Windows 7 Computers Are Set to Expire

January 13, 2019 by doctordave

Everything comes with an expiration date, even bottled water! If you are running a computer with Windows 7, your computer will have severe problems on January 14th, 2020. On that date, Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 7.

What Does That Mean?

Microsoft did this with Windows XP back in 2009 and Vista in 2017. After they discontinue support, they won’t fix any bugs in the operating system. That puts your security and identity at risk. It also means that systems using it aren’t compliant with various security standards like FINRA for financial advisors, HIPAA for medical professionals and PCI for those people who take credit cards.

Security updates are essential to protect everyone. When someone at Equifax failed to do a security update, they put everyone at risk. Banks won’t allow you to connect to their sites without a newer operating system. Airlines might not allow you to schedule flights. For your protection, we won’t support systems running Windows 7 after that date. We can’t knowingly put clients in harm’s way on the internet.

What Can You Do?

Remember when Microsoft put Windows 10 on people’s computer for free, sometimes without consent? Unfortunately, they aren’t offering that. There are ways around that “free” offer, but it requires erasing your computer and reinstalling everything.

You can buy a copy of Windows 10 and install it on your computer, but that will cost around $100 or so.

But I Heard Windows 10 Was Bad or I Want to Stay with Windows 7

When Windows 10 came out, just like Vista or Windows 8, it was horrible. Anytime a new operating system comes out there is an adjustment period. We saw ever since Windows 3.1. Windows Vista and Windows 8 were particularly troublesome. Windows 10 was unique because systems that were “forced” into an upgrade were not always ready for it.

Now, Windows 10 is reliable and stable on new computers. We see minimal problems in comparison to problems we saw with older operating systems. It is often “self-healing” and solves its own problems.

If you want to stay with Windows 7, you can, but we’d suggest staying off the internet at all costs. The internet just isn’t safe unprotected. If you’ve got a specialty program that only runs on Windows 7, that’s fine as long as it doesn’t use the internet. We recommend after January 14th, 2020 to turn off the wifi and unplug the internet from these computers.

Another alternative is to create a “virtual machine” for these programs. We can install Windows 7 inside a Mac or PC and have that virtual machine run just your special program and disable only Windows 7 from the internet. We’re currently doing that for some clients running Windows XP or Windows Vista

Our Recommendation: Replace The Computer

Any computer currently running Windows 7 is probably around six years old since Windows 8 was introduced in 2012. We tend to see problems with computers after about three years since that is the average life of a hard drive. With a laptop, there are the added problems with power chargers, batteries and keyboard. Most Windows 7 systems thus are likely to fail soon. If you spend money upgrading the operating system, you’ll be more likely than not find the computer inoperable relatively sooner.

Since we don’t sell computers, only repair them, we’re primarily talking ourselves out of work. We’d rather tell you the right thing to do, even if it impacts our bottom line. Of course, if you need your pictures, documents (stuff in Word, Excel), emails and music copied to a new computer we can help with that.

You don’t have to run out and buy one today; you have a year after all. However, I’d suggest budgeting for one in 2019, so you aren’t surprised.

“Danbo (heart) Windows 7” by mendhak is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Secret Santa Service, Last Minute Holiday Gifts

December 18, 2018 by doctordave

Every year here at DcotorDave Computer Repair in Lawrence and Kansas City we offer our exclusive “Santa” service.

Technology gifts for the holidays are great, but the problem is they need to be set up. They’re more complex than the standard disclaimers of “some assembly required” and “batteries not included.” Take for example the average services we provide for a new computer setup:

Unbox the computer
Add the computer to the wifi network (do you have the password?)
Follow approximately 10-15 prompts agreeing to terms of service, license agreements, and privacy policies.
Start dozens of safety and security updates
Disable trial software and “junk” that comes on the average computer
Find passwords and set up email on a new system
Transfer stuff from the old system like pictures, music, and documents
Install programs like Microsoft Word and Excel as part of Microsoft Office
Configure antivirus and malware
Create a backup system to protect data

On average that’s about 90 minutes for us because we do it every day, sometimes even three times a day. Most clients tell us it takes them several hours to do this work and often they don’t have the skills or tools to finish.

In other words, it makes for a complicated and exhausting Christmas morning. Clients think our busy time is Christmas Day (yes we’re open) or the day after Christmas.

In reality, we usually start hearing from clients after the tree comes down. That’s because the new computer, printer, tablet or smart speaker (think Alexa and Google Home/Mini) sit in the box until someone decides to call us.

To prevent that problem we offer what I call the “Santa Service.” We can make an appointment at our office or your home (including evenings or weekends) and set all the stuff up in advance. Then you just put it back in the box and wrap it up.

