So, with the advent of all the video floating around the web, there is a new scam floating around as well. It specifically attempts to attack Flash, which is installed on roughly 90% of all the home computers online. As the screen shot points out, the attacking website may get you to “Fix” or install a plugin to get the video to work. Sneaky stuff.

Why am I hitting on the whole Spyware/Virus issue lately? Because this is the number one thing we’re seeing right now. More specifically: Fake Antivirus software that attempts to get your credit card information, shows you Pornography, etc.

As always, if you have questions, please let us know.
Justin

There is a new type of infection happening that even has some of the best anti-virus companies stumped. Recently, it was found that Virus and Malware writers are getting more sneaky on how they infect you.

They are specifically targeting Google users. Recently, it was found that you could get infected simply by looking through Google Images. On top of this, other sites only infect you if you come from Google. This means, if you type the web address directly, you don’t get infected.

Very sneaky stuff indeed. This makes it harder to clean the infection, as the website owner usually goes directly to the website to check the problem directly.

Be careful out there, it’s getting more dangerous.
Justin

It seems that other computer repair companies in Portland are just starting to see this malware/spyware/virus as well. Protocol16 has clean at least 40 computers infected by this stuff as a lot of people are getting it, and that doesn’t count all the virtual computers we infected studying it (see the video link below for a sample of one of those tests). First – DON’T give your credit card info away! Second, write down our number and just turn the power off on the computer – don’t bother waiting for Windows to shut down.

Give us a call, we’re very experienced with this “software”, as it’s a reincarnation of several other types of programs. Antivirus 2010 is not the only version of this stuff out there, so be careful.

We started studying this software, and others like it, back in October when it first started to become a problem. In fact, we posted a video about how you get infected and what it does (luckily, I stopped recording before the Porn pop-ups started).

The fix for this is normally pretty quick as we have a lot of experience with it. In fact, our latest customer paid less than our hourly fee (currently $70), complete with pickup, cleaning (physically and removing the Antivirus software), updates to several types of programs and drop off… And all that was on our busiest day yet, a record breaker for us.

Give us a call and we’ll be glad to help out: 503-524-9047.
Justin

Over the last few days, we’ve had a rash of calls from home based customers, which we call “Residential”. One of the first questions that people typically as is: “Do you work with regular people at home?” or something similar.

The answer: YES. Protocol16 works with both business and residential customers. While we cater to the business side of things, with all their servers, workstations and more – we do service residential customers with the same customer service as the business side.

It’s been a nice and rainy week in Portland, but that doesn’t mean you need to let your guard down!

Today’s post, is brought to you by the letter “R”, for Ransom-ware. Ransom-ware is software that makes it onto your computer, usually mysteriously, then holds your files captive until you pay a fee. This can be a product that’s sold or a virus that holds your MP3’s hostage.

Recently, Sunbelt Software – Protocol16’s recommended anti-virus company, discovered a new “in the wild” ransom-ware package that encrypts the contents of your hard drive (this is actually arguable as to if it encrypts or just causes problems). This means that your hard drive cannot be read within minutes of having the software installed.

After installation, you’re left with the following message:

Ransom-ware from Data Doctor. Shutdown message.

If you get this, it’s too late… The hard drive (specific files, actually), has been encrypted and you’re left with a Windows mess that barely works.

After you see this message and your computer shuts down, you’re stuck with a message stating that “Windows has recovered from serious error. Some files can be corrupted. Disk checking is strongly recommended.” This is NOT a Windows error.

Upon attempting to access a file that’s been encrypted, you’re met with another error message stating: “Unable to open the file due to data corruption.” Upon clicking the “Repair” button, you see the next screen:

Data Doctor 2010, Requesting Payment.

Hey look everyone, my favorite topic! Software asking for credit card information…

Some files may or may not be encrypted, but the software will continue to nag you to purchase it. They’ll even charge you an activation fee so they don’t need to pay any fee’s for the credit card being run.

Don’t install this program. PLEASE don’t.

I’ll fire up a Virtual Machine here shortly and make an infection video for everyone to see how this works as well.

If you’re reading this and curious what we recommend for anti-virus software, we heavily recommend Vipre. We are a local reseller, so if you’re interested, give us a call and we should be able to get you a discount.
Justin

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Beaverton, OR —Dec. 21, 2009— Protocol16, a computer company focusing on on-site computer repair, has formed a partnership agreement with Sunbelt Software to provide a unique security solution for customers.

Protocol16 will recommend, and resell, Vipre anti-virus, with anti-spyware capabilities to it’s customers.

“I have used several anti-virus companies over the years, to include Personal and Enterprise level products, and I must say, Vipre is at the top of my list.” said Justin Royce, owner of Protocol16. “Not only is Vipre fast and unobtrusive to computer users, it recently won a VB100 score at the latest anti-virus face off. Finding all 100 random “in the wild” files on the test is a pretty big thing. I’m sure our customers will agree that Vipre is a better solution than others as well.”

