As many of you know, BRFRBO is a little project of mine. It started several years ago when a friend, who wanted to rent their summer cottage at Ocean Point, in East Boothbay, Maine, asked me if I could create a web site for them, which I did, and this soon grew over the years to the point where I think we have 20 or so homes, cottages, condos, and apartments listed for rent. Most of these are summertime rentals, but a few properties are year-round. If you have never been to the Boothbay Region of Maine, you owe yourself a look. We looked in 1969, I think it was, back when we had 2 little boys, rented for a week in the summer, kept coming back, and the rest is history. Our 4 sons have lifelong friends at Ocean Point, and although our little cottage is too small to hold all of us anymore, they keep coming back, and we love having them.
It started as a summer vacation spot, and although we only go there in the summer, it is our real home, the place we all 6 of us have roots.I invite you to look over our listings, come for a week, and come back for a lifetime. You will not be disappointed.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
MSE
I have several posts on this blog about Microsoft Security Essentials. (MSE). I use it on my Windows 7 laptop. (You can use the Search option on the right side of this blog's home page to view the other MSE posts.)
This machine is now my "home" computer, the one I use most, the one where I have all of my data (pictures, videos, music, documents, spreadsheets, etc.), and the one that has the latest bookmarks.
I have had MSE installed on this machine from the get go, as I recall. It's been a while, and I am very happy with the product. As a review, this replaced my AVG Free Anti-virus and Microsoft's Windows Defender. It is a very low overhead product, it would seem. I hardly even know it's installed. I have a full scan scheduled for 2 AM each day, so if the machine is powered on (it usually is) that scan is done. MSE is free, is totally a non-intrusive product. There are no marketing messages or pop-ups as there are with AVG Free. I have never noticed a slowdown on my machine due to MSE.
It is very easy to download and install, and it now has earned my blessing as a fine replacement for AVG Free and Windows Defender. I don't take recommending such a product lightly as you know, and feel I have tested it long enough to recommend it.
If you are interested in trying it, you can get it here: http://www.microsoft.com/Security_Essentials/
Oh, by the way, Windows 7 is an excellent product, and nothing to be afraid of.
Oh, by the way, Windows 7 is an excellent product, and nothing to be afraid of.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Spam mail and rogue programs
I found this e-mail in the junk folder of one of my e-mail addresses. I include it unaltered except that I have removed the link where it says "get report". The link was for a site registered in South Korea. Most of these spam e-mails come from outside the US.
Many people follow these links, and this is just one of many, many examples of how you might get infected by one of the rogue programs I write about so often. I do this so often because I continue to get phone calls, nearly every week, from yet another customer who has been infected.
PLEASE, be careful out there!
It is unbelievable to me that anyone would follow such a link coming as it does within such a piece of trash.
Just amazing that anyone would fall for this, isn't it? By the way, our tax folks at the IRS will NEVER send you an e-mail like this:
-------Original Message-------
From: Tax Commissar
To: brfrbo@brfrbo.com
Subject: You are in a higher tax bracket
Sent: 13 Feb '10 01:21
Dear taxpayer,
The Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.).
You're in a higher tax bracket because:
- your annual income for the last tax year has increased.
Please review your annual tax report immediately at:
get report
Message ID#QB9FO8SA3WENMRU6MMTBKG1H21CYLX3KEDW7QT0WY0R
ZJTFGWB8N38EDQ7Z52Z84ZELOCIJ
Many people follow these links, and this is just one of many, many examples of how you might get infected by one of the rogue programs I write about so often. I do this so often because I continue to get phone calls, nearly every week, from yet another customer who has been infected.
PLEASE, be careful out there!
It is unbelievable to me that anyone would follow such a link coming as it does within such a piece of trash.
- Note the e-mail comes from "Tax Comissar". WHAT????
- Look at the Message ID# at the bottom of the note!
