Critical Computer

I am a very conservative person. I don’t encourage anyone be on the leading edge of a high-tech trend because it costs more time, money and energy to make things work; the return on investment is poor, and the value returned per dollar spent is usually even poorer. I also don’t encourage anyone to get a new computer when the old one works just fine, which makes me about the worst salesperson in the world for a computer company. So it may come as a surprise that with this posting I’m letting you know that if your computer is more than three years old, you’re going to need a new computer. You should start your budgeting now.

What’s changed? What irresistible force of nature has Brian speaking so?

Windows 7.

I’ve been running the release candidate (an unofficial version designed to get feedback by its users) for 6-12 hours a day for about 4 weeks. Every time I use it, I am increasingly impressed with its reliability and stability. Originally I split my computer to be able to run XP and Windows 7. The reality is, I think I have booted XP once since. Everything I ran on XP runs on Windows 7 - and often better. There is no need to go back to XP.

Windows 7 needs more hardware resources than XP does to its thing. PCs that are older than 3 years are going to struggle a bit with 7. Will they run it? Quite possibly, but they won’t perform well. Most computers in business today are, on the average, 4 years old.

When Vista came out, those of you buying new computers found out that the hardware companies got together with Microsoft and determined that you should not be buying new computers with XP anymore - even though that’s exactly what you wanted. The ensuing backlash from business was so great that hardware vendors had to change their tune and start offering ‘exceptions’ rather than see sales drop drastically. Even today, getting a new computer with XP is a real pain.  Expect this to happen again, but this time you won’t be forced into an operating system… you’ll want Windows 7.

7 is what Vista should have been to begin with, but history tells us that’s just what Microsoft does - release a product too early, then fix its bugs, name it something else and sell it again. Windows 3.1 begat Windows 3.11 for workgroups. Windows 95 begat Windows 98. When they crossed the power of Windows NT with the clunker known as Windows ME, we got Windows XP. Vista… begat 7.

For those of you who have invested heavily into business-specific applications that you’re told will ONLY run on XP, Vista has a virtual machine for XP. You can run real XP (not a window) inside Windows 7 at the same time. And? It works. Now, the visionary in me will read your future and tell you I see… programmers, software companies… who wrote that XP application… will tell you that you need a new version so that it will run natively in Windows 7. With the virtual machine, now that choice is up to you.

admin Uncategorized fixed vista, forecasted computing climate, new computer, windows 7

One of the most common questions I am asked as I finish a repair is ‘How Did That Happen?’  It makes sense that this question is on the mind of the person who is asking; sometimes they are the office manager, who has to write me a check.  Sometimes it is the user, who needs to have the ability to exclaim to their manager that ‘they didn’t do it!’

And sometimes, it is just curiosity.

However, fixing the ‘what’ is one thing - knowing the ‘how or why’ is another… and the latter, while almost always wanted, requires a greater time investment.  While I know the customer wants a good value for the work I did, they don’t want to pay for a forensic-level analysis.

Let’s just take one recent call I had.  The company computer (which was their only computer) wasn’t working right.  The customer was convinced that they had the Conflicker virus (which had recently gained mass media attention - virus du jour) and was afraid to do anything.  The computer had all their accounting, email lists, work orders and their 2008 personal taxes in a near state of complete upon it.

“Do you have a current backup of your irreplaceable files?” I asked.

“No.  We tried, but the computer is running so slow now, it just gets stuck.”

Side note #1.  Do not wait until you have problems to backup.

Normally at this point, I ask for the computer to be brought in (or I go onsite) and do a full backup from another computer of the data.  In this case, however, this wasn’t possible because they weren’t local.  Remote access wasn’t an option either.  Ultimately, they chose to just go forward with the diagnoses and hope they didn’t lose too much.

I knew that one of the behaviors of Conflicker is to block access to some antivirus websites, so I had them go to what is known as an ‘eyechart‘: a website which shows the logos from these blocked sites.  The logic is that if you don’t see the logo, something - perhaps Conflicker - is blocking it.

They could see some, but not all.

“Do you have anti virus installed?” I asked.

“Yes.”  They had a popular brand which is notorious for making everything slower.

Side note #2: Big name anti virus programs that are the most expensive are not always better.

“Is it updated with the latest definitions?”

“Ummm… how do I tell?”

I walked them through how to open the control panel and check.  The answer? Nope! There was a bit of red text that reminded them to subscribe to the service.  “Oh, that message kept popping up, and we did something to make it stop,”  I was told.  I sighed.

Side note #3a: Anti virus programs need to be updated with the definitions of new viruses in order for them to be detected.  If your software is not current, it is not going to work.

Side note #3b: If the year is part of the software name (like 2005), it is probably out of date no matter what and you need new antivirus software.

So, I had them remove the now just-good-for-slowing-down-the-computer antivirus and install a new one.  The old program did not go easily, arguing all the way, employing all the principles of FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) to get them to keep it.

