect backup solution for your office.

We’ve seen our fair share of worms and viruses come and go, and have an arsenal of tools and years of experience to keep your systems in top condition.

If you currently have a server and you have not been taking advantage of the Tech Experts server monitoring and maintenance plans, I would urge you to contact us as soon as possible to discuss the various options for your firm.

Technicians are always available to review your current network configuration and give you expert advice on security.

If you perform these few simple things I’ve listed above, you will be protected from the vast majority of malware and worms that are currently circling the Internet. With diligence in the future, you will be protected from most of the variants of these worms as they are released.