Windows 7 - RIP

As you surely can imagine recently I have quite often gotten the question  

What should I get if I buy a new computer?

Here is verbatim the reply that I sent to all such requests if the question came via email:

Thanks for asking.

It may be best to look for a new computer during special sales events.

For computers I recommend to look at Newegg.com or Amazon.com. Both definitely have a MUCH larger selection than any brick-and-mortar store can possibly offer.

Any new computer IMHO should go through my Set-Up job to be safe and protected on the Internet and to be free of unwanted, unneeded and sometimes outright malicious programs.

Here are some of the IMHO important technical details to currently look for:

• 8GB or more of RAM (main memory)
  
  
• Windows 10 Professional or Windows 10 Home
  (Pro is in some technical settings more flexible than Home)
  
• Buy only a computer(s) with a SSD! SSDs are MUCH faster than HDDs!
  Storage capacity of the SSD is okay if it is about three to four times of the amount of space currently used on your C: drive or larger.
  
  Classic HDDs are in many cheap offers but it's clearly an outdated technology.

Currently I have the best experiences with computers from Dell and/or HP. And here are two warnings on what NOT to do:

• If you are looking at new machines do NOT buy any additional warranties or similar!
  
• Do NOT buy Microsoft Office!
  MS sells you a subscription with yearly payments; good for MS but bad for you!

Feel free to contact me directly with any questions you may have.

How to stay safe in 2017 - Short List

Here is a short list of in my experience the most important steps you can take to keep your computer and your data safe. have I have added e few remarks for clarification.

1. Update your software.
   Not only Windows but all other regularly used programs as well;
   for a Windows PC this includes (but is not limited to)
   -   Adobe Flash (beware of fake download sites!)
   -   Adobe Shockwave
   -   Web browser(s)
   -   Email client
   -   Java (if installed; mostly Java is not needed at all!)
   -   Office programs
   We always have to keep in mind that some programs still don't update automatically and quietly in the background! Checking manually hardly ever has hurt anything.
    
2. Back-up to an external hard drive.
   Done regularly and correctly this currently is the only protection against ransomware viruses!
    
3. Use a password manager.
   For single machines see Keepass, for more than one machine see LastPass and include all cell phones and tablets in the count!
      
4. Use a unique password for every account.
   Everybody has many, many accounts; you need a password manager!
    
5. Use random passwords
   Easily done only with a password manager!
    
6. Turn on two-step verification everywhere you can.
   If you have a cell phone that you really use, otherwise this is pretty useless.
    
7. Read and think(!) before you click.
   "My" first commandment for safe computing.
    
   
8. Enable full-disk encryption
   On a single home computer? Only protects your data when the machine gets stolen.
    
9. Put a six-digit PIN on your phone and set the phone to wipe it's contents if the PIN is guessed wrongly too many times.
   

Do you have questions to any of that? Please feel free to ask them in the comments, I will reply. Maybe not immediately but I will.

Stay safe.

About Scams - Beware!

It saddens mw but it has to be said again and again:

Microsoft WILL NOT CALL you because your computer "has been reported" or anything similar.

Please take the few minutes to read this article from the How-To-Geek on common scamming tricks and what to do about them. This article talks about some other commonly encountered scams as well, not only the Microsoft or Tech Support based scams.

It always is good to be well informed. The time to read the HTG article is time well spent; it can help you to avoid the most common traps.

Stay safe.

Ransomware IS on the Loose, NO JOKING!

Today I met with a customer who recently I had pointed to my blog posts about ransomware. He sort of poo-pooed my words and pointed me to his safe habits.

With his permission I looked in his (very big) Inbox with about 1,000 emails. I looked only for mails with attachments and found quite a few.

I grabbed randomly one of the attachments, a ZIP file by the way, and saved that file to the computer.

Then I went to Virustotal.com, uploaded the file and had it tested. The results speak for them selves, here they are:

Clearly this file contains a downloader and a variant of the encrypting ransomware Locky. And who knows what the downloader would do to the machine if it ever gets to run.

Currently DO NOT directly open ANY attachment from an email, no matter how "good" you think you know the sender or what ever excuses your brain comes up with.

Always save the attachment to a place on your computer you can easily access like the desktop.

Then in your web browser go to virustotal.com, browse to the file - in this example on the desktop, upload the file and if virustotal.com comes up with anything then delete the file AND the email it came from!

