As anyone who uses web-based email provided by your Internet Provider knows, they don’t give you much storage space, and when it’s all used up, you suddenly can’t receive more messages until you delete some of it. In the meantime, anyone who attempts to send you email gets a ‘failed delivery’ notice. Many people don’t realize they have reached their storage limit. As far as they are concerned, their email accounts have stopped working, especially if they use Outlook Express or another program to connect to their accounts.

To resolve this, it is best to have your email client delete messages from the server after they are downloaded, or after a month or so. This way, you don’t risk such problems, and you have a local copy of your email. In fact, this method is preferred because off-site backup provider can automatically monitor the email client and backup that data.

The same can be said for Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail. Though they do offer more storage space, they have been known to have glitches, and even wipe out email accounts completely. Since tech support for these websites is practically non-existent, the possibility exists of losing that data forever.

Once again, having a computer-based program to download and manage your email, contacts, and calendar is a wise thing to do, and automated backup means you’ll always have one copy online, one copy locally, and one copy in the off-site backup.

If this sounds like something you would like, we can certainly set it up for you, either on-site or remotely.

This is a reminder of our upcoming IMAP Port Change. Starting at 10PM ET tonight, 2011, our mail servers will no longer accept IMAP connections that are not secured by SSL. All our IMAP clients will need to be using SSL secured IMAP on port 993 in order to continue using our IMAP service.

Please contact hosting@nerdsonsite.com if you have any concerns or questions about this change.

[this post is from Nerd Dennis Houseknecht]

Ten million dollars costly – to be exact. And that was for only 300 records stolen by a Bank of America “insider”.

Many or most of businesses have sensitive information on their networks – often in the form of employee records or client / patient records. Do you know who has access to these records? The cost may net be $10 million, but the employer is a custodian for that information and can be sued if it is compromised.

There’s a phone scam making the rounds from people claiming to be from Microsoft. They insist a person’s computer may be infected with viruses and that they can connect to the computer and remove them.

First of all, Microsoft DOES NOT offer free over-the-phone tech support, and they will not call you out of the blue like that.

According to Microsoft themselves:

“We do not send unsolicited email messages or make unsolicited phone calls to request personal or financial information or fix your computer,” Microsoft said on its Web site. “If you receive an unsolicited email message or phone call that purports to be from Microsoft and requests that you send personal information or click links, delete the message or hang up the phone.”

A similar phone scam made the rounds in 2010, using slightly different methods, but both scams have the same goal of getting people to pay for their supposed technical support and allowing the hackers into computers using a variety of remote connectivity solutions available on the market, including TeamViewer.

“In previous iterations of this scam,” says the SANS institute, “the person on the phone would get you to click through to the event viewer to “find something red”. Strangely enough, there is usually something red in most people’s event log. However, do not despair if you don’t have anything red, yellow is just as bad (note: this does not necessarily indicate virus activity). Once the problem (well, any problem) was identified, your support would have expired, and they redirect you to a web site where you can part with your money and download some version of their malware.”

“The new iteration of the scam goes one step further. Rather than get the victim to look [for supposed problems], they get you to install TeamViewer (or similar software). They take control of your machine and start moving the files across. Manually infecting, sorry fixing, your machine.”

By the way, TeamViewer is perfectly legitimate software used by many people for remote tech support, although other similar tools are likely used by the scammers as well. It’s what the scammers do once they have access to your computer that is the problem.

The scam is obviously still working. It seems they have figured out that users can’t be trusted to click a link, but installing remote control software and getting you to install the malware for them is ok.

There have also been reports that the scammers will get you to download a program named very similarly to Malware Bytes, but is actually malicious software that the scammers have created. Hackers and scammers are using widely trusted company names, like Microsoft, Malware Bytes, and TeamViewer, to fool you into trusting them or letting them access your computer.

“We are having a number of reports of clients being scammed by people calling saying that are from Microsoft and they offer to help the person fix their computer,” said Chris Rose, a member of Nerds On Site in St. John’s, Newfoundland. “I am sure others are familiar with this type of scam. I sent a press release and was called by the local CBC and a local outfit called NTV.

