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Payment Options
Several
of our customers have been asking us to accept credit card payments
for our products and services. We are happy to report that we
now accept Visa, MasterCard and American Express.
Keeping
Your Home PC Healthy – Part 3
 This
is the third installment in our Home PC Health series where
we answer one of our most oft asked questions: “What can
I do to make my home computer run better?” These solutions
are in no particular order, but they should be used as a checklist
when caring for your PC:
Rebuild Yearly
Rebuild
your PC (from scratch) once per year. It’s like taking
your car in for an oil change, tune up and tire rotation. It
restores your PC to its factory speeds. If you use your PC on
a regular basis, this cannot be accomplished any other way.
The process is as follows:
- Backup
your data
- Reformat
the hard drive
- Install
the operating system
- Perform
Windows Updates
- Reinstall
the software you really need
- Restore
you backup data
Upgrade
as Needed
If you have
to make more than one upgrade of your hard drive, graphics card,
operating system or memory, you should probably be thinking
of buying a new PC. If the system is over 3 years old, then
the street value is probably around $150. Simply adding or replacing
a new hard drive with installation costs and updates will surely
exceed the street value.
Do
not Install Freeware/Shareware
Would you
be suspicious of a stranger that offered to clean your house
for free? Free software for your computer is no different! When
you download freeware from the Internet, you run an extremely
high risk of damaging your computer. Many software manufacturers
use deceptive functionality to get you to unknowingly install
malicious software on your computer. The software claims to
synchronize your PC’s clock or keep track of forms, but
it is also doing other hidden things when you browse the Internet.
The net affect to you is reduced performance, strange behavior
and system instability. The next time you come across a game
or utility that seems harmless enough, stop and ask yourself
if you really need that piece of software. Is it really worth
the risk?
Beware of
the following common tricks software vendors use to get you
to install damaging software:
- Hide
software inside another program’s installer. You will
often see this technique in peer-to-peer programs like Kazaa
or Limewire. Hundreds of freeware programs install other software
along with the main application. In some cases the software
is relatively innocuous, but in others it can crash your system
or invade your privacy. The only hint you may see is a short
sentence or two in the end user license agreement (EULA) to
the effect of “third party software may be installed
along with the application”
- Use
confusing legalese. The license agreements don’t come
out and say “we’re going to collect information
and mess up your browsing.” Instead, the licenses are
full of vague and confusing prose.
- Keep
asking until you click “Yes.” This is particularly
common with drive-by downloads. Some software is delivered
by an ActiveX control that tries to load every time you visit
a web page where the software is present. As a security measure,
the browser will ask you if you want to install. If you say
No, it’s only good until the next web page you load
where you’ll again be asked the same question. After
a few pages of this, some people will give up and click “Yes.”
A better move would be to leave the site or exit and reload
your browser.
- Create
a false pretense for needing the software. You might get an
email message from a friend that reads, “I’ve
just sent you a greeting card. Go to this website to read
it!” When you get to the site, it asks you to install
a “greeting card viewer” that turns out to be
malicious software that sends a similar card to everyone in
your address book. In the license agreement that you didn’t
read, but did agree to, you gave the program permission to
do that.
- Look
essential or be invisible. Some software will use an official-sounding
name like “winstartup” so that you’ll be
less likely to disable it if you see it running. Others maintain
a low profile by using dozens of different file names and
locations or even generating a random file name to escape
detection. To further mask its existence and reduce your awareness
of it, many software packages will even install software updates
without your knowledge.
My last
piece of advice on this subject is to set your home page in
Internet explorer to something safe such as http://www.google.com.
If your home page changes after installing software, this is
your first indication that you’ve installed something
you shouldn’t have. It’s called homepage hijacking
and it’s the first sign of problems. Change it back, update
your antivirus signatures, run Spybot and keep your eye open
for anomalies. However...it may already be too late. In some
cases, a rebuild may be necessary to ensure complete privacy.
As always,
if you have questions about any of the recommendations in the
article, give Promethius a call at 317/733-2388.
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Definition
of the Month
Courtesy
of Webopedia...
Blacklist-
(blak´list) (n.) In Internet terminology, a generic name
for a list of e-mail addresses or IP addresses that are originating
with known spammers. Individuals and enterprises can use blacklists
to filter out unwanted e-mails, as most e-mail applications
today have filtering capabilities.
Also referred to as a blackhole list, the blacklist also can
include ISPs that allow known spammers to use their services.
(v.)
To place an email address or an IP address on a list of known
spammers.
September
is National Humor in Business Month
Did
you know that humor improves communication, reduces stress,
and creates stimulating office environments?
Employees who are in good spirits are more relaxed, more creative,
and more intuitive. They enjoy being in the office and take
pride at excelling in their jobs.
Here
are some fun ideas that can add a little humor to your office
according to www.idoinspire.com:
-Organize
a “Fun Committee” for dreaming up fun “stuff”
to do during and after work.
-Collect and share your favorite cartoons and jokes.
-Create
a Joke Board or a Humor Newsletter. Look for tools to disseminate
fun and funny things daily.
-Add
fun to meetings. Bring in fun things such as Nerfballs, a basketball
and hoop, or party blowers.
-Start
a meeting with a humorous story or joke.
-Put
fun things and activities in the staff room. This allows people
to take their mind off of the seriousness of work for a short
period, so they come back to work with a more positive and balanced
perspective.
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