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Computer Tip of the Day: Power Management

Computers run more reliably when they don’t encounter power outages and brownouts.

A machine that suddenly loses power not only leaves documents unsaved but can suffer damage to both the hardware and the file structure. To keep this from happening, computers should run from an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). It’s an economical way to make them last longer and avoid data loss.

The Benefits of a UPS

A UPS contains a battery which is normally fully charged from the line current. The computer gets its power from the battery, even when current is available. This makes the voltage smoother, without dips and surges. Unstable line current shortens the life of any electronic equipment which is plugged directly into it.

Computers hold data in memory rather than writing every change immediately to the disk drive. This lets them run faster and use less power, but it means they will lose data if the power fails. The disk drive can be left in an inconsistent state, so file directories can be damaged. A UPS lets the machine keep running during a brief loss of power, and it allows time to shut down machines properly during a longer one.

Having UPS protection is useful with all machines that plug into the wall, but it’s a necessity with servers. Having them fail in an uncontrolled way is too big a risk.

Understanding UPS Ratings

The capacity of a UPS is measured in volt-amperes (VA) and watts. According to the textbooks, a volt-ampere is the same as a watt, but there’s a difference because of the way alternating-current devices work. The VA rating measures the “apparent power” drawn, which is larger than the actual power. The VA rating is the apparent power, and the watt rating is the actual power. The ratio of actual to apparent power is the power factor, which is always less than 1.

To figure out how much capacity you need in a UPS, take the power drawn by each device that you will connect to it; the label should give either watts or volts and amperes. Multiple amperes by volts to get watts. The total of their power requirements should be smaller than both the watt and VA ratings of the UPS.

A power supply should list both its VA and watt ratings, or else the VA and power factor (which lets you calculate the watt rating). Don’t go by just the VA number, even if it’s the more prominent one.

UPS Maintenance

The battery of a UPS has a limited life, and over time its capacity will shrink. Schedule replacement of all UPS batteries, if not the whole power supply, every two years.

An uninterruptible power supply is an inexpensive investment in the life of computer equipment. Every IT shop and home office should have at least one.

power management tips

Computer Tip of the Day: Rescuing Your Computer from Ransomware

Ransomware is a piece of software that sits somewhere between viruses and general programs. It is a type of program that can be used to lock your computer and make it close to impossible to gain access to your computer again until you agree to pay the person responsible money to release your computer to them with no guarantee they will agree to release your computer access to you again once you pay them.

While it would be ideal to not have to deal with ransomware in the first place and simply avoid having it get onto your computer at all, this will not always be possible and it is important to understand what you can do to see off ransomware if it does end up on your computer.

Removing Ransomware

Removing ransomware doesn’t have to be difficult and it can be as straightforward as you want it to be. The first step is recognizing that it is ransomware because you might well look at a virus and think it is ransomware. Recognizing that you have ransomware is the first step in removing it. The important things to keep in mind here are that Microsoft will not call you at your house, the software the ransomware claims to represent will not be your antivirus and anyone who actually wants to help will not disable your computer access until you pay them.

Once you recognize that you have a ransomware infected computer, it is time to start the process of removing it. The first thing to try is also something that can only be done if you are not using a Windows 8 or 10 computer: running it in safe mode with command line access and rolling back to a previous system restore point using the command line to open the restore utility, select a point to roll back to and restart your computer in the standard mode to see if it worked.

However, if you are using windows 8 or 10 or have disabled system restore points then you need another method. The best alternative is to find Windows Live Repair CDs online and burn the associated files onto your blank CD or USB drive. Once that is done, power down your computer after you insert the CD or USB drive into your computer.

Now, restart and hit the button that will open your boot menu and choose to boot from your CD or USB Drive. From there, just follow all the recommendations to remove the offending files and respond to all alerts. When this is done, remove the USB or CD and restart your computer. Your computer should now be free of all ransomware and you are done!

Ransomware is a serious problem that needs to be addressed ASAP. If you follow these tips, you should be able to remove it from your machine with few issues. However, if you need more help or additional tips on ransomware removal, contact us today!

ransomware

Computer Tip of the Day: Avoid Getting Hacked

Most people think that a computer virus is anything that can go wrong with a computer. When something goes wrong with a computer, it’s often said, “I’ve got a virus!” In order to browse the internet safely and avoid being “hacked,” it should be understood what viruses are and how to avoid them.

A computer virus is a software program written to exploit security flaws in Microsoft Windows, OS X (Macintosh), and software in general. If a software program in and of itself causes trouble, that is not a virus, though it might be called a “bug” by some people. So now that the definition of a computer virus has been made clear, what can be done to avoid contracting a virus and getting “hacked?” The following points are considered best practice and will help though they are not a hard, fast rule:

Use common sense
Don’t install software from untrusted websites
Don’t save passwords on your computer
Use browser security extensions

A computer is safe from being infected with a virus when it is not connected to the internet, although it’s possible in some rare cases to become infected with a virus without an internet connection. An internet connection from a computer opens the door to the prospect of infection by a computer virus. The second an internet connection is made, a computer user should proceed with caution. When a website seems odd or has too many flashy, inappropriate ads, that is a flag that the website could be a culprit for infection, directly or indirectly. Computer hackers can design websites to grab the attention of a computer user in order to persuade her to download tainted software, although a computer hacker can enable a website to outright exploit a security hole in a browser such as Firefox, Chrome, or Internet Explorer. In the latter case, a computer user does not have to download anything but merely has to visit a website to become infected.