When the recipient opens the box, it’s READY TO GO. Everything is set up. They just press the button, and away it goes. I’d admit it isn’t as popular as I think it should be, but clients who take us up on the offer rave about how happy they are.

It takes all the stress out of receiving a gift. Yes, sometimes getting a gift can be stressful. We’ve got this gift setup down to a science. After all, we’ve been in business 15 years.

Ignore That Email: Nobody is Spying On You

November 18, 2018 by doctordave

We posted this on Facebook a few weeks ago, but it’s worth mentioning here again. An email has been going around the past few months. It takes some different forms but generally follows the same pattern:

Someone “hacked” you and has your password
They’ve been monitoring you
They’ll send your information to all your contacts
To prevent this send them bitcoin

I even got that email. I gotta say when you see your password in an email right there it’s scary.

“Subject: dave@calldrdave.com has password (my password). Password must be changed

Hello!

I’m a programmer who cracked your email account and device about half year ago.

You entered a password on one of the insecure site you visited, and I catched it.

Your password from dave@calldrdave.com on moment of crack: (my password)

Of course you can will change your password, or already made it.”

As well as

“Subject: dave – (my password)

It seems that, (mypassword), is your password. You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e-mail, right?

actually, I setup a malware on the adult vids (porno) web-site and guess what, you visited this site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching videos, your internet browser started out functioning as a RDP (Remote Desktop) having a keylogger which gave me accessibility to your screen and web cam. after that, my software program obtained all of your contacts from your Messenger, FB, as well as email.

“

How Did They Get Your Password?

It seems like every day I listen to the news, I hear about another hack. From Applebee’s to Yahoo, there’s a company for every letter of the alphabet that’s been breached. A hacker stole your password from one of these companies. If you use your password more than one place, that’s how they got it.

Fortunately, I use a password manager called 1Password. Although I avoid reusing passwords for important stuff, I’ll be lazy and do it for some websites. In my case, I could trace it to Angie’s List. I had to sign up for my business and I didn’t’ think I’d use it much. That’s why I used a throw-away password.

What Can You Do to Prevent This?

You can’t prevent someone from hacking another system. I mean when Equifax gets hacked, that just shows you how vulnerable we all are. The best you can do is mitigate the damage.

Stop Reusing Passwords

I get it. Passwords are hard to keep track off. As I said, I use 1Password. We can help you set that up. We also have a more manual option: A password book. We sell these for $7.50, although you can get one free by joining our Wellness Program. That lets you use a unique password and keep track of them.

Get a Reliable Antivirus

If you’re on a Mac, you probably don’t have an antivirus. If you’re on a PC you might be using the free one that comes with Windows.

We used to take the approach good enough is, well, good enough. If you haven’t had any problems with your computer, stick with what you got. With so many threats out there, we’re finding basic protection isn’t enough. A professional paid antivirus provides not just added security but peace of mind. We recommend Malwarebytes. Fortunately, we’re able to sell it at a discount. Normally it’s $40, but we can sell it for $35 to existing clients.

When you get an email like this, just run a scan to get that peace of mind.

Don’t Pay Scammers/Let Them Keep the Money

We deal with tech support scams all the time. Some clients are so embarrassed they decide to let the criminals keep the money. These criminals then use the money to attack other victims. If we cut off the stream of money and don’t make this profitable, they’ll stop doing it. Okay maybe not stop, but at least make them work harder!

As a reminder, clients who are part of our wellness program get unlimited phone and email support for questions like these. When they get any suspicious emails, they just call us rather than give money to a scammer.

Full text of the emails:

“It seems that, (my password), is your password. You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e-mail, right?

What did I do?

I backuped phone. All photo, video and contacts.

I created a double-screen video. 1st part shows the video you were watching (you’ve got a good taste haha . . .), and 2nd part shows the recording of your web cam.

Exactly what should you do?

Well, in my opinion, $500 is a fair price for our little secret. You’ll make the payment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, search “how to buy bitcoin” in Google).

BTC Address:

(It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Important:

You have one day in order to make a payment. (I’ve a unique pixel in this e mail, and at this moment I know that you have read through this email message). If I do not get the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, coworkers, and so on. Having said that, if I receive the payment – I’ll destroy the video immediately. If you need evidence, reply with “Yes!” and I will certainly send out your video recording to your 6 contacts. It is a non-negotiable offer, that being said don’t waste my personal time and yours by responding to this message.”

And

“Hello!

I’m a programmer who cracked your email account and device about half year ago.

You entered a password on one of the insecure site you visited, and I catched it.

Your password from dave@calldrdave.com on moment of crack: (mypassword)

Of course you can will change your password, or already made it.

But it doesn’t matter, my rat software update it every time.

Please don’t try to contact me or find me, it is impossible, since I sent you an email from your email account.

