Recent Computer Scam of ‘Significant Risk’



Remain Vigilant & Ensure Virus
Protection & Firewalls are up-to-date

Vigilance is always required when looking after your IT systems. There are always new scams trying to infiltrate your systems and damage them, or even steal from you. 
We regularly have to repair systems which have been affected so we encourage everyone to make sure they have up-to-date protection, but users also have to play their part.

One simple piece of advice is to never open an email with an attachment unless you know exactly who it is from and are expecting it. Be particularly careful of .zip or .exe files. Opening these can unleash a piece of software called a Trojan. Named after the Trojan Horse of Greek mythology, a Trojan needs to be allowed in to your systems but once there it can wreak havoc. One classic access route is the user opening a zipped (.zip) or executable file (.exe). An email with an executable file often looks like it contains a software program so might appear to be offering you something useful.

A cunning trick used by some viruses and Trojans is to send itself to everyone on an infected computer’s contact list. So you might receive an email from someone you recognise and think it is genuine, but it could actually be a mechanism for spreading a Trojan. This is why the advice is to make sure you are expecting the file, rather than merely recognising the name. If in doubt, call the person and ask if they deliberately sent it to you or not, before you open it.

One recent example was ‘cryptolocker’, which was serious enough for the National Crime Agency to issue a ‘significant risk’ alert. Cryptolocker encrypts files on your computer, such as photographs, documents, databases, PowerPoint presentations – anything that might be useful to you – and then issues a ransom notice on your computer, giving you 72 hours to pay up. If you don’t, the encryption key will be deleted which means you will permanently lose access to the files. It’s fiendishly clever but also an absolute nightmare if you get trapped by it.

We’ve written several articles in the past about protection, such as Spam and Viruses, Remote Security and Secure Remote Working, but the key pieces of advice are:

• Make sure you have a high-quality protection system in place with virus protection and firewalls. Speak to a reputable IT support company if you need assistance.
• Keep your protection up-to-date. A good system will do this automatically in the background but you will need to periodically renew it to maintain your protection.
• Keep an offsite back-up and perform it regularly. In the event of being held to ransom by cryptolocker, for example, you could dump the old computer and reload everything you have on it to a new one from your back-up. It needs to be offsite and remote though, as cryptolocker will seek out any drives connected to your computer, such as external hard drives or cloud solutions and also encrypt files found there.
• Exercise sensible precaution as you would do in your own home. Would you let an unexpected visitor into your home without checking their credentials first? You should use the same principles when letting files and data into your computer systems.

What’s the Difference Between ADSL and SDSL?

Broadband Connections affect the speed
in which you send and receive data

Every industry has its jargon and IT is no exception. In this post we want to tell you about two terms used in connection with broadband connections – ADSL and SDSL.

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and SDSL means Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line, with the difference related to the speeds for uploading and downloading. Asymmetric has different upload and download speeds, but they are the same with Symmetric. In ADSL, the download speed is several times faster than the upload speed, which makes it more practical for most uses, e.g. viewing internet pages.

An analogy is to think of a major road going into a town or city with a total of 10 lanes; 4 active traffic lanes and a hard shoulder each way. Most people will be going in during the morning and out in the evening, so having the same number of lanes means there will be traffic jams during the morning and again in the evening when commuters leave. If you could have an uneven number of lanes in the morning and evening then you could reduce the jams, i.e. by having more lanes going in during the morning and more coming out in the evening.

ADSL is like having this uneven number of lanes - but only in one direction. So great when everyone is going the same way but not if you need both directions. ADSL is fine for ordinary usage such as the internet at home (mainly downloading) but not so good if you have to upload data to a server frequently, such as you might do with remote workers or a cloud computing arrangement.

So organisations using cloud computing services for vital operations would need an SDSL line but ADSL is fine when there is less need for speed and capacity. SDSL is more expensive which is why ADSL is usually the default option unless requirements indicate otherwise.

There is also a third route – bonded ADSL. This involves merging two ADSL lines together which provides some additional capacity but doesn’t offer the same apparent speed as an SDSL line.

