The concept of form and function on an equal playing field have never been as important as they are today. How one markets themselves their business their accomplishments and their vision of the future is an art in itself. To ignore this is to sell yourself short.
The concept of form and function on an equal playing field have never been as important as they are today. How one markets themselves their business their accomplishments and their vision of the future is an art in itself. To … Continue reading
1. The computer virus in its defined form is NOT what most of us pick up by opening up a bad link in an email or visiting the wrong website. Those are usually malware brought to you in t…he form of a Trojan. The term Trojan, of course, from the Trojan horse, a gift which turned out to be full of enemy-solders not condoms as many may think. (one joke, that’s all, the reset is serious) Trojan files are often installed pretending to be a helpful application but instead, are full of ulterior motives.
2. Many websites which are not well maintained can be infected with malicious code that will in turn infect your computer and cause you harm. You do not need to visit a known “shady” website to get a computer infection. So make sure your virus protection is watching out for you with a web safe module. This is not a part of your protection suite designed just to keep the kid’s curiosity in check. It is good to “Google” the address of a website you may know by heart. This will allow your virus scan to Vet the site, and if you have a browser re-director infection, you will be taken to an imposter website if you search for it. If this happens, you know you have a serious issue that must be dealt with immediately. Just trading in IE for Firefox is not going to make you safe again. Viruses are like cancer, you have to get every trace out or you still have it.
3. Viruses begun as jokes, spread from computer to computer on floppy disks and tools to informally gauge the size of the internet in its early years, tracking the spread of these files which did little or no damage was a simple way of estimating the reach of the various separate networks which would eventually become the internet and later the world wide web.
4. The toughest and most resource intense malware released into the wild took professionals several weeks to figure out how to remove and clean any traces from an infected computer. This was Kaspersky’s claim to fame. He was able to find and remove this infection and his products continue to be one of the very best tools you can buy. INTERESTINGLY. The origin is thought to be a program written by the US government intended to destroy Iran’s attempts at nuclear research and their clear attempts at creating ratio active isotopes refined to the point of weapons grade. The degree at which their programs were set back by this malware is not clear but the root kit style software bug was the first of what would become a class of malware that is nearly impossible to remove and most experts will tell you to re-install your OS and replace your files with backups to be sure it is gone. So I hope you are backing up your files.
5. Viruses and malware are written in a way that allows them to morph from their original form when the reproduce, making it tougher to find and remove them.
6. Any company corrupt or legitimate has a motive above giving away their software. This can be an unwanted shareware program to a full on virus. Either way, if something is too good to be true it usually is and if you do not want your computer full of tool bars and advertisements, don’t download free applications unless they are a run-time version of an application needed in a large scale like Java or Adobe Flash. EVEN THEN you will have to pay attention as you click through the installation or you will end up with a toolbar you had no intention of installing.
7. Apple computers, iPad, and Android devices are seen as the growth area for malicious software distribution. The users of these platforms are accustom to a worry free internet experience and that mindset makes it easy to get unwanted applications into your system.
8. The motive for most malware and viruses are criminal activity focused on stealing money from you. The end game can be identity theft or the new favorite of many eastern-block criminal organizations, the ransom-ware outbreaks. Ransom-ware is a term coined for a program that takes over your system warning you that your files are encrypted and will be erased in a short period of time unless you pay several hundred or even thousands of dollars to the criminal, and they will stop the time bomb from going off. This is very real and unless you are an expert at virus removal and file decipher techniques, you are pretty much screwed and you will find the dollar amount these low lives are requesting is just enough to make the choice to pay them the one that most people will decide on. Backups, offsite, and incremental in nature will save you from having to every give in to these criminal enterprises. The more success they have, the more we will have to put up with this activity. This is why it is so important to look at network safety is a two part process, protection and backups are equally as important on any platform. Moreover, if the process is not automated, you are not going to do it. None of us will. So make sure you have something that manages itself.
9. We worry about our kids, but it is our parents who are the prime targets for this criminal activity. Talk to you folks, if they are in their 70’s and have a new found love for the internet. God Bless them, but God needs you to keep their virus scan software in good standings.
10. DO YOUR SYSTEM AND APPLICATION UPDATES IMMEDIATELY unless your computer is part of a corporate network. When Oracle releases a new version of Java runtime. Do not want an extra week, or an extra day or even an extra hour to install it. They release that security patch for a reason, and the bad guys are privy to that reason the moment the fix is published. This is when you are most vulnerable to new “day zero” attacks. So stop with the wise cracks on FB for two minutes and install the update.
(Fortinet is the only truly comprehensive virus scan software that is free and extremely powerful. It will run on just about any platform and it will not slow your computer down. I have a link on my website under downloads to allow you to get it easily. If you have a virus scan program already, either keep it, or make sure you uninstall it before installing a new one. Two virus programs is often worse than a virus)
Questions, I will try to answer but there are security experts you can find that I cannot clam to be in the same league as. I am just a guy who has had one too many weekends taken from me by a virus or a worm making its way through a network I am in charge of. So education has proven to be the best tool I have found to date. If you “kind of” have a virus, its like being a little bit preggo. There is no middle ground, clean it or your credit will go to hell and your friends will hate you. Your haters will loathe you. See More
1. The computer virus in its defined form is NOT what most of us pick up by opening up a bad link in an email or visiting the wrong website. Those are usually malware brought to you in t…he form of a Trojan. The term Trojan, of course, from the Trojan horse, a gift which turned out to be full of enemy-solders not condoms as many may think. (one joke, that’s all, the reset is serious) Trojan files are often installed pretending to be a helpful application but instead, are full of ulterior motives.
