Triona's Tech Tips

The rumor mill says Windows 8 is scheduled to be released in October 2012. Here are eight things you need to know before it comes out.

Windows 8 Comes In 4 Flavors
The two versions of Windows 8 for consumers will be Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. There is also Windows RT (Windows on ARM) aka Windows that runs on a tablet. The fourth edition of Windows 8, Windows Enterprise, is for large companies rather than consumers.

PC Magazine has a nifty comparison of what’s in the three consumer editions. You can check out the Windows 8 feature list and Windows 8 Consumer Preview on Microsoft’s site.

Windows 8 Looks Different
As in, different from Windows 7 AND different from Windows XP. The new Metro interface is designed for touchscreens and tablets. Think lots of icons and no Start menu.

This is going to irritate people. Many small businesses and consumers have delayed implementing Windows 7 because of the changes in look-and-feel. To ask them to go through it again, one version of Windows later? My predicition is that people who never went to Win7 will go to Win8 when they buy new hardware, but people already on Win7 won’t want to re-embark on another upgrade.

Way to alienate your already-decreasing audience, Microsoft.

Windows 8 Has No Start Menu
See above. You would think after 17 years of training us to use the Start menu, Microsoft would want to keep it around. But no, it’s more important to compete with Apple’s iPad interface than to make computers easy to use.

Microsoft would argue the new interface does exactly that: makes Windows easier to use. Tell it to all the irate people whose daily workflow will now involve slamming their heads against the new Metro interface.

You can reconfigure Windows 8 to make it look more like the Windows we’re used to. But, in my experience, that doesn’t work well nor last long. You can configure Windows 7 to look like Windows XP too, but nobody ever does. You end up with a Douglas Adams-esque computer that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike every other computer on the planet. Not good when yours crashes and you have to use a different one.

Windows 8 Will Not Include DVD Playback
Starting with Windows 8, Windows Media Player will no longer support DVD playback.

In reality, your PC manufacturer will probably provide a way for you to play DVDs. Then again maybe they won’t, if your manufacturer decides, as Microsoft did, that you should get your entertainment digitally (perhaps they have a financial interest in doing so?).

If you expect to pop a DVD into your computer and play it, you may find yourself having to find a third-party solution. If I were you I’d download VLC Player now.

Windows Media Center Will Cost You Extra
Oh, but if removing DVD playback isn’t enough for you, anybody who wants the video-rich features of Windows Media Center will have to buy it separately.

Most people will not realize this. All they’ll know is that their old version of Windows had features that their new version of Windows doesn’t. They won’t realize that their old computer had Media Center pre-installed. They won’t know what Media Center is.

Reinstalling Windows 8 Is Easier
Microsoft has made it easier to reinstall Windows 8 using procedures called “refreshing” and “resetting”. A refresh preserves your user data and reinstalls your operating system, while a reset reinstalls by out everything including user data.

I’m of two minds about this. Yes, it’s good to make it easier for users to get out of Windows hell – crashes, viruses – by reinstalling their OS. But the fact that Windows requires reinstalling so often that they’ve made it a feature? That’s almost laughably pathetic.

Legacy Apps Will Run In A Legacy Interface
A legacy app is a program designed for an older version of an operating system. When Windows 8 comes out, every Windows program not specifically designed for it will be considered legacy. This means that the special touchy-feeling interface of Windows 8 isn’t much good until people start releasing Windows 8-specific software. And when that happens, the way you’re used to doing things in your old programs will likely change.

You Can Upgrade To Windows 8 For $14.99
Another one from the rumor mill. According to this article, Microsoft will offer inexpensive Windows 8 upgrades to anyone who buys a Windows 7 PC after June 2, 2012. That’s not a bad deal, especially if you’re still on Windows XP. And you need to upgrade if you’re on Windows XP. It can’t be secured and is an open invitation to viruses and all manner of Internet threats.

What do you think? Will you go for Windows 8 right away, or are you holding off for a while? Share in the comments!

