Category: All IT

IT Tips

Adobe Reader update – better still, replace it

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Adobe Reader update – better still, replace it

Adobe Reader, previously known as Acrobat Reader, is well known piece of software for opening PDF files (portable document format files).  It is also well know for being a target for hackers.  Hackers find bugs in the program, and exploit them by various means.

If you use Adobe Reader, you probably see that updates are available frequently.  I hope that you do those updates, but that’s not going to keep you secure.  Adobe can’t fix the security flaws until they know they exist.  Hackers don’t give companies advanced warnings of a security flaws, they exploit the flaw for as long as possible until Adobe fix it.  By definition, hackers are using these loopholes before Adobe can fix them; they’re called “zero day exploits”.

In fairness, Adobe is not the only company to suffer from this problem.  Microsoft is constantly issuing patches to Windows vulnerabilities, likewise Java, and even Apple; no, iPads, iPhones, and iPods are not immune to these problems either.

So, what’s the solution?  Well, for a start, you can go to the settings and disable active content, but that only does part of the job.  A better solution would be to uninstall Adobe Reader and use an alternative instead. [EDIT Jan 2015 – my recommendation at the time now bundles malware with their free software. Contact me for my current recommendation] ….although you can’t guarantee it won’t have its own problems, hackers go for the biggest targets so this software is less likely to get hacked.

I can install safer software for you, and generally make your computer more secure.  I can do this in person with a visit to your home or office, or remotely via secure remote access software.  Please get in touch to discuss your requirements.

Recent Jobs

Recent jobs

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Recent jobs

Nothing particularly exciting, but it was good to deal with such a range of work for one client.

  • Transfer files from an old Windows XP desktop computer to a newer Windows 7 desktop computer.
  • Troubleshoot wireless internet problems.  It’s a long house and the WiFi signal won’t reach all the way, so I have recommended a device which will allow wireless internet throughout the house.  I will go back to install it when it arrives from the supplier.
  • Set up Norton 360 on a new Windows 8 laptop.  Although Windows 8 includes Microsoft’s own free antivirus software, PC World still sold my  client Norton 360 (for £60 I think).  I don’t recommend Norton (or McAfee) on any version of Windows, but since the client had paid for it, I set it up for the her.  I recommended against using their automatic renewal option as it’s tricky to cancel; Norton debit the credit card way in advance of the renewal date, just to make sure they get the money before people get a chance to cancel.  I will arrange to uninstall Norton before the end of the subscription year and install a free antivirus instead.
  • Sort out various iPad problems.  I have seen lots of “incorrect Apple ID password” problems on iPads, iPhones and iPods.  Even changing the password doesn’t seem to resolve the problem sometimes.  Anyway, I fixed the problem and installed Chrome (browser), Kindle, and some other software to help her get the most from her iPad.

Since the client has several other things she wants me to take care of, she agreed to sign up for my monthly CBits Subscription service.  Rather than pay-as-you-go, she will pay a small monthly amount which works out cheaper than paying per visit for most clients.  She gets some other benefits too, like priority service, and if she doesn’t use up all her ‘allowance’ of time, she can call me in to service all her computers, iPad, and phone to make sure they’re all up to date and working efficiently.

 

IT News

Windows Update Time

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Windows Update Time

It’s that time again, and Microsoft has just released it’s second biggest ever batch of Windows Updates.

If you haven’t done so already, look for the icon for Windows Updates in the bottom right of you computer screen.  If you hover over each one in turn, their labels will pop up so you can identify them.  When you find it, double-click it and follow the instructions.  They require downloads of big files, then you install them, and you will need to reboot your computer.

If you have any problems, please get in touch.

Thanks,

Colin.

Recent Jobs

Internet connection problem – Why it pays to pay me

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Internet connection problem – Why it pays to pay me

I went to see a client this morning.  She had no internet.  Yesterday a Virgin Engineer spent two hours at her house and couldn’t get it to work. She then spent three hours on the phone to Virgin who eventually blamed her computer.  She was so stressed that she took the night off work.

I got her back online 35 minutes after I arrived. The problems was an incorrect setting on her Virgin router. I fixed something in 35 minutes that virgin couldn’t fix in five hours!

I then spent the remaining 25 minutes of my one-hour minimum call-out fixing a blue-screen problem (caused by overheating) and speeding up her PC a little.

This ‘can’t get on the internet’ type of problem is very common.  It’s not something the Internet Service Provider (ISP) can easily diagnose over the phone.  It needs someone actually there to see what’s going on and to try things in a logical order.

The ISP will tend to blame the client’s computer (especially antivirus) first, but they could be barking up the wrong tree and wasting lots of time changing the computer settings.  Almost always, the first thing I do is connect my laptop to the modem/router and see if I can get on the internet.  If I can, then it’s likely to be a problem with the client’s computer.  If my laptop can’t get on the internet, then it’s likely to be a problem with the modem or router or a line problem, and the ISP can’t blame the client’s computer.  Either way, we’ve just saved half of the time by ruling out half of the possibilities.