Through your e-mail, I uploaded malicious code to your Operation System.

I saved all of your contacts with friends, colleagues, relatives and a complete history of visits to the Internet resources.

Also I installed a rat software on your device and long tome spying for you.

You are not my only victim, I usually lock devices and ask for a ransom.

But I was struck by the sites of intimate content that you very often visit.

I am in shock of your reach fantasies! Wow! I’ve never seen anything like this!

I did not even know that SUCH content could be so exciting!

So, when you had fun on intime sites (you know what I mean!)

I made screenshot with using my program from your camera of yours device.

After that, I jointed them to the content of the currently viewed site.

Will be funny when I send these photos to your contacts! And if your relatives see it?

BUT I’m sure you don’t want it. I definitely would not want to …

I will not do this if you pay me a little amount.

I think $855 is a nice price for it!

I accept only Bitcoins.

My BTC wallet:

If you have difficulty with this – Ask Google “how to make a payment on a bitcoin wallet”. It’s easy.

After receiving the above amount, all your data will be immediately removed automatically.

My virus will also will be destroy itself from your operating system.

My Trojan have auto alert, after this email is looked, I will be know it!

You have 2 days (48 hours) for make a payment.

If this does not happen – all your contacts will get crazy shots with your dirty life!

And so that you do not obstruct me, your device will be locked (also after 48 hours)

Do not take this frivolously! This is the last warning!

Various security services or antiviruses won’t help you for sure (I have already collected all your data).

Here are the recommendations of a professional:

Antiviruses do not help against modern malicious code. Just do not enter your passwords on unsafe sites!

I hope you will be prudent.

Bye.

“

Interesting Idea for an Old Computer

November 11, 2018 by doctordave

When you get a new computer, you might wonder what to do with the old one, especially if it works. We work with Connecting For Good in Kansas City to help refurbish and distribute these computers to needy families. However, there are some other uses.

My colleagues at Lifehacker had some interesting ideas. The one I like best is the “guest computer.” When people come over and need to just check email or print a boarding pass, why not have them use that spare computer. After all, hotels have those kinda resources. Just be sure to use it every so often to check to make sure it works and gets security updates.

When it’s finally ready to go out to pasture, don’t just throw it in the trash. Give us a call. Even if it doesn’t work, we can still get it ethically and responsibly recycled. We’ll make sure your private data is erased and the computer ends up in good hands.

Photo by mikecogh

Has Your Password Been Stolen?

November 4, 2018 by doctordave

With all the recent and continuing breaches, one thing we learned is you can’t rely on a company to tell you. Breaches are reported months and sometimes years later.

If you’d like to check if yours was stolen, the website “Have I been pwned” helps. All you do is put in your username or email address (no passwords!) It then tells you what hacks you’ve been a victim of. I was only the victim of seven on one email address. I consider that lucky.

Fortunately, I use a password manager. All those passwords on those sites were unique, so I was safe. We help clients all the time setup password managers. It’s easy and saves you time and hassle. All you do is remember the password to your password manager and it takes care of everything else.

Photo by liako

Which is More Secure? Your Phone or Laptop

October 21, 2018 by doctordave

With many people having both a smartphone and laptop synced, you’d think people would secure them equally. In reality, it seems people are more worried about their phone rather than their laptop (or desktop). That’s a big mistake.

This article has some interesting facts! The ones that stood out to me are related to leaving the laptop unattended. I see this in coffeeshops all the time. Someone will take their phone in the restroom with them or up to the counter, but otherwise just leave their laptop there. It also makes sense it’s easier to carry a phone in your pocket compared to a laptop.

Nonetheless, both devices should be protected equally. That includes proper password, encryption, and other security methods. This is a much bigger deal if you’re bound by professional codes of conduct like HIPAA, FINRA, or PCI. We’re here to help with that and have lots of clients in these situations.

Photo by Kevin Johnston

Use Chrome? Don’t Settle for a Boring Chrome Start Page!

October 7, 2018 by doctordave

Many clients use Google’s Chrome browser on a PC and a Mac. It’s fast and reliable, but it’s also highly customizable.

This blog post gives you some easy ideas of how to change your start page. My favorite though is New Tab Motivation by The Mindful Tech Labs. They also make chatbots for Facebook, so there’s no excuse not to be motivated.

Let me know in the comments what your favorite start page is.

Have a Landline; You’re in the Minority!

September 30, 2018 by doctordave

Back in 2016, we crossed a major threshold in technology. A majority of US Households use mobile phones and don’t have landlines. It makes sense as mobile phones become a necessity. Why use a phone that ties you to one location?

