1. Add a link to our Email providers status page to our favorites.
2. Create a contact with the support phone number and address for your Email provider.
3. Create a backup account for redundancy.

How to add a link to your providers status page

Providers don’t want to have to manually respond and tell their thousands of customers one at a time about trouble with their service. For that reason they provide status pages and even RSS feeds with updates on service issues. One of our hosting partners is Rackspace for example, they provide a status page that shows what is happening with all of their services:

Excerpt of Status Page at Rackspace

What you see in this example is the motivation for this article, Rackspace is experiencing connectivity issues with their Email accounts. To find the status page for your provider search the web for ” Email status page”. Here are some common providers status pages, not all providers give easy access:

• Hotmail (Windows Live)
• Rackspace
• Google Apps (Gmail and Apps)
• Yahoo (via “Down Right Now”)

Critical Support Contact Details

Find and save the contact details for support at your Email provider. There might be a time where you only have access to your phone and it might be impractical to access the status page depending on your situation. If you are driving down the road for example, it’s a whole lot easier to make a phone call using your hands free smart phone than pull over and research or read the status of an issue. This will also help you determine if it’s just you or if there are problems elsewhere out of your control. Most tech support departments deal with a wide variety of problems and can offer you with some basic troubleshooting tips if the issue is on your end.

Create a Backup Email Account for Redundancy

This is perhaps the most critical preparation step you can make, because if you ever face a pro-longed outage this could save you a lot of lost productivity. The steps are relatively simple.

1. Pick a back up provider (I use Gmail) and establish an account.
2. Setup your current Email to forward all messages to the newly established account (be sure to enable the option to “save a copy of all forwarded messages”).

In the event of an outage, you can then revert to the backup account and you should have the majority of the messages you received prior to that outage. In some cases the forwarding might be working even though you cannot check Email. This provides another opportunity to limit the effect a problem might have on you. This backup account can also be useful in other ways.

Extra uses of your Backup Email Account

Having a backup Email account can be very useful, here are some other tips to get more out of it.

1. Having delivery problems to a particular recipient? Use the backup account and see if it has something to do with your main address or domain.
2. Blind CC: everything you send from your main account to the backup account, you will then have another log (other than sent items) of all your messages sent.
3. Having problems receiving Emails? You can test sending to your primary account to see if there is a problem not being addressed by your vendors status page.
4. Use it when a site or service requires you to provide an Email address to get access to something. You can receive the confirmation on the backup account and keep your main account free from future messages from that entity.

Add your own tips, questions or feedback in the comment section below or via Email.

If you browser doesn’t support Flash or you do not see the video you can view it on You-Tube.

Have you received any of these messages yet?

The Problem

The problem is two-fold, for starters the Microsoft Outlook Junk filtering is highly un-reliable. Too many messages you want to receive will end up in the junk folder forcing you to have to go find them. Couple that with the changes with Rackspace Exchange 2010 that require you to enable the junk filter or all the messages hit your inbox and you see an obvious problem.

A Solution

After discussing this in depth with Rackspace and hoping they would come up with a better solution, it became evident that they have no plans to change anything for now. In the meantime the best work around is to utilize the flag that they use tip off Outlook that the message is spam is via a simple line they add to the header:

X-Spam-Flag: YES

Instead of enabling the Junk Filter and fighting with it, you can create a custom rule in Outlook to filter these messages to a folder of your determination. In my case I used the Junk E-Mail folder that is essentially disarmed right now (filtering is turned off). You may wish to consult with your favorite/company IT professional before doing this.

Adding the filter

Here is a simple step by step procedure for Outlook 2010 these instructions assume Junk E-Mail filtering is already turned off on Outlook (this article demonstrates how to disable Junk Filtering):

1. In the Home tab of Outlook click Rules | Create Rule.
2. Click “Advanced Options”
3. Scroll down and check the condition “with specific words in the message header”
4. Click “specific words” and add: “X-Spam-Flag: YES” (minus the quotes) to the search list.
5. Click next, then check the box next to move it to the specified folder.
6. Click “specified” under the rule description and select the Junk Email folder.
7. Click next until you get to the finish rule setup screen, pick a name for the rule and check the box to run it now if you have spam in your inbox already (pictured).

Do you have a question about this article?

Leave a comment below, ask on our Facebook page or contact us.

This weeks Danville Tech Guy question comes from Dave Y. Dave asks:

I am looking for a solution to archive a pile of digital images to get them off of my Mac’s hard drive. Would love a solution where there are two mirrored copies of each file in case one drive gets fried. I’m hardware illiterate but I feel like I’ve heard RAID is a good option. Maybe you know of something better?

Any recommendations for what I should buy? – Dave Y.

