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  • Ransomware on the Rise

    You see an urgent notice from a shipping company, telling you that they were unable to deliver a package. You click on the attachment and nothing happens. A few minutes later you try opening a Word document and you’re notified that the file is encrypted. You’ve been hit with ransomware.

    This scenario is all too common. In the US alone, estimates for money paid to unlock data amounted to over $100 million in 2021. And it’s on the rise. Big businesses like hospitals are getting hit but so are small mom and pop businesses, and even individuals are not immune.

    When even the largest businesses with millions to spend on security get hit, you know your strategy better be a good one. The best ransomware strategy is a making a recovery plan. Online backups are essential. Backups onto USB drives are safe so long as the drive is not attached to the computer at the time the computer gets hit. If you back up to an external drive, unplug it and put it away when not copying data.

    What to do if you get hit? First, reach for your backup. If that’s not available, search online for a decryption tool. Ransomware leaves notes directing you where to go to pay for decryption. That note, and the file extensions of the encrypted files, are clues to the process used. Sometimes it is possible to regain all of your data with the right decryption file.

    If you have no backup and if you cannot find a decryption tool online, your only choice may be to deal with the ransomware.  There are online companies that claim to have a crack team of cryptographers who can create a decryption program but that’s likely to be yet another scam. These companies will not even attempt to decrypt, they simply act as a middleman, bargain down the price and then charge you several times the price demanded by the ransom.

  • Office365 and Winmail.dat Problem Resolved

    Office365 offers many great features but has a few flaws that can drive users crazy.  One is encapsulating email in a format the Apple’s products can’t read.  If a recipient calls to complain that they can’t read their attachment and that attachment is labelled winmail.dat, you have this problem.  The first thing to try is to ensure the outgoing email format is plain text or html. Using RTF will cause this problem.  If it happens even when HTML is the selected format, then it’s time to dig into Powershell and tell Office365 to never use encapsulation.

    Here are the commands to issue (as an admin) from Powershell to turn off TNEF:

     

    $UserCredential = Get-Credential

    $Session = New-PSSession -ConfigurationName Microsoft.Exchange -ConnectionUri https://outlook.office365.com/powershell-liveid/ -Credential $UserCredential -Authentication Basic -AllowRedirection

    Import-PSSession $Session

    Set-RemoteDomain Default -TNEFEnabled $false
    To Confirm:
    Get-RemoteDomain |fl

     

  • Android tricks for Office365

    When you get an android, you get quirks in the OS.  The nature of using an open source OS is that it gets heavily modified by the phone companies trying to differentiate themselves from one another.

    Using Android with Office365 Exchange is sometimes challenging.

    If your phone does not automatically find the settings for your email after putting in your email address and password, then you must help it by providing a slightly different format. Set your user name to domain\username. When the phone asks for your server, enter outlook.office365.com.   Your user name is going to look redundant:  For someone with an email of, for example, [email protected], the user name would be contoso.com\[email protected].   It is an ungainly tag but it works.

  • Windows 10 is here

    The developers of Windows 10 have done it.  They’ve produced an excellent desktop OS that also works as an OS for small touch screen devices.  If you’ve been reluctant to upgrade in the past because of compatibility or usability issues, fear not.  This upgrade improves the OS experience on all fronts:  stability, usability, speed, compactness.

    Systems older than Windows 7 are going to have issues upgrading.  Most of those are Windows XP. Moving from XP to Windows X requires wiping the drive and starting over ::::OR::: using a program such as zinstall which can upgrade your system in place.

     

    Any questions?  Give me a call. 206.935.9654

  • Back It Up

    Browser Back Up
    All of the main browsers have your bookmarks saved as a file that you can backup and save in case you have to move to another machine or if you want to use all of your bookmarks on many computers. With Chrome and Google you can sync all of your computers and have access to all of your bookmarks on any computer that you sign in too. The same applies to Firefox.
    PC Backup

    External Hard Drive. Make sure it is twice as large or at least equal to the size of the hard drive in your computer. Using third party software to make a backup or system image. Windows 7 has a tool that will make a backup for you to an external hard drive. It is pretty good but making a system image from inside Windows 7 is better than the shadow copy backup that Windows 7 uses.

    Stand Alone

    http://www.runtime.org/driveimage-xml.htm DriveImage XML Free for personal use, Too many features to list. One point is that you can extract files from a backup and not have to wreck the entire backup and also still use the backup to restore another PC if you need to.

    http://www.crashplan.com/consumer/crashplan.html CrashPlan While it is a cloud storage plan one of the best features is the social backup plan. It is free and allows you to back up to a friends pc or back up your moms computer to your computer for her for free. You can also use it to make a local backup to an external hard drive.

    Cloud
    iCloud
    Mac, iPad or iPhone. Free space and more can be purchased. It will sync your mail, calendar, contacts and notes across all of your Apple products. You can also sync your pictures as well.

