Menlo Technical Blog

There is a recent outbreak of something called ransom-ware, which is exactly as it sounds: a program is installed without your consent, and takes control of your computer. It gives you a persistent warning and claiming that your computer is infected and the only way to solve the problem is to pay $35 by Credit Card, to disinfect your computer. It is obvious that the company claiming to remove it is the same group that developed the bug, itself. Behind this Ransomware technology are people who have been convicted in the past, in other countries (I live in the US), who have been tried and convicted previously for various phone fraud / extortion schemes.

If you think that this is not profitable, think again. According to a recent article in the San Jose Mercury, these kinds of schemes are bringing in over 10,000 orders a day to remove this ‘bug’.

As of the writing of this post, the current incarnation of this bug is called the  Backdoor.Win32.Delf.ctk Trojan, but the behavior and name can and will vary slowly over time. The scheme will remain the same; a program forces its way on to your windows machine, pesters the computer user, and eventually freezes the computer, BUT it gives you the option to buy special software to make it all go away.

The best way to avoid future problems is to simply completely restore your machine to ‘factory state’ (First, back up your important files - like the entire My Documents directory for each Windows user, backup the Microsoft Outlook calendar, contacts and mail, and any Quicken / Quick Books files, then reinstall Windows:

- once Windows is reinstalled to the ‘factory state’, then smart preventative web surfing behaviors should be enforced.
- Immediately install a popular brand-name Cable/DSL Router on your network (a piece of hardware between $29 - $200, depending on features, etc),
- Update your computer, (using Internet Explorer, click on this link the Windows Update Website or copy it inside of Firefox and paste it — right-click the link and choose to Copy Link Location from the popup menu, then paste it into the address bar of Internet Explorer).
- Purchase and install an anti-virus like Nod32 (ESet Nod32 Anti-Virus for Home) , AVG or Kaspersky.
- Install and update Microsoft Office if it was originally on your computer. If you no longer can find the installation disk, you can download a free version Open Office from OpenOffice.org
- Install Adobe Acrobat Reader

- install iTunes on the computer, but do not let the install ‘find’ music on your machine right now. This needs to be done later
- create a second account (Control Panel - User Accounts - Create new account) called Family and place a password on this account to control computer access of your kids,
- login to the Family account and make sure FireFox, Microsoft Office or Open Office programs, as well as Acrobat Reader will all launch
- Logoff this account by selecting Start - Log Off , and then login to the other account on the machine: (This account, too, should have a password and should only be used by parents.) Control Panel - User Accounts - select the non-Family account icon at the bottom of this user account section, and then click on the link above that says something about adding a password. Close out of these User Account windows entirely.
- Change the Family account type so that the users of the machine in the Family account cannot install anything - including the unintentional installation of bugs (Control Panel - User Accounts - click on the Family account icon, change the account type to limited).

If a program needs to be updated in a Windows limited account, there should be no problems. All additional program installations in limited accounts should be performed by downloading the program in the parent account, and installing it, or downloading it on the limited account desktop and then right-clicking the installation file and selecting the “Run As…” option. Change your user name to the parent account and use the parent account password and then begin the installation.

For more details, please feel free to contact me or drop a comment in the post.

Microsoft has been built on a foundation that is very vulnerable to viruses, worms, Trrojans and rootkits. All of these fancy terms, means that their machine can be crippled or wrecked, and will require a complete reinstall of Windows, instead of a particular fix. (It costs more to try and fix it than to reinstall.)

Instead of waiting for these problems to show up, the best way to not have an issue with them is to prevent them from jumping on your computer. Prevention is practiced a number of ways, but the single biggest method of ‘getting safe’ is by using Firefox.

The WAYS that these bugs can get on your computer is through a variety of ‘web surfing’ behaviors. Some include:
- the regular use of Internet Explorer instead of Firefox,
- someone looking at a pornography site,
- using most on line gambling sites,
- accidentally viewing a fake email that includes curious subject lines like:

“I Love You“,
“Re: Your Resume“,
“Need Your Help“, or
“System Administrator; Failed Delivery“

- clicking on popups that say you HAVE to do something immediately or pay for removal (see my Ransom-ware posting).
- installing and using free music download software like limewire, bareshare, etc.
- letting anti-virus software expire ignoring warnings of it being turned off
- looking at MySpace.com

This is not a complete list, but a start to changing the way a person uses a computer, and prevents some of the worst kinds of bugs on a machine.

As I post things on this blog, I will try and present helpful and accurate methods to deal with these problems, but there is no ONE SOLUTION to dealing with these issues on a Windows machine.