In today’s The Northwest Herald article “What You Need To Know About Mac Viruses“, I talk a bit more about the Flashback virus and how Mac users can protect themselves. From the article:

First, it helps to understand the history behind Mac security. Contrary to popular belief, Macs have never lacked for viruses. The myth that Macs are invulnerable has made it harder to convince Mac users that security is a necessary and vital part of computer ownership. Every once in a while we get a virus like Flashback that catches peopleʼs attention, but eventually we fall back into old patterns. Complacency is a Mac userʼs greatest danger.

Here are several of my Tech Tips articles that will help you get up to speed on Mac security.

• How To Remove A Virus From Your Mac
  This post includes my latest recommendations for Mac antivirus software plus a step-by-step guide on how to remove Mac viruses.
• Why The Flashback Virus Doesn’t Worry Me – But Every Other Mac Virus Does
  An analysis of Flashback plus links to resources on Mac security.
• How To Protect Your Mac From Viruses
  Tips on avoiding scams such as fake antivirus software

Besides installing antivirus, the best thing you can do for your Mac is to keep its software updated. Run Software Updates under the Apple menu on a regular basis, but remember your other software needs to be updated too. Just this week I sent out several warnings via Twitter about emergency Microsoft and Adobe updates that need to be installed ASAP. Don’t forget that security warnings often apply to Mac users as well as Windows ones.

Want more on Mac security? Subscribe to Tech Tips free by email, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @trionaguidry for breaking computer news and other geeky stuff.

With the Flashback virus and its variants on the loose, there’s been a welcome focus on Mac security. But most of the instructions you’ll find for removing a virus are written for Windows. Here is how to remove a virus from a Mac.

First, you’ll want to read this article I wrote on What To Do If Your Computer Is Hacked, because much of the same advice applies here. Then…

Step 0: Install Mac Antivirus
The best protection is prevention, and antivirus software is as mandatory for Macs as it is for PCs. Apple’s built-in defenses are not enough. Here are my recommendations on Mac antivirus. My two favorites are Sophos and Intego. The freebies are fine but honestly, a solid security software suite is one of the best investments you can make for your computer.

Freebies:

• Sophos Free Antivirus For Mac
• ClamXav

Paid:

• Intego VirusBarrier
• Norton Antivirus For Mac
• McAfee VirusScan For Mac
• Kaspersky Antivirus For Mac

Step 1: Scan For Viruses
Use your antivirus program to scan your Mac for viruses. Be sure to include any external hard drives or other volumes. If you are sharing drives from other Macs, it’s much faster to scan on the local Mac than scanning across the network.

Remember, it’s not just Mac viruses you’re worried about. Macs can’t be infected by PC viruses, but they can and will transmit them, to the displeasure of your Windows friends. Please be a kind neighbor and make sure your own house is tidy.

Step 2: Do A Second Scan
It’s always a good idea to get a second opinion by scanning with a different program. Select an alternate from above, but don’t try to run both at the same time or they’ll step on each other’s toes.

Step 3: Remove Viruses
In What To Do If Your Computer Is Hacked I wrote:

Your computer could have been infiltrated by a virus, a worm, a Trojan horse, a keylogger, a rootkit, scareware, malware, adware… These are all different types of attacks with different purposes, meaning there are greater and lesser degrees of infection.

Same thing applies to your Mac. Some viruses are just junky adware and easily removed. Others are nefarious keyloggers that embed themselves deep down in your system where no one will find them. Of course you don’t want any viruses on your computer, but some are worse than others.

Use your antivirus tool(s) for removal. Macs tend to clean up quite a bit better than PCs after infection, so in my experience reinstall isn’t required nearly as often. But be careful if you do a Web search for removal tools for specific viruses. Thanks to poisoned search engine results, a search for “Flashback removal tool” returns links to the virus itself!

Step 4: Secure Your Mac
If you’ve gotten this far, in all likelihood the viruses are gone. However, there’s no way to guarantee that. As I wrote in the same article…

There is no way to confirm if a computer is free of viruses. I don’t care what any virus removal tool says. You can be 99% confident, but not 100%. When in doubt, reformat. It’s a pain but better than having a computer that keeps reinfecting itself. Remember, a virus can regenerate if even the tiniest portion of itself is left behind.

