Got Backup?

Mark Berry September 29, 2010

Computer backup is an insurance plan for your data. Like any other insurance, it’s hard to think about when everything is going great, but you sure are glad it’s there when you need it.

Also like insurance, there are lots of factors to consider and lots of potential solutions.

So why do you need backup, exactly? And what kind of backup do you need?

Help! My Yahoo / Hotmail / Facebook Was Hacked!

Mark Berry September 28, 2010

In the last few weeks the personal accounts of at least four of my acquaintances have been hacked. As you may have experienced, when your friend’s account is hacked, you start getting emails that appear to be from them, but which actually contain some kind of spam.

Remove a Contact from an Outlook 2007 Distribution List

Mark Berry June 23, 2010

You may have learned the hard way that if you open a distribution list in Outlook 2007, highlight one contact, and click on Delete, the entire distribution list is deleted!

The trick is to click on Remove instead of Delete in the distribution list ribbon bar:

Tip:  if you do accidentally delete the entire distribution list, check you Deleted Items folder. If you’ve already cleared your Deleted Items contact MCB Systems. We may be able to restore the distribution list from a backup.

Tricky PDF Virus Evades Virus Scanners

Mark Berry April 27, 2010

On April 27, multiple users at a San Diego client site received emails purporting to come from the “operator” of the email server. The text of the email was written to try to get the recipient to open the attached PDF file. Opening the PDF file and clicking on a couple of confirmations would install a virus on the recipient’s computer. At first, most virus scanners did not recognize the PDF file or the included virus, so simply running current anti-virus programs would not have stopped this infection.

MCB Systems has taken additional measures on all client computers to remove the ability of PDF files to launch programs, including virus programs.

There are a few “take-aways” here:

• PDF files can contain viruses. Long considered safe, PDF files are increasingly used as “carriers” for viruses.
• When you receive an email that you are not expecting, slow down for a moment and run it through your “is this real?” filter. For example, this one was spoofed to show it coming from operator@clientdomain.org, which is not a real address. It was sent at 3:48AM, an unlikely time for a human to send an email. Often these attempts at social engineering will contain errors in grammar, as this one does.
• Make sure you have current backups in place. Often the only way to get rid of a virus is to wipe everything on the computer and re-install the operating system. Ideally you want to use an image-based backup, which allows quickly restoring the entire computer to a previous point in time. MCB Systems can help you choose the best backup solution for your business.

Thousands of new viruses are created every day, and anti-virus software is always playing catch-up. The best defense is still for users to be aware of the threat and to remain safety-conscious when online!