Better safe than sorry!

And before you ask, some of my previous articles about ransomware are here, here, here, here and here.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Stay safe.

"Force Feeding" Windows 10

"Force Feeding" are the only words adequate to describe what Microsoft is doing right now! My email inbox is overflowing with complaints and cries for help. Microsoft seems to be really desperate, it must not be going as well as they had hoped.

After the upgrade to Windows 10 (not update) you have 4 weeks to revert to your previous system. This process has so far worked without a hitch for those of my customers who reverted.

1. Click the Start button
2. Click on Settings (on a few systems it is PC Settings)
3. Click on Update & security
4. In the left side bar click on Recovery
5. Find the entry Go back to Windows x (x is 7 or 8 depending on what your previous system was) and click on it

Depending on the speed of your computer it will work for anything between 30 and 90 minutes. After you have reverted to your previous version of Windows Microsoft will again begin to permanently nag you to upgrade to Win 10. This nagging can be reliably turned off!

Microsoft has since about November 2015 been busy to put some of the telemetry of Windows 10 into Windows 7 and Windows 8 systems; this happens in addition to forcing upgrades to Windows 10. That means that Win 7 and 8 systems now contain some of what I call Windows 10 spying on me/us and IMHO that should to be turned off!!

My recommendation is to turn all this junk off and luckily since about February 2016 I know of a dependable piece of free software that allows everybody to do just that on their systems whether it is a Windows 7, 8 or 10 computer!. See this article for more details.


If after the upgrade any icons or programs are missing or if you rather have me install SD Anti Beacon I can do all that via remote support. For remote support please call one of the coming Monday through Thursday evenings between 6PM and 8PM. If I am already at home I want to connect remotely to your computer. If I can not answer on your first attempt please assume that I am already helping somebody else and keep trying every 10 or 15 minutes.

If I have set up or worked on your computer during the last three years you should be set for remote support; if you have an icon labeled either "Teamviewer ..."  or "EJH Remote Support" then all is prepared. If you do not find either of these icons please call anyway, I can walk you on the phone thru the steps to get the remote support program going. Alternatively you can prepare for remote support as described here.

Please have your computer up and running; if your computer is a notebook (or laptop) computer then please have the power supply connected and plugged into a working power outlet.

Stay safe!

Windows 10 and Microsoft's Attitude to Security and Prvacy

On Slate I found this very revealing article about Windows 10 and it's implications for privacy and security. I highly recommend you read it BEFORE you jump on the Windows 10 band wagon.

No, I take back my "... highly recommend you read ...". If you are seriously thinking about Windows 10 and/or want to be fully informed before you take the plunge (or not) THE ARTICLE IS A MUST READ!

As I said in an earlier article by now we can do something about all that, reliably and free of charge. Well, maybe not totally free if you want me to set it up and demonstrate it's correct usage to you.

Stay safe!

Avoid or Mitigate Ransomware Risks

A big THANK YOU to the Emerging Threats Team at SophosLabs and their blog Naked Security for their excellent recommendations on this nasty but important topic.

I have taken the liberty to add some remarks just to help you remember important little details that are easy to forget in cursive.

• Backup regularly and keep a recent backup copy off-site. There are dozens of ways other than ransomware that files can suddenly vanish, such as fire, flood, theft, a dropped laptop or even an accidental delete. Encrypt your backup and you won’t have to worry about the backup device falling into the wrong hands.
  
  But do not, I repeat, do not leave your backup device connected to the computer. Always unplug the backup device after the backup is complete!
   
• Don’t enable macros in document attachments received via email. Microsoft deliberately turned off auto-execution of macros by default many years ago as a security measure. A lot of malware infections rely on persuading you to turn macros back on, so don’t do it!
  
  Naturally they don't tell you that the click they ask you to do will turn macros back on. They rather trick you into believing that clicking is the thing to do to be able to read what they sent you...
   
• Be cautious about unsolicited attachments. The crooks are relying on the dilemma that you shouldn’t open a document until you are sure it’s the one you want, but you can’t tell if it’s the one you want until you open it. If in doubt, leave it out.
  
  Currently I do not open ANY attachments; I call the sender and have them explain what and why they sent the attachment and even if all that checks out I additionally check the attachment on Virus Total. 
   
