Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications - Installation Wizard

Many users have asked us about this, and perhaps it's happened to you... Have you turned on your computer recently to find a pop-up from Microsoft on your screen for Windows Genuine Advange Notifications - Installation Wizard?

We advise all clients to be VERY cautious when they see something they don't recognize on their system. This recent deployment by Microsoft is unfortunate, because the window that pops up looks just like all the bogus AntiVirus 2009 and other malware threats that have circulated around recently. Many users have been alarmed by it.

The Window Genuine Advantage program is Microsoft's Anti-Piracy program. The sofware detects if you have a legal license, and will warn you if you don't. If your software is not legal, then you won't be eligible for automatic updates (except for Critical updates). The problem is that if you are an honest customer, you've already paid and this is a real nuisance. If your system is set to get Automatic Updates with Automatic Installation, then this would have been automatically installed. Typically, we recommend selectively installing updates to avoid things like this.

Microsoft is getting some angry feedback from customers, so I would hope they'd change this in the future.

An Easy Way to Send Photos to Non-Techies

As much as I love technology, I haven't been able to get my parents to fully embrace the digital age. A while back, I was talking to my parents about some pictures I had emailed them.... I was disappointed to hear that they hadn't seen them yet! My parents just aren't on their computer all the time. Then my mom complained that the pictures are hard to print and they never come out right.... too big, no ink...

I figured I could go back to the old-fashioned way of mailing pictures of the grandkids, but that doesn't have the immediate gratification effect (for me, anyway). I searched on line and found a really great solution. At www.walgreens.com, you can upload digital photos and submit them for 1 hour processing to be picked up anywhere (over 6,000 locations). For a stack of pictures, you may expect to pay just a few dollars. The prints are excellent, and my parents actually enjoy the trip out to get the photos. It doesn't cost any more than printing them locally (because its all electronic anyway!). Now I just upload the photos, order prints to be picked up in Florida, and then my Dad gets them in an hour!

Major Wave of Computer Viruses

Be aware! Over the past few weeks we have seen a big increase in viruses. We're seeing rootkits that are doing a lot of damage. A rootkit is a collection of programs that enable administrative access to a computer. A rootkit can consist of spyware that monitors keystrokes or web traffic, and it can also create a "backdoor" for altering log files, and altering existing system tools to escape detection.

If you are running a free version of Antivirus protection on your system, be aware that you may not have rootkit protection.

Things to watch for:

1. Check your antivirus program. Make sure it has rootkit protection. Also make sure that its up to date - some viruses disable Antivirus software and you may not even notice it.
2. Take care when you take your work laptop home. Are all the systems on your home network up to date with with patches and Antivirus protection? Typically, people take good care of their "work" systems, but you may be risking your system when you put it on your home network.
3. Watch for a slow system, or things like web site re-directs. These are signs that you may be infected.

Here are a few tools we've found useful for viruses that aren’t removed by the installed AV software:

Root Kit Revealer – Shows you what is starting up (Saves a lot of time of checking the registry, also scans the hard drive).
HiJackThis – More in depth than rootkit revealer (BHOs). I’ve found it missed rootkits most of the time I’ve encountered them.
ComboFix – Good tool to use after running HiJackThis. Also has some built in rootkit removers for common rootkits. I typically use it just for the rootkit removal.

Another helpful thing for badly damaged systems is to remove the hard drive from the system and then run the tools.

I actually had a virus on my own system for the first time ever a few weeks ago, so I know this problem is bad. I am extremely careful with my systems - up to date patches and regular AV system scans, so don't think you're system is safe! The good news is I noticed a problem immediately and was able to remove the malware in "safe mode". Don't panic, take action immediately to solve the problem. If you catch the problem before a re-boot, you may avoid over-writing system files which would cause a lot of damage.

Economic Recovery Package - Funding for Electronic Medical Records

As part of the Obama administration's economic recovery package, $19B will be spent to help accelerate the implemention electronic medical records in physician offices. The goal is to curb costs and provide better care through the efficiency of electronic medical records.

A recent New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/business/01unbox.html?_r=1) cites a study in the New England Journal of Medicine indicating that currently only 17% of all medical practices use computerized medical records. In larger practices, use of electronic medical records is widespread, but over 75% of physicians practice in small offices with 10 or fewer providers. The new funds are good news for the smaller practices who may be eligible for up to $40,000 in funding to help implement electronic records.

For more information regarding the economic recovery program, go to http://www.recovery.gov/.

MA Data Protection Law Extended AGAIN!

The deadline for compliance to the new Massachusetts Data Privacy legislation has been extended AGAIN to January 1, 2010. The original deadline was January 1, 2009. Last November, the deadline was extended to May 1, 2009, and just recently the deadline was extended again to January 1, 2010: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=ocapressrelease&L=1&L0=Home&sid=Eoca&b=pressrelease&f=20090212_idtheft&csid=Eoca

There are no specific penalties for non compliance, but the door is opened for legal action by the state's attorney general. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/021209-mass-data-privacy.html?page=1

We are advising our clients that if they are running an up to date computer infrastructure they are probably already in compliance for most items, and regardless of what the State does, these are good business practices to follow. In many cases only a few relatively small and inexpensive changes will needed for compliance. Its a bit frustrating that the news keeps changing from the State government, but protecting your critical business information makes business sense right now. What would you do if your laptop were stolen and someone had access to all your information? Encrypt your portable devices NOW and don't get caught up with all the political changes!

Keyboard shortcuts that are available in Windows XP

Do you ever need work on your PC in two different windows and its a pain to switch back and forth? For example, you may have an instructional document in Microsoft Word, and you need to follow the instructions to do some work in a browser window or another application. Switching back and forth is easy if you know the keyboard shortcut: ALT+TAB (Switch between the open items). For a full list of keyboard shortcuts that will save you time, go to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301583. Take a few minutes to identify the shortcuts that will help you and memorize the ones that will save you time. You'll be glad you did!

New Internet Worm Infects over 9 million PCs!

It took a while for hackers to get their attack ready, but now a new Internet Worm has infected an estimated 9 million PCs! Downadup -- which also goes by the name "Conficker" -- exploits a bug in the Windows Server service used by all the common Microsoft operating systems: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008. Although Microsoft fixed the flaw with one of its rare "out of cycle" patch releases on October 23, 2008, an estimated 1/3 of all PCs have not yet been patched, according to Qualys, an Internet security company.

The Microsoft patch is available at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS08-067.mspx.

Symantec has a removal tool posted on their web site: http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2009-011316-0247-99