• May 1, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Smart Phone Viruses

    Smart Phone Viruses

    WHAT CAN AN ANDROID VIRUS DO TO YOU? If a virus gets into your phone, then it can send text messages. You are probably thinking, "Big deal, I have unlimited text so sending a couple of extra texts might be annoying, but how can it cost me money?" There is a concept called premium-rate text messages. These text messages were used by the Red Cross after earthquakes, to raise money. A user sends a text to a ...

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  • April 17, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on How to Speed Up Your Computer

    How to Speed Up Your Computer

    IS YOUR COMPUTER GOING SLOW? Quite often we are asked, "My computer is going slow. Is there anything I can do about it?" The answer is it really depends on why the computer is going slow. Read below to see some quick ways to determine if the slowness is due to a hardware issue. Please note: Many times it is a software issue, which we will discuss at a later time!     WHAT ARE THE POSSIBILITIES? In this week's newsletter, we ...

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  • April 10, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Viruses Revisited

    Viruses Revisited

    A RECAP FROM A PREVIOUS ARTICLE... In the December 27th 2011 newsletter we discussed: - WHAT a virus is - WHAT a virus does - HOW a virus gets on your computer - HOW to protect yourself A virus is a program like any computer program - it does precisely what its author programmed. However, in this case there is malicious intent. That may include stealing data, tracking what you do or instructing your computer to attack other computers. Viruses tend to slow down your computer ...

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  • April 3, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Digital Data

    Digital Data

    Ever wondered why a CD holds 72 minutes of music? When the cd was invented, it was decided that a cd should be a long enough to hold Beethoven's Ninth Symphony at any tempo, which was precisely 72 minutes! What's the difference between a CD a DVD and blue ray? CD's, DVD's and blue ray discs look similar to each other. The main differences are the data capacity of each disc and the technology used ...

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  • April 3, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on What is Google Play?

    What is Google Play?

      For those who use Google products, you may have noticed a new option on the top black bar on Google's home page, with the word "play." For those with Android ...

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  • March 20, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Is There a Better Way to Access All of my Emails?

    Is There a Better Way to Access All of my Emails?

    Overview Emails are stored on a server. Today we will discuss how to access those emails. There are two main options. OPTION A: Connect to your email via a web browser OPTION B: Access your emails through a program (aka client) on your computer The most common email client is Microsoft Outlook. Outlook can be used with or without an Exchange server. For many smaller businesses and home users, who do not have an Exchange server, there are several free alternatives to Microsoft Outlook. Why do we prefer ...

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  • March 13, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Will Someone Give a Hacker Access to Your Network?

    Will Someone Give a Hacker Access to Your Network?

    How can this happen? A common way in which this is done is through something called spear phishing. What is spear phishing? Spear phishing is when someone sends you an official looking survey, asking a couple of questions. Based on the answers provided, they are able to access your entire network. Many times the survey is sent using a reputable company, such as SurveyMonkey. What are the odds you will fall for it?  According to PhishMe, Inc., once in an employee's ...

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  • March 6, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Google’s Privacy Laws and What They Mean

    Google’s Privacy Laws and What They Mean

    When did the new policy take affect? Google's new policy privacy went into effect last week, on March 1st. What does it mean to me? All your Google activity will now be logged into one account, which will allow Google to display advertisements based on your history. How do they do that? What Google has been doing until now, is tracking everything on every user as much as possible. However, this data was organized by each individual Google program. For example, the ads you see displayed on your ...

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  • February 21, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Ever wondered what ActiveX is?

    Ever wondered what ActiveX is?

    Where does ActiveX control appear? ActiveX appears when going to certain websites, before the website completely opens up. What is ActiveX? ActiveX is Microsoft's way of running a program in a web browser. What does it do? Giving an ActiveX control permission to run means that this program will have access to your drive and get around your web browser's protection. When should you allow it? Only allow it if you know that the ActiveX control is not malicious. They will usually pop up with the name of ...

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  • February 21, 2012 Posted on Newsletter, Comments Off on Backup Planning

    Backup Planning

    “Failing to Plan, Is Planning to Fail.” – Winston Churchill (during WWII)   Do you need to have a backup? We cannot stress the importance of having a backup. Creating a backup or copy will ensure you still have those files if the unfortunate happens to your computer. Depending on the type of backup, it can back up files, programs and/or personal settings.   Are there different approaches in backing up your data?  YES! There are numerous options. The breakdown is as follows: - Local backup - Online backup - Imaging - Mirroring of ...

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