• Don’t give yourself more login power than you need. Most importantly, don’t stay logged in as an administrator any longer than is strictly necessary, and avoid browsing, opening documents or other “regular work” activities while you have administrator rights.
  
  Quite a lofty ideal as I am currently experiencing first hand.
   
• Consider installing the Microsoft Office viewers. These viewer applications let you see what documents look like without opening them in Word or Excel itself. In particular, the viewer software doesn’t support macros at all, so you can’t enable macros by mistake!
  
  Now is a good suggestion, I will have to do that!
   
• Patch early, patch often. Malware that doesn’t come in via document macros often relies on security bugs in popular applications, including Office, your browser, Flash and more. The sooner you patch, the fewer open holes remain for the crooks to exploit.
  
  As I always preach: Update, update, update.

That is it; certainly to a large part common sense but here it is, nicely packaged and in one place.

Stay safe!

How to avoid Windows 10

Are you tired of Microsoft's permanent nagging to upgrade to Windows 10?

Do you want to avoid the computer world's biggest and most openly staged attempt to get the greatest data collection system world-wide set up?

Then here is THE solution - as far as I know and as of January 3rd 2016.

Download GWX Control Panel from this web page. I recommend to use the portable version called "Stand-alone" and please read the program author's user guide.

You best start GWX Control Panel [GWXcpl] in administrator mode, that means you right click on the program file and the click on "Run as administrator".

The GWXcpl windows looks like similar to this:

I can not show you an EXACT picture because I have no computer that is still unprotected from Windows 10 upgrades.

 On your computer the upper part will have different contents; I believe it is very self explanatory.

In the lower part you will probably see instead of *n these text entries:

*1  Disable 'Get Windows 10 App' ...
*2  Delete Windows 10 Download Folders
*3  Prevent Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades
*4  Delete Windows 10 Programs

  I recommend to at least click on Disable "Get Windows 10 App' ..." and on "Prevent Automatic Windows 10 Upgrades". Whether you want to delete Windows 10 files and/or folders is up to you; on older computers with less than 320GB large disk drives it seems to be a good idea to free up the space. And don't forget to reboot when you are asked to even if it means that you may have to run GWXcpl more than once.

Feel free to ask any uestions you might have, preferably by email.

Stay safe.

AVG + Google Chrome = TROUBLE

Happy and healthy New Year to everybody!
... It's the first post in 2016 ...

The title describes the newest formula for disaster.

For years I have advised against using Google Chrome as your primary web browser.

For years I have advised against using AVG's free "security" programs.

Now this combination has become a wide open barn door for malicious software and/or viruses to take over your computer. You can read more about the details here.

If you use AVG I recommend to uninstall it and instead rely on Microsoft's Defender respectively Security Essentials in Windows 7. If you run into problems when you uninstall AVG you find AVG's special removal programs here. Take care to download the correct "bittedness" version for your version of Windows.

I you use Google Chrome I recommend to install Mozilla's Firefox browser; in Firefox you need to install two extensions or add-ons:

1. Adblock Plus and  
2. WOT (Web Of Trust)

After you install Firefox go to the Bookmarks manager (Bookmarks, Show All Bookmarks. Import and Backup, Import Data from Another Browser, select Google Chrome) and import bookmarks ONLY! When you have your bookmarks in Firefox please uninstall Google Chrome.

That plus some applied common sense is all you need to be and stay safe on the Internet.

If you want to do more against eventual advertisement malware and so called PUPs then download THE FREE version from here. Install Malwarebytes only AFTER you read this article about how to install and use it correctly.

Stay safe!

Ink Jet Printers

Original quote:

A significant number of Canon-printer owners had print-head failures soon after the one-year warranty expired. There seemed to be a pattern, which prompted a class-action lawsuit. Though Canon denied any wrongdoing, they agreed to pay $930,000. Each class member will receive $50 in cash or $75 for a Canon store voucher. Canon also agreed to extend the warranty period by nine months for those who have print-head issues.
To see the particular models involved, and to get listed as a lawsuit class member, go to the settlement information site before Nov. 24.

For years now I have said that ink jet printers seem to be a scam to sell massively overpriced ink. In the long run you generally are way better off with a faster laser printer.

Other than that I have no comment.

Windows 10 - Better Instructions to Make it "SAFE"

After writing the previous long, long article about how to make Windows 10 running without the glaring privacy issues I discovered on a forum a link to a MUCH better organized article with visual examples for everything from installation to changing the relevant settings.