So, next time you can’t get on the internet, call me and I’ll figure out what the problem really is.  The alternative could be spending five hours with the ISP, not getting the problem solved, and losing a night’s money because you’re too stressed to go to work.

IT Tips

“Monkey” is not a good password!

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on “Monkey” is not a good password!

The best passwords are long and contain random letters, numbers and characters. That also makes them hard to remember. Here are some tips to help you commit them to memory.

This is an example of a good password, iwa86DeG&ef%tns. Don’t use this one, though!

To remember a random password like that, break it up into smaller chunks that are easier to remember. Certain combinations of letters seem to have paterns in them, so split it up in a way that the groups of letters are easier to remember. Write each group on a new line.

iwa86DeG&ef%tns becomes

iwa86 – pronounced ‘highway 86’
DeG – letters that rhyme, but you have to remember the first and last are capitals
&ef – ‘and e f’, no particular obvious meaning, but quite easy to remember
%t – ‘percent tax’, maybe
ns – hard to find a way to remember these two, maybe ‘not simple’

Now, don’t try to remember all the groups at once. Make a note of the password in a safe place, maybe your wallet or purse, but don’t label it “my top secret computer password” or anything obvious. Maybe add some letters of your own to the note (the first letters of the words in the first line of your favorite song maybe), so if anyone finds it and tries to use the password, it won’t work.

Then learn the first group of characters, ‘highway 86’ for ‘iwa86’. When you need to enter the password, type ‘iwa86’ from memory, and refer to your written-down password for the rest. Then try to remember the next group, ‘DeG’.

Next time you need the password, enter the two groups you remember, then use the written-down password for the rest, and so on.

This way, you will be able to remember each group in turn more easily than trying to remember the whole thing at once. The more times you type the password, the better you will remember it. And eventually, your fingers will fly around the keyboard without you having to think too hard about what the password is. Try typing in the whole password now, using the groups of characters, then come back tomorrow and see how much of the password you remember already. You might surprise yourself.

Ok, so you remember this crazy password. You shouldn’t use the same password for everything. Although if you’re going to use the same password for everything, it might as well be a good password rather than something like ‘monkey’.

You need different, good passwords for everything. But how will you remember all these crazy passwords? For stuff you do on your computer or phone, you don’t need to remember them all. What you need is a way to have one ‘Master Password’ that you can use to securely store all your other crazy passwords.

Anyone interested in finding out more? If so, leave a comment here, or on my facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ColinBowenITservices, and I will try to find time to write more on the subject in a series of short posts, leading up to the ultimate solution for storing secure passwords, with one password to rule them all. And it’s free!

Recent Jobs

Recent Jobs – “Windows Pro Defense” fake antivirus, and data recovery.

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Recent Jobs – “Windows Pro Defense” fake antivirus, and data recovery.

Got a call from a new client about 10:30 today. Her (very nice) Sony PC had the “Windows Pro Defence” virus. It’s a fake antivirus program. Looks like they had spent a couple of days trying to remove it. It took me 40 minutes.

I also delivered an external hard disk to another client containing most or all of the six years of their family photos that I spend many days recovering from their laptop’s crashed and damaged hard disk.

Currently working on a Premium Tune-up to clear out and speed up another new client’s PC.

IT Tips

Updates, updates, updates!

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Updates, updates, updates!

Hi,

Every second Tuesday of the month, Microsoft makes a batch of updates available for all their products.  If your computer is set up properly, these updates will trickle down to over the course of a week.  You will be notified that they’re either available to download, downloaded and ready to install, or downloaded and installed automatically.  You will be asked to restart your computer, and there may be more updates after the restart.

If you haven’t been notified of updates, it could be that your computer is not set up to receive automatic updates.  This is a serious problem, as many of the updates are to patch security vulnerabilities (solve security problems), which should help protect you against viruses, trojans, and hackers.  If you want help to make sure you’re getting updates, please contact me.

I’ve been busy over the last couple of days doing three Windows Reinstalls.  By far the most time consuming part is bringing Windows up to date afterwards; Windows Vista takes a day to update, and all versions of Windows need multiple reboots during the update process.  While I’ve been doing these reinstalls, my own PCs have been getting automatic updates too.  I’ve probably done close to 100 restarts this week!

Beware though, sometimes you could get pop-ups saying you need to update something, especially video players, which are actually viruses trying to infect your computer.  It’s pretty hard to tell the difference, so if you want to check with me before saying ‘yes’, then please do.  Sometimes, if you click ‘no’, that can still infect you with a virus.

If you’re a CBits subscriber (ie paying monthly for my services), you can ask me to log into your computer (if you give me the password) and check any messages to make sure they’re genuine.  10 minutes of care can prevent hours of work sorting out a fake update virus.  If you’re not a subscriber, please ask for details of becoming one; it’s pretty cheap, great value for money, and could save you a lot of hassle and expense.

Colin.