You can find the CBC video below.

TIMEwellSCHEDULED saves our store 2 days of work each week on payroll.
John Baxter – General Manager
Canadian Tire Store 425, London, ON

There has been quite a bit of talk on Twitter about Shaw’s new internet packages, which will begin rolling out next month. Many of the tweets are positive and feel Shaw is making the appropriate changes to their network, while being fair to their customers, and enforcing usage caps in a respectful way. You can almost hear the sighs of relief from those who were afraid what would result from Usage Based Billing, as far as Shaw’s offerings, anyway.

These changes address the huge concern of Usage Based Billing (UBB) that has been in the news for months, and is a very controversial issue. Many on Twitter seem to agree that the new plans put Shaw ahead of the other providers in Canada, and shows that they have truly listened and are responding to the concerns many have voiced.

It will be very interesting to see how other providers react to this.

A couple of quotes from Shaw’s website:

“Customers can choose to stay with their existing packaging and pricing except with much higher data levels. Our existing acceptable use policy will remain the same as it is today.” note: this essentially means that when Shaw feels customers are abusing their internet connection, they’ll get warned and eventually cut off.

“Those who go over their data consumption will be placed in the next higher package for the remainder of the month. The following month’s data will be reset and customers will return to their original package unless they choose to stay at the higher level.”

Shaw customers can now track how much data they are using by signing into their online accounts.

Here are some of the tweets:

via @britl: There is no per GB charge in any of the new pricing. #shaw #ubb

Our first NerdChat on Twitter last week was a success as Nerds from around the world had several conversations on a variety of technology related topics. There weren’t many non-Nerds during that hour, but we suspect that’s because a lot of people just didn’t know about it yet, or wanted to first observe and see what is was all about.

We are making this Twitter chat a weekly event. Since we’re in the beginning stage, we’re tweaking it as we go, and are always open to suggestions. The first change is we are now holding the NerdChat on Wednesdays at 9pm EST instead of Thursdays.

We fully encourage anyone on Twitter to join the conversation, or jump in with questions about technology topics or about Nerds On Site itself, or just to say hello!

Here’s how to participate in NerdChat:

• NerdChat is from 9pm-10pm EST.

• using search.twitter.com, search for the hashtag #NerdChat (with the “#” sign), or use a website like tweetchat to follow the tweets. Be sure to click the ‘sign in’ button to log into the Twitter website and start tweeting from Tweetchat.
• Alternatively, you can use a desktop program like Tweetdeck, or a web-based service like Hootsuite.
• You can then send a tweet from you account, but be sure to include #NerdChat so your tweet is seen.

[this post is by Nerd Dennis Houseknecht]

Malware has become more than just the scourge of the internet – it has become one of the more unpleasant (and sometimes dangerous) aspects of modern life. It just seems to keep getting worse, with no end in sight.

- There are now 64-bit rootkits that steal banking credentials

- There are rogues that mimic Windows hard drive and memory errors

- Poisoned image searches have become a major new way of spreading infections

- Malware writers are using encryption in new ways to avoid detection

- Old malware, such as Qakbot has been coming back in new, more powerful versions

- Even Apple users are starting to feel the pain

Hardly a week goes by without a major breach. I rarely bother reporting on them any more because the same story keeps repeating over and over again.

This is the part where I try to offer solutions for the problems I discuss. In this case, the solution has to be a new paradigm in computing, and I am not sure exactly what that is going to look like. Anti-virus, as we know it, has become less and less effective. As long as users can be tricked into downloading malware, nothing can prevent infections.

Desktop virtualization is no “silver bullet panacea”, but it will certainly change the rules of the game. Disambiguating the operating system from the hardware and the data and managing it centrally (on a server, rather than on the endpoint) will make it much easier to protect.

