Bits & Bytes

How to Prevent Computer Viruses

NetXperts — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:30:00 +0000

Nothing can guarantee the security of your computer, but there’s a lot you can do to help lower the chances that you’ll get a virus. It’s crucial that from the moment you turn your computer on; you have antivirus software installed such as Microsoft Security Essentials. You can continue to improve your computer’s security and decrease the possibility of infection by using a firewall, and following a few best practices.

Tip Because no security method is guaranteed, it’s important to back up critical files on a regular basis.

10 Ways to Prevent Computer Viruses

1. Install an Anti Virus program.

Download Microsoft Security Essentials for free to help guard your system in the future from viruses

2. Install an Anti spyware and anti-malware programs.

As good as the best antivirus programs are, they sometimes need a little bit of help. Thankfully, many of the top anti-malware programs are completely free. Download malwarbytes for free.

3. Set up Automatic Scans

Many of the top programs have settings that will let them automatically run during down times or in the middle of the night. Your computer must be on for this to happen, but having daily scans run when nothing else is going on is a great way to prevent even the latest computer viruses from sticking around too long.

4. Updates

Updates, Updates, Updates – There is a reason why Windows has a feature called Critical Updates. There is an entire branch of Microsoft dedicated to staying one step ahead of the hackers out there so when they manage to fix a possible security loophole, you need to download the patch right away.

5. Avoid suspicious websites

A good virus protection program will alert you when you visit a website that attempts to install or run a program on your computer. Many less than reputable adult websites do this, so if you get a warning, don’t go back, you may end up with a bug you can’t get rid of.

6. Never Open Email Attachments if not expected or requested

The most common way viruses are spread throughout the Internet is still via email. An executable type attachment should not be opened unless it was specifically requested or expected. Necessity – This is the simplest rule to follow, but one that many people ignore. If you do not need the attachment, don’t open it. Delete the email instead.

7. Watch Your Downloads

Part of the fun of the Internet is downloading music, movies and other items. However, since this downloads are so massive, it can be easy to sneak a virus along for the ride. Only download these files from trusted sites that you can count on, or, at the very least, scan them before you open them.

8. Know What to Look For

Even if you are just a casual computer user, you should have an idea of how your machine operates, what normal pop up windows look like and what popular viruses are out there, that way, when your computer begins exhibiting tell tale signs, you’ll know.

9. Stay Away From Cracked Software

It is so secret that you can download illegal, cracked versions of some programs online. As tempting as it may be, these files are almost always infested with advanced and difficult to detect bugs. Play it safe and get your software from the source.

10. Be prepared to Lock Down

If you hear of a virus that is spreading like wildfire through the Internet, make an extra effort to be careful. Don’t open any suspicious emails or accept any downloads for a week or two until your virus protection program has been updated and you are, once again, safe.

MAC ATTACK – 600,000 Hit by Trojan Virus

NetXperts — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:28:56 +0000

Apple has long enjoyed the reputation of making a computing platform that provides security protection that is superior to its peers—in a word, Microsoft. The emergence of a group of malicious software (malware) programs in recent months—collectively known as Flashback or Flashfake—that specifically target Macs and their OS X operating system now has Apple in the unfamiliar position of being on the defensive.

Easy Target: Much of apple’s growing Mac user base does not use antivirus software or proactively update software, leaving them exposed to attacks such as Flashback.

Written as a Trojan horse program, Flashback has infected hundreds of thousands of Macs to date, allowing cyber criminals to steal information from those computers and turn many of them into virtual zombies that can be manipulated to attack other computers. This is not the first time Apple has had to contend with a malware outbreak, but it is by far the largest and most public scar sullying the company’s aura of invincibility.

What can Mac users do?

Mac users should immediately download and install the patch Oracle supplied via Apple. Windows users shouldn’t rest easy though. The vulnerability, after all, lies in Java, a software platform required to run many programs regardless of OS, on desktops, servers, and mobile devices. Windows users can get the patch for the said vulnerability though we highly recommend updating to the latest version of Java.

Patching vulnerabilities is important to ensure that systems remain clean and uninfected, especially those that are used for work. While the Flashback Trojan has not been found to have the ability to spread throughout networks, it can download other malware that can, so beware.

5 Important Tasks On Your Computer Maintenance Checklist

NetXperts — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:57:45 +0000

Optimize your Computer by performing 6 important PC maintenance tasks. A computer becomes slow over time with regular everyday use. There are many tasks related to computer maintenance that optimize your PC. For the sake of simplicity you can narrow it down to 5 important tasks that should be on your PC maintenance checklist. By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer, help increase your PC speed, and help keep it running smoothly.