I am sure a lot of people run into this issue as most of us as digital video, images and music are the standard. Since we’re talking about data into the 100′s of gigabytes in most cases online backup may not be practical nor does it free up space on your hard drive so it really does make sense to look at RAID. (RAID stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks – more at Wikipedia). I would recommend two things:

1. A good local or network RAID device
2. Off-site storage solution (backup)

Local or Network RAID Device

A good local (connected directly to your computer) or network (accessed through your network) RAID device will provide you with easy access to your files and protect them from a single hardware failure, generally speaking more disks = more protection with RAID. The easiest way to determine if you want local or network access depends on if you want multiple users to easily be able to access the device. Having worked with a number of different devices I find the Drobo units to be the most friendly for the typical home user. They have a number of models but the standard Drobo is nice as it has 4 drive bays. You can easily calculate how many drives and what size you will need using their calculator tool. If you still want RAID but want to do it on a budget just about any name brand hard drive manufacturer offers an External USB device with 2 disks to suite your needs. It would be worth looking to see what Seagate and Western Digital have to offer and there are other companies that specialize in these kinds of devices as well. I do tend to shy away from these products in general because of thermal issues and longevity problems associated with them. If you do decide to go the less expensive route just make sure the device has RAID 1 (Mirror) capability and that you configure it that way (a 4GB device will be 2GB if you use it Mirrored for example).

Off-site Storage Solution

This is a must Dave, if you have 100′s of GB of media content you obviously want to protect it. Just storing it on one RAID device is not at all sufficient. There are two simple options for this. One is to get an account with an online backup provider. I work with several solutions but I’d recommend SOS Online Backup based on my experience with their product. It is a product that will scale and you know what you are paying for. I tend to avoid the companies that offer unlimited data storage because it’s not really unlimited, if you reach a certain level they will force you to remove some files, make you pay more or terminate your account. The other option is to use an External USB storage device and keep that device in a different location than your RAID device is located. You will need to periodically update the files on the device. A good way to do this is to set asside an hour or two per month where you do computer maintenance. During that time you can run any updates you might have missed, run your backup, blow dust off your machine with canned air, and anything else that might need to be taken care of.

Do you have an IT Question?

Please visit this article if you’d like to learn how you could have your question featured on this blog or you can always swing by our Facebook page and ask your question there as well.

This week’s Danville Tech Guy question comes from Danville Patch reader Lisa. Lisa asked:

“What is the best anti-virus software out there? There are so many now and it’s really confusing to try to compare what will work the best.”

This is a great question, and we’re all in search of that secret sauce to keep our computers safe from harm while we travel the World Wide Web. Part of the confusion I believe stems from the fact that there are a number of different (but related) products to address different parts of the security equation. The result you are looking for I assume is to protect your computer and privacy from compromise by someone who would like to harm or steal from you. I’m going to talk a little bit about what the products are, what they do and make some suggestions. Ultimately the best product to use is probably the one that the person that supports you if there is a problem recommends. How you use your computer: the sites you visit, the communications you receive, the programs you use are actually the biggest factor in how secure you will be. The best advice I can give you is to take time to learn about how to be a safer computer user; perhaps I can tackle that in a future column.

Antivirus and other security products

We have seen an evolution from what was once simply Antivirus software into a massive industry with several key components:

1. Antivirus
2. Anti-Malware
3. Security Suites
4. Other security products

Antivirus

This is the traditional product that has a real time scanning component that based on definitions (known virus signatures) or heuristics (virus-like features) blocks certain files from running on your computer. For most people this is the backbone of their protection scheme. My company recommends Eset NOD32 for this role but there are plenty of other good products on the market place.

Anti-Malware

Most antivirus products include signatures (how the software detects the bad programs) in their definition sets but it is often useful to use Anti-Malware products as well. There are two that I’d recommend Spybot Search and Destroy and Malware Bytes Anti-Malware. Spybot has an inoculation process that definitely can help protect you from a lot of common malware passively by making some changes to your computer.

Security Suites

These products include Antivirus, Anti-Malware, Firewalls and other components. I am not a big fan at all of these products because they are very invasive and often prevent you from doing things you want to do. They also have a level of interaction and training where a user could easily allow something they shouldn’t while “training” the system. That time and effort can be better spent elsewhere.

Other security products

There are lots of products that creatively attempt to solve the security equation. One of the products that I’ve grown to love is Sandboxie. Sandboxie allows you to run programs isolated from your operating system. That means if you happen to execute a virus file within the sandbox it will only affect that sandbox not your operating system overall. This greatly reduces the risk to your system. Unfortunately configuring and learning to use this software correctly requires a time investment. The time invested is well worth it though as you will be able to much more confidently access the web.

The short answer:

Eset NOD32 is the product I would recommend with the understanding that no software will ever be 100% and your willingness to learn about security and privacy issues will be a valuable asset.

Do you have an IT Question?

Please visit this article if you’d like to learn how you could have your question featured on this blog or you can always swing by our Facebook page and ask your question there as well.

This weeks Danville Tech Guy question comes from Patch Reader Mrs. G. She asked:

“What’s the best way to remove your personal data before disposing of a PC?” -Mrs. G

This is a great question and I am happy that you asked in Mrs. G. We are all storing so much personal information on our computers these days. The loss of a computer could have a significant impact on our privacy and open us up to identity theft and a host of other problems. There are a number of options to ensure that our private information does not become compromised when we dispose of a computer. Based on skill, I am going to suggest three options.

