The Ekaru Gazette Vol 3-5 September 2003
Welcome to this month's issue! Our mission is to provide technology information you can use!
File Sharing - Do you know what your teenager is doing?
We have received a lot of calls on this one. Unless you haven't picked up a newspaper recently, you know that the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major music recording companies, has started a legal battle against individuals who have offered songs for free distribution over the Internet. You may not recognize all the file swapper program names, but you have probably heard its possible to get "free" music on the Internet. The way these popular file sharing programs work is that users download popular songs onto their own computers and in turn basically offer open access to their systems for others to "share". Record companies argue that this violates copyright laws, and since record sales are down over 25 percent over the past three years, they can quantify the economic damage of file sharing. Hundreds of individuals have been sued, and subpoenas have been issued to ISPs to identify offenders.
What does this mean for you? If you, your employees, or kids are using any of the popular file sharing programs such as Kazaa, LimeWire, Morpheus, and others, you could be faced with major fines.
More to think about: - these programs leave systems "open". Many times when people call us in to help, systems are in a mess and contain viruses.
Our advice: 1) At work, establish a clear company policy against file-swapping and we recommend taking it one step further to address how to handle ANY downloads. 2) At home, know what your children are doing on line! 2) Get rid of file-sharing programs from your systems (and explain why, since its real easy to install another file swapper), 4) keep your business and personal systems separate. 5) We repeat this over and over again… but make sure your virus protection is up to date, and your firewall is properly configured.
In the News - More Windows Security Vulnerabilities…
Microsoft has recently announced a new vulnerability in their NT4.0, WIN2000 & XP Operating systems. WIN 95, 98 & ME are not affected. There is a separate patch for each of the impacted operating systems. The patches can be downloaded at the following Microsoft URL: http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-039.asp.
The flaws in the operating systems leave systems vulnerable to attacks similar to the Blaster virus that infected hundreds of thousands of computers last month. Although no threat of a similar attack was announced, recall what happened last time with Blaster: it took about two months for the threat to surface, and few people took the advice to install the patches seriously until too late. As a result, many people were shut down for days when they became infected.
We recommend that you periodically check the Microsoft website for patches for your systems. Many of our clients request this service as part of their monthly scheduled visits. Also, be sure your virus protection and firewall protection are always up to date - including for your home office!
Lots of people have bashed Microsoft over these flaws. Our view is that these hassles are just part of the information age and software is not perfect. The flaw itself is easily patched - it's the hackers out there who are the real problem. But with a little preventative work, you can save your business from a major inconvenience.
Technology Tip - Eliminate annoying pop-up ads.
Many people have asked us how to eliminate those annoying pop-up ads. There are several solutions out there, and we typically recommend to clients a very easy to use, powerful, and free toolbar that can be downloaded from Google: http://toolbar.google.com/
The Google toolbar is free, and it also enables you to search the web from any page, restrict your searches to specific countries, search within the pages of a site, and highlight search terms on a page. The only issue with it is that you need to be running Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher. Updates to Internet Explorer are also free downloads (go to the Microsoft website: www.microsoft.com).
Free booklet: Get more from Microsoft Office!Topics include tips and strategies for using Outlook, Word, and Excel more effectively, including easy steps to create templates and do a mail merge. This is based on our popular workshop, most recently conducted with the Middlesex West Chamber of Commerce. If you'd like a copy, send your contact information to info@ekaru.com. Sincerely,
Enjoy Fall!
Team Ekaru
©2003 Ekaru, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
