Okay, okay; it’s been awhile since I last dropped you a line, but great news, “I’m still here and in January ’08 I celebrate my seventh year in Computer Services consulting!” I know it’s exciting for you too, but calm down; I have important stuff to write you about.
I’ve hemmed and hawed this past year over building my new website; whether it should be more business focused or customer focused. Well I finally hawed and decided on customer focus and am happy to tell you it’s ready to go. I have a new logo, an expanded company name, color scheme and content so take a moment to check it out here: http://www.itcaz.com.
Some of my new features include Blogs where I write about specific technology issues and answer any questions you have, new service packages that include pre-paying for support hours at an great discount, gift certificates for family, friends, coworkers, and others, New Live Remote and Phone Support services, a top-ten list of the latest Windows news, top-ten virus concerns, an ITC search engine, a Free Popular Downloads area and a place to link to research sites. I can’t wait for your feedback!
And if you have a Home or Small Office or Business and want to advertise on itcaz.com drop me a line. I’d be happy to include a link to your website or a small ad.
Now down to serious business…
If you’re in the market for a new computer you may be in for a big surprise. If you don’t already know Microsoft pulled all of its XP operating systems from the shelves earlier this year, so you are left (stuck?) with Vista. Now I’m not writing that Vista is all that bad, but it certainly has its fair share of flaws (unplanned features?). The problem stems from Microsoft’s arrogance and rush to release (behind schedule) that they forgot to tell all the third party vendors that they were releasing Vista early. What’s the issue? Well these third party vendors never had a chance to complete (or even begin!) to write new peripheral drivers (for video, printers, disks, scanners, etc.) so Vista was initially released without these. Of course Vista has its own set of problems and idiosyncrasies, but this just makes matters even worse. Oh, talk about upset customers and vendors! My, my, my Bill… haven’t you learned yet?
Don’t dismay though, there are alternatives to Vista and its called XP Home and XP Professional. Yup, good ole XP is still available, but you have to know where to go and how to get it. I know of three computer vendors that still offer XP Home and XP Professional on their website. These are HP, Dell, and Lenovo and I’m sure there are more. In the case of HP and Dell, go to their website and opt to view Small Business computers. When you select one of interest and view the options, you’ll see that you are offered XP. Check it out. There’s more than one way to skin a Gates.
Speaking of Lenovo ThinkPad Notebooks (IBM); I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about these and wish I had purchased my laptop from them. ;)
On the security front…
Infections are still here and growing steadily. I reported an article about two years ago that stated organized crime was getting into the Spam and Spyware market and this month a news segment confirms they are here and doing well. Trojans continue to dominate the infections through bogus emails, Internet pop-ups, and dangerously infected sites. One thing you really need to be careful of is getting a pop-up window that says your computer is or may be infected and to Click Here for a free scan. Of course, the entire window is a button and by clicking anywhere other than the X (close the window in the upper right corner) will download the infection. The latest of these Zlog which downloads a Trojan called Antivirgear. The most prevalent so far is the Vundo infection, so if you see these give me a call.
Some of you are still out there surfing the web without protection. For all of us, basic protection should include an anti-virus and anti-parasite product. Improvements over this include a software firewall. If you haven’t renewed your existing protection, or haven’t yet acquired one (arghh), an alternative is AVG’s Free Spyware and Virus protection. Check the home page of itcaz.com for the Free Popular Downloads area and get protected today!
Symantec has finally simplified their product with the introduction of Norton 360 (meaning full circle I guess). I think what has hurt Symantec/Norton over the past few years has been the complicated and frustrating Internet Security product. I’m glad to see they’ve finally realized this.
Tips
If you’re using wireless in your home or office, be sure to turn on encryption in order to secure your computer and protect your Internet connection so nearby neighbors (and other snoops) don’t get a free ride. Give me a call if you need help on this. A typical wireless setup usually takes me between 30 and 45 minutes to setup and install.
If you’ve downloaded Windows IE7 and are as disappointed as I was, you can always remove it and automatically revert back to IE6. Just go to your Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs and remove it. To prevent this from being offered a download in the future, uncheck the option to install this now and you’ll be asked if you want Windows to ignore this in the future. Most definitely say yes.
One of easiest and best ways to keep unwanted sites and downloads from coming into your computer (as well as going out) is to populate your Hosts file. You can read my Blog here for more information and a link to download a Hosts file already populated with a large number of known infectors.
Did you know you really don’t have to enter a full web address into your URL? As long as the address ends in “.com” you need only to enter the site name (such as msn or itcaz), hold down your control key and press Enter. IE will fill in the rest. There’s an IE setting for this and is usually turned on. Let me know if this doesn’t work for you and I’ll send you instructions on how to turn it on.
I don’t want to make this email too long, so I’ll cut off here. Please remember to send me your questions and I’ll Blog an answer for you.