Installing the new antivirus program was a bit of a trick, as we couldn’t use the author’s site as the source (remember? Conflicker blocks access so you can’t remove it).  So, I put the installation program on my company website, and they downloaded it from there.   Updated it, ran it… and about 15 minutes later, the multiple infections had been detected, disabled and removed.  Interestingly enough, it wasn’t Conflicker after all, but another malware program which was consuming all their computing power.

Then the question hits: HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?

Wellll…

1) You went to a website and clicked on something you shouldn’t have or opened an email that you shouldn’t have.  This is a hard one for customers to hear.  “Which site?  Which email?”  Sometimes I can tell by looking at the browser or email history.

You have to realize that the folks putting out these things to infect and control your computer for their own nefarious purposes are using every trick in the book to mislead you into clicking or opening.  They’ll use names of friends you know.  They’ll use false information to make you think you have money in some account due to you.  It is a scam, a con.  That you fell victim is embarrasing, yes, but it happens.

“Shouldn’t the antivirus program stopped it?”

Wellll…

2) The old antivirus program was not updated to detect and block it.  Viri, malware and trojans appear at a rate of 40-50 a day (in varying degrees of threat).  If you don’t update the program to know what to look for, it can’t work.

“Why doesn’t (in this case, Microsoft) fix their software so that this can’t happen?”

Wellll…

3) In fact, they do. For this customer, however, the computer was not running the program to update their operating system software (called WindowsUpdate).  Had they been, Conflicker would not have even been possible to infect them.  However, even current software can not prevent the user from clicking something that installs a program that they approved.

“So what was the site or email or whatever? I really need to know.”

Mail history was clean, so I looked at cookies.  Mostly work/company related, except a few that looked suspicious.  A bit of Googling and tada!  A visit to a website with a NCAA Final Four bracket team picking software program which contained a trojan program.

She wasn’t thrilled.  I’m glad I’m not her husband and co-owner.

Side Note #4: Don’t do your NCAA brackets with ‘free’ software from the internet on your company computer.

The message I want to communicate to you (in addition to the italicized ones) is simply this: take the time to protect your computer adequately, and you won’t need to ask me “How did that happen.”  If you’re not comfortable with that, hire a professional like yours truly to get your system(s) up to date and running smoothly.

I promise I won’t ask how you did in the NCAA pool.

admin Uncategorized backups, forensic analysis, repair, virus

I really don’t like backing up my computers.   See if you agree with my reasoning:

1. Doing a backup is a big user of my time.  I have many better things to do.  Work is piling up.  Backups are slow.
2. If I break down and do a backup, I end up with stacks of discs that go in a box and I will likely never see again.  That seems wasteful somehow.  Those discs aren’t that cheap, and a penny saved is a penny earned.
3. There is just not that much important data on some of my computers.  I have CDs that came with the computer so I should be covered.
4. I can’t remember the last time I had a problem with my computers.  I start them, they run – just like my car.

Oh! I also don’t like car insurance.

You pay this enormous sum of money year after year, and day after day you drive to and from your home safely and avoid accidents and that money is just gone.  Talk about waste!  That is…

Until you have an accident; probably wasn’t even your fault.

It may be one of those ‘life lessons’ we all have to go through, because until you have that accident, you don’t realize what you had… and how long it will take and how much it will cost to get back there… if you even can.  It will never be ‘exactly the same’.

In our digital age, business computer users have more communication electronically than we do on good ol’ paper.  Your computer is full of unique emails, documents, data, numbers, contracts, agreements, manuals.  Not to mention the applications you have that have, most of which have surely been patched, upgraded with electronic downloads, reconfigured, customized.  Top that all off with device drivers for printers, networks, USB devices and displays that were automatically updated and aren’t on some disk somewhere.

A daily full backup should take about 15 minutes and cost about $4.00 in discs.  If you just backup the changes since the last time you did a back up (called an incremental backup), less than 7 min and about $1.00.

Reinstallation of Windows XP, with drivers and all the security and application patches from Microsoft will take 345 minutes – assuming you have a very fast internet connection.  That’s just XP!  Add in the time to load your applications.  Oh, and your data is STILL gone.  One-of-a-kind pictures, email addresses, correspondence… the list of what you lost is huge.

Sure, there are data recovery companies out there.  Costs to recover data from a crashed hard drive starts at $1,000 and usually ends up $4,000-$5,000.  None of them will guarantee you’ll get all your data back.  Sometimes it is just gone.  What value do you place on irreplaceable data/images/documents stored on your computer?

I haven’t even touched on the cost of down time while you’re rebuilding your computer.  All that time you thought you were saving just came back with interest due.

So, while I hate doing backups, I hate even more having to spend more time and even more money rebuilding them to some partial state of functionality again.  Diligently, regularly, I do my backups - knowing that if something does happen, I’ll be prepared.

If you’d like to revise or improve your own backup plans, I hope you’ll call me at 612-710-2617 or email me at bhayes@criticalcomputer dot com.