Assuming you’d rather not go through all that again, go back to Step 0 and make sure your Mac has proper antivirus installed. Then move on to Step 5…

Step 5: Follow Good Security Rules
The best software in the world won’t protect you if a wily cybercriminal can trick you into clicking something you shouldn’t. All that good advice about Windows security applies just as much to you, so watch out for Facebook scams, phishing emails, phony login pages and all the rest of it. If the idea of that daunts you, don’t worry. Just follow Tech Tips via email, Web and Twitter, and I’ll keep you in the know.

Some related Tech Tips articles you might find useful:

• What To Do If Your Computer Is Hacked
• Why The Flashback Virus Doesn’t Worry Me – But Every Other Mac Virus Does
• Social Engineering: How Viruses Trick You Into Letting Them In
• Anatomy Of A Facebook Update Scam
• What To Do If You Get A Computer Virus

Questions about Mac security? Ask in the comments!

Although social media is rampant, email lists are still a core of online marketing. But there are some ground rules that people still don’t seem to understand.

First, let it be known that there is a proper way to add people to your e-newsletter.

Invite, Don’t Subscribe!

Do not ever subscribe someone without their permission. This is the number-one way to lose subscribers, even customers. It’s tacky, it’s unprofessional, and it’s against spam laws. Which is better, a list full of people who unsubscribe angrily, or a list full of people who are excited to hear what you have to say?

How do you invite instead of subscribing? Set up your mailing list software so that people must reply to a confirmation email in order to be added to the list. Subscribing is therefore in their hands; if they reply they are subscribed, if they don’t they’re not. Believe me, you will get far more subscribers this way than if you automatically add everybody in sight.

Here are some other email marketing pitfalls to avoid:

Not using mailing list software
If you are maintaining your email list with an Excel file or an Outlook address book, stop right now. There are far better methods that will take away the onus of manually managing subscribes and unsubscribes. Constant Contact is one of the most common ways to do this.

Pestering people to join
I ask folks all the time if they want to subscribe to my email list – but I also take no for an answer. If someone chooses not to subscribe I encourage them in more subtle ways, perhaps by forwarding a link to a post I think might interest them.

Marketing aggressively
If your e-newsletter is nothing but “buy buy buy” no one will want to read it. Be a valuable source of information and keep the selling to a minimum. By providing timely information on a particular topic, people will know what you do and seek you out when they need your help.

Drowning them with your wit
Yes, I realize your last newsletter made an incredibly clever quip about Elvis, but don’t send it out twelve million times. Set expectations with your readers as to how often you’ll post and what kind of content they’ll receive. You can repeat content occasionally, but don’t drown them in it.

Hiding the unsubscribe option
This is also against spam laws. Give people a convenient way to opt out. Losing subscribers is inevitable, and you have to accomodate that. Of course you want your subscribe buttons to take top billing!

Throwing your business card at someone in passing, without saying a word
Happened to me at a networking mixer. Seriously.

Is there a future in e-newsletters, given the rise of social media? I think there is, for the time being. People receive information from many sources, so you should spread your content as far as you can. Facebook, Twitter, and your e-newsletter can all work together to bring you traffic from a variety of sources.

Naturally, after an article like this I simply must ask if you’re interested in subscribing to Tech Tips by email. Plus, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @trionaguidry for breaking computer news and other geeky stuff.

How do you encourage email list subscribers? Share in the comments!

For the most part I like my iPad, but there are a couple of things about it that drive me nuts. We always hear about how great the iPad is. I want to share with you some of the things I can’t stand about it.

Saving files
Who’s the genius who came up with this? To save a file from an iPad you have to “share and print” it to iTunes, then sync the iPad to your computer… then MANUALLY copy it onto your hard drive? I’m having a flashback to my old TRS-80 days, saving data onto cassette tapes – a process that was a lot more straightforward.

Most people aren’t even going to find this setting. In iTunes, go to your iPad, then Apps. There’s a section at the bottom that lists the apps that can handle files (not all can). Select the app, select the file, save it to your hard drive. Yeah, like that was intuitive.

I’m a full-time writer. I write on my iPad – a lot. Saving files is a pain. This process means I have multiple versions of various documents lying around, and have to rely on modify date to tell which one is most recent.