A lot of my clients are now complaining about a bug that tells you that Windows has been infected, and to give them your credit card to remove this bug. There are many names for this, but it is extortion. The developers of this device have moved their servers and business off shore, so they are immune to US Law.  There is no point in trying to give them money.  Having a bug on your machine is hard enough, no need to ahnd over your credit card information and identity in addition to having to rebuild your machine.

If you are opposed to installing Firefox (don’t forget to include Java Runtime Envinronment and Flash player - so that most of the web works properly in Firefox), then consider shutting off ActiveX. Do do so, follow these steps:

Select Tools (or press the keys Alt T ) — Then select Internet Options

Select the Security tab - press the Custom level… button

In the bottom area of this tab area, Under Reset customer settings,  Reset to: select the down arrow in the pull down list and choose High, and press the OK button and then OK again.

What you are turning off here is the ability of your computer to get infected using Internet Explorer.

In general, many of the bugs that jump on your windows computer are relying on ActiveX to be turned on. If you were using Linux, Mac OS X, or FireFox you will not have this problem.

Many clients have a need to use more than one computer at home. But spending the money on a couple of new machines can be an unnecessary expense. Menlo Technical offers the service of setting up an existing machine with basic access to the Internet, mail, and file creation / editing for a miniml fee. Please contact us today to find out how we may do this for you!

When Microsoft released Vista, a lot of people wanted it to be a welcome change. The unfortunate aspect of it is that it is so different and did not work with a LOT of existing printers, cameras, and other attachable devices, that it became a blunder. Soon after the release, they announced a stop date to selling Windows XP and most places like Best Buy, Circuit City and others began selling ONLY Windows Vista loaded machines. Businesses began to complain about this since they had many other ‘new’ considerations which would be very costly.

Microsoft decided to not kill off XP as quickly as they once hoped because the pressure they received from their bigger customers - like Dell.  So Microsoft recently emphasized the June 30 end of manufacturing date, when suddenly:

HP, Lenovo join Dell in extending Windows XP by ZDNet’s John Morris — Rumors of Windows XP’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. I wrote about Dell’s downgrade program in a post earlier this week. Now HP and Lenovo also plan to offer Windows XP to business customers after Microsoft’s official cut-off date of June 30.

I have had a lot of people as me about this, so I this is inserted in my blog in order to help people get prepared for this change. In less than one year, digital TV will replace analog TV. That means that it has been passed under federal law that TV is to br browadcast for some kind of fee through Comcast, Verizon, ATT Uverse, Wowway, etc. I found this article I believe from DTV Transition’s website, explaining what you need to do.

On February 17, 2009 our nation’s broadcasters will terminate their analog television signals as part of the digital television (DTV) transition. If you have an analog television set you may need to purchase additional equipment to continue to receive a signal.

For additional information about the DTV Transition and what you may need to do to prepare for it, you can visit the Federal Communications Commission’s website http://www.dtv.gov/ or call the Federal Communications Commission at 1-888-225-5322 (TTY: 1-888-835-5322).

Most of the consumer world is going to buy a new computer and will have to experience Windows Vista. My personal thoughts on Vista are mixed. Regardless of your needs, Vista has clearly been designed to be more graphically pleasing. In layman’s terms, it looks nicer. The downside of this is it looks different and feels different than all the older versions of Microsoft operating systems, like Windows 98 and Windows XP, etc.

There are newer features like a stronger security format and different designs under the hood which make products like older printers, camera software, other software for older versions of Windows, to not work. In short, these factors are disorienting to many. Because the end-user will have to deal with a change of what they are used to, it provides a terrific opportunity to consider other operating systems, outside of Microsoft Vista.

In general, when I speak to clients, they are mostly interested in getting email, and not worrying about spyware, virus software, and the reasons why there are general system “slowdowns.”  Some people are willing to make a few behavioral changes when they use the Internet, to avoid future infections and problems. But some bearly understand the computer, and will never feel comfortable with it.

Apple, Linux and Vista all look different than Microsoft’s past operating system designs. The advantage Apple and Linux have over Microsoft is that they are both less exploited by viruses, Trojan’s, worms, spyware, ActiveX problems and spyware.

Apple is available on line, and at retail locations. Both have price fixing, yet the Apple stores offer educational discounts for students and teachers. I would consider buying directly from the Apple store for these discounts. I also suggest to purchase Apple Care along with any of their machines in case something goes wrong within the next three years of ownership. They do make great machines.