I’ve hemmed and hawed this past year over building my new website; whether it should be more business focused or customer focused. Well I finally hawed and decided on customer focus and am happy to tell you it’s ready to go. I have a new logo, an expanded company name, color scheme and content so take a moment to check it out here: http://www.itcaz.com.
Some of my new features include Blogs where I write about specific technology issues and answer any questions you have, new service packages that include pre-paying for support hours at an great discount, gift certificates for family, friends, coworkers, and others, New Live Remote and Phone Support services, a top-ten list of the latest Windows news, top-ten virus concerns, an ITC search engine, a Free Popular Downloads area and a place to link to research sites. I can’t wait for your feedback!
And if you have a Home or Small Office or Business and want to advertise on itcaz.com drop me a line. I’d be happy to include a link to your website or a small ad.
Now down to serious business…
If you’re in the market for a new computer you may be in for a big surprise. If you don’t already know Microsoft pulled all of its XP operating systems from the shelves earlier this year, so you are left (stuck?) with Vista. Now I’m not writing that Vista is all that bad, but it certainly has its fair share of flaws (unplanned features?). The problem stems from Microsoft’s arrogance and rush to release (behind schedule) that they forgot to tell all the third party vendors that they were releasing Vista early. What’s the issue? Well these third party vendors never had a chance to complete (or even begin!) to write new peripheral drivers (for video, printers, disks, scanners, etc.) so Vista was initially released without these. Of course Vista has its own set of problems and idiosyncrasies, but this just makes matters even worse. Oh, talk about upset customers and vendors! My, my, my Bill… haven’t you learned yet?
Don’t dismay though, there are alternatives to Vista and its called XP Home and XP Professional. Yup, good ole XP is still available, but you have to know where to go and how to get it. I know of three computer vendors that still offer XP Home and XP Professional on their website. These are HP, Dell, and Lenovo and I’m sure there are more. In the case of HP and Dell, go to their website and opt to view Small Business computers. When you select one of interest and view the options, you’ll see that you are offered XP. Check it out. There’s more than one way to skin a Gates.
Speaking of Lenovo ThinkPad Notebooks (IBM); I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about these and wish I had purchased my laptop from them. ;)
On the security front…
Infections are still here and growing steadily. I reported an article about two years ago that stated organized crime was getting into the Spam and Spyware market and this month a news segment confirms they are here and doing well. Trojans continue to dominate the infections through bogus emails, Internet pop-ups, and dangerously infected sites. One thing you really need to be careful of is getting a pop-up window that says your computer is or may be infected and to Click Here for a free scan. Of course, the entire window is a button and by clicking anywhere other than the X (close the window in the upper right corner) will download the infection. The latest of these Zlog which downloads a Trojan called Antivirgear. The most prevalent so far is the Vundo infection, so if you see these give me a call.
Some of you are still out there surfing the web without protection. For all of us, basic protection should include an anti-virus and anti-parasite product. Improvements over this include a software firewall. If you haven’t renewed your existing protection, or haven’t yet acquired one (arghh), an alternative is AVG’s Free Spyware and Virus protection. Check the home page of itcaz.com for the Free Popular Downloads area and get protected today!
Symantec has finally simplified their product with the introduction of Norton 360 (meaning full circle I guess). I think what has hurt Symantec/Norton over the past few years has been the complicated and frustrating Internet Security product. I’m glad to see they’ve finally realized this.
Tips
If you’re using wireless in your home or office, be sure to turn on encryption in order to secure your computer and protect your Internet connection so nearby neighbors (and other snoops) don’t get a free ride. Give me a call if you need help on this. A typical wireless setup usually takes me between 30 and 45 minutes to setup and install.
If you’ve downloaded Windows IE7 and are as disappointed as I was, you can always remove it and automatically revert back to IE6. Just go to your Control Panel, select Add/Remove Programs and remove it. To prevent this from being offered a download in the future, uncheck the option to install this now and you’ll be asked if you want Windows to ignore this in the future. Most definitely say yes.
One of easiest and best ways to keep unwanted sites and downloads from coming into your computer (as well as going out) is to populate your Hosts file. You can read my Blog here for more information and a link to download a Hosts file already populated with a large number of known infectors.
Did you know you really don’t have to enter a full web address into your URL? As long as the address ends in “.com” you need only to enter the site name (such as msn or itcaz), hold down your control key and press Enter. IE will fill in the rest. There’s an IE setting for this and is usually turned on. Let me know if this doesn’t work for you and I’ll send you instructions on how to turn it on.
I don’t want to make this email too long, so I’ll cut off here. Please remember to send me your questions and I’ll Blog an answer for you.
ITC Computer Services of Arizona
Office/Fax: 602-375-7934
Mobile: 602-684-7501
Web Site: www.itcaz.com
Email: mike@itcaz.com
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