    Dropbox
    Free 2GB of cloud storage and you can just put all of your documents or files there and they will be accessible on many devices anytime you need them.

    Carbonite
    50.00 per year for unlimited storage space and so simple to use. Once it is installed it will make encrypted backups of all of your pictures, documents and emails. You create a new document and save it, it will get uploaded to Carbonite and it is safe for you.

    CrashPlan
    For as low as 2.00 a month you can get cloud storage from 10GB to 9.00 per month for unlimited and up to 10 pc’s in your home. They also have enterprise editions. Real Time cloud and local backup.

    Cell Phone Backup
    Android
    G Cloud Backup
    Free 1GB of online backup that will almost make a copy of your phone in the cloud, call logs, email, system settings and more. You can get friends to join and get up to 8GB free. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.genie9.gcloudbackup&hl=en

    Super Backup Free or Pro
    Free and paid versions that will save messages, phone logs, and data. It will back these up to your SD card

    Your carrier has back ups as well, Verizons My Backup will also back up your phone, check with your provider to see what BU they have.

    If you get your apps from the Google Play Store they are backed up for you. as well as your gmail and google calendar.

    Social Media Backup
    TweetBackup handles, you guessed it, Twitter backups. The service is limited because it only exports the last 3,200 of your 140-character posts to a variety of formats, from text to HTML to RSS. It’s free, though: All the company asks is that you follow @TweetBackup.

    SocialSafe is a download for Mac or Windows that will back up social services, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. It’s free to try with Facebook, but otherwise costs $3.49 per year to use.

    If you just want to make sure you have your entire Facebook history, from posts to photos to video, Facebook will give it to you in one gigantic archive (ZIP) file. Go to the menu at the upper right of Facebook, select Account Settings, and on that page click “Download a copy of your Facebook data.” Once you start the archive, it takes a while, so Facebook will mail you the link later to download it. You’ll get all you’ve ever posted, plus some of your friends’ names and e-mails (if they share them). You do not get friends’ status updates and photos, even if you’re tagged in them, nor your pithy comments made on other people’s posts.

    Website Backup
    If your site is still HTML or an older method site, you should never edit it live. The best practice is to make adjustments to the site on your computer then upload the updates to the web. This way you have a copy on your hard drive as well as on your server.

    Using CMS like WordPress or Joomla.

    With WordPress it is easy to use email or Dropbox to hold your website backup. A popular WordPress backup to Dropbox tool is this one: http://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-backup-to-dropbox/

    You set it and forget it. Once a week or more often depending on how many changes you make to your site is a good backup schedule. This Plugin will compress your database and your content and send it to your Dropbox account and you are done. If using a plugin for Joomla or WordPress make sure it backs up your database and your content. One is no good without the other.

  • It ain’t easy being green.

    There are many simple things that small businesses can do to be more green.

    Use recycled paper and make sure you and your employees practice good recycling practices. Reuse printer paper for notes, donate used paper for kids projects, Use duplex printing, two sided printing when you have to print. Use the preview or draft setting on your printer to save on ink.

    Recycling old tech, make sure that you remove your hard drive from your old laptops and computers before recycling them. You do not want customer data to get in the wrong hands.

    Use online services like SharePoint, Google Docs or Sky Drive instead of passing paper projects around the office. Online or shared collaboration is easier and way greener and more secure than everyone printing documents each time a change is made.

    Buy Energy Star appliances and equipment. Turn off monitors when you leave your desk and turn off your pc when you leave for the night. Turn off printers when not in use. Use power strips that you can turn off your desk electronics at night, Even if you turn your pc off it will still leach power if it is plugged in, using the power strip to turn it off will use less energy and will not cause your PC to wear out sooner.

    Replace florescence or turn off overhead lights, by adding small desk lights or day light lamps on desks you can save money and reduce electric costs. Free light, keeping blinds open or taking advantage of the sun for a light source is the best.

    Dump the old fax machine and switch to efax services and go paperless. This sounds tough but keeping everything stored electronically means safer file keeping and a traceable paper trail. Off site storage means that if a disaster hits your business your paper files are gone but you have everything stored offsite and safe.

    Dial or look up, don’t drive. check with suppliers on the phone or via email instead of driving to the suppliers to see if they have something you need.

    Buy office supplies and office furniture in bulk and all from the same place. Cuts down on carbon footprint and less shipping cost for you.

    Work from home one day a week, keeping everything powered off at the office is a great way to reduce your electric bill and save on energy. Many small offices are now doing 4 10 hour days, if you are going to be there any way, work 4 10 hour days and close the office for three days, saving power and having a three day weekend is great. One small business office interviewed saved over 1200 dollars a year by switching to 4 day work week.

