http://www.schiffkey.com/schiffkeynews.htm
March 28, 2007 - News by Jerrold Schiff
Headlines:
1) BUTTONS - What's new on http://www.schiffkey.com ???? (radio, weather)
2) Emergency Data Recovery of a DEAD Disk
3) Vista - revisited
4) Dell Printer Cartridges at Office Depot
5) Laptop Cool Plates at Office Max - $19.99
6) Win Anti Virus Pro (etc etc etc!!!)
7) Email spam on the rise. (as of 2006)
Estimated as 40%. Per person: 6 per day. Daily spam: 12.4 billion
Type of spam (high to low) Products, Financial, Adult, Scams, Health
Most annoying: Pornography, Loans, Investments, Real Estate
8) Protecting your children. (versus)
Monitoring programs for children and spouses.
9) Do NOT let your anti virus software run out.
DO get updates - on a weekly basis - if not daily.
10) Memory - a quick way to make your computer faster.
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DETAILS of above headlines
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1) BUTTONS - What's new on http://www.schiffkey.com ???? (radio, weather)
LIVE changing content
On the left:
a) Temperature ! Find out the weather in Apopka, Florida
b) Speed Test ! Want to know the download and upload speed of your internet connection?
c) AM740 ! Live Music classics. Light listening from the past. From Toronto Canada
On the right:
Live Radar (http://www.weatherunderground.com/)
Is your company listed on the scrolling marquee ?
Newest entry and winner best company name: THE YARDFATHER 407.325.8208
Ed Brown - Landscaping, Maintenance, Irrigation Repair, Install Sod
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2) Emergency Data Recovery of a DEAD Disk
If your hard drive will not spin up, or you hear clanging sounds - then you have a dead hard drive.
Economy priced hard drive recovery costs between $700 and $1900 and takes between 2 to 4 weeks.
At the risk of repeating myself - Isn't it about time you looked into getting a SECOND hard drive?
Or, with a laptop, use an external hard drive. With a Desktop, an internal hard drive is cheaper.
Installation is painless. There is a learning curve associated with backing up data.
The cost of a second hard drive and one hour tutorial is less than $200.
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3) Vista - revisited
Well, the woes continue to mount on the newest Microsoft operating system.
First off: Will your printer/camera etc work with Vista?
Probably not. At least not if you bought it at a store.
There is hope that the driver/software may be available online (soon).
Second: Java - used in a lot of programs such as file sharing and music downloads.
www.java.com has come up with Java 6.0. Have yet to hear a success story
Third: UAC - User Account Control
The jury is out on what Microsoft was thinking when they installed UAC.
In theory, popups control unwanted add-on software/programs, by prompting every install.
In practice, not only is this a pain, but the popups do little to instruct or help!
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4) and 5) need no details
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6) Win Anti Virus Pro
Also Known As:
Spy Sheriff, Spy Quake, Virus Burst, Spy Axe, Pest Trap, Spy Trooper,
Malware, SpywareNo, Brave Sentry, WinFixer or Virtumonde
If you see a popup telling you that your computer is infected, then its partly correct.
The popup itself is a virus.
Clicking on the popup, and paying $39.99 for the "anti virus software", will
guarantee that you get MORE and MORE viruses.
On a good night, some clients have called the companies and received their money back.
Of course, they put their credit card number on "watch" - just in case that info is sold.
Best advice? If there is a popup, and you are unsure what to do, take a picture of it,
and send it to me.
Picture? Sure: Press and hold the control key. Press "print screen".
Click on START, ALL PROGRAMS, ACCESSORIES, PAINT.
Click on EDIT, click on PASTE.
- either save the picture to "my documents" (file, save as, desktop.jpg)
- or email it (file, send) - will work with Outlook or Outlook Express
To KILL (yes, KILL) the program, right click on the blue task bar,
click on TASK MANAGER and APPLICATIONS and END PROCESS.
Then call your friendly neighbourhood Computer Virus Removal expert (me).
Following the above steps is the difference of a 1-2 hour service call,
to a 3 hour+ save-data and reinstall the operating system ($180-$210).
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7) Email spam on the rise. (as of 2006)
Luckily, everyone has an opinion on what programs stops the most spam.
Some like McAfee's Anti Spam killer, while others like Norton's Internet Security.
Others use "invitation only" programs from their internet provider (example: Earthlink)
I prefer Mailwasher, gives you more control over "false negatives". But it takes more time.
There is really only one way NOT to get spam - Give up using email.
Try to be careful how you "post" your email address.
If it's on web pages, forums, used in online orders, registering products/warrantees,
chat rooms etc - then "bots" (robot spider programs combing the net looking for email
addresses) will find you!
If you must post your email address, try to hide it a little:
myname_NoSpamPlease AT cfl DOT rr DOT com (humans will translate @, . .
and remove the _NoSpamPlease --- hopefully, eh?
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8) Protecting your children (versus)
Monitoring programs for children and spouses.
Gee - isn't this a hot topic?
I am currently investigating software that will help monitor computer activity.
Interestingly enough, MONITOR type software is the same thing as a virus.
How? Well, if you want to track what is happening on your computer,
its important that the (other) person using the computer does not know they
are being watched!!
In the case of children - Programs such as NETNANNY will block questionable
web pages - changing the page to their trademark "This page blocked by NetNanny."
That's when you WANT the computer user to know they have done something "bad."
But, to create reports, screen shots, to log key strokes, internet chat messages
and emails - its necessary to do things "behind the scene". To be invisible
these programs do NOT appear in the task manager, the start up (msconfig),
and can not be found in any files or folders - by the untrained eye.
Please contact me directly for more information.
All calls, as usual, will be handled as discretely as possible.
9) Do NOT let your anti virus software run out.
DO get updates - on a weekly basis - if not daily.
I have tested "CA Internet Security Suite 2007" and found it better than
Norton and Mcafee. Along with Anti Virus, it has anti spam, anti spyware
anti phishing and a renown firewall (Zone Alarm).
I have a few limited copies for sale at $60 each computer / installed.
10) Memory - a quick way to make your computer faster.
Try this: go to www.crucial.com and install their
"Crucial System Scanner" (it is safe).
This will tell you what kind of RAM you have, what you can buy
and how much it will cost.
Then send me an email, with the specifications.
I can purchase RAM from a local warehouse - saving you money.
And I'll give you a good break on installation charges, too!