1. Use a disposal company that can provide you with a certificate of data destruction.
2. Remove the hard drive and store it in a safe place.
3. Run a disk wiping utility that destroys the data.

Using a disposal company that can provide a certificate of data destruction (for novices).

We use a local e-waste company (E-Waste Direct) they and some other firms can provide a certificate of data destruction for the computers they recycle on your behalf. This is the easiest way to avoid having your data get into the wrong hands but you are relying on a third party to do so. Be very cautious and research the company’s reputation before selecting this option. Chances are if they don’t know what a certificate of data destruction is you should keep looking, and that is the first question I would recommend you ask.

Removing and storing the hard drive(s) (novice and up)

Depending on how the computer was designed this can be simple to difficult to do. Hard disks have a very distinct appearance (you can see examples here) and usually have zero (tool-less) to 4 screws. Since you are disposing of the computer do not worry about harming it. The recyclers are going to take it apart anyway.

Using a disk wiping utility (for professionals)

If you know how to create disk images using an ISO file then this moderately more difficult option is very effective at sanitizing a hard disk by completely wiping all data off of it. Most professionals use this method but it can be difficult. There is a free program called dban or Darik’s Boot and Nuke (www.dban.org). If you download the ISO file they provide and boot from the Dban CDROM you can automatically wipe or “nuke” any hard drives in the computer.

Figure out which method works best for you and don’t hesitate to do a little more research and ask more questions Mrs. G. – Joe

Have an IT Question?

Please visit this article if you’d like to learn how you could have your question featured on this blog or you can always swing by our Facebook page and ask your question there as well.

Data Destruction image compliments of Robert Emperley, Creative Commons.

For your convenience and to learn more on how to protect yourself you can also check out this video:

Video not displaying? You can also view it on Youtube.

Here is the entire text of the message (added to properly index this article with the search engines):

Attn: Financial Department

By this message we would like to inform you about the recent alterations in the FDIC insurance coverage for transaction accounts.

During the period from December 31, 2010 to December 31, 2012 all the money in a “noninterest-bearing transaction account” are insured in full by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Please note, that this measure is temporary and separate from the FDIC’s common deposit insurance regulations.

The term “noninterest-bearing transaction account” includes a traditional checking account or demand deposit account on which no interest is paid by the insured depository institution.

For detailed information about temporary FDIC insurance coverage of transaction accounts, please view the official site link.

Yours sincerely,
Tad Melendez.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Browser doesn’t show flash or video not displaying? You can also view it on Youtube.

Updated 1/14/2012 10:25PM UTC-8: Chrome is already reporting the URL in the video as a suspected phishing site.

Updated 1/15/2012 7:05PM UTC-8: The fake site is still up and running. I decided to go and report it to the ISP, unfortunately it’s in China and they probably won’t do anything about it.

Updated 1/16/2012 11:33PM UTC-8: This thing is picking up steam in spite of efforts to build awareness. If you receive one of these messages be sure to tell the person who sent it to you to change their twitter password. Presently whoever is pharming these accounts is not locking the owner out by changing the password. This could change at any point. Also just keep in mind if you use the same password for multiple things you should change the others also as this password list is likely to circulate in nefarious circles. Here is a Tweet spotted tonight after just glancing at the Twitter stream.

Updated 1/17/2012 2:39PM UTC-8: Surprisingly something simple that would be dead if it wasn’t hosted in China (any ISP in the USA/Western Countries would have taken this site offline within 6-8 hours) appears to be gaining steam. A coalition of humorous and fed up folks setup a gag site about it. I won’t ruin it for you, you can check it out at didyouseewhattheysaid.com. I will say this, I got a chuckle out of it.

The two things you should know if you own or are responsible for any wireless access points are:

1. There is no practical universal solution to the problem.
2. You may have to use the hacking tools themselves to be 100% certain you are not vulnerable.

If you feel you have anything someone might want to steal, the smartest thing might be to just disconnect the wireless access point or turn it off. Then live without it until the manufacturer has clear information on your make and model of wireless device. Of course if your wireless access point is also your Internet Router this could be problematic.

There are more questions than answers right now and while you can’t tell with certainty if you are not vulnerable a list is being compiled of devices that have been confirmed to be vulnerable. You can access the WPS Vulnerability Testing Document to find devices that have been confirmed.

Known and potential solutions

Solutions to this issue will be updated here as they become available

Belkin (Does not note if this fully disables WPS!)

Netgear (Home Routers)

Additional Resources

Vulnerability Note VU#723755 (US-Cert)

Special thanks to @Shonali for sharing the Bart Simpson Chalkboard Generator.

It’s time to add a new acronym

For some time now we’ve all learned that windows/operating system updates are pretty important but there are emerging threat vectors that also need to be addressed. Back in early 2009 a huge ramp up in volume of Adobe PDF and Java updates occurred. Since that time those two have become two very popular sources of computer exploitation. Add that to some recent nasty Flash exploits and you have the makings of a new acronym:

Always update JAFO:

Java
Acrobat
Flash
Operating System (Critical Updates Windows, etc)

Extra credit for the techie types, remember when Microsoft had their own Java Virtual Machine?