Dear Geek,
I recently received an email from a company I do business with saying that there has been an email breach, and my name and email address may have been stolen. What does this mean? Am I going to get scammed out of my millions (or hundreds) of dollars?
Sincerely,
Save my hundreds

Dear hundred-aire

With any kind of business we are doing online, even if it is just signing up for future emails from a company, your information is stored in some way.

When you are doing something such as banking, or making a purchase, it is important to know if you are on a secure server. To find that out, you look at the IP address, or the website address in your browser. If you are on a secure server, where you will usually see “http://”, you will instead see “https://”. The “s” is just a simple way of showing you that the information you are entering, such as your credit card number, is on a secure server, and it is safe to business on that site. If you do not see an “s” in the IP address when making a purchase, you are putting your information at risk.

If you did business on an unsecured server, and you received this email, you may want to call or visit a bank to make sure that your credit card information was not taken. Check over any kind of transactions, and change your credit card number- just to be safe.

When entering an email address onto a site, you aren’t putting yourself into as much risk as when you are entering in a credit card number. With just an email address and a name, a hacker will most likely use this information to send out highly targeted phishing emails, in hopes of getting more information, like your credit card number. If you have a ridiculously easy to guess password for your email address, they may then use your email address to send email attacks to your contacts and others.

In a case where the hacker has gotten your name and email through hacking a company website, they can then use that to send official looking emails that look like they are coming from that site. They then hope that because a user has done business with this site already, they will be more willing to give more information that could end up with the users money or information, in their pocket.

It is important to watch what you are clicking on in an email, and what a company is asking of you. You should always be careful when you are putting information on a website, such as a credit card number. If a company email looks “off”, or you’ve never heard of the company before, don’t click on anything. This can save you some headaches, and potentially money, in the end.

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Dear Geek,

I understand the risk of staying with Microsoft XP, but I still don’t know. All of my office computers are XP and no one seems to be in a big hurry to change over the operating systems. I like Microsoft XP. Plus, the switch from XP is expensive. Why can’t I just keep my virus scans going and keep XP?

Sincerely,
Can we keep it? Please?

Dear risk-taker,

I really have to stress that the newer viruses, or even just the newer versions will not be recognized because many antivirus programs are not going to be supporting Microsoft XP at all. Many hackers are waiting for Microsoft XP support to end, so that they can send out new viruses, getting them past any kind of protection, so they can take over any kind of information.

Businesses are going to be a big target in these attacks. On a personal computer, hackers know that they can get one, maybe two credit cards, or other kinds of information. On a work computer, they have access to many client files, which can include credit cards, social insurance numbers or other financial information.

You may already know about the laws regarding the protection of client information, but if you don’t, here’s a brief description of it. Protect it. If there’s information on physical paper, lock it up. If it’s computer based, you need to protect it in any way possible. If any important client information is lost, there can be some pretty heavy fines, not to mention the loss of clients and business, as well as your reputation.

Imagine you got the phone call: your business, which you have worked years to establish, has had its financial information stolen, and has lost all of the money it has accumulated. This is because of another business which didn’t protect your information. Would you stop business with this company, knowing that their lack of security was the reason for your company’s downfall? Would you tell your friends to watch out for the business with the lack of security?

Keeping an unsupported operating system is the equivalent of putting your financial information, and your client information in a safe and giving your safe code out to everyone who passes your business on the street. You can hope that no one will try to get your information, and it might not happen right away, but eventually, someone is going to see if the code works.

Yes, it’s expensive to make the switch from XP, but the cost of not making the switch is potentially much, much greater.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

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Dear geek,

Every time I type up a company document, there is one word that Microsoft Word just does not like. For whatever reason, Word just does not think that this word exists and constantly tries to correct my word. I have triple checked the spelling, and I know it is right. This has been annoying me for months, and I have begun to take it out on my cats. Help me!

Sincerely,
SAVE MITTENS!

Dear Kitty,

Once in a while, Microsoft has an issue realizing that some words are actually words, and it tends to think that it is the only thing that can ever be correct about anything, ever. There is a pretty simple solution to make Microsoft realize that, yes, for once that isn’t a typo.

First, you want to open Microsoft Word, if you do not already have it open. If you have a newer version of Microsoft word, click on the “Review Tab”. There will be a “Spelling and Grammar” option, which when you click it, it will run through the document, and review everything you have written. When it comes across your “misspelled” word, it will give you a few options of words it thinks you meant to use, as well as the options to ignore once, ignore all, and add to the dictionary. Once you add this word to the dictionary, it will no longer continue to tell you that you need to change the word because it doesn’t exist. In Microsoft’s mind, you just made up a new word, and it now accepts that!

If you have an older version, when the word gets underlined, right click on it. It should give you a few options for words that “exist”, as well as the options to ignore, or add to dictionary. When you add it to the dictionary, it will now accept that your word is, in fact a word!

Here at Technology by Design, we are all for helping the kitties.

Have a question for our Resident Geek?  Send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

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For all those Mac users that are feeling smug and safe…there are viruses, etc for Mac.  However, because of the fact that more people have PCs, most viruses are targeted towards PCs rather than Macs.

Got a question?  Email it to:   geek@tbyd.ca.

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Dear geek,

I got the newsletter last month and was wondering, what exactly is happening to windows XP? Do I really need to update this?

Sincerely XP lover

Dear XP is KO’d,

On April 8, 2014, Microsoft has decided that they will no longer support Windows XP, and will be instead focusing on their other operating systems, like Windows 8. What this means, is that they will no longer be doing security updates, which can make it easier for hackers and viruses to reach your computer, and some new programs will not be supported by Windows XP, so many new programs, games and apps will not be able to run on your computer.