Just amazing that anyone would fall for this, isn't it? By the way, our tax folks at the IRS will NEVER send you an e-mail like this:
-------Original Message-------
From: Tax Commissar
To: brfrbo@brfrbo.com
Subject: You are in a higher tax bracket
Sent: 13 Feb '10 01:21
Dear taxpayer,
The Federal income tax is a progressive tax, meaning that the more you earn, the higher your tax rate. Your tax rate depends not just upon your taxable income, but also upon your filing status (single, married filing jointly, etc.).
You're in a higher tax bracket because:
- your annual income for the last tax year has increased.
Please review your annual tax report immediately at:
get report
Message ID#QB9FO8SA3WENMRU6MMTBKG1H21CYLX3KEDW7QT0WY0R
Monday, February 15, 2010
Rogue antivirus program comes with tech support
I include the entire article from computerworld.com because I think it is very important to my customer base. I have seen so many of you, with incomplete or outdated security suites, fall for such rogue programs. Most of these rogue programs have been rather difficult to eliminate from your systems. Please refer to my earlier posts on securing your systems and be very careful. Read this entire article as a refresher for those of you who have seen and been infected by a rogue, or for those of you who haven't been infected yet, a word to the wise.
"February 12, 2010 (IDG News Service) In an effort to boost sales, sellers of a fake antivirus product known as Live PC Care are offering their victims live technical support.
According to researchers at Symantec, once users have installed the program, they see a screen, falsely informing them that their PC is infected with several types of malware. That's typical of this type of program. What's unusual, however, is the fact that the free trial version of Live PC Care includes a big yellow "online support" button.
Clicking on the button connects the victim with an agent, who will answer questions about the product via instant message.
Symantec says the agent is no automated script, but in fact a live person. This lends an "air of legitimacy" to the program, said Marc Fossi, a manager of development with Symantec Security Response. "Obviously if they've got live tech support, it must be real," he joked.
The tech support doesn't help much, though. According to Symantec, the support staff simply try to convince victims to shell out between US$30 and $100 for the product.
This isn't the first time a fake security product has been spotted offering tech support. Another company called Innovative Marketing operated a call center to support its security products, including a program called WinFixer. According to security experts, Innovative Marketing's tech support technicians acted in the same way as Live PC Care's, trying to reassure victims that they were buying a legitimate product.
These so-called rogue antivirus products can sometimes lower security settings on a victim's computer. At best, they offer a false sense of security because the products never protect computers from the latest security threats.
Rogue antivirus has been a major headache for users over the past year. It is often installed via annoying pop-up ads that try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their PC. Symantec tracked 43 million rogue AV installation attempts between July 2008 and July 2009."
According to researchers at Symantec, once users have installed the program, they see a screen, falsely informing them that their PC is infected with several types of malware. That's typical of this type of program. What's unusual, however, is the fact that the free trial version of Live PC Care includes a big yellow "online support" button.
Clicking on the button connects the victim with an agent, who will answer questions about the product via instant message.
Symantec says the agent is no automated script, but in fact a live person. This lends an "air of legitimacy" to the program, said Marc Fossi, a manager of development with Symantec Security Response. "Obviously if they've got live tech support, it must be real," he joked.
The tech support doesn't help much, though. According to Symantec, the support staff simply try to convince victims to shell out between US$30 and $100 for the product.
This isn't the first time a fake security product has been spotted offering tech support. Another company called Innovative Marketing operated a call center to support its security products, including a program called WinFixer. According to security experts, Innovative Marketing's tech support technicians acted in the same way as Live PC Care's, trying to reassure victims that they were buying a legitimate product.
These so-called rogue antivirus products can sometimes lower security settings on a victim's computer. At best, they offer a false sense of security because the products never protect computers from the latest security threats.
Rogue antivirus has been a major headache for users over the past year. It is often installed via annoying pop-up ads that try to convince the victim that something is wrong with their PC. Symantec tracked 43 million rogue AV installation attempts between July 2008 and July 2009."
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