About Protocol16
Protocol16 was started in 2007 in response to a growing demand for technical services in the military communities of Germany. Since starting, Protocol16 has relocated to Oregon and launched a website and mobile computer repair business in the Portland Metro region. Headquartered in Beaverton, Protocol16 is quickly becoming a leader in mobile repair for businesses and consumers. Protocol16 maintains that customer satisfaction is the absolute primary goal of the business.

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Spyware and Viruses in the workplace are, unfortunately, common. We’ve had many calls to locations throughout the Portland Metro for removal of all kinds of nasties. It’s not fun, especially when we tell business owners that we must remove a machine for further work back at our office. In the worst cases, we must inform owners that we’ll need to get with them to backup data so we can re-load Windows. Those phone calls or in-person talks are never fun, trust us.

So, with all that said, here’s how you can protect yourself, and your business.

1. Spyware & Antivirus Software: Always have this type of software installed and running on your computers – always. We’re still testing solutions to see which software types we want to officially recommend. We’re testing one right now that we think is “the one”. We should know within the next week or so.
2. Browsing Policies: While I would love nothing better than to let my own employees go anywhere they want on the internet, they can’t. Having a policy of openly letting your employees surf as much as they want is a prime way to open yourself up to the horrors of a Spyware or Virus infestation. Depending on the type of router you have in the office, you may be able to use a service that allows DNS filtering. We know we just said a handful there, but there are services that will filter the websites you go to and allow/disallow the content to be passed through. There are also commercial options, like Untangle, that can help your situation. These types of software sit and monitor your connections and block certain types of sites based on rules you’ve setup.
3. Security Policies: All businesses, in my professional opinion, should use a tiered login system. This means that you have Admins and Standard Users. I even recommend this for home users and I personally “eat my own dog food” with this – ALL my computers, including my mac, are setup with an Admin login and a Standard User login for use. Between careful browsing habbits and the security I have in place, I have NEVER gotten infected with a Virus or anything else like Spyware…never. Some friends have called me paranoid, but when I have to fix their computers, they ask for the same level of security… Some may say “that’s impossible”, but it’s not – the right mindset and security policies really do help!
4. More Security: While this goes beyond most small businesses, did you know there are ways to make Windows so locked down that a 10 year old couldn’t mess it up? The way to do this is through an option called “Group Policies”. I can set your computer up to require you to hit Control-Alt-Delete to log in, or to only allow your employees to be able to write to certain areas of the hard drive… Again, sometimes this is considered overkill for small businesses, but it’s an option.
5. Software & Windows Updates: The last peice of the “easy” puzzle is to always keep your software up to date. Windows needs regular updates, don’t turn this feature off. Microsoft Office needs regular updates as well, and up until very recently with Vista and Windows 7, those updates required a seperate way to update Office instead of being able to use Windows Updates… Antivirus and Anti-Spyware applications require updates as well. Spending a little bit of time updating your software, or insuring that all the auto-updates installed properly, can save you countless hours with a technician.

Some people in the computer repair world would call me crazy for GIVING AWAY advice like this, but I think it’s best to educate my users instead of taking money from them over and over again. Why should I take your money when I can help educate you and make the experience easier for everyone?

As always, if you run a business and need an on call or on site repair company, we’re here for you and understand your needs. If you’re a residential customer, we’re here for you as well and know you have different needs (like setting up time limits for your kids to use the computer – we can teach you that in minutes with Vista and Windows 7). Feel free to give us a call for your computer repair needs!
Justin

There has been a rash of sites across the internet that have been hacked by various bots and “evil” type people that have taken over websites all over the place. This weekend, I was on a major blogging directory looking at the Top 100 sites and decided to visit one. I was instantly met with a “You’re infected” message that quickly turned my Mac browser into Windows, with Windows Prompts and all the goodies – including hard drives that I didn’t even have…

With all that, I figured there are a lot of people out there that don’t know what to watch out for, so I took screen shots while it proceeded to “scan” my computer for viruses and spyware. Note: If you haven’t gotten the humor or hints, the following describes exactly what some people see when they get infected with fake antivirus software.

So, without further delay, I present a Protocol16 first: a Video about Spyware and Virus infection on a Windows 7 computer. See it here. I go through exactly what happens with a general user when they are prompted to download and install a specific type of fake antivirus package.

I’ve been asked by both Businesses and Residential customers in Portland what type of filtering software Protocol16 recommends. Like all good answers, “it matters”.

