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Online nightmares & how to avoid them

The internet is a rapidly shifting and evolving environment.   One of the most rapidly evolving issues related to the internet is security.   Our technicians and sales team get asked about keeping client networks safe from viruses, spyware, hackers, etc. hundreds of times a week; and that's on a quiet week.

To give you an idea of what we are all dealing with every time we get on the internet, here are some facts about 7 common threats:  (If you're like most people, at some point you may have thought these threats were the same thing.)  

  1. Viruses - These dreaded programs manifest themselves in many forms and have the ability to spread, via executable code, from one computer to another, debilitating productivity and business.
  2. Trojans - Designed to trick users, Trojans invade computers in the while looking like legitimate applications. Once they're running, Trojans unleash a range of annoying and malicious behaviors, from deleting files to altering your computer's behavior.
  3. Phishing attacks - One of the most prevalent threats to identity & security, phishing relies on faked websites, emails and instant messages to get users to give up sensitive information such as usernames as passwords.
  4. Rootkits - These programs or groups of programs let hackers gain total control of computers to launch major attacks on businesses.  They use their victims' computers and internet connections to try to harm or invade corporate or government networks.
  5. Spyware - These privacy-invading programs monitor their victims' activities and transmit confidential information to their designers.  Victims' internet surfing habits, and sometimes even their every keystroke are sent off without their notice.
  6. Adware - Programs that provide some perceived benefits (games, utilities, screensavers, etc.).   These programs usually slow computers down, and almost always eat up employee productivity by popping up advertisements.
  7. Worms - Rapidly spreading, self-replicating programs that usually cause major damage to businesses by slowing down networks and causing other damage (deleted files, compromised security, etc.).

So what do you do to keep your business secure?  A layered approach to security is the best advise we can offer.  This includes all of the following at a bare minimum, with other measures being necessary depending upon your industry, what you do on the internet, and many other factors:

  1. Implement a good firewall that can do content filtering.
  2. Use good antivirus software.
  3. Use good anti-malware software (sometimes this is different from your antivirus software, sometimes it's the same package).
  4. Educate your staff about being careful what they click on.
  5. Partner up with someone that can help keep your business secure.

Turn Key Solutions would love to be that partner for your business.  If you'd like to talk to us about how we can improve your security, please give us a call today at 225-751-4444.

 

 

Malware & Virus Removal Tips & Tricks

Everything requires a little regular maintenance.

Your flowers need to be watered daily, the cats need to be fed (at least daily, more if you really like them), the car has to have the oil changed periodically, and yes, your computer probably needs to be cleaned up from time to time.

So, straight from the I.T. professionals here at Turn Key Solutions, here is a list of a few things you can do to keep your computers running at their best (note: most of these tips are for the Windows operating systems):

1. Patch it!  Microsoft releases patches for Windows, Office, and their other products very frequently.  These patches are designed to improve how the software works, improve security, and to deliver many other benefits.  Be sure your computer is set to automatically download & install patches.   For more about how their patches work, click here - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/windowsupdate/faq.mspx

By the way, other software authors like Adobe and all the Antivirus software vendors frequently release patches for their software too.  If a piece of software is important to you, familiarize yourself with how & when that manufacturer distributes updates.

2. Boost your immune system!  In other words, use a good antivirus / antimalware product, and keep it up to date at all times.  We here at Turn Key Solutions currently tend to favor Bitdefender, Trend Micro and AVG products, but there are many other good ones on the market as well.  Trust us, 20 - 50 dollars a year spent on good antivirus software is money well spent.

3. Clean it!  Over time, even the most meticulous computer users will gather a bit of junk on their machines.   But deleting pictures of Grandma's dog probably isn't going to help you much, and trust us, deleting folders & files from system directories on your C: drive will probably cause more problems than it fixes.  So what's a person to do?  

Here is a short list of a few tools that we at Turn Key Solutions use all the time to clean & tweak computers; and you can too.  One thing to be wary of when straying too far from this list is that there are many programs & websites that claim to remove spyware, but actually cause more problems than they fix, or worse yet actually come with hidden viruses in them!  There are a lot of programs out there that claim to do the job, but these are the ones we use day in, day out.      (Disclaimer: read their instructions before you use these tools! - You're responsible for how you use these tools!)

CCleaner - this program does a great job of cleaning all the unnecessary junk files, registry keys, and other stuff off of your computer.  http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Malwarebytes - this is a great malware-removal program.  Update & run this from time to time to make sure that you're malware-free, and to get rid of any bugs your other programs may have missed.  http://www.malwarebytes.org/

A-Squared - this program seems to occasionally miss a few things that Malwarebytes catches, and occasionally gives a few false positives, but their deep scan also seems to get rid of some problems that no other program can.   http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/antimalware/

SuperAntiSpyware - this has the same basic negatives as A-Squared (occasional false positives), but we find that sometimes it cleans things no other program can.  http://www.superantispyware.com/

Spybot Search & Destroy - a long-time favorite for our techs, this program does a great job of cleaning malware as well.  Use this in conjunction with other anti-malware software to make extra sure that you're clean. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html 

 

There are a lot of other tools & tricks to fixing more complicated problems, but these 3 simple pointers (Patch, Boost, Clean) work wonders for keeping computers healthy running right.

For more help with these or any other I.T. questions & problems your business is having, call Turn Key Solutions at 225-751-4444.  We look forward to making technology work for you!

Firewalls & Layered Security

Turn Key Solutions is excited to have recently added Fortinet to our list of quality products & services that we offer our clients.

We have long been partners with industry leaders like Cisco, Watchguard and Sonicwall, and continue to reccomend their solutions in environments where they are best suited.

One of the big reasons we have started working with Fortinet is that their firewall products integrate in features like data leak protection (DLP) and deep packet inspection, all while coming in at prices that are often significantly below that of their competitors.

To learn more about their products, go to WWW.FORTINET.COM.  

To learn more about layered security and how antivirus, firewall, and other security products are being engineered to work together to meet today's security needs, come back here soon.  We'll be explaining this in more detail right here.

 

2010 hurricane season is underway!

And as of today (Day 2 of hurricane season - June 2nd) we still don't have any major storms - so we're good right?

Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav are still fresh in most people's memories.  But when it comes to preparing for the next hurricane, many business owners seem to ignore the potential devastation - or maybe they are just wearing rose-colored glasses.

Either way, our conversations with prospects and clients about their disaster plans, business continuity plans, and backup plans continue to fall into one of 2 distinct categories:

  1. <Insert disaster name> nearly / completely wiped us out, so we're listening - what do we do to be better prepared this time? 

    or
  2. Well, we've done fine the last few hurricanes, I think we'll be okay with our same 10-year old backup plan.

What's your stance?

The amazing thing about technology is that it changes every day, and most of the time it gets better.  So if you're concerned about keeping your business strong through uncertain environments, you'll probably be surprised to learn that it costs very little to put reliable, cutting edge technology into place in your environment to prepare for the worst!

From virtualized servers in a secured datacenter, to automated backups of all your servers and workstaions, the technology is affordable for even the smallest of businesses, especially when you consider what the cost of losing your data would be.

So how's this year looking for hurricanes?

"The 2010 hurricane season is not looking good," says Greg Holland, director of the Earth System Laboratory at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. This year is a lot like 2005, the worst hurricane system on record, he says. "Overall conditions are very similar, with one important difference: they are actually a bit worse."  (Read more: http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1992073,00.html#ixzz0pjZoQGfB )

How prepared is your business?  Call us today at 225-751-4444 to learn about what options Turn Key Solutions has in place that will keep your business safe & sound.

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