When it comes to security online, the weakest link in the chain is, unfortunately, the computer user. That's you, that's me. Oh, there are other security issues - hence, updates to our software, etc. But, it's the person in front of the computing device's screen who makes up the most vulnerable aspect of the virtual …
Continue reading Social Engineering: The Weakest Link In The Chain
Take a look at this screenshot of an email I received yesterday: I've underlined and circled some things so I can point them out to you. The first thing of interest is the "From:" name and email address. Notice, it reads that it's from "[email protected]" but the real email address is showing and that address …
In this past Saturday's blog (Email - More Important Than You Think), we talked about how most people treat the security of their email too lightly. (Please read the blog if you haven't already.) One of our readers mentioned how her clients are often sending personal and financial information via Facebook Messenger or Chat. Not …
I recently read of a lady in the US who was selling her house in Australia. She made the mistake of sending some information via email and she lost a lot of money. She didn't know that scammers had intercepted her emails to the legitimate firm with which she was dealing. (Click on the button …
New Mac OS malware samples increased by 9% in the 3rd Quarter of 2018. Total Mac OS malware grew 51% over the last four quarters. For years, Apple Mac users have bragged about the fact that they didn't need any protection on their computers. When it came to viruses, Windows won hands down. While there …
People often call or log into Remote Technical Support (https://www.4kcc.com/rts) asking for help with connecting to a Wi-Fi network. If you look at the picture above, you'll see the Wi-Fi networks that are in our shop. At the very top, where you see the icon that looks like a monitor with a cord, that's an …
In yesterday' blog post, (2019 Begins), one of the New Year's Resolutions I mentioned was: "Update my security questions, email address and/or phone number with all my online accounts like email, etc." A number of people told me they didn't understand what I was talking about. Thus, today's post! Many online accounts - such as …
Here are the Holiday hours for Keystone Computer Concepts: Monday, December 24, 2018 - Christmas Eve * 9:00 a.m.-12 NoonTuesday, December 25, 2018 - Merry Christmas! * ClosedWednesday, December 26, 2018 * ClosedThursday, December 27, 2018 * 9:00 a.m.-12 NoonFriday, December 28, 2018 * ClosedMonday, December 31, 2018 - New Year's Eve * 10:00 a.m.-4:00 …
FAKE VIRUS WARNING The proliferation of fake webpages is mind-blowing! Fake pages like the one above seem to be popping up everywhere. Many will warn you to NOT turn off your computer. These messages will attempt to panic you into making the mistake of calling the number listed or clicking on a link. Customers often …
People who attend our seminars or those who join us for online webinars, often hear me talk about the cameras we have in our home. These cameras allow us to keep an eye on our Cairn Terrier, Gus, when we're away from the house. We're able to use our smart phones to turn and tilt …
It's the holiday season and over the last few days, my Inbox as been inundated with fake emails. Above is a screenshot of one I've received a number of times. For those that don't attend our live seminars, let me point out a few reasons this email is fake. First, if I have an Amex …
Photo credit: ABC News It can happen any time of the year but the holiday season seems to bring out more package thieves than usual. I talked about this subject at our seminar this past Saturday but it's important enough to pass on the info to everyone. Our kids in Austin belong to a neighborhood …
Above is a screenshot of the fourth Windows Recovery option. (If you missed the first three posts covering the other options, the link buttons are below.) This last option is called Fresh start. You can get to it by asking Cortana to open "recovery options." Once the new window opens, look at the bottom on …
This is the 3rd blog post in my series on the ways to recover Windows 10 should something go astray. In the first post (https://www.4kcc.com/blog/2018/11/30/oh-no-2/), we talked about system restore. In the last post, (https://www.4kcc.com/blog/2018/11/30/windows-10-recovery-part-2/), we explained what happens when you reset Windows 10 and how careful you need to be. In today's post, we're …
We just got back from Austin and I want to tell you about another smart phone technology we used while away. When we went into downtown Austin to watch the Chuy's Children's Parade (click on the name to visit their website), we used our smart phone to pay for parking. I simply texted the number …
On our trip to Austin this week, every time we stopped for gas, I thought about gas pump skimmers. You know what those are, right? Skimmers are devices that crooks place on gas pumps (and ATMs, too.) that will record your card and other information when you use your debit/credit card to pay for gas. …
If you read today's blog post title and thought of the 1965 hit song by Herman's Hermits, I congratulate you. (If you've forgotten the song or never heard it, it's at the bottom of this missive.) Unfortunately, the song has nothing to do with today's subject. Instead, I want to introduce you to Kari Brown. …
It happened twice this week. Two customers who use Carbonite as their online backup had no idea which email they used for their account nor did they know the password! The idea of online backup is that if something happens to your computer, you'll be able to recover your data. That's a great idea! I …
Gift Cards Here's a scenario that just happened to one of our customers (read carefully so you don't fall for this scam): Someone called on the phone claiming that they had accidentally deposited $6,000 in our customer's bank account. They suggested they log into their bank and they would see the pending deposit of $6,000. …
If you ever took a biology class, you almost certainly had to dissect a frog. While I'm not going to ask you to do that again, I am going to show you how to dissect an unknown email to determine if it's a fake. Above is an email I received this morning. I'm going …
Look carefully at the picture above. Today, I want to point out a mistake that is often made when people use a search engine. When you're looking for something specific, it's important to look at the domain of the page you're going to go to if you click. Not paying attention to this detail often …
At our seminar on Saturday (October 20, 2018), we talked about using Acronis True Image software (see button below if you want to purchase it!) to create a mirror image of a computer's hard drive. What is a mirror image and why would you want to create one? Of course, we always use online backup …
My pet peeve #1 - you would think it would be a customer losing or forgetting a password. Although that is frustrating, that's not my #1 pet peeve. What is, however, is when information is not updated to recover or reset the password. Pet Peeve #1 Examples For example: recently, I was setting up a …
I want to share with you a great government page regarding cyber security. It's the Department of Homeland Security site called US-CERT. On the home page, there's an opportunity to get on their email list for security alerts. You should sign up. Yes, some things in the alerts will be way over your head. Still, …
In my blog of September 20, 2018, I spoke about the fact that I have Windows 10 users still using Internet Explorer. Well, today, I want to update that post a bit. I want to mention that not using IE isn't limited to just Windows 10 users. If you have Windows 7 or Windows 8.1, …
Okay, I made that part up about "Fake News" just to get your attention! Now that I have it, you might as well stick around to see what I am really talking about in this post. Although it's not fake news, I want to educate you about fake tech support. When you purchase a computing …
As you may have heard, Facebook was recently hacked. About 50 million users had their information placed at risk. Facebook moved quickly to fix the issue but the damage was done. If you're a Facebook user, you should change your password - just to be on the safe side. And, the other thing you should …
In the techie world, we love acronyms. We have a million of them! One of the newest ones is IoT which stands for Internet of Things! Equipment falling into the IoT category include those devices that allow us to control things in our homes or work areas from the outside. Example: from my phone, from …
Those Evil Foreigners! Are there foreigners on your computer? You've heard me talk about the scam artists who will tell you anything and lie through their teeth just to sell you their worthless service. You know if you let them onto your computer, they will do whatever they can to panic you. The picture above …
STOLEN In the past few days, I received emails from one of my relatives and one of my friends in which there was an invitation to click on a link. The only thing was that, although the emails had the person's name, the return email address was an address that ended in .jp - the …