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Windows 10 October Update Issues

Reno Computer Repair - windows update
Reno Computer Repair – windows update

This week, Microsoft started pushing it’s latest update, (1809) to end users that manually check for updates. This update has now been put on hold after reports that the update is causing the O/S to delete documents and in some cases pictures and even whole folders. Microsoft has issued a statement asking users not to install the update if they already downloaded it.

The reasons for the data loss are not known just yet. Microsoft has started an investigation to find the cause and develop a fix. This will be a bit late for people that already had their files destroyed. Hopefully most of these users will have a backup of their files.

This will be too late for anyone that’s suffered data loss; although file recovery/undelete tools might be able to salvage the deleted files, the only reliable way of recovering them is to restore from a backup.

Just one more reason RenoGeek has always promoted a regular backup plan for all computer users.

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Why you must wipe your old computers

Reno Computer Repair - wipe hard drive
Reno Computer Repair – wipe hard drive

In the news today…
Canadian gadget retailer NCIX old computer equipment turned up on the second-hand market without ever being wiped, exposing the personal data of approximately 260,000 people.

We hear all the time of hackers breaking into computer networks to steal customer data. And companies spend billions worldwide to secure these networks. But it is often underreported that there is a huge security hole that people and companies almost never address, what happens to the data that’s on old systems?

Most people and many companies just dump their old systems, without doing anything to secure the data they hold. Which leaves this data ripe for the taking from the first dumpster diver that comes along. Also many people and companies sell their used computers on craigslist, ebay and other popular websites without addressing the issue of what happens to the data that was stored on these systems.

There is a growing trend of criminals that search for these systems as getting the login information for one bank account, credit card or your social security number could make them tens of thousands of dollars and they can get these systems for free (dumpster diving) or at very low cost (Craigslist / Ebay / Thrift store.)

While many people will spend days or even weeks picking their new computer, the sad thing is most don’t even spend 5 minutes planing what they will do with their old system.

The urban myth that you can just format a drive and be safe is untrue. As there are dozens of free utility programs on the Internet that will let somebody recover data from a recently formatted hard drive.

To be totally safe, old computer hard drives must be wiped with professional software that both encrypts the data that was stored on these drives and then overwrites this data with random data, to prevent others from retrieving what was on the old system.

As this is an operation most will not know how to do and won’t have the experience to verify was completed successfully, RenoGeek recommends that you hire a professional for this very last task your old computer must have done, before retiring it.

Otherwise you may have to deal with the consequences, sometimes years later, of your personal or customers data being released for the whole world to exploit.

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Got clean power?

Reno Computer Repair - Surge protection
Reno Computer Repair – Surge protection

As an onsite computer technician who makes around ten home and office visits a day, I see lots of computer systems hooked up to 5 and even 10 year old power strips. You know what I am talking about. Power strips tangled into knots, faded brownish yellow with a flickering power switch. Look under your desk right now. Own one? I bet you do.

These units were never made to last for the better part of a decade and while most think that powerstrips have built in surge protection, most in-fact do not have any such protection. And even the few powerstrips that do have surge protection can’t last forever and over time become less and less effective as they succumb to the thousands of minor (and major) surges they have blocked over their lifetimes. RenoGeek recommends you replace your old powerstrips with battery backup / surge protectors every 3 years.

Replacing your powerstrips with a real battery backup / surge protector can extend the life of your computer by years. Saving you more money than most cost and  avoiding sudden computer failures that can result in days of downtime and data loss.

Call RenoGeek if you should have any questions about protecting your computers. 775-313-1951

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WWW now dead?

Reno Computer Repair - www change
Reno Computer Repair – www change

Google has announced that in the next version of the chrome web browser, they will start automatically truncating the “www” out of typed addresses in the address bar. While this may seem a trivial change to many that are already use to skipping typing the full address of a website into their web browser. For some it may turn out to be confusing as it is a visual cue that you are at the correct website.

While I doubt that this will turn into a major issue. For some it could be problematic if they confuse where they wanted to be for something else and then go retyping the now wrong address or even get tricked into going to a lookalike fake website to take advantage of this confusion.

In addition it could be a headache for webmasters that are hosted with companies that consider www.myplace.com and myplace.com as really two different domains. Google did not say if this would also affect SEO efforts made by webmasters that might still be using the www format to link back to their domains.

UPDATE 9/17/18:

Google, after a large amount of online debate has said they will delay these changes at least until ver 70 comes out. And after more input from the public.

 

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Avast Antivirus update causing issues

It seems that the newest version of Avast (ver 18.6.2349) has been having issues with Malwarebytes. And the WebShield component of Avast maybe blocking all websites or at least causing connectivity issues that seem (to the end user) that their connections are down when trying to access websites.

The malwarebytes/avast issue has been reported to cause malwarebytes to crash when malwarebytes is running in “Real Time” protection mode.