This is just one of the forces that will drive the coming movement toward the virtualization of desktops. It’s not just the servers moving to the cloud!! Stay tuned – it’s going to be quite a ride over the next couple years.

photo credit: arstechnica.com

A Mac infection has been making the rounds this week that has people wondering if the days of innocence for the Mac are over. The malware, called Mac Defender, looks like a legitimate anti-virus product, and has convinced many unsuspecting users that their computers are infected and that they must pay for the program in order to remove the viruses.

Fake anti-virus programs aren’t new on Windows, and unfortunately, they are affective at misleading many users, so it was inevitable that virus creators would target the Mac with it’s increasing popularity. All fake anti-virus programs have countless names, but all work the same way. They generally appear as a large pop-up in the user’s browser, suddenly convincing them that numerous infections have been found on their computers.

The user, in a panic, clicks a button on the pop-up to download the program and remove the infections. In order to remove them, however, the user is convinced to give their credit card number to purchase the program.

It can be quite frightening to realize that scammers now have their credit card information, and in fact there are no infections on their computer, aside from the fake anti-virus itself.

Macs have been unaffected by most virus attacks, which is a big reason many people prefer Macs, and this is the first scam of it’s kind on the Mac. Apple’s phone lines were bombarded with calls from clients with infected machines.

Although the Mac continues to be mostly unaffected by malicious attacks, this is a sign that more are on the way. Users need to protect their computers. If you don’t have a reputable program installed to protect your computer against infections, you won’t be aware of when it actually happens. We strongly recommend NOD32 Cybersecurity for the Mac.

There are solutions to remove Mac Defender, and Nerds On Site is capable of removing Mac Defender for our clients. At then end of the day, however, we’ll give clients the same advice we give to those who use Windows…do not install software you did not actively seek out.

more information can be found here:

Ars Technica article

ZDnet article

eWeek article

UPDATE: Apple has finally acknowledged the problem, but are still refusing to provide support for the thousands of people calling them. They will be releasing an operating system update to fix the issue. In the meantime, they are directing users to a support article detailing how to remove Mac Defender.

Every company should have a blog. Consumers have come to expect it from you as a demonstration of the pulse of your business. Without a blog, or with an infrequently used blog, your customers can write you off as out of business and move on to one of your competitors.

Engaging your customers with a blog can increase repeat visits to your site as well as bring in new traffic as your content works its way through search engines. Here are simple tips for starting a blog and populating it with content your customers will value and come back for.

Jump Right In
There are a number of shortcuts that even somebody with very little online experience can use to get started fast. Services like WordPress or Blogger are tailored toward people new to blogging. These sites offer a number of attractive layouts you can use for free and have easy-to-use word processing interfaces for writing posts.

If you are more experienced online or have a computer savvy family member, you can setup a hosting account and install blogging software there. Your blog will be hosted on your own website and you will have more control over its appearance and behavior.

There are pros and cons to each, but either way you will now have a direct line of communication to your customers.

Provide Content
The first thing you will realize about your blog is that it is a great place to post news about your sales and latest products. While you definitely want to do that, people will not come back if that’s all they will find. Customers need your blog to provide value that keeps them coming back.

Write articles about the latest developments in your industry. Give your customers hints and tips on how to use your products. Answer questions, post photos, and engage your visitors with polls.

Providing content that educates will show your expertise and help build a reputation with your customers where you are seen as an authority and resource. A side benefit is the more content you have the more visible your site will become in search engines.

Update Regularly
As someone operating a small business, it may be tempting to forget about your blog and concentrate on higher priority items. To many customers your blog is your pulse. If it is neglected your customers might think you are not present. Avoid this by posting regularly.

If you know you will be too busy to update in the future, write your posts beforehand and schedule them to go out later.

Finally, Provide Links
There is no point in having a blog if people can’t get to it. It also isn’t as effective if there is no way to get from your blog to your site. Make sure to link in both directions; from your site to your blog and vice versa.

That way people that find you in web searches can find your business and products, and people on your site can consume the content in your blog.

To get started on your company blog, check out our Web Hosting and Web Site Creator services!