WyzGuys Tech Talk

Hey, it happens.  Sophos has a great article giving the step by step you need to recover from this without reinstalling everything from scratch.  Everything below is from Sophos.  Thanks, guys.

Microsoft has published a workaround that will get you up and running again, but it involves a fair amount of fiddling.
You need to:

1. Boot from installation media or go into Recovery Mode.
2. Delete the crash-triggering file %WINDOWS%system32fntcache.dat.
3. Reboot normally, which should now succeed.
4. Save the registry key ...

I’ve read about this a few places and decided to alert my readers, too.  Security firms FireEye and Fox-IT have a way to possibly decrypt your affected files, if you still have them, without paying the ransom.  In order to check, go to https://www.decryptcryptolocker.com and submit one of your encrypted files for possible decryption.  This is accomplished by running the file through all of the captured private decryption keys that were recovered during Operation Tovar, when some of the ...

The picture above is supposed to be how the new user interface of Windows 9 is going to look.  Gratefully, it looks like Microsoft has finally realized the colossal blunder it made when it removed the Start Menu in Windows 8 and 8.1.  To me it looks like the right column has been absorbed by the Start Screen apps, which is not my favorite solution, I would rather have ...

Many homes an businesses are using wireless networking  to connect their computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, printers, televisions, DVD and DVR players and other smart devices and appliances to the local household or business network, and to the larger Internet beyond.  Wireless networking devices such as wireless routers and access points are ...

Love this sign I found in the men’s room at my favorite pool and spa company.

In the last month there have been several notable web site breaches where the cyber-thieves made off with databases full of user credentials. New additions to the list (Target, Michael’s, Neiman Marcus) now include PF Chang’s, Goodwill Industries, Jimmy John’s, eBay, and most recently, CNet.  I have had to change my eBay password, which means I changed my PayPal password as an added safety measure.  I also changed the password on my CNet account.  CNet is a technology publisher, and ...

In the July issue of Microsoft’s free Security for Home Computer Users newsletter(sign up here), there was an article entitled “Is that Call from Microsoft a Scam?”  The answer in a nutshell was: yes, it is a scam. 

Microsoft is not going to call you.  Neither is Hewlett Packard, Dell, Symantec, Comcast, your ISP, Google, Yahoo, or your email service provider.  If you get a call, and they are trying to tell you that they can ...

“Give a man a Phish and he eats for a day, teach a man to Phish and he eats for a lifetime.”

When you get an email that is spoofed as the example below has been, this is called a Phishing email.  The object is to “hook” the recipient into doing something that will be harmful to their wealth.  I got one just this morning that for me was a new look, and included the threat of legal action.  If you ...