You find it here: https://fix10.isleaked.com/

I thank the author(s) of this web page; GREAT work!


As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.
   

Windows 10 Settings - What I Recommend

Please click this link if you are looking for general information on Windows 10.

If you absolutely do not mind to be followed by "Big Brother" then please do not read the remainder of this article, you are excused and may leave.

By now I have decided to recommend to my customers NOT to upgrade to Windows 10. There are way too many IMHO serious privacy issues that go along with a so called Microsoft account.

In the following I will give some tips on how to remedy at least some or much of that messy situation. For every instance of something I deem in need of correcting or changing I will preface the paragraph with "Gripe:".

Because virtually all of my customers work on the desktop and use a mouse and a keyboard all the following step by step instructions are for desktop mode only.

Immediately after upgrading to Windows 10 your computer will work quite differently than it did before the upgrade.


Gripe:
If you gave the system on first start your email address Microsoft has created on their servers the storage for an immense wealth of information about you that Win10 and it's programs will collect from and about you; and that besides the fact that every email address will have it's unique "advertisement ID" assigned. Guess what that will be used for!

If you want to change your inadvertently created Microsoft Account back into a normal, local account then:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click  ====================to be finished 

Gripe:
Synchronizing personal settings between various computers could under certain circumstances be a convenience. But some of us don’t want the same settings on all of our various Win10 computers. Just imagine using Win10 on your “old” keyboard/mouse computer and on a tablet; ARGGHH!

Plus: My settings are my personal preference and are none of Microsoft's business! Obviously I am way too old for that brave new world where everything is made public! If you are like me here is how to turn synching off:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Accounts
5. Click Sync your settings 
6. Turn OFF Sync settings to disable synchronizing

  
Gripe:
Microsoft Edge, the new web browser, will be the default for all things Internet. You should set that back to Firefox following these steps:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Default Programs
4. Click on "Set your default programs"
5. You should see a list of installed programs
6. Find and highlight the entry for Firefox
7. Click on  "Set this program as default" (my cursor points to it)
8. Click OK to close the window

 

Gripe:
System Protection is the Win10 name for the feature that creates Restore Points. This is turned off after the upgrade on many systems! It is by no means a good backup system but still better than nothing. Here is how to turn it on again:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click System
4. In the left sidebar click System protection
5. Highlight your system disk C:
6. Click Configure (see screen shot)

 

     7. Click on "Turn on system protection" (see screen shot below)
     8. Click OK and OK to close all windows

Gripe:
 Especially important to users of laptops computers are Wi-Fi-credentials

A new Win10 feature — WiFi Sense (online FAQ) — has generated more than its share of controversy. Just read what well renowned security researcher Brian Krebs has has to say about it in a recent column.

Simply said WiFi Sense allows all your Facebook friends, Outlook and Skype contacts to automatically sign in to your WiFi router when they are in range; likewise you can use their WiFi network as soon as you are in range of their router. In short, it “blabs” access to your WiFi network to numbers of people who you might not know well enough. And that feature is turned ON by default! Here is how to turn it off:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Network & Internet
5. Click Wi-Fi.
6. Scroll past your wireless networks and click Manage Wi-Fi settings. 
7. Turn off  Connect to suggested open hotspots and
8. Turn off Connect to networks shared by my contacts.

Gripe: 
Simply said, I hate Cortana, the so-called “digital assistant” in Win10.
 
My wife and my best friend may know a lot about me that you don't know and likely even don't want to know. The NSA, Apple and now Microsoft want to know more about every Apple or Win10 user then we want to know about ourselves.

The End User License Agreement (EULA) for Win10 clearly states that Cortana has the ability to collect and use various types of personal information, including your location, calendar data, and programs (called "apps") you use. Cortana collects information about your choice of music, alarm settings, what you view and purchase online, your Bing search history, your use of other Microsoft services, and can even use the camera and microphone of the computer. In short, it is ALWAYS listens when the computer is on. Remember, practically all laptop computers have a microphone and a camera.

This sort of always on data collection worries me deeply; 1984 anyone?

Here is a decent PC World article explaining how to disable Cortana. And don't forget additionally and separately to disable Cortana in the new Edge browser, even if you don't use it!

Remember, Big Brother is always listening, always watching.


