Are You Vulnerable?

There are a couple of things that can really ruin your day when it comes to using your computers. The biggest issue our customers face is Malware (viruses, trojans, spyware, etc.), followed closely by compromised security. Protecting yourself from both is really not that difficult.

There are several providers of anti-Malware software. The trick is to find one you're comfortable with. We like eSet's NOD32 (Save 25% on ESET NOD32 Antivirus System. Download Now!), but there are others like AVG from Grisoft that work well. We aren't too keen on some of the big-name brands. They tend to take up a lot of system resources and slow down your computer.

There is one critical elememt that so many people forget about: virus definitions need to be current. If you have a laptop or if you turn your desktop off at night, your anti-virus program may not be getting updated. Without the updates, new viruses can sneak past even the best anti-virus program. Your anti-virus protection also has a license that will expire after a period of time (usually a year). If you don't renew your protection, it will not update.

The other critical element is security. If you use wirless networks (at home or on the road) you need to be especially vigilant. On a wireless network you need to implement some sort or encryption (called WEP or WPA). This will slow down anyone who wants to poach your Internet connection or access your data. But encryption is kind of like a deadbolt on your door. It's good, but someone who really wants to get in can. So what do you do?

Setting passwords on your user accounts is a good start, but for less than $50 anyone can by software on the Internet that will bypass these locks in short order. And many computers have simple passwords - or no password - on hidden accounts. Your real protection comes from putting secure passwords. I posted a blog on the Byte Slaves Bits site that has more information on this and other ways to secure your data.

The bottom line is this: If you're using a PC then you need to be extremely careful about exposing yourself to viruses. Even makes are becoming targets now, and if you share files between PCs and Macs you can share viruses. If you have a ny sensitive data on your computer, user-level passwords aren't much of a deterrent. You need to lock your data down at the program level or encrypt your entire hard drive. And, no matter what you do, if someone REALLY wants your data, they can get at it eventually. But unless you've got nuclear launch codes or something like that, basic protection is as good as the deadbolt on your front door. Theives will move on to easier targets.

"Tis The Season

I'd like to take a Time Out from technology and see if I can't raise some money for the Salvation Army. Times are tough many this season, but there are some that are in desperate need. The Salvation Army does a lot of great things in our communities. Please help them help others.

"Tis The Season

I'd like to take a brief Time Out from talking about making money to focus on Giving. I want to help the Salvation Army raise some cash. The programs they sponsor in our local communities are outstanding. Business may be tough for us, but life is a lot tougher for others.

OfficeLive Is Up - Finally

Yesterday I actually got a call from an escalation tech. Of course he called the office and got voice mail. Never mind that I told everyone I talked to to make sure the cell number was primary. Wouldn't have mattered anyway. He was telling me that the escalation folks had determined my problem was complicated enough to be referred to product development. Only they were doing a softeare update (in the middle of the day?) and so it wouldn't go through until the afternoon.

I called my speed dial buddies for an update again at the end of the day. Much to my surprise I was told access had been restored (no mention of the cause of the problem). He also said that everyone had been talking about the Vista/IE lockup problem. Seems the OfficeLive code doesn't play well with Google Analytics. Never mind that it seems to work on pretty much any other site and with every other browser and OS except for Vista and IE. But it was my problem, not theirs. Once I removed the tracking code from all the pages everything seems to work. Supposedly there are work-arounds out there somewhere. Time to start digging.

Total down time: five days

Wednesday Update

I called for my mid-day update. Seems whatever Carrie did last night is now undone. I was unable to log in again. Locked out of everything. I was told the escalation team has been in my file a lot, but no updates.

I still need to find out why most of my entries have three or more instances and how I'm going to resolve that.

OfficeLive - The Saga Continues

Well, I talked to someone today (and she actually admitted that she COULD talk to the escalation team) who tried yet again to reset my password. Ooops. It didn.t work. Again. But it did reset the 24-hour clock. So now I'm locked out for another day. I was basically told "don't touch anything and don't call us, we'll call you.

Later when I want to post to forums and blogs or do anything else that requires my Microsoft Live ID/Passport didn't work. So I hit speed dial and got Carrie. Sweet Christmas! She actaully got me logged in! Best of all, she admitted to me that a person from the escalation department was there and said she was going to march over there and see if he could expedite my case.

I'm afraid it may cost the poor girl her job, but if so she can come to work for me anytime. I think she actually gets it!

I still can't get to my Web site designer, and my site still doen't come up for m ost visitors, but at least now I can look at all my contacts. Almost all of which are now in triplicate. Some are entered five times or more. *sigh* Here's another long process I'll probably have to pay someone to handle.

And we'll see if I can still access my site by down's early light.

Sanity Check

I'm looking for some validation here before I go too far down the path of anger and frustration. Please read the next few paragraphs - just a couple of minutes of your time. Or just the paragraph in red if you're really in a hurry. If you think I'm blowing things out of proportion then shoot me an email, post your thoughts here or just close this page. If you think I'm on target, please email anyone you think can help, whether it's advice or someone working at Microsoft. We can prove the "six degrees of separation" theory again and maybe spare some other sap from the frustration I'm experiencing.

Short story: I've Been working for the last three weeks or so to build a new Web site with Microsoft's OfficeLive. I even wrote a glowing article in the Snohomish County Business Journal about this great product. Come Friday evening all the magic stuff to transfer byteslaves.com to the OfficeLive (OL) servers had been done. The pages were all tested and - except for some content - we were ready to go.

Saturday morning problems showed up on the OL side. I contacted support and a helpful agent found some "behind the scenes" problems. More of this Saturday evening and another call to support and more behind the scenes work. I called it a night with plans to finish Sunday. Logged into the control center but could not access the Web design feature. "Technical difficulties - try later" said the message. Finally I calledthe supportnumber in my soeed dial. The woman I talked to managed to lock my accounbt by entering the wrong login information too many times. Can't fix that. I'm locked out for 24 hours. With no recourse.

I finally convince her to get a supervisor. Rules is rules he says. Try it again tomorroew night. More discussion and he finally agrees to open a troubel ticket. Twenty-four hours go by, I try again, still no joy. I also find I (and my customers) can't access my site using Vista and IE7. Great. Some even complain about XP. Locks up the browser. I call my speed dial buddies again.
I talk to a guy who tells me 1) he can't help, it's in the other department. 2) I can't talk to anyone in that department. 3) He can't give me a status. 4) There's no one that can give me a status. 4) There's no one I can call or write to with complaints about the service. I have to wait 24 hours. Excuse me? This is "support?"

Today, as I write this, I'm talking to my speed dial buddies. Oops. They goofed again. It's going to be ANOTHER 24 hours before I MIGHT have access. And still no status and no one else I can talk to. No estimate on when my visitors might be able to successfully visit my site.

I want to send a message to these folks that it is NOT OK to provide this kind of service to any customer. I know my problem will get resolved one way or another eventually. But if we don't make ourselves heard, who's going to hold big business accountable? They couldn't care less if I close my account. So tell me what you think I should do. Get your friends to weigh in. Help me rattle some cages.