My Computer Is Slow! How To Avoid Installing Crapware

Lately I have been spending my days UNINSTALLING largely unwanted and unnecessary programs for the computers of several clients who have been complaining about browser redirection, unwanted pop-up ads, slow Internet connections, slow system performance, and boot failure.  There is a great story on Sophos that explains why this happens

Usually I start by looking in the Control Panel under Programs and Features to see what is installed.  Below is a table showing what I removed from two different ...

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Yahooligans: It Might Be Wise To Reset Your Password

Some users of Yahoo email were advised the company that their user IDs and passwords may have been compromised in data that was stolen from a third party (Target perhaps?)  If you are the sort of person who uses on password all over the web, you might want to log on to your Yahoo account and change your password.  And then do the same thing everywhere else you have been using that password.

My standing advise to clients is to use ...

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The Threat of Banking Trojans–Zeus and Neverquest

I have been catching up on my reading, and came across an article on the new Neverquest banking malware on TechRepublic.  This article first discussed the Zeus Trojan exploit.  Zeus was released online in 2011, and was one of the first malware programs that required licensing.  Once installed on a victim’s machine it could detect when you went to your online banking website, record your user ID, password, and other banking procedures, and encrypt and transmit this information ...

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Sunday Funnies: Cold Enough For You?

I just got off the phone with a friend who lives up north in Wisconsin.

She said that since early this morning the snow has been nearly waist high and is still falling. The temperature is 32 below zero and the north wind is increasing to near gale force. Wind chill is -59. Her husband has done nothing but looking through the kitchen window and stare.

She says that if it gets much worse, she may have to let him in.

Thanks to ...

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Can My Wireless Access Point Be Hacked?

There is a recent spate of news surrounding the vulnerabilities that have been found in wireless routers and access points made by popular manufacturers such as Netgear, Linksys/Cisco and others.  The most recent center on remote access and control via port 32764.  A detailed article on this issue and two others that have come to light lately can be found on Computerworld.

There is a quick and easy way to check your wireless device for this flaw.  First get ...

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Alternatives to LogMeIn Free

LogMeIn Free, a staple for those of us providing remote support to other computer users, is gone.  But there are alternatives, such as Windows Remote Desktop, Team Viewer, Join,Me, VNC, and WebEx.  Links to these products are below.  For more information you might check out the article on PCWorld.

The web addresses for these services are:

Windows Remote Desktop is built into the Windows operating system.  ...

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Target: What Do We Know, What Have We Learned

What a mess!  Every day it seems some new fresh hell emerges from the Target Christmas attack story.

  • Brian Krebs, a security consultant an blogger, releases a story first describing the exploit.
  • 40 million credit card transaction sessions, including card number, expiration date and PIN numbers stolen straight off the point of sales systems (POS) used at the store checkout lanes.
  • These cards are sold on the Dark Net, the Internet underground where cyber-criminals exchange ...
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Your Laptop Camera Is Vulnerable to Hacking

This from Silicon Beat.  It is possible for a cyber thug to take over your laptop web camera and take pictures or videos of whatever is happening in its range of vision.  It is possible to activate the webcam without turning on the red light that usually indicates camera activity.If your laptop is in your bedroom….hmmm. 

In case you think this is unlikely, consider the case of Jared Abrahams who recently pled guilty to secretly photographing at least ...

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Smackdown: Who is Faster? CenturyLink DSL vs. Comcast Internet

The discussion is not really Comcast vs. Century Link but DOCSIS vs. DSL. Cable companies use Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification as the Internet signaling specification, and phone companies have used some form of Digital Subscriber Line. Cable is always faster, until we finally all get FiOS (Fiber Optic Service) that we have been promised since Judge Green broke up the Bells in 1982.

Right now, cable is always going to provide faster speeds, and almost always is a ...

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Sunday Funnies: Iran’s FARS News Agency Says USA Run by Space Aliens

You may remember a while back that the Iranian state-run news agency, FARS, reported a news article found in the satirical US publication “the Onion” as if it were fact.

Well the wacky and fun loving Iranians are at it again, repackaging information found on the insanely conspiracy theory laden web site whatdoesitmean.com.  You can follow this in an earlier story in TechDirt.

According to the Iranian news story, the Snowden documents have revealed ...

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