Gripe:
Since Microsoft announced that the upgrade to Windows 10 will be free, I have been waiting for the catch. And, surprise, it's very first installment comes with the ubiquitous game of Solitaire.This popular app is included with the new OS, but it includes advertising. To remove the ads, you have to pay a monthly subscription, as reported in a Business Insider story.

Currently I do not know of a hack to get around this.

Just do not go into the trap of recurring payments. There are many free alternatives on the internet. 




Gripe:
Along with forced updates, Win10 also includes — again, on by default — the option to share patches with other computers on your local network or the Internet; this is called peer-to-peer updating. You might want to disable update sharing.

There are serious concerns that attackers might find a way to inject malicious code into the process; many internet connections are metered and with the almost 3GB download size of Win10 you can easily run over your limit and that costs dearly.
 You want to disable peer-to-peer updating obtain patches only directly from Microsoft? Here is how:

1. Right click on the Start button
2. Open Control Panel
3. Click Settings
4. Click Update & Security
5. Click windows Update (it is no longer in the Control Panel!)
6. Select Advanced Options
7. Click Choose how updates are delivered
8.  Turn Update Sharing OFF

So much for today. This article is meant to be continued as more details become available.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.
 
 

Backup - Windows 7 and 8

Please click this link if you are looking for information on Windows 10.

Here are links to articles that should answer most of the questions I get asked about back up.

Windows 7
Build a complete Windows 7 safety net

Windows 8  Understanding Terms
Understanding Windows 8's File History
TechNet: Windows 8 File History explained

Windows 8 Prepare like Microsoft wants it

Microsoft: Set up a drive for File History

Mastering Windows 8's backup/restore system

If you are adverse to Microsoft's built-in tools there are proven free third party backup programs available:
Free Backup programs - Not from Microsoft 
Sadly this otherwise excellent article does not mention Macrium Reflect, an  often recommended free third party backup program.

And here is an interesting discussion about the question where to store the back up:
Internal or External Hard Drive for Backup

And since two customers recently asked about here some words about 
How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Repair Scams And New Variants - Again

Please click this link if you are looking for information on Windows 10.

I hardly can count how often I have spoken in my radio shows about repair scams and other tricks crooks use to scare unsuspecting computer users into handing over their credit card info; that is what all these and similar scams come down to.

Here is only a small selection of articles from this blog that deal with various aspects of this situation - with NO claim of completeness at all:

• June 2012 "Email Scams Getting More Elaborate"
• February 2013 "Phone Scams - Way Too Many!"
• May 2013 "Email From The IRS? No Way!"
• September 2013 "Cybercrime"
• October 2013 "How Malware Gets Installed"
• February 2014 ''New Twist - Old Scam"
• October 2014 "How To Spot Socially Engineered Emails"
• April 2015 "Bye bye Viruses, Hello Carelessness"

The newest twist in this never ending saga happens as follows: You are on a web site you have been on many, many times, let's say for information on your favorite hobby. Naturally after having used that web site for years you assume it is "clean" and the information from there is valid.

But suddenly you get a pop up window or some other kind of message informing you that "your computer has been reported" to some "Windows Security" team or it "is infected with 567 viruses" or similar.

This sort of pop up is by definition a scam!

• Do not click anywhere in this window.
• If applicable DO NOT call the toll free phone number givin in the message.
• Do NOT "x out" of this window, that is do not click on the "red X" in the top right corner of the window to close it.

The only safe way out of such windows and/or messages is to close them with Alt+F4, that is holding down the Alternate key and while holding this key down pressing function key F4.

Beside getting out of this window safely I would avoid ever again going to this web site. There is almost always some alternative.

Why did I above say "... is by definition a scam"?

1. There is no "Windows Security" team or company or anything even vaguely similar.
2. You Windows operating system does NOT report any info to anybody; only malicious software does that!
3. Neither Microsoft nor any of their partner companies care about your computer's and your well being! 

You don't even have to take alone my word for it; here are links to two very official web pages about that exact same issue: 

1. Tech Support Scams from the Federal Trade Commission  and

2. Avoid tech support phone scams from Microsoft's Safety & Security Center

Stay safe and always(!) heed the first of my 10 Commandments Of Safe Computing.