In short, don’t download anything from a website that is not trusted. Do some investigating to see if there have been any complaints about a website that offers software to be downloaded. One way to accomplish this is to use a well-known browser extension called Web Of Trust. To help avoid those virus infections that occur without downloading anything, browser extensions such as NoScript can help. There is a learning curve to using these browser extensions but it’s well worth it.

Many browsers will allow saving passwords for quick access to websites that are visited. For example, a browser will allow saving a password for an e-mail service provider so that a password does not have to be entered every time the e-mail is accessed. It’s better to not save passwords in this manner because in the event a computer becomes infected with a virus, the virus could grab those saved passwords and reveal them to a computer hacker.

Antivirus software installed on a computer should be regarded as a last line of defense. It is not by any means meant to substitute common sense and caution when browsing the internet.

Please contact us for a consultation if there is a concern about computer security.

Password Protection – Computer Tip of the Day

One of the most important things to make sure you do when browsing the web or even just using your computer in general, is to make sure your passwords are as secure as possible in order to keep your data safe from hackers and keep your accounts secure from various kinds of attacks on your accounts and personal information.

What many people don’t seem to realize is that there are a number of different ways to get hacked that can be easily avoided by users, in theory. The most common methods currently used to try and break into your accounts are dictionary attacks, cracking security questions and social engineering. In addition, many people making hacking their accounts easier on hackers by setting extremely simple passwords which can be easily guessed or using the exact same password for multiple accounts.

Dictionary Attacks

Dictionary attacks are when a hacker figures out your password by trying a massive number of different options one after another until they manage to break into your account through repeated attempts. The primary method of avoiding having your account broken into like this is to is to avoid things like spelling words backward, common dictionary words and consecutive combinations of letters like qwerty, asdf and so on.

Breaking Security Questions

Quite a few people use common words or names like their first name, their pet’s name or their place of work as answers to their security questions and all of these things are extremely straightforward to figure out with a bit of research. You can easily make these questions much harder to figure out just by making the answers to your security questions something a lot harder to figure out as well as making them things that a potential hacker couldn’t find just by browsing your Facebook page.

Social Engineering

This is a fancy term for elaborate lies and it is an alternative to standard hacking. Social Engineering is where a hacker attempts to manipulate you into revealing certain pieces of confidential information like their email password or social security number.

Reusing Passwords

Using the same password on multiple occasions is generally not the best idea as it does make hacking you much easier. It also exposes multiple accounts to being hacked simultaneously as breaking the password on one account will allow a hacker access to every single account that uses that password.

For more tips and hints on how to protect your accounts from hackers, contact us today!

computer password protection tips

Computer Health – Computer Tip of the Day

Computer Health

It’s possible to keep a computer in optimal condition without much technical knowledge. To achieve this, keep the following points in mind:

Install sufficient hardware
Manage programs that run at boot-time
Keep the internal storage defragmented
Antivirus does not speed up your computer!

Whatever task a computer is used for, there would ideally be hardware installed that is fast enough to perform those tasks. For example, it’s not advised to run gaming software on a computer with a relatively low amount of RAM memory; the software manufacturer’s recommendations should be read to understand the hardware requirements for optimal performance of the software.

Once there is sufficient hardware installed, something a computer user should keep in mind is which programs will be allowed to run when a computer is powered on. When a computer program is installed, there is typically an option to make the program run automatically when the power is powered on. The problem is that if too many programs are set to run when the computer is powered on, it will cause the computer to boot-up relatively slow, and also cause the computer to run slow after it is fully powered on. It’s a common habit, often unrealized, to have too many programs running automatically when the computer is powered on.

Keeping a computer’s permanent internal storage device (hard drive) in optimal condition helps with speed. Running an operating system (such as Microsoft Windows) defragmenter on a normal schedule will keep the files stored on the hard drive in good order. Sometimes any given computer file can be fragmented which the defragmenter serves to mitigate.

Computer viruses are commonly misunderstood. A virus is a software program written to take advantage of a computer user by exploiting security “holes” in an operating system (such as Microsoft Windows), or computer program, commonly called an “app.” A virus is not just anything that can go wrong with a computer; it’s often believed this is the case. Installing an anti-virus program helps to fight against viruses; it does not help a computer to run faster. Though, overall, an anti-virus program can help a computer system to run better since it helps to protect against viruses.

Doing a search for subjects including keywords in this blog will aid as a learning tool to help understand computer maintenance.

Please contact us so that we may assist in computer health.

computer health tips