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Welcome to February! I hope you were all safe and cozy during our recent monster snow storm, and that the groundhog will deliver good news on the 2nd!
The SOTM for February is the very convincing browser virus infection warning, which has been an ongoing problem for years. Hopefully this article will keep you from falling for it. Next, the best way to keep your Mac or PC backed up. And lastly, my quarterly Facebook Roundup, with links to articles you might find useful.
Stay warm and well, spring will be here before you know it!
Regards,
Julie Marto
508-359-8176
508-333-8176 (cell)
P.S. Slow computer? Drop it off for a tune up and clean up!
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Scam of the Month - Infected Computer Alert |
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I see so many scam and hack attempts that I am adding a feature to my newsletter - Scam of the Month. In these articles, I hope to explain common scams, how to avoid them, and what to do if you fall for one.
The Scam of the Month for February is a screaming virus alert in your browser, which will often seem to lock up your computer until you call them. This is one of the most common scams I clean up after.
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How it works: This scam is actually a pop-up ad - you are not infected, but the website your visited is. When you land on an infected website, a fake alert seems to take over your entire computer. It might make a lot of noise, or have flashing video. It will probably say it's from Microsoft, or Apple, or Norton, or some other trusted company (it is not) and it will have a very prominent number to call for support. There will be no obvious way to get rid of the alert, and it might warn you that turning off your computer will damage your data (it wont).
What they are trying to do: This is a classic fake tech support scam. The idea is to scare you into calling them and letting them "fix" your computer by logging on to it. Once logged on, they will launch into a script to show you "infections" and "viruses" and then try to charge you as much as they think they can get away with to "repair" things for you.
What else can happen: As I have said in previous newsletters, once you let a scammer onto your computer, they have carte blanche to do whatever else they want. This includes stealing passwords and financial information, and leaving behind software that tracks your keystrokes. I cannot emphasize enough that you do NOT want to allow anyone you don't know and trust to log onto your system.
How to avoid the scam: If you see one of these fake tech support pop-ups, your first step is to simply restart your computer. If you can't restart because your system seems locked up, just hold the power button down for about a minute until the system fully shuts down, then press it again to restart it. When your system starts up again, tell it not to reopen any previous applications.
If the pop-up returns even after restarting your system, which can happen if your system is set to automatically reopen any applications that were open when you shut it down, you will need to force quite your browser following these steps:
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PC: Hold down ctrl-alt-delete at the same time. A window will pop up - choose "Task Manager". Look for the name of your browser (Chrome, Edge, Firefox) in the box that pops up. Click on it, and choose "end task". When you reopen your browser, make sure to choose a new session, rather than restoring the old session
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Mac: Click on the "Finder" - the little two headed icon in the lower left. Then, click on the "Apple" menu in the upper left. Choose "Force Quit". Look for your browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox) in the list of open applications, choose it, and choose "Force Quit". Again, make sure you choose not to restore your previous session.
Preventative Action - I highly recommend a browser add on called UBlock Origin, which does a very good job of blocking ads and pop up scams. However, it takes a little training to use properly, as you will need to turn it on and off at times, and it sometimes gives its own (legitimate) scary warning about ad trackers. I often add it to my client's browsers when I am working with them on-site or remote, and give a little overview/training session when I install it.
What if you fall for it: The sooner you act, the better. If you have let the scammers onto your computer, shut down your system until it can be cleaned by me or another computer professional. You should also change all of your key passwords on a known clean system. If you paid the scammers, contact your credit card company to see if you can reverse the charges.
These pop-up ads can be very scary and very convincing. If you find yourself staring at a scary pop-up and you don't know what to do, give me a call. Remember, no matter what it says on your screen, YOU ARE NOT INFECTED, and there is no risk in just shutting your computer down, or walking away from it, until you speak with me. I will get back to you as soon as I can, to let you know what needs to be done.