1. Physically clean the computer

Dust accumulates over time inside computers and can cause serious problems if left unchecked for a long period of time. Using compressed air is a great way to remove dust inside and outside your computer. If you are using a laptop be sure to clean the keyboard on a regular basis. Dirt, dust, and other foreign objects can be trapped underneath the keys and cause mechanical malfunctions. Use a small hand vacuum to clean out keyboards in laptops and also desktop keyboards.

2. Perform Disk Clean-Up

Having a clean and optimized hard drive can be a daunting task considering all the media and files we download on a daily basis. Increase your PC performance by running Disk Clean-Up on a regular basis. Disk Clean-Up will remove temporary files that are not in use, which frees up space for you to use.
Tip: Typically, temporary Internet files take the most amount of space because the browser caches each page you visit for faster access later.

To use Disk Cleanup - Windows 7 users.

3. Remove spyware, and help protect your computer from viruses

A virus can halt a computer dead in its tracks. If a computer is infected with a virus all PC maintenance can be for naught. Obtaining virus scanning software is relatively easy now.

Microsoft Security Essentials acts as a spyware removal tool and includes automatic updates to help keep your system protected from emerging threats. Download Microsoft Security Essentials for free to help guard your system in the future from viruses, spyware, adware, and other malicious software (also known as malware).

4. Updates

System updates are essential to computer maintenance. Updates can provide extra security measures to programs and can also optimize certain aspects how your computer interacts with that program.
In general, it is advisable to enable automatic updates within the Windows operating system. For the maximum PC performance, make sure that you select to update only the necessary programs for your computing needs.

5. Speed up access to data

Hard drives naturally store information in an inefficient fashion after a certain point. A file might be stored in multiple locations on the hard drive, which increases the time needed to recall the file and display it to the user. To address this problem, Microsoft includes a defragmenter utility in all of the Windows operating systems. The disk defragmenter will organize files on your hard drive to increase PC performance.

To use Disk Defragmenter – Windows 7 users.

Backups, backups, backups

wsicontrol — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:40:22 +0000

How much of your work can you afford to lose? Can you redo a month worth of work, a week worth or a day worth. How much of an impact would it have on your business if you had to have to spend hours or days or weeks reconstructing your work. Fortunately, as a business owner you don’t need to worry about this. Computer backup technology has got to the point where is can be painless and relatively inexpensive to have a comprehensive disaster plan. The key to the plan is to make an effective plan and then to follow it.

What is a computer backup?

Backing up your computer means that you are making a copy of your data or software or both in another format. Your data is currently stored on the hard drive of your computer. You need to do this because the question is not if your hard drive will crash one day, but when it will crash. Most computer hard drives consist of a combination of electronics and mechanical components. Some solid state hard drives do not have spinning disks that the more common drives have. A hard drive will fail if one of the mechanical components fails or if a part of the data on that hard drive becomes corrupted. If you have a recent backup, you can recover the contents of your hard drive.

Different formats of backups

Computers can be backed up using different formats. It used to be that we would back up to a floppy drive. Floppy drives generally had space for 1.44 MB of data. Today there are many more options. These formats include:

CD – up to 800 MB data – can be a one-time write or multiple writes with drawbacks
DVD – up to 4.7GB data – can be a one-time write or multiple writes with drawbacks
Flash drive – 1 GB to 16 GB or more – can be re-written
External hard drive – 80 GB to 1 TB or more – can be re-written
Tape – unlimited (usually used in a server situation) – can be re-written
WEB based – whatever you can afford

Types of Backups

Image – an image is an exact copy of your entire hard drive. This includes the operating system, software and data. If your drive crashes or otherwise becomes unusable, you can use the image to reconstruct whatever was on your drive at the time of the image.

Folder / file – if you choses this system, you choose which files you want to backup. You may choose documents, photos, videos, favourites or e-mail or any combination of these items. You should not be backing up software unless it is the *.exe file of small software. Packages such as Office or QuickBooks must be reinstalled. The data from these packages should be backed up but the software needs to be reinstalled.

Incremental backups – In doing an incremental backup means that this type of backup involves only those files that have changed since the last backup. Since changes are typically slow, incremental backup is much smaller and quicker than a full backup.

Differential – In doing a differential backup means that you are doing a backup of all changes made since the last full backup. The recovery time is generally quicker than the incremental.

The final step in making any kind of a backup is testing that backup to make sure that the data is valid. This involves doing a test restore.

The backup is an integral part of your disaster recovery plan. Without it you are heading for a disaster.