As usual I welcome comments and suggestions right here in the blog. Thank you in advance.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Windows 10 - What We Know

Update 7/30.2015:       Please keep reading anyway for the nitty gritty!
The first reports about upgrades to Windows 10 are in! Generally it seems to have gone surprisingly well with only a few minor glitches. Good job, Microsoft.


This article was originally posted early in June 2015. Because of it's relevance and IMHO importance I have kept it and will keep it up-to-date by adding dated Updates to it. For the time being I will put a reference to this article at the top of all future posts in this blog.

Most home users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 have been graced via Windows Update with a new icon "Get Windows 10" in the system tray;  I wrote about it on June 4th.

I do not claim to be complete but please let me tell you what the major changes (improvements?) in Windows 10 supposedly will be:

1. "Universal apps" (formerly Metro or Full Screen apps) can now be resized, positioned a.s.o., that is run as a "normal" window. 
2. The Start Menu is back plus live tiles.
3. Again we will have a unified Settings panel aka Control Panel.  
4. On hybrid and/or convertible and tablet computers Windows 10 will move easily between keyboard, mouse and touch usage. 
5. The Cortana digital assistant enables voice control. 
6. XBOX and XBOX Live integration (implementation?)  
7. Spartan web browser instead of IE.
8. Win 10 will run on cell phones.  
9. Snap Assist 
10. Holo Lens (to be seen)

My comments with identical numbering:

1. For Windows 8.1 users maybe an advantage; but frankly, I know nobody who even uses Windows 8 in Full Screen mode.  
2. BIG plus for Windows 8 users - but not for my customers who all have a Start Menu.
3. BIG plus for Win 8 users; a no-brainer otherwise. 
4. I would have taken for granted this "Continuum Mode" and think of it as a self evident requirement on such computers. 
5. Careful, it is said to crate permanent web activity and to give results of "shallow" content and gossipy information on a rather low intellectual level. 
6. Most teenagers I know don't want their parents to even only touch their game consoles. A non-issue for my customers.
7. A new web browser  from Microsoft is long overdue. For the longest time we have very good alternatives to IE; I recommend my customers stay with Firefox. New is not always good ... 
8. What a marketing stunt...
9.  A feature that supposedly suggests "other" documents ... Ha?
10. Usefulness remains to be seen. New is not always better ...
    

As you easily can see there is nothing really compelling to upgrade, for me at least.

There will be bugs of the first days, that is unavoidable in such a huge, complex piece of software. No corporate testing can ever simulate what really happens in hundreds of millions of home computers.
And, the free upgrade offer is good at least through July 28 2016.
 
My tip to my customers:

Wait and see.  If you have a stable and well working Windows 7 or 8.1 system Windows 10 has only marginal improvements over Win 7 but it irons out quirks and annoyances of Win 8.

 Let others fight through the problems of the first hour.

Furthermore we still live with Microsoft's word that these "free" upgrades will be "valid", that is legally usable only until January 2020 or 2023 respectively; details in this article.We still do not know what Microsoft's plans are beyond that.

Update 6/16/2015:

Not every computer is worth upgrading. Your computer should have at least 4GB of main memory (RAM) and 120GB (or more) of free disk space on the C: drive.

If you have a computer with less than 4GB of RAM and/or it runs a 32-bit version of Windows 7 and/or it is over 5 years old you might want to consider a new machine.

Update 6/20/2015:

Windows Media Center will disappear. In it's place we will get a new program to play DVDs. Lucky me, I never had the time or inclination to use my PC as a media machine.

And the Sidebar Gadgets are (finally!) gone; they were unsafe anyway.

Then there will be changes to the way updates are delivered. Details are still missing but it may be that MS will in the future deliver updates as soon as they are available.

IMHO for the non-technical home user long overdue!

I do believe that "reserving" an update to Windows 10 is a pointless exercise. It will lead to an upgrade to Win 10 in the course of running Windows Update - which my customers usually do weekly.

I advise to start an upgrade of this magnitude only AFTER you have a full image backup of your system and then to do the upgrade on your own schedule.
 
Previous sentence is of UTMOST IMPORTANCE!

Update 6/25/2015:
And here my advice for my customers concerning Windows 10:

• I can't help you if you are still running Windows XP.
   
• If you are running Windows Vista you better think about a new computer (mostly).
   
• If you have a stable Windows 7 SP1 system that does dependably what you want to do then don't upgrade to Windows 10.
  