Switch Skype off When Not in Use

Skype can be a really useful way to communicate but it can also slow down your broadband and computing power. Even if you sign out, it will still be running in the background. You might not be able to make calls, but it can still act as a drain.

How do you know if this is happening to you? Follow these simple steps, using the images as a guide:

• Press Alt-Ctrl-Delete together to display the Task Manager.

  

  Open the Task Manager.
• When the Task Manager opens, select the Processes tab. 

  

  Select the Processes Tab on the Task Manager.

• This will display a list of all the active programs currently using your computer. Look for the one called Skype.exe as shown in the image. If there is a figure in the ‘Mem Usage’ column then it is using computing and broadband capacity.

  

  Is Skype.exe displayed?

• The way to prevent this is to close Skype down from the System Tray after you sign out.

  

  Right Click the Mouse & select Quit to close the application.

The System Tray is normally in the bottom right hand corner of your screen and if it has the Skype logo as shown then it is still active in the background, even if you have signed out. If you click on the logo with your right mouse button it will provide a menu from which you can select Quit (as shown).

If you select Quit then Skype will close down completely and stop using processing power in the background. You can check this by displaying the Task Manager again and checking under the Processes Tab that Skype.exe is no longer shown.

Alternative Methods of Delivering IT Services

Ensure you choose the right
type of IT support for your company.

There are two broad approaches to providing IT support and services; Managed Services and 3rd-Party Access.

Managed IT services means that all IT and related services (such as computers, servers, printers, telephony, broadband, website hosting and so on), is supplied and supported by one provider. This can simplify the perception of support as there is only one company to contact for anything IT-related.

Delivery of Managed IT support normally means that the provider will subcontract some or all the services you require to 3rd-parties and then re-sell them under their own name.  You have no access to the company actually providing the support.

The alternative, 3rd-Party Access, is where the contract lies between you and the supplier, such as the broadband or telephony company, but where an IT support company manages it on your behalf.

Managed IT services have their place and we can provide them. But we generally recommend the 3rd-Party Access model because it gives you greater control and transparency, plus it allows the most appropriate supplier and equipment for your individual needs to be used.

A managed services contract means committing yourself to one provider and there are likely to be a multitude of Service Level Agreements between them and their suppliers, any of which can affect your IT.

If you want to know more about the differences and relative advantages of each approach, we've written about the differences in more detail on our website in the article Different IT Support Methods.

Is Your Broadband too Slow?

Follow the tips to
speed up your broadband.

It can feel very frustrating when your broadband isn't performing as fast as you would like. We all want it to be super-quick, so here’s some tips to help you make the most of it.

First of all, you can find out how fast your broadband actually is using this link http://www.broadbandspeedchecker.co.uk/. This is particularly useful if you are trying to speed it up using any of the techniques given in this article as you can do a ‘before and after ‘test.

Check your router

Your router will dictate how fast you can connect to the internet. Even with superfast broadband, if your router isn’t up to the job you won’t be getting the fastest you can. Ensure it has sufficient capacity for what you need it for and buy the highest quality you can afford for the capacity you need.

Your router will also deteriorate over time and require ‘firmware updates’ as broadband technology improves, so if it seems to be running slow, you may need a new one. You can check the speed it is operating at via the link above. If the speed you are getting is less than your broadband provider tells you that you should be getting, it might be time to replace the router.

Give the router a rest

Routers use a piece of computing technology called Error Checking Codes (ECC). These are great for speeding up processing tasks and preventing data corruption, but they can slow equipment down if not given a chance to reset and recharge. Routers use ECC so should be switched off periodically for 15 minutes. When it restarts it will have reset the ECC and be back to operating normally again.

If your router is used constantly all day every day, a useful good practise is to connect it to a timer that automatically switches it off in the middle of the night for 15 minutes then back on again. A standard timer that you might use for the lights in your house is sufficient for this. When everyone returns to work the next day, all internet connections should be faster.

Check what’s running in the background

You can think of broadband like a pipe in that only a certain amount can go down it at any one time. If it isn't full, it’s fast. But the fuller and more blocked it gets, the slower it will be.

Check what programs are
running in the background.