And no, Apple, I do NOT want to use your spiffy new iCloud service to make this easier (see below). I just want to sync a basic text file from the device in my hand to the computer less than two inches away. How hard is that?

Cameras
I don’t need two cameras. I don’t even need one camera. But if there’s going to be a camera I want a physical way to turn it off, like a lens cap or a mechanical shutter. There are viruses that can turn on your camera without your knowledge and I want some control over that beyond antivirus.

At the moment, the cameras on my iPad are secured via the highly technical method of taping Post-It Notes over them.

Newsstand
This is the future of periodicals? I am not impressed. I wanted one device upon which to read all my stuff: books, newspapers, magazines, the Internet. Works great for the first and last, but my periodicals are scattered all over the place. Some have their own apps, others come in via Zinio or Newsstand. And that’s just the standard periodicals, never mind the comic books. It’s a jumble.

As a side note: I wish all magazines would give print subscribers the option of logging into digital content. If I’m paying for a magazine to be physically delivered, I should be able to get that same magazine digitally delivered.

iCloud
Look, Apple, I don’t want to sync my entire life to a device, okay? I like the fact that I can choose to do so, but I don’t like being nagged every five seconds to change that choice. (Ping, I’m looking at you too.)

And I know I’ll probably be forced to use iCloud eventually if I want to take advantage of new features. Apple will make the choice for me because it’s easier for them, in much the same way I had to embrace Google Reader to use a halfway decent RSS app.

Antivirus
Antivirus for mobile devices reminds me of the old DOS command-line scanners. This is partly because of the stupidity of the file-saving process. Antivirus for iPad only scans files in certain places, like your iTunes save files or an FTP account. It’s not necessarily going to warn you if some sneaky new Trojan is burrowing into your iPad in real time. And, like any antivirus, it’s not going to prevent someone from tricking you into clicking on something you shouldn’t.

Being an iPad owner isn’t all fun and games. What annoys you about Apple’s ubiquitous tablet?

A hacked computer is an IT nightmare come to life. What would you do if your computer was hacked? What should you do?

Step 0: Is Your Computer Really Hacked?
This article describes what to do if your computer is hacked – infiltrated by a virus or overcome by scam software. But it might not be your computer that was hacked.

• If people are getting weird emails from you, then your email is hacked. Here’s what to do if your email account is hijacked.
• If you can’t get into a certain account (email, Facebook, Twitter) then either there’s something wrong with your password, or possibly that account has been hacked – see above.
• If your computer is misbehaving, it may simply be having a temper tantrum. (They do. Trust me.) That’s not a hack attempt, it’s a tech support problem. Here are some suggestions.

Let’s assume it really is your computer that’s been hacked. Now what?

Step 1: How Badly Were You Hacked?
Define “hacked.” Your computer could have been infiltrated by a virus, a worm, a Trojan horse, a keylogger, a rootkit, scareware, malware, adware… These are all different types of attacks with different purposes, meaning there are greater and lesser degrees of infection.

When I see a computer that has a couple of pieces of adware on it, I don’t worry. I clean it up, make sure there’s decent antivirus installed and all the software is current, and call it a good day.

When I see a computer infected by a program that is monitoring every single keystroke, I back up the data, reformat the computer, and start from scratch. I don’t like keyloggers. I don’t like viruses that stealth around in the background. I don’t like unwanted programs that call home with MY data.

Step 2: Damage Control
Run scans, starting with your usual antivirus program. Windows users also want to run free Malwarebytes which can catch anything your antivirus misses. Mac users, give the free Sophos Mac Antivirus a try.

What you do in Step 4 will depend on what your scans find. In the meantime…

Step 3: Find Your Backups
I didn’t say make a backup. It’s too late for that; the backup will be infected. Don’t bother unless you have live data on the infected computer that you absolutely can’t afford to lose. (And if you’re in this unfortunate position, you’ll never fail to have a current backup again.)

Step 4: Removal
By now your scans from Step 2 are done and you have an idea what’s happening. From a UNinfected device, do a Web search on some of the viruses that have been identified. This will tell you where they rank on a scale from minor inconvenience to major calamity.

