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In This Issue
· New Operating System Cautions
· Upgrade Your Browser
· Invitation
Considering
a Server for your office – Go Virtual with FITS. (More here)
Reduce hardware investment, Save
on Power and Cooling costs and get Disaster Recovery…
Easy and
Inexpensive Backup Solutions (Click Here)
Backing
up your data is critical for home as well as business computers. FITS has
solutions from no-cost to…
Web
Presence is Expected – Get Your Web Site Up & Running with FITS (Click
Here)
Want to give customers access to
your business 24 x 7? A web page is an inexpensive sales tool…
Is
your Wireless Network Secure...?
Your wireless network should
display a ‘lock’ symbol indicating it is secure, if not you are leaving your
data exposed. Contact FITS if you are not sure sales@FileBankIT.com or (416) 640-2874
…
March Community Spotlight :
Join FileBank in supporting Ernestine’s Women's Shelter
On April
28th 2010 at 6:30 FileBank will be at The Ernestine’s Affair 2010 Dinner
& Auction - (more info or click the
Ernestine’s link below)
– Hosted by Erin Davis – with Debra DiGiovanni
Join us and Inspire a better future.
Question of the Month:
The Olympics seemed to grab your attention so we will ‘go for gold’ this
month: How many Gold Medals did Canada win in 2010?
Send your response to info@FileBankIT.com
before Apr. 15, 2010 to be eligible to win a $30 Olympic Coin Set.
The winner of last issue’s prize was: Lisa
Scale – Enjoy your Olympic memorabilia. Thank-you for your responses and
yes, you can win more than once. J
Contact Us:
http://www.filebankit.com/
Info@FileBankIT.com
David Mielke
– Sales and Service Mgr.
(416) 640-2874
For more FileBank Services See:
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Before You Connect to the
Internet
If you’ve just bought a new computer (or are about to reinstall
your old faithful operating system) and can’t wait to hook it up and use the
internet - you should read this first.
 Experience has shown that hooking up
an unpatched computer (typical of new installations) to the web is a risky
venture as the machine can be infected within minutes. (I’ll focus on the
Microsoft world as they hold over 90% of the market however, the basics will
still apply.)
First off, you will need
to prepare a few things to better protect yourself such as a disk or flash
drive loaded with a current Anti-Virus program, updated driver disks, Updated
Windows software patch disk (If there has been a major patch released since
your disk version E.g. SP3). Using this method you can delay connecting to
the Internet until after you have updated your vulnerabilities.
I recommend you have the
computer attached to the Internet via a properly configured router (instead
of directly connected to your service provider’s modem) as this adds another significant
layer of protection for your systems. It’s an additional expense however it
avoids your computer getting an (IP) address which is accessible to the
masses. (Read – you are more visible on the Internet)
Next establish a
password for the Administrator account and setup necessary user accounts.
Standard User accounts are safer for everyday use as they are restricted from
higher level access – which can prevent certain attacks. Passwords offer
another layer of protection or at least slow down an attacker should they get
this far.
At
this point I usually will turn off or uninstall a whole series of programs,
features and services as often the new system is loaded up with trial or
unwanted programs that will only serve to take up resources.
Make sure your firewall
is on (use Windows firewall or a third-party application) and unless you are
comfortable reviewing security releases turn on Automatic Windows updates.
Install your Anti-virus
program (I like AVG as they offer a free version to the home user. Download
AVG Note: Do not have more than one
Anti-virus program running on your computer as this will cause problems.)
Hook up all necessary
peripherals (printers, scanners, etc.)
Now is a good time to create
your first System Restore Point which can establish a fall back position just
in case we need one later.
It looks like we are
finally ready to connect, but before you go to check out the happenings of
your favourite celebrity or hit YouTube or facebook go directly to the Windows
Update page and finish what we
started here.
BTW
– When you purchase a new system from FileBank we do all this for you… J. Contact
FITS Sales@FileBankIT.com (416) 640-2874 for a no-obligation quote on a new system.
Time
to Upgraded your IE Browser
If you still have not upgraded your Microsoft Internet
Explorer program to version 8, a new threat has arrived and I suggest you
upgrade now. (Both Internet Explorer version 6 & 7 are affected. More details at Microsoft.)
 To check to see what version you have, open ‘Internet Explorer’
and select ‘Help’ and then select ‘About Internet Explorer’, if it doesn’t
indicate version 8 you need to go here to upgrade. (Firefox, Opera or
Chrome users should also get the relevant latest version for similar
reasons.)
Microsoft issued
a warning about the vulnerability, which it said was being targeted in
attacks and could allow an attacker to take control of a computer… How is
that for an incentive to upgrade? Apparently ‘researchers’ (Grey/White hat
hackers?) have already developed code to exploit this fault… so the (Black
hat) hackers can’t be far behind…or, more likely, they are already there.
(Sean-Paul Correll of Pandalabs has a fascinating look behind the scenes here
if you speak geek.)
Oh, and according
to another Microsoft Bulletin XP users may not want to be touching that F1
key while on-line for a bit either. (See Microsoft MSA 981169 for more
information.)
For more information on security and backup
solutions, for business or home, contact FITS. (Sales@FileBankIT.com or 416 640-2874)
Upcoming Charitable Events
 As part of
FileBank’s corporate culture we are involved in our local community by volunteering
at and attending events of our chosen charities. As such, we will be
attending The Ernestine’s Affair (in support of Ernestine’s Shelter) next
month and extend an invitation for you to join us there as well.
If you can’t
be there in person the shelters are always accepting donations or items for
their silent auctions & fundraising. Below is a list of the
organizations FileBank is involved with in Etobicoke as well as their
respective fundraising events:
Ernestine’s
Shelter- The Ernestine’s Affair – Wednesday April 28th
Women’s Habitat Shelter - 5th annual Girls' Night Out -
Thursday, June 17th
Youth Without Shelter - On The Right Track...Racing
Towards a Solution – Sunday June 27th
For more
information please feel free to contact me (or one of the shelters directly)
at Sales@FileBankIT.com or (416) 640-2874.
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prefer not to receive our FITS Newsletter please let me know by clicking here:
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