The lack of security updates means that your PC will not know how to protect itself from, or even recognize, any new kind of virus or spyware. Leaving your computer almost completely open for attack and your files ready to be compromised. That Star Trek novel you’ve been working on for years? Hackers are going to be able to take that, and information such as passwords to important accounts, easier than ever. Because of this, many companies with lots of customer information are required by law to upgrade from Windows XP.

Many programs are also going to discontinue supporting Windows XP. On the back of games and programs, it will now say “Windows 7 or higher” under requirements.

So, although most people are not required by law to make the switch from Windows XP, it is highly recommended. If you are still running Microsoft XP at your office, we can help you easily make the switch, and help ensure the performance of your network! Give us a call at (204) 800-3166, or e-mail info@tbyd.ca if you need help with the transition!

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!

Dear geek, 

Christmas was a few weeks ago, and for Christmas, I gave my kid an iPad. Today, I checked my credit card account, and Apple charged me $300! I checked the iPad, and my kid seems to have pressed buttons on angry birds, and bought $300 worth of bird food or bacon, or whatever it is that you can purchase on angry birds. I don’t want to take away the iPad, but I can’t afford charges like that every few months! What can I do?

Sincerely, 
That’s some expensive bacon!

Dear bacon,

First thing to do is call Apple. Depending on how soon you catch this, they could take off the charge as an “accidental purchase”, but know that they will only do this once. Any purchase like this after this one time, will be on you.

Next, it might be time to set up parental controls. Go to ‘settings’, then ‘ general’, and into restrictions. Here, when you slide to ‘enable restrictions’, it will ask you to create a four digit pass code. Once you make that pass code, it will ask you for it every time you go to make a purchase, so as long as you don’t tell your child the pass code, they will have to go through you before making any purchases. Also make sure that the slider for ‘in-app purchases’ is on.

Another good thing to do is to go into ‘settings’, ‘general’, then ‘pass code’, and set pass code to ‘immediately’. This makes it so anytime anyone tries to make any kind of purchase, it will ask for the pass code immediately.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.
We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!

Dear geek,

I decided that it was time to get myself an iPod so I can listen to music and cut out my mothers yelling down the stairs while I read my comic books. I bought a 120gb iPod, but when I went to put some music on it, it says I only have 111gb left. What gives? What happened to the other 9gb?

Sincerely, giga-whhhhat?

Dear giga,

This happens all the time with things such as iPods or external hard drives. Your iPod itself is taking up the 9gb so it can run. The operating system, or the programs that make the iPod run the way it does, need to be on the iPod.

With 111gb, you still have more than enough room room for any songs or apps you want to put on there. Without those 9gb already on there, you’d have a small, expensive paperweight.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.

We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!

Dear Geek,

Once in a while, my computer says the firewall blocked a program from running. Why is this happening? What the heck is a firewall anyways?

Sincerely,
Hit the wall

Dear blocked,

A firewall is a kind of extra protection which helps filter through programs and information trying to reach your computer. It allows good information through, while stopping hackers and virus programs. The only problem with this, is sometimes the firewall is a bit overprotective, like your mother. If the program appears bad in any way, the firewall says you can’t be friends with it. Usually, this is a good thing, but when you’re trying to play the new Star Trek game that you downloaded online, but your mom- I mean firewall, tells you that you can’t because it’s an unknown program, it seems like kind of a hassle and an annoyance.

Evermore I tell you how to turn it off, there’s a few things you should think of. Turning off the firewall for a bit to run a program is most likely alright, but doing it for a long period of time might allow hackers or viruses onto your computer. If you’re going to turn it off, don’t forget to turn it back on, and make sure you have other protection, like an antivirus, protecting your computer. Also, always leave firewall on if you’re on an unsecure wifi network, like if you’re at a coffee shop. This is because you don’t know who else could be on the network, or what they could be doing.

To turn off your firewall, the easiest way is to go to the start menu, and search “windows firewall” in the search box. Pick the “windows firewall” option that pops up. In the left sidebar, click “turn windows firewall on or off”. Under “home or work network settings”, click “turn windows firewall off”. The option to turn it back on after, is right above this, and says “turn windows firewall on”.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to: geek@tbyd.ca.
We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!

Dear Geek,

I have an e-mail account for my Kitty Cat fan club, my personal e-mail, and my work e-mail. I spend way too long checking each e-mail account separately. Is there a way to get all of my e-mails in one place?

Sincerely,

Kitty Cats and work, all in one place!

Dear Kitty Cats in Suits,

There is a way to do that, don’t worry! Because the most used e-mail platform is g-mail, I’m going to explain how to do this through g-mail, but it will be very similar between other ones as well.

The first thing you need to do is open g-mail and log on to the e-mail you would like to forward (not the one you want to forward to). You’ll want to click the gear button in the top right hand corner, and select Settings. Select “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab. There should be a button saying “Add a forwarding address”, click on it, and a box should come up where you can add a forwarding e-mail. This will be the e-mail they send all your stuff from the first e-mail address to, or your main e-mail address. They will then send an e-mail to your main address, just confirming that this forwarding of e-mail is verified. There will be a link in this e-mail that you will need to click on to confirm that you want things forwarded to this e-mail.

Back in your e-mail you want to be forwarded, you should refresh the page, then go back to the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab. Select the “Forward a copy incoming mail to” option, and make sure the new forwarding address (email address you want your email forwarded to) is listed in the first drop-down menu. In the second drop-down menu, you can choose some additional options, such as “keep G-mails copy in the inbox”, or “archive G-mail’s copy”. Once you choose all these options, click the “Save changes” button at the bottom.

Multiple e-mail addresses can be added as forwarding addresses in the “Forwarding and POP/IMAP” tab.

If you have a question for our Resident Geek, send it to:  geek@tbyd.ca.  

We’ll translate it from Geek-lish to English, so it actually helps!