There is no way to confirm if a computer is free of viruses. I don’t care what any virus removal tool says. You can be 99% confident, but not 100%. When in doubt, reformat. It’s a pain but better than having a computer that keeps reinfecting itself. Remember, a virus can regenerate if even the tiniest portion of itself is left behind.

You can do a Web search if you need a removal tool for a particular virus – but remember, viruses often hide behind malicious links to fake removal tools for those same viruses. Sneaky, huh?

Step 5: Keep Watch
By now you should be relatively confident that your computer isn’t hacked anymore – but you have to keep watch to make sure.

Sometimes computers have problems after being infected, even if the viruses have been removed. Viruses can cause legitimate programs on your computer to crash – after all, it’s not like the virus-writers care if their software is compatible. Viruses often corrupt your system software, another reason why reformatting is often the best option.

If you didn’t reformat but your computer won’t behave, you may have to go through with the refomat after all. It’s the only way to get a clean copy of your operating system.

This same process applies to any hacked device, from servers to iPads: assess the threat, then either choose cleanup or start from scratch.

Ever had your computer hacked? What’s the one thing you wish you had known? Share in the comments!

By now you’ve heard of the Flashback virus, which has infiltrated hundreds of thousands of Macs worldwide. There’s a lot of talk about whether the Mac’s reputation for invulnerability is shot and what Flashback might mean for Apple’s business.

I have some news for you. Don’t worry about Flashback.

This happens every few years – a major virus outbreak combined with widespread media coverage. That’s why Flashback doesn’t worry me. It’s gotten enough coverage that there are ample removal tools and instructions on what to do if you’re infected:

• Apple: About Flashback virus
• F-Secure Flashback removal tool

It’s all the other Mac viruses out there that worry me.

I’ve been in Mac security a long time – over twenty years. And I see the furor rise now and then over one Mac virus or another. The truth is we need to be thinking about Mac security continuously and not just when one particular virus runs rampant.

Macs have never been invulnerable. They don’t suffer the same problems as Windows, but they definitely have their own issues. One, unfortunately, is user complacency. Most people don’t even run antivirus on their Macs. Look through my Tech Tips archives and see how many times I’ve begged folks to do that. It’s a blind spot in the Macintosh mentality, one that needs to change.

Apple tends to encourage rather than counter this complacency, probably because it works to their marketing advantage. Not that they ignore security, but it typically takes a back seat. In that respect Flashback is helping by bringing the problem to the foreground.

Mac users need to take matters into their own hands. Here are my best recommendations on Mac security:

• Triona’s Tech Tips: How To Protect Your Mac From Viruses
  This has my antivirus recommendations for Mac plus some other key security tips.
• Apple Security Configuration Guides
  These are technical but helpful if you really want to lock down your Mac.
• Sophos Free Antivirus For Mac
• Intego VirusBarrier (paid)
• ClamXav (free)

Whether you use your computer at home or work, some essentials are universal. In this weekend’s The Northwest Herald I talk about five tools every computer should have. Here are links to the resources I mentioned in the article, plus related articles and tools you might find useful.

And don’t forget to sign up for my Mobile Social Media Seminar on April 17, 2012! Details and registration info here.

Security

• Triona’s Tech Tips: Is Your Security Software Real Or Rogue?
  How to recognize fake antivirus software (includes screenshots)
• Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI)
  Scans all the software on your Windows computer, and updates it to the latest version (or prompts you to do so).
• McAfee SiteAdvisor
  Verifies web sites that appear in your search results
• AVG SafeSearch
  Ditto; part of AVG’s antivirus software

Alternate Web Browser

• Triona’s Tech Tips: Break The Internet Explorer Habit
  How IE can expose you to viruses, and why you might want an alternative
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Opera

Easy Backups

• Triona’s Tech Tips: Bargain Backup Options
  Discusses some of the ways you can back up your computer
• Mac Time Machine 101
  Link to Apple’s info on Time Machine backups
• Windows 7 Backup
  Link to Microsoft’s info on Windows Backup

Microsoft Office Files

• OpenOffice for Windows
• NeoOffice for Mac

PDF Creation

• Adobe Reader
• Adobe Acrobat (full version; paid)
• PDFCreator for Windows
• CutePDF for Windows
• Print to PDF from Mac
  Link to Apple’s info on how to print to PDF from a Mac

 Subscribe free to Tech Tips, and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @trionaguidry for breaking computer news and other geeky stuff.

