Category: Computer Security

Once again a new ransomware is in the news. Starting in the Ukraine and spreading worldwide in just a few hours. As always happens once a new malware hits the news I get phone calls asking how the person can protect themselves from the new thing on the block. And my answer is the same. Good anti-virus products. Good computing habits and Back up, Back up and did I say backups?

With a good, well maintained backup even the worse virus or malware will just mean you need to re-install the O/S and copy your data back. Without a good backup you could spends months re-creating important work data and maybe loose important things like personal documents and pictures permanently.

In addition, a good anti-virus will help fend off malware and not clicking on every link sent via email from your friends and co-works can also limit your exposure to these new threats.

As always if you need help with computer security or other computer issues please give RenoGeek a call.

Most people over the last week have seen reports about the new ransom-ware that has been released and is infecting computers worldwide. Some big companies like Fed-Ex and even the English  health care system have had outages due to this new bug. And I have already gotten many calls and emails about it since the week began.

So what can you do about it? Well first as with all computer problems the best insurance is a good backup stored in a location under your control. The virus can not encrypt files it has no access to. So a back up on a external hard drive not attached to your computer is ideal.

Next the older your O/S the higher your chance of getting this or many of the other viruses floating around the Internet. So update to a current O/S and make sure you keep up with the current security patches. Which you can find here.

Last practice safe hex (old computer joke)…
Don’t click on links from unknown sources. Don’t read email from people you do not know or with weird spam like subject lines. Don’t visit download and porn sites. Use a modern antivirus products (that are also updated).

If none of this makes sense or your not sure you have followed these instructions correctly, feel free to give RenoGeek a call to setup a service call to double check your security.