There are different types of filtering software packages, and a lot of them target different markets and filter types. All of them, however, filter adult related content. BUT, I do have to warn anyone considering installing filtering software: It will not block everything…

Locally Installed – These packages are locally installed pieces of software like CyberSitter. They require passwords to bypass the block and are decent at blocking the younger crowd (under 10 years old) from gaining access to most of the nasty content on the web.

Network Install/Dedicated Device – These systems are setup to block access to websites and content without requiring the software to be installed. This type of system is typically installed at mid-sized and larger businesses and school locations. They are generally pretty decent at blocking content, but typically cause a slow down on how fast “the internet” works for you. The more employees you have on one device, the slower things can go. The one good thing with this is that there is typically a reporting feature that allows you to look over who is attempting to access what.

DNS Filtering – This is one option that I personally like. All web requests go through a Domain Name System server (DNS for short). This server translates “protocol16.com” into a string of numbers, called an IP address. This method works great if you have people in your environment, be it a computer savy teenager or a group of computer guru’s sitting around with extra time on their hands. This method prevents the use of the majority of proxy websites as well as LiveCD and LiveUSB type traffic. This method is typically setup as a DNS entry on your router. When a computer makes a web request, your router passes that on to the filtering server directly. No easy way to bypass it…

Again, none of these methods are full proof. If you’re seriously concerned about what your children see, you should keep an eye on the computer as they use it (this means no computer in their room)…

For businesses, a good web usage policy lets employees know what is acceptable and what isn’t. Keep an eye on computers, as well as quickly minimized windows as you walk around the corner and all should (typically) be well.

In either case, if you’re concerned about what is available on your internet connection, speak with a professional to see what they recommend for your specific situation. It could actually save you money.

If you have any type of question and you’re in the Portland Metro areas, just give us a ring.
Justin

It’s no doubt that the internet has allowed anyone that wants to be an author to write, but there are blogs everywhere, about any subject.

Oddly, there are not that many dedicated specifically towards computer repair. It seems that each company wants to maintain their own blog so that visitors stay on their websites. This is known as a Search Engine Optimization technique. The longer you stay on X website, the better it is for their rankings.

Now, while searching through Portland’s blogs, I was met with a full wall of information. I’ve never seen so many blogs dedicated to a city before. Most of these blogs are dedicated to topics throughout Portland and are not businesses trying to gain traffic either – they’re just normal people that love to write…  There’s even a Blog dedicated to staging homes around Portland (Business Blog) with a huge following of visitors. There are blogs devoted to Biking in Portland, Wine, and even a blog search engine to find other blogs around Portland.

Should I Create A Blog For My Business?
Now, since we work with businesses, this story does have a point. We often get asked “Should we make a Blog?” Our answer varies due to several factors. It also matters why you wish to setup a blog. If you’re looking at setting it up “because everyone else has one”, we’ll probably recommend against setting up a blog since your passion won’t be in it (it’s better to have a blog and update it occasionally than to set one up, update it a few times then abandon it). If you’re interested in sharing information with customers on a normal basis and looking at possibly getting better rankings on the search engines, then blogging can help.

Time
A blog doesn’t create itself and takes a huge amount of time for someone to sit down, write, edit and re-edit each entry. Some of the entries here on Protocol16 take upwards of an hour to create, others are done in just a ten minutes. Can you, or someone in your business, devote that much time to a website? I’ll guesstimate that I spend about 10 hours a month, just writing on the Protocol16 Blog. There are stories that are done, but haven’t been published, stories that done and waiting to be published and even stories that are just a title to remind me of what to write about.

Topics
Time is not the only consideration here. Many people feel they can come up with story after story after story of new ideas. That’s hard to do – I’ll be the first to admit that.

I currently run two personal blogs, the Protocol16 blog and I write for a Computer Industry website called Technibble. All those stories are floating around in my head, I have to be careful not to duplicate content.

It’s very easy to accidentally take a story from a personal blog and put a business spin on it. It’s much harder than most people realize to continue to coming up with topics. It’s best, when you first start, to write down a whole bunch of topics that you can write about for your business so you have a good foundation to start with.

Regularity
You’ve also got to consider how often to post your stories. Are you going to post one story every two weeks, once a week or are you going to attempt to go all-out and go for one-a-day? In the beginning, I always recommend with starting slow and ramping your speed up as you get more familiar with writing for your blog. This is so you don’t burn out, or start missing deadlines when you’re first starting. Even I miss an occasional deadline…

Don’t Abandon It
There is nothing worse than your clients showing up to your blog and finding that your last story was in 2004, even though you were posting regularly and just walked away from it. If we see this situation on a clients website, we always recommend removing the Blog all together. If your clients see that you started something and just left it, it can leave a sour taste with some of them.

In the end, a blog can be a wonderful tool to use to interact with your customers and help with your search engine traffic. Best of all, it’s free! If you have any questions about blogging or any computer type issue, please let us know. We’ll be more than happy to help!
Justin