What's New Six Years Later?

I knew it had been awhile since I last posted but it wasn't until I looked today and was shocked to see my last post was 2015. So much has happened since then both personally and professionally. I still own my own business, Big Mike Computer Services, and I have several streams of income besides the regular home users who call. 

For the last year and a half I've been installing pinpads for TD Bank. That was fun and made good money until Covid hit and had to wear a mask all the time. This was especially bad for me because I have COPD which means it's difficult for me to breathe normally, and having to wear a mask was pure torture. Fortunately I've been able to find a wearable face shield that doesn't hinder my breathing much at all.

Personally I think this whole Covid thing is really the beginnings of plan for mass extermination of humanity by the super rich of the world (like Bill Gates) believe they have been commissioned to be guardians of the earth and it's up to them to convince us 'useless eaters' we are bad and deserve to be eliminated like parasites of an infested house. That all goes along with the narrative that we are responsible for climate change and must be punished. They try to convince us that there's just too many people on the earth and we're all dirty and bad should feel guilty enough to donate our wealth to saving the planet while those who push this message fly around in private jets and have beachfront properties all over the world. The appropriate adage is "rules for thee but not for me".

That aside, there's been some great new technologies come along in the last 6 years. Some of my favourites include the M.2 SSD's, Apple AirPods (earphones), Intel i9's and AMD Ryzen (CPUs), DDR4, and Streaming tv, movies, etc.

On a personal note I've been married and separated in the last 6 years but it's left me with some great new family members and in-laws whom I love very much. I even have a stepson. He's awesome, very smart, and I'm so proud of him for starting and running his very own business which is now a corporation.

That's all for now. Happy computing.

     

Will the FixMeStick Help? Not Enough.

I had the opportunity to check out the FixMeStick for free recently, and  I can happily and honestly say that it won't be putting me out of a job any time soon.

A client phoned me a few weeks ago to get me to come visit to check out two computers. One was her husband's laptop which he used for business, while the other was the lady's personal machine.

Both machines were obviously infected and she had tried to use the FixMeStick twice on her own machine, but it did not fix it.  I ended up being there for about four hours fixing up the two machines.

I have had a few people ask me over the last couple of years about this so-called "FixMeStick" and chuckle as they jokingly suggested it might one day put me out of business. I would laugh it off but secretly I wondered just how sophisticated this device might be.

My client, Sheila, had purchased the stick last month with the hope it might solve her issues without having to call a real computer guy like myself. When it arrived she plugged it into her own personal machine first, updated it as per instructions, and then ran the scan. The scan took nearly 3 hours to complete.  Afterward she logged onto her machine and to her surprise she was still getting pop-ups and her browser was hijacked, and the machine was very slow. So she ran the scan again, taking another three hours.  To her sad disappointment she discovered afterward that the machine was still not fixed, and that's when she called me.

When I got there she told me the story of what happened and said she was very unhappy with the stick and asked if I, as a computer tech, could check it out and let her know what I thought of it. I agreed to try, and when I left her place I took the stick and the box with me and waited the opportunity to try it out for myself for the first time.

I downloaded MalwareBytes AntiMalware and installed it onto Sheila's machine and then updated it and ran a full system scan. It took quite a while to complete but when it was done it found 2379 threats, which I promptly quarantined, and then waited for the program to pop up a message for me to reboot the machine. After the reboot the machine worked a lot better. There were still some things that needed to be changed before I could give it a clean bill of health, and one of them was changing the default homepage in the browsers. (I usually change it to https://startpage.com because they don't spy on you.)  Often when a machine is infected with malware, one of the things that gets changed is the default homepage so that your browser is redirected to some sort of marketing page to phish information from you.  These are called browser hijackers.

A few days later I had the chance to try out the FixMeStick on an infected machine.  After scanning the machine I noticed that there was no way to remove the threats it found. That is to say, there were no buttons or links to delete what had been moved into the FixMeQuarantine folder. After completing the process of scanning with the FixMeStick I rebooted and after the machine was up and running again I ran a scan with MalwareBytes and it found a bunch more threats that the FixMeStick did not find.

In conclusion I would not recommend the FixMeStick. While there is a chance it might clean your machine, it's scope of repair is rather limited to scanning and quarantining potentially dangerous files. But it cannot change your homepage that was changed by a browser hijacker, and it cannot uninstall bad programs or disable crappy toolbars.  My advice is not to bother as you'll likely be disappointed.

