 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Today is
|
Serving southwestern
North Carolina and northeastern Georgia with information and assistance
for computer users. MUG meets on the SECOND Tuesday of the month at 7:00 PM. at the Macon County Community Facilities Building across from the Whistle Stop Mall on 441S in Franklin, NC. Visitors are always welcome to attend our meetings. |
|
Next meeting: Tuesday, July 14th, 7 PM Over the past several years, the nature of threats
on the internet has been changing and evolving. It used to
be that you were safe if you didn't open attachments in email.
That alone will no longer protect you. There are many new
threats that come straight from web pages now.
Come to Lizzz Russell's July 14th presentation on How
to Protect Yourself from the Changing Threats on the
Internet for an overview of how things have changed and what you
need to do be use the internet safely.
Email warning If you receive an email with a link for a Windows update, don't do it. Microsoft never emails customers about updates. Newsletter online... The MUG Monitor, our club's monthly newsletter edited by Rhonda Tomlinson, is now available online, here. Both the printed edition which members receive in the mail and an occasional extra edition with additional articles are available for download in .pdf format. ID Theft Prevention At ta spring meeting, Mary Beth Brody a financial consultant with Wachovia Securities, provided us with a useful handout on ID Theft Prevention Resources. Take a look here. Mini Tutorial on Downloading YouTube Videos Newsletter
editor Rhonda Tomlinson shared this useful link with us. Go to
KissYouTube Stimulus Warning: Beware cons and scams cropping up which hype your obtaining funds from the economic stimulus package. Funds for home weatherization is just one example. Information on the stimulus bill should be obtained or verified from the official government site. Treasurer Phyllis Minnich is collecting old cell phones to be refurbished and sent to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
APCUG suggests if you haven't yet joined the ranks of people who are creating personal web sites for sharing photos, experiences, videos, and more, you may want to check out Windows Live Spaces, Microsoft's free online tool for sharing pictures, stories, contacts, and more. Setup takes only a few minutes, and you can make your space private or public, depending on your personal preference. Windows Tips and Tricks If you have already made the move to Vista, you will find useful tips and tricks here. If you have decided to stay with XP for awhile, go here for tips and tricks to be sure you are getting the most out of your XP experience. Portable PC — Carry your favorite programs, email, links and more with you on your flash drive, iPod or portable hard drive and use them on any Windows PC without leaving any personal information behind. PLEASE clean up your email practices with this good advice from Bob McGovern!
Quick tip: When Outlook Express gets corrupted When Outlook Express gets corrupted and won't open, try scanning your computer with the trial version of the Outlook Express tool ScanDBX. This will identify where your problems lie. At this point you can opt to purchase the repair software or rename just the message store files (.dbx) that have been identified as corrupted. Information on locating, backing up and renaming the files can be found here. Once that is done, try reopening your mail program. New Free Stuff Worth Acquiring Still trying to get a handle on SPAM? Check out K9, a well-reviewed spam filter linked from the Internet section our free stuff page. Smart Computing Magazine Offer For every five subscriptions to Smart Computing made by club members, MUG receives one free subscription to offer as door prizes. When subscribing, be sure to mention that you are a Macon Users Group member. New to Smart Computing is FREE technical support with a live person in Nebraska. Call 800-368-8304 to try it out. Recycle Your Old Ink CartridgesSaving your empty ink cartridges and dropping them off at MUG meetings means big bucks for the club treasury. The last box sent in added $120 to club coffers. Please note, cartridges must be empty, made by printer manufacturers and not previously refilled to qualify. Only the type of cartridge containing a print head is currently being accepted by the recycler. Special Interest Groups:Linux: The Linux SIG meets in the large meeting room of the Macon County Public Library on Siler Road. Jim Swanson is the SIG leader.
Click here for SIG details and presentations.
|
Product Reviews:
Members' reviews of software and hardware offered by vendors for evaluation can now be found here.
Virus Alerts:
Get a second opinion and even a third on how well your virus software is protecting you by doing free scans from other vendors. For starters check out Freebyte's Guide to free online scanners for Trojans and Virii. TrendMicro has improved the interface for its popular HouseCall scanner, here. While at TrendMicro, checkout and download RuBotted.
Beware shipment notifications with links. In fact be suspicious of links in general in emails. It is always safer to note where you want to go and then navigate your way there independently.
Electronics may contain more than you bargained for:
Some digital picture frames from reoputable dealers including Best Buy, Target and Sam's were found to contain password stealing trojans in January and February. Then Samsung hard drives were discovered shipping with embedded trojans. Although scanning every device you buy is sensible, some trojans were found to have the ability to disable your anti-virus software and take over your computer in stealth mode.
Mail Server report: An email with the subject "mail server report" is circulating that contains a worm which harvests your email addresses. A hoax with a similar subject is also circulating claiming to be validated by Snopes. If you go to the Snopes site and actually read the info provided, you will realize that your hard drive is not about to be toast. Whichever message you receive, just delete it and do not clog up the internet forwarding the messages to everyone in your address book.
Trojans seem to be on the rise again plaguing a number of club members. Be leary of trusting the emails with PowerPoint presentations and links forwarded to you by others.
Rootkits
Bagle and MyDoom are now using rootkit technology to hide their presence. Check out Sysinternal's RootkitRevealer linked from our Free Stuff page and the article Rootkits Revisited on our Muggings page.
Kama Sutra worm
Delivers payload on the 3rd
Update your virus definitions and scan your systems before the third of each month to be sure you have not been infected with the Kama Sutra worm. This worm is programmed to delete a variety of common file types from your computer. A clue to infection is noticing your antivirus software no longer works.
Sober Assault
Another Sober worm attack took place on Jan 5th, the 87th anniversary of the founding of the Nazi party. Beware attachments!
Breplibot Trojan
A variant of the Breplibot Trojan is the first one identified to start using the Sony-BMG rootkit hidden on our computers as a copy-protection Device by Sony. Check out Rootkit Revealer on our free stuff page.
Zotob worm
Be sure your Windows updates are current. Windows 2000 users are especially vulnerable.
Trojan Downloader
Two new versions of this keylogger and backdoor have surfaced using the old ruse of being a message from your ISP.
Beware of links in emails:
A new version of the Mydoom worm is spreading via links in email messages. The emails purport to be from legitimate places such as PayPal.
Caution: If you suddenly notice that you cannot access Task Manager, Regedit, or MSCONFIG, you are probably infected with one or more viruses or Trojan Horses that can elude your antivirus software when doing a full system scan.
Hijackings abound!
Hijackings, where your browser becomes controlled by malware, continue to plague Internet users. A detailed club resource is located here. If you are still Hijacked after running AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy, HijackThis can help you clean up your computer. Be advised that HijackThis shows good and necessary processes running on your computer as well as malware. Use with caution and lookup every reference with which you are unfamiliar.