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By far the most common hardware problem I see is a hard drive failure. The hard drive on your computer is the main storage location, where your software, the operating system, and all of your personal files are kept. |
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If your hard drive fails, you can potentially lose years of important personal files. You might also spend a lot of time tracking down and reinstalling programs, and trying to remember and recreate your settings. All of that can be avoided if you keep your system properly backed up, preferably with a full image backup of your system.
A full image backup doesn't just back up your data - it backs up your software and settings as well. It's the gold standard of backups - if properly set up, and run regularly, you can use an image backup to quickly get up and running again after the most catastrophic system failure.
Mac Owners - One of the best features of MacOS is Time Machine, a backup program that creates a continuous series of system images. Time Machine backups are extremely versatile - you can use them to completely restore everything on your computer, to migrate to a new system, or to just go back in time and find one document that you mistakenly deleted. I like Time Machine so much that the very first thing I do with every Mac dropped off with me is to make a Time Machine backup, prior to making any changes at all.
Time Machine is very easy to set up - simply attach an external drive to your Mac, and MacOS will ask you if you want to use the drive for Time Machine backups. If you say yes, MacOS will format the drive properly, initiate the backup, and then continuously backup to that drive as long as it's attached. If you have an iMac, I recommend that you keep the drive attached at all times. If you have a MacBook, I recommend you keep the drive on your desk, and attach it when you plug your system in to charge.
Some tips to keep in mind:
- The first time you use a drive for Time Machine, MacOS will completely erase whatever is already on the drive. That's fine if you are using a brand new drive, but can be problem if you are repurposing a drive you already own. If you have used the drive before, make sure it doesn't hold any data that is important to you.
- Sometimes Time Machine has difficulties formatting a new drive. If that's the case, follow these steps to manually format the drive in Disk Utility
- Any brand of external drive should work, but you want to make sure it has at least 4 times as much storage as your internal system. Time Machine will delete older backups to make space as needed, but that process can slow your system down.
- Your backup is only as good as how recent it is - make sure you either keep the drive attached, or attach your Time Machine drive frequently.
Windows Users - Unfortunately, Windows doesn't include a backup system as capable as Time Machine. The built in backup on Windows 10 and 11, called File History, only keeps backups of your files, not your programs and settings. That might be sufficient for your needs, and it is certainly better than no backup at all. As with Time Machine, to set up File History you will need an external drive to store the backups on. Once you attach your drive, you can follow these steps to set up the initial backup. As long as the drive is attached, File History will continuously backup your files.
If you want the kind of full image backup that Time Machine provides, you will have to use a third party application. There are a lot of options out there, some free, some paid, but in the last year or so I have started recommending my clients buy a Western Digital branded external drive, and download and use the Western Digital specific version of Acronis True Image software that is offered for free on their website. The Acronis software is quite powerful - I have used Acronis backups to restore image backups from one brand of computer to another - and is the closest I have seen to TIme Machine for a PC. However, it has a lot of options and settings, so you might need some assistance to set it up properly.
Some PC backup tips:
- If you want to purchase the full version of Acronis, which has more features than the free version described above, it's a subscription product that has been rebranded Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, and will work with any external drive.
- If you are currently an Office 365 subscriber, I highly recommend you use the 1TB of OneDrive space included with your subscription to back up your data in the cloud. Directions to set it up are here, and it is an excellent way to be sure your date is always recoverable, even if you have other backup alternatives in place.
- If you are using File History, the default is to keep backups forever, and it doesn't automatically make space for newer backups. I have seen File History fill up drives and stop backing up. I recommend changing the settings to keep backups for 3 months.
Unfortunately, a catastrophic system failure can happen at any time. Keeping your system backed up is your best defense, and a full image backup is the most versatile type of backup to have. If you need help setting any of this up, please give me a call!
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Every month I post several articles of interest on my Facebook page. For those of you who don't follow me on Facebook, here are some of the stories I've featured in the past this few months
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And, on the topic of antivirus software, why on earth would Norton add a crypto miner to its software?
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ComputerMom | 508-333-8176 | www.thecomputermom.com |
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