Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-12-24
Source of Article: TechRepublic, Tony Bradley
This article is good reading for people who have seen those ads on TV or the Internet which claim to be able to make your PC run as good as new and protect you from all the malware out there. If you have seen one of those ads and are considering purchasing the service I suggest you read this article first. Like the author I am glad to see Microsoft take this step.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-12-12
Source of Article: InfoWorld Tech Watch
If you have a Windows 7 SP 1 system and have installed KB3004394 from the latest Patch Tuesday and it is causing problems this article describes a fix just published by Microsoft to help cure these problems.
MS claims that KB3004394 does not cause problems on Windows 8/8.1 systems. I can not personally attest to the problems or lack of problems as I am still in my personal Patch Tuesday delay mode which is always at least 6 days long and longer if I know there are problems out there through the reporting of Woody and several of his peers.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-12-11
Source of Article: PC World
This is a good basic article on what to look for and what not to look for and then what to do if it does look like you really have malware.
Part of my protection system has been to use the best antivirus/malware software that I can afford and then do periodic testing with three different portable scanners to verify what my first line of defense is telling me.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-11-19
Source of Article: TechRepublic
Mobile technology is changing the way we live and interact with others and this article points out 10 of the ways it is doing so and some of the positives and negatives.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-??-??
Source of Article: ars technica
Be warned my friends, these scams are out there and this action by the government has just hit the tip of the iceberg. Four of those brand names in the next to last paragraph are familiar to me because I received their spam/scam offers. I didn't answer their offer because I was sure they were scams and this article has confirmed it for me. I hope they all get some real hard time and loose all their assets when the case is over.
What really makes me mad is I suspect that a significant part of that $120,000,000 these thieves acquired was paid by seniors living on a fixed income who just wanted to keep their PC running reliably to allow them to keep in contact with friends and family.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-11-06
Source of Article: Windows Secrets Top Story
This article points out how many of the companies that we do business with are equally to blame for consumer's losses due to identity theft and for loss of personal information. Many companies ignore threats to their web sites and point-of-sale terminals even when companies operating similar sites of terminals are hit by data breaches. I wonder if the law required them to take the loss they caused, would they still ignore these threats. Read the article, it may wake you up.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-10-22
Source of Article: ZDNet, The Ed Bott Report
This is very good news in my opinion. Security is often overlooked by members of the buying public when they go to get their new PC. Starting with an operating system that has more security features will make them safer.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-08-05
Source of Article: Wall Street Journal
One of our members sent a link to this article to me and if I was currently in the market for a new laptop I would find it very useful. There are a few other brands that I also like but the article is still accurate and worth reading if you are in the market.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-07-07
Source of Article: InfoWorld
Woody has long been one of my most trusted sources of where things are going in the Windows world and Wzor has been cited by him quite often and with the prediction coming true. The last paragraph in the story is very interesting and if correct could make Windows 9 acceptance the norm, especially if it includes the desktop start menu.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-07-08
Source of Article: ZDNet
As I usually do, I will wait until next Monday (my regular weekly system update and backup day) to install these updates. By then any problems should have surfaced and I can judge if I need to skip any of the patches.]
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-07-08
Source of Article: ZDNet
Thus the official countdown begins for Windows 7. IMO Microsoft really needs to get their version of the Start Menu back for Windows 8.1. I already use an add-on one but there are several different versions out there and that makes life harder in some cases for software developers. An official Start Menu would force the add-ons to make their products compatible with it. I believe it would also speed up acceptance of Windows 8.1, especially among seniors. A couple of days ago I saw a video demo of Microsoft's vision for the menu seemed to combine the best of the tiles with a traditional start menu. It looked really promising.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-07-??
Source of Article: Snopes
I started getting this one today. I did a little research and found the article above on Snopes. I found several other articles including two from the real Amos Family Funeral Home in Ks whose name was useed in the two emails I received. If you receive one like this my advice is to not click on the link unless you like to have your machine infected.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-07-02
Source of Article: TechRepublic
Since several of our members have Linux laptops I thought this would be a good article to post.
Sorry I am so late posting this but I have been off line for almost five days due to a service outage.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-06-27
Source of Article: PCWorld
Some good questions about Windows 8. I remember asking some of them myself when I got myu first Windows 8 system.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-06-09
Source of Article: ZDNet
I'm including this one because quite a few of our members use products effected by this flaw. My advice if you use one of these products is to make the last app before entering the lockscreen something unimportant, i.e. a single user game which does not provide access to any user information until this flaw is fixed. That way anyone with physical access to your device can not access its settings or any of your personal data or information.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-05-20
Source of Article: Microsoft
For those of you who are getting to know that new Windows 8 or 8.1 machine Microsoft has a useful set of tutorial on the web for you. I haven't read all of them but it appears that they are being updated on a regular basis and cover the basics.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-05-09
Source of Article: Tech Republic
Another Start Menu for Windows 8.1 that the author highly recommends and it is free. To use his words, "that if Microsoft had put something like this in Windows 8 from the
get-go, they sure would have saved themselves a lot of grief." Right now I am using Classic Start Menu and I am satisfied with it but if I get a chance I mi try this one out.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-04-28
Source of Article: Time
Good advice on how to be safe. I prefer his first suggestion.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-04-28
Source of Article: InfoWorld
I am going to do something I don't often do in this blog. I am going to quote more than the title of the article.
This is the subtitle of the article: "Department of Homeland Security recommends avoiding Microsoft browser until vulnerability in IE6 to IE11 is fixed"
And this is the line that makes the warning important: "As Microsoft notes, this is a drive-by class security hole: Your machine can be compromised if you simply visit an infected site."
Based on the article I am going to advise paying attention to this warning and avoid using Internet Explorer Versions 6 through 11 until this is fixed.
W.C.
Link To Article
Date of Article: 2014-04-10
Source of Article: SlashGear
Some pretty good advice on how to handle the fallout from Heartbleed.
W.C.
