According to The NY Times, Meltdown is a particular problem for the cloud computing services run by the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft. By Wednesday evening, Google and Microsoft said they had updated their systems to deal with the flaw. Amazon told customers...
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Geek Girls IT Services Blog
The latest on cyber security, computer support and small business IT from one of New Jersey and New York’s top managed IT service providers.
Why Are We Discontinuing Our Reminder Service?
For several years, several of our residential customers have used our quarterly "reminder" service to schedule their computer checkups. This worked well in a simpler time when threats evolved more slowly. However, as technology advances, we must change our service...
A Reader’s Question: How Can I Protect Myself From Fraud After the Equifax Breach?
A reader asks: With all that is going on in the news with credit theft I would like to know your opinion on who you think is the best identity theft company to purchase insurance from at this time? Lifelock or Identity Guard? This is a great question. While we are not...
A Reader’s Question: How Does My Computer’s Trash/Recycle Bin Work?
A reader wote the following recently: "When I delete something on my computer it goes to trash. When I delete it from trash where does it go?" When you delete an item from your recycle bin, from the user's point of view it's "gone". That means that space on the hard...
Our Take on the Kaspersky “Spy” Controversy
October 2017 EDIT: Since we posted this back in August, new information has come out indicating that Russia has been using Kaspersky software for spying. Whether or not Kaspersky was directly involved or if this effects Kaspersky's consumer products, is still not...
Microsoft + LogMeIn: A Perfect Opportunity for Hackers and Scammers
A common danger on the internet is the "tech support" scam. It strikes when you are browsing the web normally until a pop-up appears saying that a problem has been found with your PC. The warning will include a phone number to call for repairs. It may even appear that...
I’m Calling From Microsoft (NOT!!)
[This is an edited and updated version of a post from 2013.] If someone calls you claiming to be from Microsoft and tells you that your computer is reporting errors to Microsoft, it's a scam. If that person offers to "fix" your computer, you should hang up...
Protecting Yourself and Your Business Against Global Hackers
During the past week, computer systems throughout the world were reported to be disrupted by an extensive ransomware attack, mostly affecting Britain and Russia. Transmitted via email, the malicious software encrypts files and demands ransom before users can regain...
Verizon Email Transition
Verizon email customers have been receiving an email message informing them that Verizon is discontinuing their email service and moving all accounts to AOL. While we can help in your migration to another email provider, it is not necessary to switch to another...
Keep Control of a Critical Business Asset
Recently a business customer of ours which uses our hosted Exchange service emailed us, casually letting us know they were implementing a new web site with a web developer. It all sounded fine, until I did a little digging and discovered that they had handed over...