admin, Author at Computer Doctors

Here’s how Windows 10 upgrade paths will work

March 20, 2015 by admin

Microsoft is promising a fairly painless upgrade path to Windows 10, provided users have been keeping their existing versions up to date.

If you’re running Windows 7 Service Pack 1 or Windows 8.1 S14 (that’s the “Windows 8.1 Update” from last April), you’ll be able to get Windows 10 straight from the Control Panel’s Windows Update utility. In other words, you won’t have to mess around with installation disks, and all your files and programs will remain intact.

Your data won’t be erased if you’re running an older version of Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1, but you’ll have to download an ISO and create an installation disk. It’s just a little more of a hassle. [Read more…]

Avoid tech support phone scams

March 13, 2015 by admin

Cybercriminals don’t just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:

Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
Convince you to visit legitimate websites (like www.ammyy.com) to download software that will allow them to take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.
Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.
Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes.

Telephone tech support scams: What you need to know

Cybercriminals often use publicly available phone directories, so they might know your name and other personal information when they call you. They might even guess what operating system you’re using. [Read more…]

A New Twist on Tech Support Scams Pop Ups

February 21, 2015 by admin

Tech support scams are not going anywhere any time soon. The number of fake pop ups and bogus 1-800 numbers keep popping all over the place.

This usually happens while you are browsing the web, or perhaps if you make a typo in a site’s name. This is a classic scare tactic with the goal of tricking you into calling for “tech support”.

Miscreants operating out of boiler rooms will impersonate Microsoft and ask you to pay hundreds of dollars for non-existent. Worse, they may hijack your PC and infect it with malware before running away.

The following screen will probably look familiar:

In an interesting twist first reported by How-To Geek, one such scammer is trying out a different scare tactic. Rather than direct victims to a phone number, it pushes a piece of software, which appears to be AdwCleaner. [Read more…]

Phishing scam that penetrated Wall Street just might work against you, too

December 1, 2014 by admin

Advanced tactics raise the bar on spearphishing attacks, making them harder to spot.

Researchers have uncovered a group of Wall Street-savvy hackers that has penetrated the e-mail accounts of more than 100 companies, a feat that has allowed them to obtain highly valuable plans concerning corporate acquisitions and other insider information.

FIN4, as the group is known, relies on a set of extremely simple tactics that in many cases has allowed them to remain undetected since at least the middle of 2013, according to a report published Monday from security firm FireEye. Members boast a strong command of the English language and knowledge of corporate finance and Fortune 500 culture. They use that savvy to send highly targeted spearphishing e-mails that harvest login credentials for Microsoft Outlook accounts. The group then uses compromised accounts of one employee, customer, or partner to send spearphishing e-mails to other company insiders. At times, the attackers will inject a malicious message into an ongoing e-mail discussion among multiple people, furthering their chances of success. [Read more…]

We’re Moving!

November 1, 2014 by admin

Computer Doctors is moving to a new location at 122 W Court Street. We will be opening in the new location on Monday, December 1st, 2014.

Microsoft’s next OS is Windows 10, will ship later in 2015

October 13, 2014 by admin

Instead of announcing the next version of its iconic operating system in front of a massive crowd of thousands, Microsoft chose an intimate venue with 50 or so reporters to launch the new Windows, which it’s calling Windows 10. The company looks at the new number (yes, it oddly skipped a number) as an indication of the direction it’s taking with the OS; Microsoft says it’ll be “the most comprehensive platform ever,” featuring a full range of products that’ll be placed under the Windows 10 umbrella as part of “one tailored experience.” [Read more…]

Bash Shellshock Bug Could Be Even Worse Than Heartbleed

September 26, 2014 by admin

Shellshock is newly discovered vulnerability in software that’s in computer systems we use everyday. It’s kind of like Heartbleed, the Open/SSL bug that scared everyone senseless a few months ago and remains unpatched on thousands of systems. According to some experts, however, Shellshock could be way worse, and it’s been around for decades.

Shellshock affects a piece of software called Bash. Bash is a “Unix Shell,” a command line interface that allows a user to talk to a Unix based system. Originally written in 1980, Bash has evolved from a simple command line interface into one of the most widely used utilities out there. Even though you probably don’t see Bash daily, there’s a good chance that it’s running in the background on your system. OS X and Linux both use Bash, and it has been ported over to everything from Windows to Android.

Discovered by a team from the open source software company Red Hat, the Shellshock bug allows attackers to inject their own code into Bash using specially crafted “environment variables” that have Bash functions in them. (Red Hat’s servers were having problems, here’s a cached version of their explainer.) [Read more…]

5 Million Online Passwords Leaked

September 10, 2014 by admin

According to the Daily Dot, nearly 5 million usernames and passwords associated with Gmail accounts have been leaked on a Russian Bitcoin forum.

The list has since been taken down, and there’s no evidence that Gmail itself was hacked—just that these passwords have been leaked. Most sources are saying that lots of the information is quite old, so chances are they were leaked long ago—though others are claiming 60% of the passwords are still valid (not to mention really, really horrible).

Your best bet is to just change all of your passwords right now. No matter what you do, make sure you using a strong password on all your accounts. [Read more…]

10 Malware Removal Apps Tested, Malwarebytes Comes out on Top

August 5, 2014 by admin

A recent test done by the independent antivirus research group AV-TEST—whose tests we’ve mentioned in the past—took a look at the performance of today’s most popular malware removal applications. Most of the applications showed excellent performance, but only Malwarebytes—a free download—managed a perfect score.

AV-TEST sought to answer an important question: can anti-malware software completely clean up and repair a Windows system after an attack?

The good news is that overall each application was very effective at providing cleanup and repair to Windows machines, which is important if you think someone has broken into your machine or downloaded some suspicious plugins.

Each application was put through a rigorous endurance test that lasted a total of 10 months. During this time several different malware families were tested repeatedly and the malware even underwent constant evolution along the way. All of the samples used were already known to the removal applications, so the primary purpose of the test was efficiency in detection, complete removal, and restoration. Tests were also conducted on antivirus software, but keep in mind there’s a difference between antivirus and anti-malware.

In the end, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Free scored a cool 100% in total system repair. The paid apps Bitdefender Internet Security 2014 came close in second with a score of 99.4%, and F-Secure Internet Security 2014 tied with Kaspersky Internet Security 2014 at 97.8%. The next best scores for free applications came from AVG AntiVirus Free 2014 and Avast! Free Antivirus 9.0.

Remember, it’s important to keep in mind that these were tested for malware removal and not for virus protection. We can show you what we think are the best desktop antivirus applications, and if you’re curious to see how antivirus apps ranked at AV-TEST, click the link below to read more.

Microsoft is about to take the ax to one of the stupidest products it ever created.

July 24, 2014 by admin

Windows RT was supposed to usher in the tablet era for Microsoft. But Windows RT has two fatal flaws: it’s missing crucial apps, and it’s poorly designed. Unsurprisingly, the stripped-down operating system failed to take off. (Actually, that’s an understatement: Microsoft took a $900 million writedown last year because of awful Surface RT sales, the only mainstream tablet than ran Windows RT.)

The biggest failure of Windows RT was that it took away the single best part of Windows — the fact that it can run just about every app ever created.

Instead, Windows RT can only run apps built for the Windows Store. You know those strange-looking tile apps in Windows 8? Yup, those are the ones.

[Read more…]

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