Recent Jobs

Recent Jobs – Pre-holiday tech worries, unopened new laptops, and another order for backup devices

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Recent Jobs – Pre-holiday tech worries, unopened new laptops, and another order for backup devices

I wrote about these clients earlier.  I had visited to sort out an internet connection problem, and arranged for a free wireless router / modem upgrade, and lower monthly internet bills.

This recent visit was just a quick maintenance visit. The clients are going on holiday, and would have a 24 hour window in which to print their boarding passes before flying off. They were worried because their old Windows XP computer and printer had been acting up lately. It turned out that they had bought two new, identical laptops and a new wireless printer a few months ago, but hadn’t even opened the boxes yet because they wanted me to sort it all out and set them up after their holiday.

I tested the old PC and printer and they appeared to be working. I told them that if they have a problem on the day they need to print the boarding passes, they should call me and I will come to sort it out. In view of the short time window, I will take my laptop and portable printer to make sure I can get things printed in time.

On a previous visit, I had shown them how to backup their documents by dragging a copy of the documents from their PC to the memory stick. They couldn’t remember how to do it and hadn’t backed up since. This is often a problem for people, even though the process of doing a backup only involves a few steps, it’s a problem to remember how to do it, if they remember to do it at all.

I showed them one of the new backup devices I recommend, and explained that once the software is installed, all they have to do is plug the device into the computer, and press the button on the device marked ‘Backup’. Their backup would complete automatically and tell them when it’s finished. That ‘one-click’ backup solution appealed to them very much.  Although I explained that one device could backup both their new laptops, they ordered one for each laptop ready for my visit after their holiday. Just for their peace of mind, I did a backup for them to their existing USB memory stick.

They signed up for the CBits by Subscription service too, and we arranged an appointment in March for me to set up their new laptops and transfer their documents from the old PC.

These new backup solutions are proving very popular with my clients.  If you would like to know more about them, or have anything else you need help with, please leave a comment.  Personal details are extracted from the comments by me before any comments are published, so feel free to leave your contact details.

Remember, I provide remote support over the internet too, so contact me even if we’re miles apart.

Recent Jobs

Recent jobs – Backup device

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Recent jobs – Backup device

I client had read my client newsletter and emailed me to express an interest in the new backup devices I recommend.  A phoned him and logged in to his computer from my office to see how much data he needed to backup.  He has quite a few photos, and plans to add many more.  I gave him my recommendation for a one-touch backup USB memory stick, and suggested the capacity (amount of storage space) he should have.  He agreed and I offered to order one for him, and we arranged for a time for me to visit to set it all up for him.

A couple of days later I arrive to do the set-up.  The installation went well, but the initial backup got stuck on one file and wouldn’t continue, and wouldn’t even respond to the ‘stop’ command.  We restarted the computer to try again.  Yes, I am aware of the cliché about turning it off and on again, but it does often solve such problems.  In this case, it didn’t solve the problem and the backup got stuck again on the same file.  The client then informed me that the backup method he previously used had also got stuck on that file.  This meant that the problem wasn’t being caused by my backup method and device, and pointed towards the file itself being the problem.  Anyway, a few troubleshooting steps later and the file was fixed.  The next attempted backup went perfectly.

Teaching him how to do future backups was very easy; “Plug the device into your laptop and the program will automatically start.  When you see the backup program screen, just press the button on the backup device marked ‘Backup’.  Job done, get 0n with something more interesting!”

Fixing the problem with the file took quite a while.  For the techs amongst you, we had to do multiple reboots due to lockups, and he’s on Windows Vista with only 1gig of RAM so it took a while; I told him that if he finds his computer too slow we can get more RAM, but it’s his first computer and he finds it works well enough for his needs.

Due to the file problem, the fairly large amount of data, plus the initial work to establish the amount of data to backup, the whole process took about 90 minutes.  I only allocated 60 minutes against his Subscription account though.

If you want information about my recommended backup devices, or any other services, please leave a comment and I will get back to you.  Personal information will be extracted from any comments before they are published, so feel free to leave contact details in the comment.  Thanks.

IT News

Google: change for change’s sake

by Colin BowenLeave a Comment on Google: change for change’s sake

Google are at it again! They’re changing lots of things including the layout of Google Reader and Google Docs, and they’ve virtually hidden the ‘cached results’ from Google Searches.

I am sad to say that the New Look is here to stay on Google Documents (and Google Reader by the looks of it). I prefer the ‘classic view’ of gDocs but they’ve taken away that option. How very Apple of them.

It looks like there’s no way to get back the old interface of gReader either, although I haven’t thoroughly researched that point as I don’t use gReader at the moment.

Regarding cached results in Google searches, there used to be a link just under the search result for the cached copy, but now you have to hover over the double arrow to the right of the search result, wait for the page preview to load, then select ‘cached’ from the link at the top. Considering Google’s efforts to make search quicker, this change seems counter-productive.

It seems that Google has moved it’s focus from functionality to appearance.

In haste,

Colin.