  
• If you are still on Windows 8 you are long overdue to upgrade to 8.1.
   
• If you have Windows 8.1 then upgrading to Windows 10 will eliminate most of Windows 8's annoying quirks and shortcomings.

 But in any case and wherever your system is coming from (7 SP1 or 8.1) your system needs to have ALL updates installed that are available from Windows Update before you think about the upgrade to Windows 10. 

And although I repeat myself you need to have a known good system image backup - and the proven ability to successfully restore it to your system!

These things need to be verified BEFORE you even begin to seriously think about any upgrade of the operating system.  


Update 7/10/15:

Watch out! Microsoft has included Wi-Fi Sense in Windows 10. Here is a lengthy and detailed article about it.

You have to be fully aware that the upgrade to Windows 10 will completely wipe out your current Windows 7 or 8.1 operating system; compatible programs you have installed and you date files will be retained.

Please attempt to upgrade ONLY if you have a proven good full system image backup. This backup needs to be created now, that is before you attempt the upgrade.

We do not know yet if Win 10 will contain any means to roll back if the upgrade fails. And I believe it is really tempting fate to blindly trust an automated tools in these situations. Past experience has clearly shown that a clean install is always better than an in-place upgrade when we deal with the operating system.

And to top it off: 
 If you have a computer that connects to a wireless network, either at home or any place else, then you must read this article!

Update 7/22/15:

If my article is too "technical" for you then read this text from Vic Laurie; Vic has very special experiences and a great talent  to express himself very understandably.


As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

Upgrade to Windows 10?

Any time between June and September Microsoft will release Windows 10 ("this summer" is all we know).

Microsoft has officially said that users of Windows 7 and of Windows 8 and 8.1 will for one year be able to upgrade for free to Windows 10. There is a little bit of a disclaimer though: The footnote says "for the lifetime of the device".

Upgrade "for free"? That sounds (almost) too good to be true. Around Microsoft I have learned to be very cautious. Trying to find more information about this I found two very different interpretations:

1. As long as it happens within one year after Win 10's official release you can upgrade to Win 10 for free "for the lifetime of the device".
   
   What if your well maintained Win 7 computer still runs great in January 2020 and you want to keep it running? Will you then have to pay for Windows 10? If yes how much? Upgrade or new license fee?
    
2. As long as it happens within one year after Win 10's official release you can upgrade to Win 10 for free. After the first "free" year Microsoft will switch to a subscription model and you need to pay a monthly or yearly license fee to be allowed to use Windows 10.
   
   This would amount to a huge money grab. With your current system you have paid for the license to use the operating system; with Windows 7 until Jan. 2020, with Windows 8 until Jan. 2023. Microsoft wants to give you one year for free and then they will start to charge?
   
   Let's say you upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10; 2016 would be free but you would have to pay an additional license fee for three years (2017, 2018and 2019). For upgrades from Win 8 it would be six more years!

For my customers "the device" certainly is their computer. There is no better definition so I assume that "lifetime" is the time for which Microsoft supports the operating system of the computer. Win 7 support ends in January 2020, Win 8 support ends in January 2023.

The details of what really will happen are unknown. Currently my advice is

Do not upgrade right away, wait until the fog has cleared and we have answers to the questions above.

In another article in the near future I will outline the main "improvements" that will come with Windows 10.

Update 5-15-2015: My concerns about an eventual money grab were unfounded. Something up to now unimaginable has happened, you can read about it here.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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Bye bye Viruses, Hello Carelessness

It's almost like in the Everly Brothers song "Bye Bye Love" from 1957. They sang

Bye bye happiness, hello loneliness...

I am enticed to, no, don't be afraid, not sing but say

Bye bye viruses, hello carelessness...

In August 2014 I wrote in this blog the 2014 Update On Malicious Programs. Everything in this article is still valid today – which in the fast changing world of computers is astonishing all by itself. Self replicating viruses that "find and infect" our computers by their own accord have gone almost extinct.

What has massively changed though are the tricks and methods used by miscreants to foist their malicious junk software on our computers. It is so bad that I feel compelled to say

Do NOT click on any link in any email,
do NOT open any email attachment
and NEVER click in any advertisement.

Does that sound extreme to you? Good, because it is extreme. We are in an extreme situation and it's getting worse so extreme measures seem appropriate.