P.S. I also pay my car insurance, though I wish it was only $1.00 a day.

admin Uncategorized safety, save restoration costs, why do backups

Is this in your computer?

One of the most neglected parts of any business computer system are the desktops.  While things on the outside look clean and neat, the “insides” can tell a much different story.   Computers count on air to move through the system case to keep all the parts cool - especially the power supply and processor.  When dirt and debris from the air block the movement of air, the computer overheats and electronic components fail.

Keeping the computer clean and running is far cheaper than replacing it - and in times when budgets are tighter than ever, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Computers in an office environment should be cleaned yearly.  Computers in a production/manufacturing environment (where the density of airborne debris is much higher) quarterly.

Cleaning is more than running a vaccum across the back of the computer until it looks good; a complete cleaning includes opening up the case of the computer, removing cards and components, thoroughly cleaning the fans and solid state parts carefully.   But dangers like static electricity (especially here in Minnesota in the winter) or putting something back wrong will cause more problems that you solved by cleaning it.

There are websites out there that can help you - and if you are tech-savvy, I encourage you to search them out.   However, if you’d prefer a professional, here I am

admin Uncategorized computer cleaning, cooling, maintenance, static dangers

The web is abuzz (filthy? sated?) with new malware, spam and keyloggers… all out to find out what you do, where you go, and nab your logins and passwords.  I know of one person who has already had their login and password captured and sure enough, someone logged into her secure account and changed her password so she could not get in.  Luckily she caught it before any damage was done.

You never think it will happen to you, and yet it does happen.

Windows XP/Vista is the most common system attacked (purely because that’s the bulk of what’s out there.  That said, there are more and more attacks on the Apple/Mac platform every week, so don’t feel too safe you Apple users!)  For our Windows users, here are three programs that I recommend that are FREE for personal use. Let me restate: PERSONAL use; they are available for purchase to use commercially, but you should buy them to use them at your place of business.

ANTIVIRUS: AntiVir Personal. This program catches viruses and trojans that Norton/Symantec, McAfee, AVG and others miss. The only annoying thing is the daily full-screen banner which encourages you to buy it if you want to add additional protection. I use it on all my home computers. It doesn’t slow down your computer as badly as the big AV programs do… and it does a better job. http://www.free-av.com

MALWARE: MalwareBytes. Another great program to dig out deep infestations of malware. Basically update it and run it once or twice a week. It’s amazing (and sometimes scary) what it finds, ESPECIALLY that extra-nasty Antivirus 2008 trap. http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

SPYWARE: Spybot Search and Destroy. It isn’t pretty graphically, but it is probably the most comprehensive spyware/trojan/you-name-it out there. I’m all for function before form. In addition to just the program which you can run daily, it also has an ‘immunization’ process which will block your browser from even going to sites that are known to contain the stuff to begin with. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure (use your own folksy saying here). http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/index.html

In almost every case (I have to allow for some exceptions) I always say ‘yes, delete/erase/quarantine’ when these programs find something.  As always, if you need help or get stuck, I got your back: call me at 612-710-2617.

admin Uncategorized antivirus, cleaning, keyloggers, malware, prevention, spam, spyware

I have over 26 years of experience with personal and professional computer use. In that time, I’ve learned that year-end can be a busy time for computer administrators and users, to the point that very time-sensitive tasks are often ignored or delayed - often to devastating results months later.

Here’s some of my best reminders that you should not ‘low prioritize’:

1. If your main system(s) summarize 2008 detail transactions (such a financial) into starting values for 2009, make sure you back up your full system BEFORE you run the posting programs. This will enable you the option to ‘go back’ in the event of posting failure… or later enable research into ‘how did that number get there’ efforts.

2. If you run incremental backups, now is the best time to renew/refresh your master backups. If you don’t have a master backup (everything! not just database), you should make one for each system/server/workstation. The time you spend now will pay off when a system crashes or needs emergency rebuilding.

3. If your organization has had employee/user turnover, check your system and application logins and make sure they are current. Disable them whenever possible to keep security high.

4. Speaking of security, now is a good time to change admin passwords as well as force staff/user password resets (especially if they are not forced to change). Don’t forget vpn, remote access, router, and off-site (such as ftp and web server) passwords.

5. Finally, visit your disaster management plan. Is it still current? Valid? Effective? Update it for new assets, equipment and software you’ve added or removed.

See you in 2009!  Happy New Year!

admin Uncategorized change password, master backup, update disaster plan, year end backup

Like a lots of companies, we’ve endured some technical challenges on our website/email servers.  Unlike a lot of companies, we aren’t putting up with it because we want our internet presence and email to be reliable.

So we’ve moved off our old system and put all our customers to a new system at no additional cost.  This new platform will be more reliable and remove a lot of the little pains that we were getting.

Emails have been sent with new access and email information, but if you didn’t get yours, contact Brian at bhayes@criticalcomputer.com or call 612-710-2617.

admin Uncategorized