Posted by Ann Westerheim on Tue, Feb 07, 2012 @ 01:05 PM
February 7 is Safer Internet Day, which is organized by Insafe each year to help promote safer and more responsible use of the Internet and mobile phones, especially among young people. There are events all over the world today with this year's theme focused on "Connecting generations and educating each other". This is a great idea because we can all help each other - tech savvy young people can teach their grandparents about how to get around on-line, and grandparents have the wisdom to help their grandchildren stay safe.
To learn more and get informed with some helpful statistics, visit the saferinternetday.org web site. Did you know that 26% of children report having a public social networking profile and 36% of 9-16 year olds report that they definitely know more about the Internet than their parents? 48% of parents report that they get Internet safety information mostly from family and friends. In the spirit of the day, talk to your family about Internet safety and help spread the word! You can also help spread the word on Facebook and Twitter.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Thu, Feb 02, 2012 @ 02:24 PM
A year ago I got rid of all the paper on my desk and every day it's a wonderful sight in the morning to see a clear desk! Microsoft Outlook "Tasks" are a great way to stay organized, and by changing the font, size and color of overdue tasks, you can get even more organized!
Changing the appearance of overdue tasks can help them stand out more. In Outlook 2010, select "Tasks" from the navigation bar. In the "View" tab, select "View Settings". In the "Advanced View Settings" pick "Conditional Formatting". When you highlight "overdue tasks" you can pick any font you want to make the tasks pop out on your list. If red is too harsh and scolding, pick something else that works for you!
We strongly advise clients to get more from the technology you already have. When you get a few free minutes, explore the settings that will work for youl
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Jan 30, 2012 @ 11:14 AM
If you want to zoom in or zoom out of a web page to make the font bigger or smaller, a simple trick is to use the control key and the scroll on on your mouse: Hold the control key (Ctrl) and then spin the scroll up or down. The scroll wheel is located between the left and right buttons on the mouse. Not every mouse has a scroll, so you can also use the control key with the plus sign and minus sign. A third option is to hit the ALT key plus "P" to pull up the page menu and then select "zoom".
This is a good trick to remember if you find a small font size on your screen one day. Since is possible to change the size by mistake, it's good to know how to change it back.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Fri, Jan 27, 2012 @ 07:26 AM
If you need to send an email to someone with a large file or perhaps with many smaller files, you can compress the files to save space and also save the hassle of attaching several files one by one by selecting a compressed folder. The process is easy, and it doesn't require any extra software since the function is built right into Windows. Simply find the file or folder you want to compress, right click on the file or folder and select Send To and then click Compressed (zipped) Folder. The new file folder has a zipper on it to show its "zipped", and you can rename it to anything you want.
Compressing files and folders makes it a lot easier to collaborate with multiple files, and helps keep the file size down so you don't need to break apart the communication into several emails. The typical email size limit is 10M, so this is good to use with larger files. Although you may have a bigger limit, you don't necessarily know what your recipient has for a limit so this is a good trick to know.
To extract the entire contents of the folder, right click on the folder and select Extract All.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Thu, Jan 26, 2012 @ 07:14 AM
When I'm working on my computer I like to open up a LOT of windows at the same time. With so many windows open, if I need to go to the desktop to open a new program, there's a lot of clutter in the way.
Quick Tip: A very fast short cut to get back to the desktop is to right-click on the taskbar at the bottom of the screen, and select "Show the desktop". This will get you to a blank desktop without having to close the windows one by one.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Tue, Jan 24, 2012 @ 08:07 AM
One of the best ways to protect yourself from the common "fake" anti-virus malware that's all over the place is to spend a few moments getting to know your "real" anti-virus software.
Each anti-virus vendor handles things a bit differently, but it's basically "theme and variations". The screen shot to the right is what the AVG system status looks like. When you click on the AVG icon in the system tray (lower right of your screen), you'll see this screen. What you're looking for is a recent scan date, your last update (should be with in a few hours time window), and your license expiration date. You're also looking for green check marks for all the protection levels: Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, LinkScanner, Anti-Rootkit, e-Mail Scanner, License, Online Shield, Resident Shield, and the Update Manager. The goal is to recognize your system status when things are going well, so when if you get the dreaded "fake anti-virus" malware, you'll know it's fake.
If you get hit with the fake antivirus malware, here's what will happen. A pop-up will appear on your screen saying somthing like a threat was found and do you want to do a scan. In scome cases the pop up will ask you to purchase an anti-virus license. Don't do it! A good strategy is to remember your Windows shortcuts and use "ALT+F4" to close the window. Sometimes the pop-up looks like a Windows screen, but its actually a web page, and the "x" that would normally close the window is actually a link to do more harm. Use "ALT+F4" instead.
Spend a few moments today to look at what your anti-virus system status screen looks like, and you'll be better prepared for future "fake" threats.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Fri, Jan 20, 2012 @ 12:36 PM
This week, Wikipedia went dark and Google blacked out its logo in protest over two controversial intellectual property bills being discussed in Congress: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). The intent of the new laws is to protect authors and creators of intellectual property from getting ripped off. However both proposed laws are seriously flawed.
Under SOPA, an entire web site could be shut down even if there is only some infringing content. Imagine the implications for sites like YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia. All other content AND users would also be locked out! If you wanted to visit one of these sites to view non-infringing material, you couldn't. As Rodney Brown points out in Mass High Tech, that's sensoring us too!