There’s a creeptastic app called “Girls Around Me” that gleans data from mobile social media platforms to show all the women in your physical location. It’s been pulled since the controversy, but this description from Sophos Naked Security’s Lisa Vaas will give you the chills:

Brownlee’s article describes how he pulled out the app at a party, only to watch female guests recoil at the way data from Facebook and Foursquare was depicted, with each woman represented on the map as a “Matrix-like” silhouette of a naked pole dancer or stripper.

Some of the guests’ comments:

“Wait… what? Are these girls prostitutes?”

“How does it know where these girls are?”

“Do you know all these girls?”

“Is it plucking data from your address book or something?”

The answers Brownlee gave: No, they’re not prostitutes, they’re just regular women. The data from the women (I’ll abstain from calling them “girls,” as I believe they were, in fact, adults), including their specific location, reams of photos, Facebook details including birthdays or relationship status or schools attended, had been publicly broadcast from Facebook and Foursquare’s check-in functions.

Now pull out your smart phone. Do you have Location Services on, and are you using Facebook or Twitter? Shazam! You are stalkable. I’m hearing the Foursquare users scrambling to turn it off. Good. In my view you should always default to not sharing your location unless you have a very good reason to do so.

And there are good business reasons to use location. Realtors advertise open houses, stores promote sales, writers offer book signings… but I’ve also seen people checking in from the grocery store, the gas station, the dentist. Not only does this spam your contacts with needless info, it’s a magnent for the unscrupulous. “Ooh, look! You checked in at the auto repair shop! Which means you’re not home AND you’ve got a ritzy model car. Time for a little breaking and entering!”

Unfortunately it’s not as simple as turning off location. As the Sophos article points out:

…it’s impossible to uninstall Twitter from my phone, as it’s bundled into the operating system. If you want to snip Twitter’s thread, you have to uninstall it (if possible) or quit the application on your phone.

Or turn off Location Services, which stinks if you want to use something like Apple’s nifty Find My Phone or even basic GPS. What’s the use in paying for all these modern features if you have to lobotomize your phone back to the 1990s?

My greatest concern is that most people are using Facebook and Twitter from their phones without thinking about the fact that they are broadcasting their location. If you sign up for Foursquare – okay, you should realize it’s going to tell people where you are. But most folks don’t equate Facebook with “shouting to the world that I’m at the pediatrician.” And that’s another thing: parents, you’re not just broadcasting your location, but your children’s. And if you’ve been publishing stuff about your kids on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog, you’ve just given a potential criminal even more info.

Are you screaming in fury yet? You should be, because this is only going to get worse. Just as we no longer have a choice in using cloud computing, we will soon have no choice in broadcasting our location. We are at the mercy of the device vendors, and our privacy is not exactly their top priority. Get used to being findable by everyone from advertisers to co-workers to total strangers.

Do you use location? Does the idea of apps like “Girls Around Me” creep you out? Share in the comments!

Join me for an exciting new seminar, Mobile Social Media, on April 17, 2012! In this open-format session we’ll talk about how you can use mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to access social media platforms.

This is going to be fun! Some of today’s mobile technology is really sweet, and pairing it with social media makes work seem like play. Come on over and I’ll teach you how to market yourself or your business online.

Mobile Social Media
Sponsored by the Cary Grove Chamber of Commerce
April 17, 2012 12:00pm-1:00pm
Fox River Grove Village Hall, Fox River Grove, Illinois

Make the most of social media through the use of mobile technology. Learn how smartphones, iPads, and other devices can simplify your online marketing. We’ll talk about how to save time, streamline information, and run your marketing campaign on the go.

Box lunch included. Registration required. For more information or to register, please contact the Cary Grove Chamber of Commerce at (847) 639-2800.