When I was first starting out I was very eager to please. I still am, but not to the point where I would start losing money because of it.
In the early days if one of my clients asked for an account (that is, so they can pay later) then I would pretty much always give them one because I was so eagar to please.
I learnt the hard way that people will not always pay their bills regardless of what you do, but you can minimise the risk. In this article, I’ll show you how you can make sure you get paid and why you should be tough.
Read the rest of this entry »

A software titled Cryptic v2.3 has been detected by Sophos as malware.

They have two screen shots about the program. The first one is what the file looks like when a user runs it. The second image shows the ‘About’ section which shows the name of the author, the build date, and a disclaimer.

The software is supposed to encrypt users’ files to prevent people from reverse engineering them. Sophos detected it as Troj/Crypdrop-A. The author of the blog post, Numaan Huq, says that this Trojan drops more malware and it also attempts to contact a remote server.

Source: Sophos

Sophos has posted an entry in their SophosLabs blog about an email which says that a nuclear catastrophe has happened in Switzerland.

They have an image of the email and a screen shot of the web page from a link in the email. The web page is suppose to show a video but users need to install a codec before they can watch them. The author notes that nothing happened even though he already installed a codec with a file name of iPIX-install.exe. He found out that the file is a virus when he run Sophos’ Anti-Virus software. The software detected it as Troj/Agent-GSX. He notes that the software blocked it before it could do any harm to his computer.

Source: Sophos

This week I encountered a computer repair job that went bad. I’ve had experience dealing with jobs gone bad in the past and I have learnt how to avoid them in most cases. However, I think this one was unavoidable. Heres my story.
Read the rest of this entry »

The first service pack will be released on March 19 according to Amazon which lists the retail version of Vista SP1 to be available next Wednesday.

It was released during the first week of last month but only to beta testers. Current Vista users will be able to download and install this service pack starting on Tuesday according to a Malaysian web site.

“In mid-March, we will release Windows Vista SP1 to Windows Update and the download center on microsoft.com. Customers who visit Windows Update can choose to install Service Pack 1. Any system that Windows Update determines has a driver known to not upgrade successfully will not be offered SP1,” said a Microsoft spokeswoman.

Source: COMPUTERWORLD

A few anti-malware firms announced that Phorm is an adware although Phorm and its ISP partners stated that their procedure is 100 per cent compliant with the Data Protection Act and RIPA.

“The nature of Phorm’s monitoring of all user web activity is certainly of some concern, and there is a very high chance that Trend Micro would add detection for the tracking cookies as adware in order to protect customers.” said Trend Micro to The Register.

“The Webwise system is certainly not adware. We welcome the chance to brief Trend Micro on our privacy enhancing technology and why it would be inappropriate to classify it in any other way,” responded Phorm to Trend Micro’s statement.

Source: The Register

A new e-book has been released which is designed to help most Windows users on finding their way to a Mac operating system. The titled of the e-book is Take Control of Switching to the Mac and it was released earlier today.

It tells the reader what type of information that they need when choosing which Mac computer to buy, how to choose which Mac applications to do their work on, printing files, making a network, and other guides.

The price of the e-book is $10 and people can purchase and download it at the Take Control site.

Source: The Mac Observer

Sony’s Blu-ray disc technology will be supported in Windows operating system according to a confirmation from Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer at the Mix ‘08 conference which occurred in Las Vegas.

“We have already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like, and I think the world moves on. Toshiba has moved on. We have moved on, and we will support Blu-ray in ways that make sense,” said Ballmer.

Even though Blu-ray technology won a few weeks ago, it wasn’t clear whether Microsoft would support the rival format of HD DVD which is the format that is being used in their Xbox 360 console.

Source: Techtree

In the past we have posted a tool called Dead Pixel Buddy used to detect dead pixels. Now, we’re posting a tool that can actually FIX dead pixels. “Dans Dead Pixel Fixer “is a very small, stand alone, portable tool that is based on the concept that flashing RGB colors over a dead or stuck pixel will “unstick” it. Many technicians have had great success with this tool. Including myself.
Read the rest of this entry »

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 6 months. You have probably heard that a recession is most likely going to happen this year. From what I have been hearing from many different people in many different fields, its already here. But, will it affect Computer Technicians? Read on.
Read the rest of this entry »