In addition, the concept of "guilty until proven innocent" is wrong. Any company that says another web site is using some of its content could get a court order from a judge to shut down the site without due process.
Opposition to the proposed laws has been huge. Over 2.4 million Tweets were posted on Wednesday! On the same day, many web sites such as Google, Amazon, The ACLU, and several other protest sites posted links to tell Congress to fix the laws, and there must have been a flood of emails.
It looks like Congress is listening. Today Senate leaders announced they will postpone the vote. Harry Reid said: "In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote". He also adds "There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved".
Stopping people from profiting from blatant piracy is a good thing, but these laws are seriously flawed, far too overreaching, and would do far more harm than good.
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Jan 09, 2012 @ 07:57 AM
The Boston Sunday Globe had some interesting reading yesterday: "Laptop seizures at customs cause thorny legal dispute". When David House, a former MIT researcher, returned from vacation in Mexico a little over a year ago, federal agents seized his laptop at customs during a connection in Chicago, and kept it for almost two months. There was no search warrant, and he wasn't charged with a crime. The article describes a "Consitution-free zone" where governement agents don't need probable cause or reasonable suspicion to seize property, as long as it's not "invasive".
The Customs and Border Protection agency says the power to seize laptops is necessary to find information about terrorists, drug smugglers, and other criminals trying to enter the country. However, how far does this go? Apparently federal agents wanted to learn more about House's connection to Bradley Manning, the US Army private who leaked classified government information to the website WikiLeaks. David had met Bradley at a hackers convention in the past. In the two months that David's laptop was seized, government agents had access to his files, photos, bank account passwords... everything about him, without any specific charge against him.
The article cites a survey last month by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives which found that nearly half of the participating companies did not know customs agents could inspect, copy, or even seize travelers’ laptops.
If you travel outside of the US think twice about what you carry with you on your laptop, smart phone, iPad or anywhere else you store files and sensitive information. People who travel with confidential corporate documents, trade secrets, or attorneys with confidential client information really need to be aware of the risks.
Balancing national security with civil rights can be challenging, but when you consider how much personal information is stored on your electronic devices, many argue that seizing laptops crosses the line and is in fact "invasive". John Reinstein is the ACLU lawyer representing House and he summarizes the argument for changing the law: "Given the role of computers in modern society and the extent of the information that people carry with them on electronic devices, we have asked the court to acknowledge that the search of a computer should be treated as an invasive and overly intrusive search.’’ He adds, “Under existing rules, you shouldn’t take anything across the border that you don’t want to expose to another set of eyes.’’
Some corporations are now requiring that laptops be wiped clean of sensitive information before travelling overseas. You can use your laptop to access files stored on a remote server ("in the cloud") or for secure remote access to another PC. This is inconvenient because you will always need an Internet connection to work. Some people also create encrypted volumes on their hard drive to hide sensitive files. With the BYOD trend (Bring your Own Device to work), things get even more complicated. Bottom line, if you don't want potentially ALL your information exposed, create a game plan in advance, (and make sure everything is backed up).
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Mon, Dec 19, 2011 @ 09:56 AM
When you're collaborating with multiple people on a Microsoft Word document, it may be helpful to mark a draft as FINAL to prevent further edits. To do this in Word 2010, to to the File tab and under the Info options select "Protect Document" and "Mark as Final". This lets other readers know that this is a final draft. When they open the document, they'll see a yellow banner across the top that says "An author has marked this document as final to discourage editing". Note that discourages editing, but the reader can go ahead and select "Edit Anyway" to make further edits.
Other options to protect the document include "Encrypt with a Password" so a password will be required to open the document. You can also "Restrict Editing" to restrict what kind of changes can be made to the document, either by tracking changes or by making the document "read only". If you decide to protect the document with a password, make sure you have a way to remember the password!
Posted by Ann Westerheim on Thu, Dec 08, 2011 @ 07:21 AM
This is the time of year when many people travel. We have received a lot of questions recently about the latest email security threat: a new wave of "phishing" emails that are based on flight information notifications.
The emails vary, but as an example, one of the emails we looked at had a subject of "Your Flight Order" and some official looking numbers, with the content of the email containing the flight number, date and time of departure, airport name, price, and then a link to print the ticket. This link looks innocuous, but it actually goes to a foreign web site set up to steal information from you, or infect your system with malware.
What a lot of people may not know is that a link in an email can say anything, and be coded to go to an entirely different location. The "bad guys" are basically trying to get you to click on the link. You may have travel plans and quickly click on the link because you think it's your real ticket, or you may be curious because you think your credit card may have been breached ("who bought this ticket and why am I getting the notification?"). With "social engineering" the emails look familiar, so people unknowingly click on the links. Other recent phishing scams involved package shipment notifications and ACH bank transfer notifications. Because the actual text of the email is innocuous, these scams will often get through spam filters when the new wave first appears, until the spam filter definitions catch up.
Delta airlines has a link on their web site alerting folks about the phishing email alert if you want to read more. The US Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) has a posting on their website of a number of holiday phishing and malware threats. The Federal Trade Commission's Phishing Scam Page also has a lot of excellent information about how to protect yourself form on-line threats.
ALWAYS be aware when reading your mail. Don't click on any links in emails that are questionable.