In the meantime you have learned to immediately delete emails with an unfamiliar sender address. But what about the email from that buddy of yours who always sends all the jokes? My advice is to IGNORE it! Just hit the Delete button. If that email really was from him and if he were a nice guy he would have told you in the email why and what he sends there. If he does not have the decency to do that you better err on the side of caution and delete that email; you may “miss” a joke but what is that compared to $100 or $200 cost for a good clean-up job?

Another way how modern malware (called PuPs) is distributed are dirty tricks pulled on us when we apply required updates. Even big, well known companies participate in these schemes; names that come to mind as examples are Oracle, Norton, McAfee and Adobe. Some visual examples are here.

And don't get me going on advertisements. Listen up:

If you see advertisements on your computer screen then you computer most likely already is compromised. Get it cleaned up!

And then the sneaky methods that well known download web sites like Download.com, Cnet.com and other use. You want to download that nice free little program and what they give you is a specially crafted downloader program that in turn is supposed to download the program you actually want. But what you get are one or several PuPs and then the program you really wanted.

The only method to help here is to watch for the tricks, traps and deceptions. 

In July 2013 I published my 10 Commandments Of Safe Computing. To heed the first of these has become more important than ever before; it reads:

Thou shalt read and think(!) before you click.

Be vigilant, pay attention to details and always remember: If it sounds too good to be true it usually is not true; especially in this day and age on the Internet.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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Now THAT is interesting!

Okay, maybe more for me than for you but anyway, I will offer to you what I just found.

It turns out that Microsoft has a really good article on their sprawling web site. It is titled

Ten Immutable Laws Of Security

Make some time, the article is long! Grab a coffee or tea or what ever lubrication you fancy for a good, lengthy read.

Oh yes, before I forget it, the bold text above is the link to said article.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.

How To Spot Socially Engineered Emails

For quite some time I wanted to give information about how to spot spam emails. That is quite a sizable field and I wavered too long. This time to my  and I believe to your advantage the wait pays off.

I discovered that KnowBe4.com already had done an excellent job and published the result as a one page fact sheet much better and more concise than I could ever have done it. The paper is called Social Engineering Red Flags. This link should show the information in your browser or in your reader application for PDF files.

I recommend to print it as a handy reference guide.

And here is a real life example; just this morning (10-20-2014) I received an email that looks on first glance like it came from Facebook, optically quite convincing. It is such a "classical" example that I took a screen shot to show it to you:

For me it goes without saying that I do NOT just click on a link in ANY email, no matter who the sender is supposed to be, no matter how "familiar" it looks.

The first clue is the sender address. Bad, simple forgery, not even an attempt to disguise the forgery; maybe that is even the miscreant's real email address. This is one of the times where I regret not to be a security researcher because I would love to mess a bit with this guy.

Then I did what for me by now has become second nature: I rested my mouse on the link (see the cursor). The translation of where the link would have taken my computer to in the status line (bottom left corner of the picture) confirmed my suspicion: The link goes to a web site in Russia. Did you see "http://pemoht-tb.ru/rand..."? ".ru" is the country code for Russia!

If you handle your email with programs or techniques that do not show you all the information from this example then you live dangerously. Imagine a teenager; they would blindly click on the link and voilà, the computer is infected and maybe you even loose all your files!

Oh well, more work for me... (tongue in cheek!_).


As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog.

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Windows 10

Wow, Microsoft, I am impressed!

I have done my first baby steps on the Windows 10 Technical Preview that was released today.

All I can say is:

         Windows 10 is Windows 8 done right!

I can hardly wait for next year's final release; we do not have an  official release date yet; it will be some time next year.

This is the system I will upgrade my everyday "work" computer to.

EVERYTHING of "old" software I tried so far works flawlessly, even system utilities, Libre Office and Google Earth. And the system is only a "preview" that still has some rough edges..

Running the risk to repeat myself, I am impressed.

Do you still have Windows Vista running on a a well equipped machine or one that could easily be upgraded to at least 4GB of RAM? Windows 10 is the system to upgrade to!

Be warned, do NOT attempt an in-place upgrade, always do a full install! This advice has nothing to do with Windows 10, it comes from experiences with six generations of upgrading Windows to newer versions.

As usual I welcome suggestions and comments right here in the blog. Please no hidden adverts for commercial software and please only language that your little kids could hear.

Click here for a categorized Table Of Contents.