2. Many websites which are not well maintained can be infected with malicious code that will in turn infect your computer and cause you harm. You do not need to visit a known “shady” website to get a computer infection. So make sure your virus protection is watching out for you with a web safe module. This is not a part of your protection suite designed just to keep the kid’s curiosity in check. It is good to “Google” the address of a website you may know by heart. This will allow your virus scan to Vet the site, and if you have a browser re-director infection, you will be taken to an impostor website if you search for it. If this happens, you know you have a serious issue that must be dealt with immediately. Just trading in IE for Firefox is not going to make you safe again. Viruses are like cancer, you have to get every trace out or you still have it.
3. Viruses begun as jokes, spread from computer to computer on floppy disks and tools to informally gauge the size of the internet in its early years, tracking the spread of these files which did little or no damage was a simple way of estimating the reach of the various separate networks which would eventually become the internet and later the world wide web.
4. The toughest and most resource intense malware released into the wild took professionals several weeks to figure out how to remove and clean any traces from an infected computer. This was Kaspersky’s claim to fame. He was able to find and remove this infection and his products continue to be one of the very best tools you can buy. INTERESTINGLY. The origin is thought to be a program written by the US government intended to destroy Iran’s attempts at nuclear research and their clear attempts at creating ratio active isotopes refined to the point of weapons grade. The degree at which their programs were set back by this malware is not clear but the root kit style software bug was the first of what would become a class of malware that is nearly impossible to remove and most experts will tell you to re-install your OS and replace your files with backups to be sure it is gone. So I hope you are backing up your files.
5. Viruses and malware are written in a way that allows them to morph from their original form when the reproduce, making it tougher to find and remove them.
6. Any company corrupt or legitimate has a motive above giving away their software. This can be an unwanted shareware program to a full on virus. Either way, if something is too good to be true it usually is and if you do not want your computer full of tool bars and advertisements, don’t download free applications unless they are a run-time version of an application needed in a large scale like Java or Adobe Flash. EVEN THEN you will have to pay attention as you click through the installation or you will end up with a toolbar you had no intention of installing.
7. Apple computers, iPad, and Android devices are seen as the growth area for malicious software distribution. The users of these platforms are accustom to a worry free internet experience and that mindset makes it easy to get unwanted applications into your system.
8. The motive for most malware and viruses are criminal activity focused on stealing money from you. The end game can be identity theft or the new favorite of many eastern-block criminal organizations, the ransom-ware outbreaks. Ransom-ware is a term coined for a program that takes over your system warning you that your files are encrypted and will be erased in a short period of time unless you pay several hundred or even thousands of dollars to the criminal, and they will stop the time bomb from going off. This is very real and unless you are an expert at virus removal and file decipher techniques, you are pretty much screwed and you will find the dollar amount these low lives are requesting is just enough to make the choice to pay them the one that most people will decide on. Backups, offsite, and incremental in nature will save you from having to every give in to these criminal enterprises. The more success they have, the more we will have to put up with this activity. This is why it is so important to look at network safety is a two part process, protection and backups are equally as important on any platform. Moreover, if the process is not automated, you are not going to do it. None of us will. So make sure you have something that manages itself.
9. We worry about our kids, but it is our parents who are the prime targets for this criminal activity. Talk to you folks, if they are in their 70’s and have a new found love for the internet. God Bless them, but God needs you to keep their virus scan software in good standings.
10. DO YOUR SYSTEM AND APPLICATION UPDATES IMMEDIATELY unless your computer is part of a corporate network. When Oracle releases a new version of Java runtime. Do not want an extra week, or an extra day or even an extra hour to install it. They release that security patch for a reason, and the bad guys are privy to that reason the moment the fix is published. This is when you are most vulnerable to new “day zero” attacks. So stop with the wise cracks on FB for two minutes and install the update.
(Fortinet is the only truly comprehensive virus scan software that is free and extremely powerful. It will run on just about any platform and it will not slow your computer down. I have a link on my website under downloads to allow you to get it easily. If you have a virus scan program already, either keep it, or make sure you uninstall it before installing a new one. Two virus programs is often worse than a virus)
Questions, I will try to answer but there are security experts you can find that I cannot clam to be in the same league as. I am just a guy who has had one too many weekends taken from me by a virus or a worm making its way through a network I am in charge of. So education has proven to be the best tool I have found to date. If you “kind of” have a virus, its like being a little bit preggo. There is no middle ground, clean it or your credit will go to hell and your friends will hate you. Your haters will loathe you.
When you mix a brand new MacBook Pro, an irrisposible teenager, a glass of tap water and a wobbly nightstand, the total can add up to over $1000.00.
Now doesn’t Evian seem like a bargain? Cap tightened on between sips of course!
