Please! I'm begging you! Update your Adobe Flash and Shockwave players.
We've been spending a great deal of time ~ 35%(ish) per week, recovering PCs
(and even two Macs) from some pretty hideous malware. Fortunately, no data loss
as of yet, although a few machines operating systems were damaged beyond timely repair;
meaning the time to clean exceedes the time needed to wipe and reinstall.
There hasn't been a media blitz on the topic, so we can
either assume its just not as news-worthy as capped wells, or it's people
just don't want to here it anymore. Here's a blurb from back in
June. They don't seem very excited about it. I'm simply having a hard
time believing there hasn't been more coverage.
Our new favorite printer.
We don't usually recommend products or get caught up in business partnering
as can lead to unethical behavior. However we're really excited about the
MFC-6490CW.
It's a fantastic way to kick out half size sets AND it scans to PDF or email from
11x17 glass. It has both wired and wireless networking and is relatively easy to set up.
If you are on a budget but still need 11x17 multifunction printing, this is
worth looking at. We've purchased stand-alone scanners that range from $600 to $2500 and
this guy scans AND everything else for less than $300 ~ simply amazing.
Be advised, it burns through ink at an alarming rate. Have a spare set (or even
a 3rd black) so you aren't caught short. Also, of the many we've installed, a couple
had flaws (one was DOA). BUT! Brothers' support has been better than expected
and new ones were deployed in short order.
Somehow, this
popped into my head while I was thinking about "my favorite printer".
We despise malware.
And at the same time, we appreciate the time and effort these guys put into
their despicable, devious, horrid tools. It seems like such a short time ago that
we we're so impressed by malware that skated around major AV tools and fired itself
in safe-mode. Now these critters have evolved into a multi-million dollar
industry and are devilishly difficult to remove.
Anyway, we started contributing to bleepingcomputers.com
and are now following them on facebook. If
we were tweeters, we might be following them there
as well.
Stuff to do...
submitted: March 31nd 2010 @ 5:43 am
So MUCH Malware!
We've done mass mails and called every client, yet we still come across machines
that are WAY behind on updates and security patches. We can't enough the need to
keep up on:
- AV updates
- Microsoft updates
- Adobe - Flash/Shockwave players
- Adobe - Acrobat reader
- Java (sun microsystems)
- Quicktime
- Realpayer
- WinAMP
Especially, Adobe - Flash/Shockwave players. There are some serious security flaws that
allow malicious apps through imbedded ads and browser redirects. You don't even have to be
on questionable sites anymore ~ and most users don't even know what hit them until
it's too late.
ALSO, try to keep the kids off frostwire and torrent site on your
work computer. It's begging for disaster. In fact, just keep them away from that
stuff altogether. Pirated/Illegal software, movies and music are pirated and illegal.
Some justify this with arguments which are relatively coherent. But, all rationalisms
aside, it's still wrong!