Frustrating the Enemy

How to Annoy a Scammer

Although it's kinda sick, I love seeing these scammers getting annoyed and frustrated as they try to steal our money.  So many unsuspecting people in Canada (and elsewhere) are getting calls from some guy at a call centre in India who tries to convince them into giving them money via a credit card.

What they want to do is frighten you into giving them money to "fix" a problem on your computer.  They often say they are from "Windows" or the "Windows Service Centre," neither of which exist in reality.  Windows is a program, not a company.  Microsoft is the company, Windows is the product.  But because people are familiar with the term "Windows" they become confused and sucked into paying money to fix a non-existent problem.

A friend sent me this video and after watching it I learned there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of these kind of videos on YouTube.  People are catching on to these pranksters and scammers and taking the time to hit them where it hurts and pump up their frustration level.  I recommend you watch a few of these to get ideas on how to scam the scammers.

For me it's difficult to keep a straight face while talking to these guys but I manage sometimes to annoy them.  Most of the time they call at very inopportune moments like when you're in line up to the check out at the grocery store, or washing your car.  But I encourage you to make these bastards as frustrated as possible so that they may stop calling Canadians for fear we are on to them.  Tell your neighbours too.

Until next time....
Happy Computing!

Big Mike

Uncheck "Start with Windows"

As a computer repair guy, I often get called out to do what most people call a "tune up" on their computer.  Typically they will say their machine has become very slow lately.  It takes a long time to boot up and shut down, and/or they see the little spinning wheel going round and round while waiting for the thing they just clicked on to come up.

 

There are lots of things that can slow down your computer and one of the first things I have learned to look for is Skype running in the systray down by the clock.  One of the last screens of the setup of Skype (pictured here) comes with a checkbox that is already checked for you (I unchecked it before I took this screenshot) that says, "Run Skype when the computer starts."

 

It is important to realize that your computer has limited resources of CPU, RAM, video, etc., and when you have tons of stuff running in the background it is cutting into those resources.  Now mind you, today's machine are far richer in resources than the ones of 15 years ago, but still, if you know what to look for you can really "trim the fat" off resource use so you can focus your machine's resources on what you want, and your machine will run better.

 

Unless you plan to use your machine for Skype most of the time, it really doesn't need to be running constantly in the background.  If you use Skype as your machine communications program all the time then, sure, run it all the time and have it load when the computer starts up.  But otherwise, you really only need to start Skype when you need it, and shut the program off when you are finished.

 

While I can understand from Skype's point of view why they would want to have that box checked by default.  They want people to use their software all the time, of course.  So would you if you had created a popular piece of software.  I'm sure I would.  But from my point of view as a computer user, I do not want Skype running all the time if I only use it once in a while.  I only want it to run when I want it to run and the rest of the time it can stay off.

 

Bottom line: read before you click.  Don't let programs dictate to you what should be running on your machine.  For the most part, you don't want anything but your anti-virus program to start with Windows.  So if you have 10 icons in your systray, have a look at what they are and see if you really need them.

 

For more information, please feel free to call Big Mike Computer Services in Nanaimo, BC at 250-740-1812.

 

Happy Computing!

Big Mike

 

Computer Slow or Dying?

A computer repair person is often called on to "speed up" a slow machine.  Typically the problem is software related where there is a virus, trojan, malware, or spyware which is slowing things down.  Other problems could include something called a "rootkit" which is a tiny program that runs before Windows gets up and running, and it has a certain amount of control of things that can allow any or all of the above problems come into the machine.

a dusty computer will lead to failure of components on the motherboard

Sometimes however, the problem could be hardware related.  RAM, for example, is susceptible to static electricity.  Actually, all the hardware in a computer is susceptible to static.  But besides static electricity, HEAT is also an enemy of computers.  Cleaning the dust from the motherboard, CPU and power supply often can extend the life of the unit.  Dust build-up can hold heat in and around the electronic components, causing them to overheat.  There are usually large capacitors around the CPU which will appear "popped" on the top where it would normally be flat.  This indicates the capacitor has overheated and means the motherboard will most likely need to be replaced eventually, and more likely to be sooner than later.

 So if a person’s machine is slow, take the side cover off the desktop machine and see if there's lots of dust in there.  If there is, blow it out with an air compressor.  If there is no available air compressor, one could perhaps be borrowed from a friend or neighbour.  One may also purchase a can of air from a computer store like BestBuy or FutureShop.  A good can of compressed air will probably cost about $10 - $12.  A trip to Costco could yield a six pack of compressed air for $20, it is too cheap and probably not the best stuff. 

