There Are Good Guys & Gals Out There:

Well the new phishing game has brought out the new breed of hackers. These have been coined the Hero Hackers. We first read about these hackers about two months ago but they have been at this game for a little while. Here is what they do, they just like anyone else get the phishing e-mail. They then track down the website and hack into it and make a few changed to either disable the site or throw in a warning page to let surfers know about the scam inside the website. This is a good thing that has come about, a way to let hackers play the way they want and do a good deed in the process. The only thing I hope is that if they are caught that they are praised and not punished.

Microsoft Server 2003 SP1

Well after all the wait and promises that it is coming in February of 2005 the Service Pack finally came out in early April of 2005. Now this SP has a huge fix on many security problems that plagued the operating system. If you are running Server 2005 I highly recommend that you apply this SP you all of your servers. But before you do check with your critical software vendors to make sure their software will still operate under this service pack. That was the problem with XP SP2. Most of the vendors are on top of this problem this go around. Good luck.

Microsoft Anti-Spyware (Beta)

Well Microsoft has done this one right. We have been playing with this little nugget ever scene it came out and WOW. This spyware removal tool has almost everything you could ask for. It even has some security options one would not expect in a spyware tool. During the Beta run Microsoft is not charging for this and there is no word on if they will charge for it. Our thoughts is they should not because every time you turn around their operating system is being compromised and this could be a way to help in keeping the bad guys out of their mistakes. We have a link for this download under our toys & tools page if you are ready for the test drive.

Security Alert:

There is a new scam out there that everyone needs to look out for. This is called fishing and how it works is you receive an e-mail from what looks like your bank and well now even if you open the e-mail a Trojan Horse Virus will infect your computer and steal information from your computer about bank websites. We don not want to discourage you from online banking but we want to inform you on how to protect yourself. First thing is DO NOT OPEN one of the e-mails with a bank address. If you do see an e-mail from a bank you do business with give them a call and ask them if there is an attempt to contact you. Or type in their website in your browser. DO NOT follow a redirect link from an e-mail. Another way you can check to see if you have the virus is when you go to your bank website look in your browser bar (ex.http://www.elfbank.com. This is not a real bank by the way.) If you see a address change to something not even close you your bank name then do not log into the login site. This is how this virus works. Keep this in mind when you bank online.

Windows XP SP2 News:

With the release of SP2 there have been some issues with this update. We would recommend before you apply this SP that you check for any new drivers on your hardware that might be out. This seems to be the most prominent problem. On the other hand this SP is such an important one that we do not want you to shy away from it either. There are so many fixes in this that if you are internet active you should have (that’s right most are security related). We just say update with caution and remember there is an uninstall option just in case you find that something went wrong.

Windows XP Home & Pro:

Microsoft will be releasing XP SP2 very soon to single users. As of August 18, 2004 the release date for the Automatic Update will be August 25, 2004. Now this date will be subject to change at any time. This Service Pack (SP) is more of a operating system upgrade instead of just a SP. We recommend that anyone using this operating system should do their Microsoft Update for this. You can see a list of the fixes that are included for this HERE. Please take the time and read about this because it will make some changes to your current operating system. This will include all of the security holes that have been discovered from when XP hit the market. If this makes you uncomfortable please give us a call and we will assist your. Or you can goto http://www.misrosoft.com and search XP SP2. This will take you to several FAQ pages on this.

Coming Soon!!!

We have decided to set up a BBS or Message Forum if you will. This site link will be posted on the support page as soon as it comes available. We would like for you to try out these boards and who knows you might just learn a little. Be on the look out for this link at the beginning of August 2004.