Symbian Mobile OS Targeted »

As more and more people opt for SmartPhones, it stands to reason that they will become juicer targets of malware and virus writers. That is apparently what is happening to some smart phones running the Symbian OS.

According to mobile anti-virus company NetQin there are new viruses targeting mobile phones disguised as hot topics like Free World Cup VOD.

Infection scenario: Smart Phone owner downloads an innocent game for their phone (some of those games are soooo cool). The game is infected w/ the ShadowSrv.A, FC.Downsis.A and BIT.NmapPlug.A mobile virus. That virus springs into action by sending SMS to all contacts listed in the phone with an interestingly titled link (Check out this World Cup video). Contact clicks on link in the message and is sent to a website hosting more viruses and then they are infected. And so on.

Right now, the Symbian OS is being targeted (S60 platform 3rd Ed. (Symbian OS 9.1) as well as S60 5th ed. (Symbian OS 9.4) which is used by Samsung, Sony Ericsson and Nokia. If you are using one of those brands, you should consider adding some type of mobile anti-virus (check with your Wireless Carrier for suggestions) and don’t click on any suspicious links you receive.

Animal Planet Hoarders »

Last year, when we donated the new website for the Carteret County Humane Society Animal Shelter in Newport, NC, we did so because we wanted to give the Shelter a tool they could use to help the animals and Oh, how the community has responded! The shelter has begun receiving regular online donations and lots of offers to volunteer from animal lovers with a little time to spare. Kudos to everyone that is helping out!

Candice sent me an email this week regarding a hoarding situation in Jacksonville, NC. Animal Planet is developing a new documentary program about how hoarding affects the animals and was in Jacksonville to cover an example. A well-meaning individual had taken in so many animals that she was unable to properly care for them and the animals were suffering without food or adequate care. Rescuers from the Humane Society of the United States, Saving Grace Animals for Adoption and Collie Rescue put out a call to local organizations alerting them to the situation and the Carteret Humane Society was one of the organizations to respond by sheltering 7 dogs, 5 puppies, 3 cats and 20 kittens.  Now the animals need our help.
Due to the economic issues that many are facing, many owners are turning in their pets and this is causing tremendous challenges for the Shelter. Now, with the addition of 30 animals, the task of finding homes is daunting. If you can help, a page of their website outlines some suggestions ranging from volunteering to making a tax deductible donation right through their website. Anything you can do will be EXTREMELY helpful both to the Shelter and to the animals.  Even if you are not in a position to donate or volunteer, alerting others to this situation is a great way you can help.

Leatherheads Movie Review OR How I Wasted an Hour »

My wife and I wanted to rent a movie and do the “home body” thing this past weekend, so Friday I went to our local video store to see what caught my eye.  We take turns selecting the movies and it was my turn.  The pressure was on.  My mouth was dry.

After wading through the TONS of movies out there, I was leaning toward a George Clooney movie: Leatherheads. My wife and I agree on most romantic comedies and with George Clooney and Rene Zellweger starring, surely this movie is going to be great!

I am also one of those people that scans the cover of the movie box to read the review snippets and there were two placed prominently on the cover to further convince me of the wise choice I was getting ready to make:

“Hilarious!” – Christina Vandre (KARE-TV)

“Clooney and Zellweger are comic gold.” – Kevin Steincross (Fox-TV)

Even though I had never heard of either of those two, I felt that surely they must be in the know when it comes to movies.  “They both work for TV stations”, I mused, “and TV stations are responsible for the things that display on people’s TV screens and movies are also shown on screens.”  The connection was obvious to me.

Selection in hand, I proceeded to the checkout.  In my world, things were moving perfectly.

Upon my arrival home, it became clear to me that my wife did not share my enthusiasm.  She was apprehensive about having to watch a “football” movie.  “But, honey”, I assured her, “two TV people said it was a score.  Look, right here on the cover.  Read that.”  I was confident that she could not deny my logic.  She was unimpressed.

Undaunted, I inserted the movie into the DVD player.  It was about that time that things fell apart.

Leatherheads could have been more entertaining were it made as a silent movie.  At least then there would be justification for keeping one’s eyes open and focused on the screen throughout as opposed to a) dozing off or b) reading the list of ingredients on the box of candy one was eating.

I have seen tomato plants that were more entertaining.

I cannot elaborate on the details of why this movie was a dud. Mainly because of these two reasons:

1. I dozed off in parts.
2. We turned it off halfway through, reasoning that we had already gambled and lost an hour of our lives and, since the movie was going to be 2 hours long, decided to not lose any more.

I can, however, tell you that a box of Good and Plenty candy has NO fat but does have nearly 150 grams of carbohydrates, most of that being sugar .

How to change your email Send/Receive settings »

Many times you may wonder why you have to click on the Send/Receive button to get your email. Shouldn’t it be automatic? Yes, it should be, but by default it is not. Here is how to have Microsoft Office Outlook automatically check for your email every 5 minutes.

1. Open Microsoft Office Outlook

2. Click Tools –> Send/Receive –> Send/Receive Settings –> Define Send/Receive Groups

3. You will see a box that looks like this:

Click the checkbox next to “Schedule an Automatic Send/Receive every “5″ minutes.”

4. Click Close

All done!

Top 10 Security Tips For Your Small Business Part 2 »

To continue our Top 10 list of simple (and mostly free) security tips for your small business.

7. Watch out for email attachments

Email attachments can be a wonderful thing. They allow people from all across the world to send pictures to family and friends, businesses to send documents to clients, and sometimes the occasional Powerpoint presentation that somehow didn’t make the trip can be sent directly to you in a matter of seconds. Though, for all of these wonderful things, email attachments can also be very harmful. Many of the most common and harmful viruses are spread through email. These will infect your machine as soon as you open the attachment. The main ways to avoid these nasty viruses are:
Never open an email attachment from someone you do not know. Only open an attachment if it is from someone you know and you were expecting it. If you are sending an attachment to someone else, let them know ahead of time. And last, but certainly not least, have an Anti-Virus program, such as Norton Anti-Virus (updated daily) that will scan incoming and outgoing emails for viruses.

6. Anti-Virus Software

Having a properly updated Anti-Virus program on your PC is crucial these days. Most Anti-Virus programs such as Norton Anti-Virus, Trend Micro, McAfee, and AVG all do updates daily in the background, so you don’t have to worry about it. Without an Anti-Virus program, accidentally opening the wrong attachment, or clicking on the wrong pop-up on a website, may open the door for spyware, adware, malware, and viruses to take over your PC.

5. Windows Updates and patches

I was just working on a PC yesterday and noticed that we are up to 93 Windows Updates AFTER the Windows XP SP2 update. That’s quite a few updates! Most of these updates are actually security patches for either Windows or the programs that are running with Windows, such as Microsoft Office, Windows Media Player, etc… These updates are important because they help to close “backdoors” that hackers have found that allow them to compromise your data and your privacy. Having some type of firewall, an anti-virus program and not opening strange email attachments will protect against most of your common threats. Though, to take it one step further and keep your data safe, set your Windows Updates to automatic and let it do it’s thing. There can be exceptions to this rule, though not commonly. Feel free to ask me any questions if you are having any troubles with your Windows Updates.

 Click here to see tips 8 through 10 and stay tuned until next time for the Top 4 security tips!