Ways to Make Money With Your Computer

 

There are plenty of ways to spend money online.  What may surprise you sometimes is that there seems no end to the Get-Rich-Quick schemes one can find either.  But even if you don't want to get rich "quick" there are still lots of ways to just "make money" online.

 

If you do a StartPage search of "ways to make money online" you'll discover a whole host of ways and means to make money with promises of everything from making a decent second income to allusions of possible 6 or 7 figure yearly incomes. 

I'm going to go over just a few of them here today, along with my personal comments.

Perhaps like many of you I have tried a few schemes in my life to make money besides the traditional working-for-someone-else plan that many do today.

Now that we have entered the "Information Age" it is so easy to find ways to make money online in ways you probably never dreamed of.  And all you need is a recent vintage of computer, an internet connection, and some imagination and some effort, and you can make a lot of money.

 

In no particular order, here are three ways I have personally seen people make money from the Internet...

 

Send-Out-Cards - I personally know a lady in the town where I live (Nanaimo, BC) who has affirmed she and her husband make well over $100,000 per year sending out greeting cards.  She has been doing it since 2004 and has paid off her mortgage, her car, and pays for most things with cash.  I'm not sure what her initial start-up cost was, but I know it wasn't much compared to what she earns today.  Greeting cards are always nice to get; they usually bring a smile to my face before I even open them, no matter who they are from.  This lady loves the way she earns a living, and it shows.

 

Banners Broker - This company was introduced to me in April 2012, and I have since met several people who are making money with it online.  It involves purchasing and selling internet advertising traffic.  Google Ads is a similar business.  But those who are into it see it as like a slow-moving internet game of making money where you are actually playing with real money.  I personally know two people who signed up for BannersBroker.com in 2012 and are now withdrawing over $2500 per week into their pockets.

 

Article writing is a great way to get started making money online.  There are no startup costs other than a computer and internet connection, and you can be up and running in mere minutes.  There is a bit of a learning about things like Search Engine Optimization, aka "SEO" and keywords, and you will need to be patient. In time, this can be a pretty good source of passive income.  Here's a list of ideas you can blog about.

 

There are lots of ways to make money online and these mentioned here barely scratch the surface.  Do some research, and - if you are diligent - I'm certain you can find something that you can do if you are willing.

 

I'll write more on making money on line at a later date.  Until then...

 

Happy Computing!

 

Big Mike Nanaimo

http://bigmikecomputerservices.ca

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is Antivirus Enough Security?

Original story: Tim McGrath

The Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal all suffered significant security breaches during 2012.  All were running anti-virus software that failed.
It is reported by an anonymous IT worker: “They had the ability to get around to different servers and hide their tracks. They seemed to have the ability to do anything they wanted on the network.”
CNN Money reports: “During a four-month long cyberattack by Chinese hackers on the New York Times,  the company’s antivirus software missed 44 of the 45 pieces of malware installed by attackers on the network.”

If this happens to large world renowned newspapers, what is a Small Medium Business (SMB) suppose to do?

Experts say that antivirus software is still a good, basic thing to have. Owning an antivirus solution is like putting the Club in your car — it’s not going to stop a determined thief, but it’s going to make stealing your stuff more difficult.   The amazing thing is I have heard the manager of a 65 store chain insist that their 5 year old router and anti-virus software is ‘all the protection we need’ !!
When reading a report on Email based Malware in July 2012 “… focus on most this report is the atrociously low detection rate for these spammed malware samples. On average, antivirus software detected these threats about 22 percent of the time on the first day they were sent and scanned at virustotal.com. If we take the median score, the detection rate falls to just 17 percent. That’s actually down from last months’s average and median detection rates, 24.47 percent and 19 percent, respectively.”

“That’s a stunning wake-up call to people and businesses who think they are fully protected by their antivirus software. “
“Even the most modern version of antivirus software doesn’t give consumers or enterprises what they need to compete in the hacker world,” said Dave Aitel, CEO of security consultancy Immunity . “It’s just not as effective as it needs to be.”

Solution:
First thing to do, get a preliminary security assessment! The security auditor will check a lot more than just if you have anti-virus.

Story by Tim McGrath  http://its-secure.ca/blog/anti-virus-software-that-failed

For more information locally regarding your security, call Big Mike Computer Services in the north end of Nanaimo today:

240-740-1812

http://www.bigmikecomputerservices.ca

Happy Computing!