    Office carpooling or ride sharing when you can. Public transport discount for your employees, saves parking spots for customers as well.

    Use washable cups, plates and glasses in the office.

    Better control of cooling and heating in the office, no tie policy in summer so the building does not have to be cooled as much.

  • TechXow! Old School

    Stand alone fax machines are becoming like dinosaurs and we need to move away from them. Thermal paper is expensive and not recyclable so getting an online service like the ones listed below.

    If all you need to do is send an occasional fax using a service like faxzero is a great option. http://faxzero.com/. This service is free for the occasional user that only needs to send a few pages. It does add an ad to the cover page but it is small. This does not allow you to receive faxes.

    To send and receive faxes you may need to sign up for eFax here. http://www.efax.com/, for about 13.99 to 16.99 a month you can send and or receive 200 pages a month. They also have a free service that limits you to about 20 pages a month, fine for most folks. The free account also gives you a free number to give out as your fax number. These faxes are sent and received right in your email.

    If you do not want to or cannot give up your dedicated phone line for faxes then switch from the old standalone to a Multi-Function Machine. These will allow you to scan documents and pictures to your computer, use them for printing documents and also to send and receive faxes. In the small business 1 to 5 users I would suggest looking at a 200.00 unit. If you have more than 5 people I would look at the units in the 299.00 and above price range. The more expensive units are faster and hold more faxes in memory all good news when you have several people trying to use them at once.

    Viewer Question. Should I include MySpace in my social media campaign? Wendy says maybe??? MySpace has relaunched as a music space. This is its intended use. When MySpace was first launched it was a place for musicians to connect with fans. Then people started jumping on it because it could not only connect you to your favorite band but to your friends as well. Justin Timberlake is now trying to re-invent MySpace as a music discovery spot.

    Know your audience. Wendy says that if you are a musician or record producer you should absolutely be on MySpace, if you are not one of these thing then yes go visit and connect to new music or your favorite band but do not create a MySpace page if you are a plumber.

  • Vacation and Tech

    Every year I get many calls that all start the same, we were on vacation and my (blank) fell in the pool or ocean, what can I do?

    Vacation is wonderful but it can be hazardous to your tech health. Below are a few tips that can make things less wet and provide a safer vacation with your tech.

    1. Leave it at home. I know, it will seem impossible but leaving your tech at home is one of the safest ways to prevent theft or damage.  The only thing worst than a wet device is a stolen device. Leaving tech at home on vacation is becoming a new trend and people are finding that it is very easy to reconnect to family and friends if the tech is not present.

    2. Don’t leave your tech in hot cars with the windows rolled up. Heat damage can and will in short order warp, or kill your tech. Carry your tech items with you if you are going to be out of the car for a long period of time. Covering it up with towels or jackets will only increase the heat factor for the tech items.

    3. Avoid FREE WIFI. if you need to duck into a coffee shop and check email or look something up on your bank’s site, remember that others can be watching and capturing your passwords. Never log into a secure site on Free or Public WIFI. This counts double for vacation. It is fine to look up an address or plan an outing, but never log into any site on Free or Public WIFI, you never know who is watching and having your bank account drained while on vacation is not a good time.

    4. Make sure if you are traveling outside of your country you have contacted your Wireless Carrier and made arrangements for international access. International roaming can cost you a small fortune and can be avoided with a call or visit to your cell phone provider. International travel also means you will need a power converter. Do not buy a cheap one for all power converter, these can kill your tech so quickly. Get one that is designed for the area that you are going to be in and make sure it works with your device. Also you may want to consider a small battery powered charger in case you are out all day and need to charge with no access to your power converter.

    5. There is no real waterproof solution, there is water resistant and it is not waterproof. Water is the main enemy of tech but did you know that sand and sunblock are just as bad? Sand can get into your connectors and charging port and render your device useless. Sunblock and other tanning oils are just that, oil. not only will it leave prints that are hard to get off if your device is plastic, it can leave permanent marks on your device as well as find its way into the cracks and openings on your device and kill it. Zip-Lock bags are not a solution, if you put your device in a plastic bag and its outside in the heat and moisture your will see that condensation will start to form inside the plastic bag and make its way into your device rendering it useless.

    6.  If your device falls into the water or gets wet the next minutes are crucial.

    First turn it off. Do not leave it on or try to use it.

    Second take it apart or remove the back or battery.

    Third. submerge the entire thing in uncooked non instant rice. try to get the device totally submerged in the dry rice, try to get it positioned so that the item is on edge. This allows the water a place to run out of the device. I have had to use a trash can from my motel room and 10 pounds of uncooked rice to get a wet laptop dried out.

    The bigger the item the longer it takes. A laptop can take two to three days, a tablet 2 days a phone 24 to 36 hours.

    After soaking in the rice take your device out and replace the battery and try to start it up, if you see water or moisture behind the screen. Turn it off and re-soak for more time. Moisture will kill your tech so fast so make sure it is totally dry before turning it back on.