One computing equivalent of a pipe-blocker is programs that use the internet to check for updates in the background whilst you are using your computer. Many programs have auto-update facilities checking to see if there are any updates needed, such as Adobe or Java. In additions, programs such as Skype run in the background unless they are actively switched off. Check the system tray to see if the Skype icon is there. If it is but you’re not using it, it will be using your broadband in the background. 

Check for malware and viruses

Anything of this nature will compromise the performance of your equipment, so make sure you scan regularly to remove anything that shouldn’t be there.

As ever, if you need help with anything, talk to us or another reputable IT support company.

Is Your Software Legal?

How legal is your software?

If not, an organisation called The Software Alliance (BSA) may be contacting you.

The BSA is a trade group representing the rights of major software providers such as Microsoft, Apple, McAfee and Adobe. One of their tasks involves finding companies that do not have the correct licensing for their software.

There are two significant points to take into account about this. The first is that many software products, such as those provided by Microsoft, aren't actually purchased by you, they are licensed. This gives the software owner certain rights, such as ownership and tracking.

Secondly, the license is only legal if purchased from a licensed official reseller. So if you bought a copy of Microsoft Office from Ebay for example, it might not be legal. The same could happen if you purchased or used a computer with software already on it (such as second-hand or a company device that had a previous user) as you might not know where the software originally came from.

You may also find yourself in possession of illegal software if you have lost the product key or if end-users are able to install their own software without appropriate checks and authorisation.

A BSA investigation will mean you receive a spreadsheet of data held on you that you are then asked to check. This is where the licensing of software comes in because that’s how the providers know what you have.

If everything is legitimate and legal, then you will be fine but still have to go through the checking process. If you don’t respond or anything is found, they can take legal action against you for software piracy and theft on behalf of the software providers.

There are two ways to ensure that you stay on the right side of the law.

1. Only buy software from official licensed resellers.
2. If there is a chance that you may have software which might not be entirely legitimate, conduct a software audit. Microsoft provide a free tool that will help you do this, but it will also capture data on everything your computer does. Unless you trust Microsoft implicitly, we suggest purchasing software to do the audit that doesn’t involve sending data electronically to Microsoft.

Are you an Involuntary IT Manager?

Is it time to evaluate your IT Support?

The phrase ‘Involuntary IT Manager’ refers to an employee responsible for delivering IT Support in an organisation, but who is not an IT expert and who has to do it alongside their other duties. Having such an employee is a common way to cut costs and keep control in-house, but a recent survey by Microsoft has highlighted some of the dangers of the approach.

In summary, the Microsoft/AMI-Partners report estimates that it costs small businesses a whopping $24 billion a year globally in wasted productivity. Every minute an employee spends trying to fix or resolve an IT issue is time that they are not spending doing the job they are paid to do. 

In addition, the survey also found that:

• 36% of those surveyed think IT is a nuisance,
• 26% do not feel qualified to deal with IT,
• 60% want to simplify their IT to reduce the difficulty of managing it on a day-to-day basis.

Taken together, this means there will be a big impact on their motivation and ability to address IT issues. Given that IT is such an important part of any business, the message is clear; using an involuntary IT Manager, or IITM for short, is detrimental to any business.

The Microsoft report was commissioned to support the development of cloud computing but we see it as a bigger issue; ineffective and wasteful IT support. From our perspective it’s not about whether you use a cloud or traditional solution, it’s about making sure the IT support you have is effective and appropriate for your needs.

As Peter King, the Director of SMB Hosting and Cloud Services at Microsoft says, “While many small businesses see dedicating IT support to an existing member of staff as a way of saving money the truth is they are actually stifling their business. As the research shows, IITMs are less productive and this can have detrimental effects on sales and revenue.”

Regardless of whether it’s a cloud or traditional set-up, you need the expertise, motivation and experience to deliver the support you need. It is unlikely that this can be delivered by someone ‘doing IT’ on a part-time basis alongside their other job, they need to be a dedicated professional. We first wrote about this back in March 2012 in Employees in an IT Support Role – maybe the world is starting to catch up with us!