Friday, December 18, 2009

AntiVirus - Full Disk Scan - Just Do It!

My Antivirus software kicks in to annoy me periodically for a full system scan. It slows me down, and like a lot of people, I'll admit that I often stop the scan because it takes to long, and it slows my system down! I know it's important, but if I'm working on five different things, it's an inconvenience. My Antivirus is always checking incoming and outgoing emails, and all the files I open, but the full system scan on top of that what bothers me.

With a laptop, it's tough to make sure you're doing everything you need do do to protect your system. When my system is on, I'm working and I'm busy! When I'm not working, my system is off and in my computer bag.

Last night - PANIC - I had a warning about a Virus. I quickly checked to make sure it wasn't one of those spoofed threats (that are actually viruses, and if you click on ANYTHING it just makes it work). This was a REAL warning, but my Antivirus software caught it (I was on the web, and going through a lot of emails so it could have been anything).

So... time for a full system scan. I left my computer on overnight. It took 5 hours and 45 minutes for the scan to complete, but two threats were discovered and healed by the end. Bottom line, make the time to run those full scans!

Friday, December 11, 2009

New Years Resolution for your Domain Registration

Do you know when your domain name expires? Is your contact information up to date? Make a resolution today that you will check on your renewal date and make sure your contact information is up to date.

If you haven't made your registration private, all the information is readily available (you don't even have to remember any logins!): http://www.networksolutions.com/whois/index.jsp

Make sure your registration isn't expiring in the next few months. If if is expiring, renew it right away so you don't forget?

Is your contact information correct? A common pitfall is that people register a domain name with a generic email (like hotmail or yahoo) because they haven't set up their "real" email yet (because the domain wasn't even registered yet!). You may have stopped using this address years ago. If your email address isn't up to date, you won't get the renewal warnings!

If your domain name expires, and you haven't trademarked it, you could have a tough time getting it back. Also, the domain registration should ALWAYS be in your full control. It should NOT be registered to an employee or a webmaster or anyone else. Make sure you protect it.

Unfortunately, over the years we've gotten panic calls from folks with expired domain names... one day, your email stops working, and your web site is gone... DON'T let it happen - check your registration status TODAY!