Spinning Silk I.T. Blog

This recent article is provided by MX Logic.

Consumer Reports study publishes severity of these scams

Computer viruses, phishing scams and spyware have cost the US economy $8.5 billion over the past two years, according to a new report.

Published by Consumer Reports, the study showed that more than 500,000 computers have had to be replaced during the past six months because they are infected with various forms of malware.

However, the group indicated that there are signs that antivirus protection and web filters are combating threats more effectively.

Download the MX Logic August Threat Forecast now. It's in .pdf format--you can open it with Adobe Reader--download Adobe Reader now.

Usually, I'm a Mac person--I have a Macbook that goes with me almost everywhere (it's pretty much my mobile office).

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Looking for a simple online backup solution? You might want to try out Jungle Disk. Once you've purchased it, you can set it up on all of your computers. 

Configure the "bucket" for your computer, set up a backup schedule and let it work for you when you're already online.  Tell it which folders you want to backup--typically, these would be folders that have the most information that changes regularly and would cost you dearly if you lost it.

It's been said that one really does not get "backup religion" until you have a system completely crash and you lose everything.  Wouldn't it be better to backup regularly now instead of having to go through that?  Patrick is the backup guy around here and he makes sure we have our data backed up so if something wears out, we have an extra copy of the data we need which minimizes any resulting downtime. 

There are a few different ways to go about backing up your computer:

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One question we hear rather often is "How do I set up my e-mail?"  Setting up your e-mail is not hard, but there are a few key pieces of information that you must have in order to set up your e-mail.

The key pieces of information are: 

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Lately I have been receiving a lot of e-mail I know are spam and could potentially be very dangerous. The current batch of spam or phishing e-mails which address to my e-mail box have the body of the message start off by saying;

Hi. Class Mate

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How often do have save bookmarks in your web browser? How many are categorized into appropriate folders? Finally how often do you revisit the majority of the links you saved?

I admit I only revisit no more than 10 percent (and that is a high number) of the web sites I have bookmarked. Why? 1.) After filing them away I forget they are there, 2.) Other things in life and online knock a lot of those things off the radar 3.) Other than knowing I may need that information “one day” I don’t have compelling incentives to make regular return visits

Yes, I know the monkey washing the cat was a little out of character for this blog but I have a strange sense of humor so expect those odd, quirky things to creep in from time to time. My postings on this blog have been low the past week or so but I’ve been working on meeting some deadlines and have also been involved in some training to grow our business.

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In a past post I brought forth my frustration with how e-mail is used for the wrong reasons. One of the ways people abuse e-mail is by sending photos to friends and family. While one or two low resolution photos may be fine it’s not the best habit to get into. Yes, it is easy (at least for some people) to attach a photo and send it along.  The following is a list of reasons you should use photo sharing service instead of sending photos as e-mail attachments.

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