    Here is hoping that you have a dry and tech safe vacation.

  • Mistakes

    Mistakes

    Employee posted wrong information on facebook and how do I deal with that.

    Own it. Tell your customers that you are sorry that the wrong item or information. Offer your phone and email for direct inquires and try to recover the error. Offer the wrong item for that customer or provide the customer with the discount, whatever was posted wrong. Develope a double check before posting information online. Two sets of eyes are better than one. Write the post and then have it double checked and establish a routine for this going forward.

    I did not install ask toolbar but now I have it.

    This is a very common issue in the tech world. When installing updates or programs that you have downloaded from the internet you need to read all of the information. There is always a little check box that you can uncheck that will then not install the software. This is one way that folks help to offset the cost of the download is by offering the Google Toolbar or Ask Toolbar or Mcafee Virus Scan. You do not have to leave it checked. Untick it and you get the download or update that you want and none of the filler.

    I have not checked twitter in a while and there are messages about my services, should I respond now or not.

    The first question here is do you need to be on Twitter or Facebook? If you are not going to use it as a tool for your business then you should close the account. Social media is a great tool but it like any tool has to be used correctly. Leaving customers hanging is a sure fire way to lose customers. To answer your question, yes reply. Apologize for missing the question, Own it.Try to contact the customer directly. Again you are doing more harm than good to your business if you have a Twitter account and you are not checking it two or three times a day.

    I like bargains but since installing coupon printer my computer is slow.

    Coupon Printer is not a good program. You give up a lot by installing it. It scans all of your sites that you visit and then returns coupons based on your surfing habits. It will slow down you computer because of all of the tracking cookies. CCleaner is a free program that you can download and clean you tracking cookies and get your speed back, then I would delete Coupon Printer.  CCleaner here: (Make sure you get the Free Version) http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

    Can everyone that follows me on Twitter see who I am following?

    Yes and no. Anyone who follows you can see who you are following but not the tweets from the folks you are following. Separate your business from your personal. Again this is a great tool but keep your business and personal separate.

    Pay for followers on Facebook.

    These are not local customers, these do not help you really. They are dead accounts or people that will follow you for a fee. Having a large number of followers do not convert to dollars. You should focus on your customers, not people from another country or across the country. Also this may be a violation of FaceBook terms of service. Be careful. Use the FaceBook advertising program that will focus ads for your business and allow you to set a budget and it works very well.

     

  • The Need for Speed Dad and Grad Geeky Gift Guide 2013

    Under 20

     

    space pen

     

    The Space Pen remains a great gift for everyone. It writes on everything and it fits in a pocket. Speed up your note taking.

     

     

     

     

    zombie survival

    Don’t let your loved one get caught flat footed by the approaching Zombie Horde. Speed up retreat times.

     

     

     

     

    geek dad

     

    The Geek Dad is full off fun and games for Dads. Speed up fun time.

     

     

     

     

    pocket ref.

     

    The Pocket Reference has it all, if you need to know anything, odds are it is in this book. When Myth Busters need to know something they look in here. Speed up knowlege. 

     

     

     

    Under 50

    guitar pick punch

    Make your own guitar pics, as thick or thin as you like. Speed up the jams.

     

     

     

     

    dea2_enterprise_pizza_cutter

     

    Dads and Grads need the Starship Enterprise Pizza Cutter. Speed up dinnertime.

     

     

     

     

    11cd_tactical_bbq_apron

     

    The best Tactical B-B-Q Apron ever. Take command of the grill in this apron. Speed up grill mastery.

     

     

     

     

    ec5c_marvel_polo

    Keep your secret identity safe with these polo shirts sporting you badge. Speed up rescue times.

     

     

     

     

    61b7_swingline_stapler

     

    Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler. Speed up productivity.

     

     

     

     

    West Seattle

    toms2

    Want to do something nice and feel really good? Get your Dad or Grad an oil change at Toms Automotive and receive up to 20.00 off if you bring a food donation for The West Seattle Food Bank. You feel good, dad or your grad feels good. Feel the Speed.

     

     

     

    rico

     

    Trash dads car again? Grads car floor covered in garbage? Go to Rico’s Auto Buff and get these things taken care of and have your car looking great in no time. Different levels of clean but for under 100.00 you can have super clean car inside and out. Speed the clean.

     

     

     

    cycleu

     

    Get Ready to Ride. off road or racing, leisure or commuting.  Cycle U has the perfect gifts for your dad or Grad that rides. Get ready for speed.

     

     

     

     

    powerbutton wshadow

    Seattle Tech Services is offering a Dad and Grad special. 15% off all remote services. If you are connected to the internet we can remotely access your dad or grads computer give it a tune up to get it back in top form. Speed the internet.