At first Avast tried to blame the problem on Malwarebytes, but reversed their statements after the Malwarebytes team issued this statement…

  “Upon first discovering the conflict between Malwarebytes and Avast, Malwarebytes reached out to a product manager at Avast, who put us in contact with one of their Real Site feature developers. This developer initially indicated that there was a problem with Malwarebytes Web Protection driver implementation. After cooperation and receiving detailed analysis from our lead driver developer, Avast determined there was a flaw in their driver implementation. They have indicated they have a fix and plan to release an update, but they did not provide any timing. In the meantime any Malwarebytes users experiencing these issues are advised to disable Avast’s Real Site feature.”
And with my own customer base… I have a system in the shop that crashed one customers laptop after he ran the update and his issue was resolved after removal of Avast.

I found the recommend fix to turn off the Avast webshield component or Malwarebytes real time protection, to be a useless workaround because in essence they are telling their customers to turn off their antivirus products.  So what’s the point of having an antivirus program?

While some long time fans of Avast may wish to wait it out and see if they can fix the problem. RenoGeek recommends that Avast be removed from systems having these issues and be replaced with a stable antivirus product.

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New wave of fake anti-virus company calls hit’s Reno

Reno computer repair - fake antivirus warning
Reno computer repair – fake antivirus warning

Over the last few days the number of client’s either infected by or cold called by fake antivirus companies has increased by about 300 percent. While I have talked about these fakes for years now. It seems that more people get fooled with each new wave of attacks.

If anybody ever cold calls you about ANYTHING having to do with your computer hang up right away. It’s not a legitimate company trying to help you out.

If you get a popup on your computer telling you to call a toll free phone number to clean your computer, turn off your computer, wait a few minutes and restart it. If the popup does not come back you came across a infected website and may be okay.

If it comes back after restarting your system then you probably have an infection and you should call a computer technician ASAP for help.

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T-mobile announces they have been hacked

Reno Computer Repair - T-mobile logo
Reno Computer Repair – T-mobile Hacked

It is being reported that on Aug 20th T-mobile was hacked and some customer information was compromised.

Quoting from their announcement…

“Our cyber-security team discovered and shut down an unauthorized access to certain information, including yours, and we promptly reported it to authorities. None of your financial data (including credit card information) or social security numbers were involved, and no passwords were compromised. However, you should know that some of your personal information may have been exposed, which may have included one or more of the following: name, billing zip code, phone number, email address, account number and account type (prepaid or postpaid).”

While claiming some of their customers “Important” data did not get hacked, it’s pretty obvious that the information that they did loose in the breach is more than enough to reset user accounts (email addresses and phone numbers) which would let even an unskilled hacker get access to many users accounts.

T-mobile claims that this breach affected less than 3% of its 77 million customers. But as always Renogeek recommends that ALL T-mobile users change their passwords to be on the safe side.

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Windows 10 version 1809 comes out next month

reno computer repair windows updates
reno computer repair windows updates

Microsoft has announced that the new update to Windows 10 will be coming out in September.

The new version “1809”, will have a number of improvements and security fixes. One of the new promises from Microsoft is that after this update, future updates will be much smaller then in the past.

Quoting from Microsoft…
“We’ll be bringing a new design for quality updates to the next major versions of Windows 10 and Windows Server,” wrote Maliha Qureshi, a Microsoft program manager. This design creates a compact update package for easier and faster deployment.”

As we all know Microsoft has a habit of falling behind on update releases. But even if they miss the reported date, it seems a safe bet that consumers should be seeing this update sometime this fall.

Update: 9/3/18

Seems as par for the course that Microsoft has pushed the date back for this update till Mid October at least.

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Evidence the repeal of net neutrality is already hurting consumers

reno computer repair verizon-calfire
reno computer repair verizon-calfire

When the FCC ignored millions of comments and decided to repeal net neutrality, many thought that a floodgate of abuse would start by the major telcos and other communications companies.

While it seems they were smart enough not to hit everybody at once with higher rates and less service, there is a slow trickle of events that seem to point out how right consumer advocates were for being alarmed in the first place.

One case in point is Verizon’s throttling of the Santa Clara County Fire department during this summer’s Mendocino Complex Fire. California’s largest wildfire ever.

The fire department found that while an emergency response vehicle was deployed at the Mendocino Complex Fire, data rates were being throttled by Verizon to speeds that made the service unusable.

While this throttling may be just a minor headache on a weekend at a home trying to watch Netflix. I think anybody with average intelligence would be able to understand that being throttled in the middle of fighting a wildfire could turn deadly or at the very least cause widespread damage to property.

So as stated during the FCC hearings, net neutrality is not just an issue of convenience. In the 21st century where almost everything has to be connected to the Internet, it can be a matter of life and death.

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New Intel chip flaws found

Reno Computer Repair Intel logo
Reno Computer Repair Intel logo

Intel’s CPU’s  have been discovered to have yet another hardware flaw that exposes them to a major new vulnerability.

The flaw being called Foreshadow, has been identified by security researchers that claim all Intel CPU’s released after 2015 may be affected. This new flaw may also affect cloud based systems (aka servers). And even extends to virtual machines. A new first for this kind of  issue.

The flaw may let third parties or hackers access information on a Intel based CPU. The included list of affected CPUS include the company’s high-end Core and Xeon CPUs.