Changes to Our Website 9 November 09

Mango Computer Tuition's website has had some recent updates that might prove interesting. We mention them here because we know that many of our customers check the blog on a regular basis.

Recent Changes:
Using CCleaner to improve computer performance
Info about our Repair and Upgrade Service
Meet David, our Senior Tech

Phony Facebook Email Beware

There is an email floating around, supposedly from Facebook support. It ask you to download and unzip a file. Do not open it. Delete it.
A zip file is a good way to hide a destructive file. A good practice is to never open a zip file, unless you know it is from a trusted source, and you first verify that the trusted source sent it.

The email reads: Dear Facebook user, Due to Facebook policy changes, all Facebook users must submit a new, updated account agreement, regardless of their original account start date. Accounts that do not submit the updated account agreement by the deadline will have restricted. Please unzip the attached file and run "agreement.exe" by double-clicking it. Thanks, The Facebook Team Confirmation Code #: 024586930858

One of the address, supposedly sending it is "facebooksupport+asucdvvw@facebookmail.com"

We have not researched this email but:

1. We know it did not originate from Facebook
2. We know that opening an unknown zip file could be dangerous
3. We know that an unknown exe file should always be considered a danger
   
4. Logic tells us that Facebook would post such a notice on their site, not send an email

Hope this helps to keep your computing safe

Case History 06 July 09 - Why Backup

How a Good Backup Program Saved the Day
A business customer was working on her end of year financials. She turned off her computer to take a lunch break. When she returned her computer would not boot. After troubleshooting the problem it was revealed that the hard drive failed.
The drive was fairly new, and was still in warranty. It would be replaced an no charge, but her data was lost.
This could have been one of those computer nightmares, but it wasn’t.


You probably get tired of hearing your “computer guy” telling you to backup, but if you had to suffer through a complete data lose you would understand his persistence.

Why the Disaster Was Only a Minor Irritation

In March we imaged the customer’s hard drive. This is a procedure that creates an exact duplicate of the disk, including:
Operating System
All Windows Settings
All Email Settings
All Web Browser Settings
All programs and program settings
All data at the time of the image.
Each week the customer performed a regular backup of her data:
Financial files
Word Documents
Pictures
MYOB data
Music

Without the Image and regular backups it would have been a 12 hour job getting the new drive set up and installing Windows and all the programs. It would have taken the customer weeks to input the data, if she was lucky enough to have hard copies of most of it.

With a recent Image and regular backups the system was up and running in 2 hours. It looked, felt, and was exactly as the computer was at the date of the last backup.
The only thing missing was recent emails. The customer felt she could live without them, but decided to include important emails in future backups.

Your Hard Drive Will Fail It Is Just a Question of When

Talk with your IT professional and arrange to set up a regular backup policy. If you are lucky enough to live in the Redland City area of Brisbane we would be happy to help

Computer Tune UP Results

One of the services we provide our customers is a computer tune up. The purpose is to get their systems operating at peak performance.

Here is the results of a couple of recent tune ups

Computer 1

Test	Before Tune-up		After Tune-up
Start Up Time	156 seconds		50 seconds
Shut Down	50 seconds		30 seconds
Open MS Word	22.5 seconds		5 seconds
PassMark Computer Performance Score	272.3		286.2

Computer 2

Test	Original		Final	Improvement
Start up	125 seconds		90 seconds	1/3 faster
Shut down	62 seconds		30 seconds	2 times faster
Open My Computer	26 seconds		4 seconds	6.5 times faster
Open MS Word	43 seconds		21 seconds	2 times faster

Downloading and Installing Internet Explorer 8

Here is a Video on downloading and installing Internet Explorer 8. Nothing fancy but it should prove useful.

Click Here to see the video

Phony Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express Email

A new email received today claimed to be from Microsoft regarding an update for Outlook and Outlook Express.

Delete the email. It is a fraud
Following the email's instructions will cause a Spyware Infection

The emails was well done and appears to be valid, but it is not. If you were to follow the instructions in the email you would have become the victim of a bit of Spyware designed to steal sensitive data from your computer, particularly banking details.

Email Refers To
Microsoft Security Alert - KB910721

Microsoft does not send emails regarding updates. They are either downloaded by your computer (if you are set to receive them) or can be picked up by going to the official Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com) and following the links for updates.

We further suggest not following links to Microsoft. It is better to go to your browsers address bar and type in the address.

Conficker Virus

There has been heaps said about the April 1 date and the Conficker Virus.

Reading all the expert opinions may be a bit confusing.

We are not security experts, but would like to offer the following tips

• Install, update and use a quality Security product (We like and use Eset Anti-Virus, or Eset Smart Security (Eset is also known as NOD32). We do not recommend any of the free security programs, although they are better than nothing
• Download and install Window's updates
• Avoid peer to peer (file sharing sites)
• Be careful about the emails you open
• Be very careful with email attachments
• If you use a computer for business or banking be extra careful.
• If you suspect a security problem, disconnect from your internet connection and don't connect until your problem is fixed

Hope this helps