I have been running the Linux operating for years. These machines can run for 100’s of days without requireing a reboot.  If power goes out, the computer will recover without any kind of damage or loss - unless a lightenin bolt travels a surge up to the computer, itself! Linux is available several different ways. Dell and Lenovo are both offering these machines, and I HIGHLY suggest this alternative.   I also offer the service of refurbishing machines, that my clients already own, to run Linux.

To see a video explaining Dell’s Linux effort, please watch this four minute video.

More to come on this….

Well, I have reconstructed my website again. This is the official launch. I am thrilled with it, since I am trying some newer design techniques. I hope to employ these ideas into all my future web designs. They will allow people to access the pages faster and access more content without waiting forever for their pages to load.

Understanding what a client wants is only part of the formula in building a website for my clients. Also understanding the kinds of work they do, who they currently sell to, and what direction they want to move their audience are other aspects.

Developing websites over the past ten years allowed us to built a wealth of design knowledge about web design issues, techniques, and tools which translate into better marketing and revenue for our clients. The power and value of a website can greatly enhance the marketing of every individual, company and group. A fundamental aspect of a website is exposure to a search engine’s results.  Placing a business on the first page of Google can expose them to an entire generation of people who only use the web for research, buying ideas, and general information. If those marketing objectives are not designated and considered before designing a site, then the entire purpose of the site may miss the purpose. In fact, a poorly designed site can turn their audience away!

Those who offer a service; dry cleaning, law firms, retail stores and computer repair spend so much time trying to figure out HOW to get people to walk through the door. If they can actually get someone to look at their website, the last thing they want is to turn those people away.

Giving your audience the wrong impression not only diverts them away from your site, but it also directs them to alternatives.

There are a lot of ways to unintentionally degrade your computer performance just by connecting to the Internet.

We spend a lot of time with clients. repairing machines that have either degraded significantly, or have stopped working entirely. The nature of these slowdowns and problems vary. As Microsoft explains, Windows is designed to begin running quickly ‘out of the box.’ But the way Windows is designed, it is very vulnerable to many attacks. These attacks arrive in the form of email, a quick popup, reading a piece of email, or can quickly bury themselves ‘deep into the fibers’ of the operating system itself without the computer owner knowing about it.
Hiring a professional technical IT Consultant before purchasing a computer can stop these problems before they begin. Consultants should give a Best Practice lesson; a one-on-one training so that things are understood on a personal level. Since technical articles are so dry and have little value to the average computer user, this is a very important aspect to IT Services.
Experienced IT Consultants can offer another service; cleaning or rebuilding a machine. Instead of buying a new machine when the current one has simply slowed down or stopped responding, a trained and experienced Menlo Technical Consultant can clean these machines or often rebuild them for a lower rate than buying a new machine. Purchasing new machines is not always the rule when a machine comes to a complete halt.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (aka ie) had been in version 6 for a long time. Recently, they released a newer version 7. Essentially, they adopted many features that have existed in both Opera and Firefox for years. In my opinion, the largest engineering efforts on the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser has been removed and placed on other software projects.  Consequently this has allowed hackers and virus builders to design exploits for it.

The most vulnerable component of the ie browser is something called ActiveX. This single aspect of the browser is the entrance for all kinds of bugs to wind up on your computer. Menlo Technical often promotes Firefox and Opera as alternative browsers.

Mozilla Firefox, (a phoenix rising out of the Netscape ashes), has been released for some time and has been stabilized for all Windows versions. The nice aspect of it is that it does not utilize ActiveX. ActiveX was originally designed to make surfing the web easier, displaying animation and allowing people to develop web pages to automatically allow a web page to force a program download to the computer. This is the easiest route to attack a PC. This is the single most important reason to move to an alternate browser from Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Since there are several different browsers out there. There are also wrappers that are available for Internet Explorer. These wrappers are using Internet Explorer, and are still susceptible to automatically placing viruses on a computer using ActiveX.

Apple recently offered up their Mac OS X browser Safari to run on Windows machines. This is available through Apple, and is a viable alternative to IE.

Opera, has been around since 1994, and does not utilize ActiveX ‘out of the box’. Opera is an alternate browser that at one time was free to try, with advertising, and inexpensive to purchase. They have now removed the advertising, and they are offering the browser for free.

Menlo Technical has been using Firefox on almost all of our machines, and installing it on all of our client’s machines. It has proven a life saver since viruses seem to attack ie first, and stop people from being able to browse the Internet just to try and repair and remove these viruses.