If you still have a landline, there’s probably a few reasons. First, you might be concerned about your phone number. Everyone has it, so if you got rid of it, you’d lose contact with people. That was my first worry too. Fortunately, mobile providers make it easy to “port” a number. I walked into my AT&T store and five minutes later my landline was now a mobile phone. It’s a ton cheaper than my landline. Best of all, all the calls get forwarded to my mobile phone, so I can get calls from both numbers. Yeah.

Another reason might be faxing. No worries here. Online faxing is often free through websites or even iPhone and Android apps. It’s still way cheaper than your landline. Newer multifunction printer/scanners support internet faxing as well.

Finally, it’s about the comfort level. People perceive landlines as more reliable. Back in the day, they were. Now, most voice calls travel on internet lines anyways. All the outages we’ve had with Midco in Lawrence is because of that. We see the same issues with AT&T customers. When the internet goes out the phones go out, and vice versa. The two are linked together.

If you need help making the switch, give us a call. We’ve helped lots of clients with it.

Photo by Internet Archive Book Images

Police Using Fitbit Data Against You?

September 22, 2018 by doctordave

I’m not talking the fat police either. I’m talking about someone going to jail based on what a fitness tracker told police.

The details are explained here . It should give everyone pause for concern. The obvious thing is “don’t do anything wrong,” but the problems go deeper than that. For example, given that people know how these trackers are used, what could stop someone from switching yours out and framing you. I know I’ve accidentally picked up my spouse’s tracker before. The Supreme Court is already grappling with issues of cell phone towers and privacy. Their decision might impact cases like this as well.

Photo by Bekathwia

Biggest Online Security Threat is You

September 16, 2018 by doctordave

We can put the best antivirus on your computer (Malwarebytes), but ultimately they’re ineffective you work around them. It’s not just phishing attempts. There’s a whole bunch of reasons humans mess everything up.

Phishing is Getting More Sophisticated

Most of us know not to click that link pretending to be from Amazon or our local bank. Phishing emails used to have telltale signs like broken English and generic greetings like “Dear Customer.” Scammers have upped their game.

Last summer a massive attack used Google’s document sharing system to trick users into clicking a link. I consider myself pretty sophisticated but I fell for it on one of my accounts. I do product reviews and just assumed it was a press release. I often get those through Google Docs.

The Wall Street Journal (paid article) explains the seven deadly sins of why we click that link:

Confidence: ‘Trust us, this is normal.’
Greed: ‘Get your cheap pills here!’
Urgency: ‘The boss says hurry up and click.’
Fear: ‘Your PC is infected! Click to fix’.
Shame: ‘Click here to see what everybody is saying about you.’
Lust: ‘Psst! Check out these nude celebs.’
Sloth: ‘Didn’t update your OS? Thanks!’”

That article talks about how major companies and politicians got snared by one of these sins. All you need is one person to make a mistake to infect a whole company

Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) isn’t Enough

We love 2FA. That’s the system that texts you when an unknown login attempt happens and let you approve it. Hackers use the above sings to get you to disable it.

Mashable reports on an NSA analysis of how people get tricked into turning off their protection. All you really need is to take the typical phishing a bit further. I know every time my system does updates my bank thinks I’m on a new system because the browser is updated. I go ahead and put in my special code to gain access. I could easily be tricked into giving up my second factor.

We’re Not Dumb, But Scammers are Smart

Although I’ve come close, I’ve never gotten taken in by one of these scams. I’d chalk that up to luck rather than skill.

A few stories I read made me feel slightly better that I’m not dumb. One refers to a New York Supreme Court Judge taken for over one million dollars. Southern Oregon University was taken for $1.9 million.

You’d think Google and Facebook are smart enough to avoid getting taken. Nope. Both were victims of a scam that raked in $100 million. With the combined power of these two companies and their sophisticated systems, I feel kinda helpless against it.

Cisco, a computer networking company, tried to train employees not to click links in a unique way. It sent them phishing emails to see who would click. Sneaky, but it worked

It Doesn’t Need to Be Email

We’re all protective of our emails, but sometimes the threats come in the old-fashioned way. This link explains how someone from Starbucks was tricked into sending money. Scams like this rely on the seven sins mentioned earlier. Security has to be on everyone’s mind and not just focused on how the threats come in.

How to Prevent It

The obvious first line of defense is computer security. We can help with that. Not just antivirus, but making sure you’ve got the latest security patches. Beyond that, you have to be extremely skeptical. This article sums it up best:

“There’s often a misconception that everyone needs to be a security expert — but that’s not the case. Security is not everyone’s day job, but ultimately, often all users need to have a mentality of caution — they have to be mindful of what they’re doing, and be aware that their actions on corporate equipment, and can be far-reaching.”

When in doubt, don’t click the link. Pick up the phone and call someone directly!

Photo by Hivint