In this edition we have changed the format slightly, offering a few more, but shorter articles on areas of interest to our increasingly diverse audience. So whether you are a parent with children still at home, an “empty-nester” or your interests are more business oriented, you will find something pertinent.
The recent launch of Microsoft’s new Vista operating system has generated a good deal of buzz. There are plenty of sites where you can get “expert” views on its strengths and foibles, (and well give you some of those links) but what could be better than hearing from some early users? And so, several of our members and customers have recently acquired new Vista machines and we’ve asked them to share some of their thoughts with you.
Is your identity at risk of being “misused”? And, if you’re a business person, what’s up at the office in this regard? Some recent studies provide interesting insights and some remarkably low tech (as well as some common sense hi tech) ways to protect yourself and your personal data.
What’s up in Canada? A look at who’s online, how often and what they are most likely to be doing there. For example, the second most popular activity for “tweens” is doing their homework.
Identity Theft:
According to a recent survey conducted by Leger Marketing for a pen manufacturer 20% of Canadians either have, or know someone who has, been victimized by identity theft. That is to say, had their identity stolen by someone else to commit fraud. The issue is not only a result of computer “hackers” but is also has a decidedly “low tech” side to the story as well.
On the “low tech” side, says the Leger study, a common approach is called check washing. This scam typically involves stealing a check from the mail and erasing the ink using common household products. The thief then rewrites the check, in whatever amount they choose, making it payable to themselves.
On the “hi tech” side of things a new study from the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering, through a controlled experiment demonstrated that anyone with internet access is under a seemingly unending state of attack with unauthorized entry being attempted, on average, every 39 seconds. The less secure your usernames and passwords are, the higher the hackers’ chance of success in gaining access.
The study profiled what Michel Cukier, (the study’s author) called “brute force hackers”, those who use simple software-aided techniques to randomly attack large numbers of computers. The research uncovered which usernames and passwords are tried most often, and what hackers do when they gain access. “Our data provide quantifiable evidence that attacks are happening all the time to computers with internet connections. The computers in our study were attacked, on average, 2,244 times a day.” Once access was gained the most common sequence of actions was to check the accessed computer’s software configuration, change the password, check the hardware and/or software configuration again, download a file, install the downloaded program and then run it. If successful, Cukier says, “the hackers often set up ‘back doors’ (undetected entrances in the computer that they can control) so they can create ‘botnets’, (an anonymous network of private computers) for profit or other disreputable purposes.”
Business owners, operators and managers should take note that this is not just a “home user” problem. In June of last year a Toronto based IT products and services company published a report highlighting the results of some 200 IT assessments they had conducted over the years. The company (Softchoice) found that “50 percent of all PC’s owned had moderate to severe infestations of malicious software including such things as viruses, worms or Trojans. These intruders expose these computing resources to potentially disastrous risk and seriously slow system performance.” Their work also found that more than 6% of corporate PC's were missing protection software entirely and that 23% of PC’s were missing major operating system service packs that further degrade performance or heighten the risk of failure and compromised data or security. Over time, Edwin Jansen, manager of the Softchoice services group, says “the average cost of a virus outbreak takes about seven complete person-days to repair and that Adware and Spyware can degrade system performance by 2,000 percent.”
So, what can you do?
Well, let’s look at the “low tech” side first. From the “pen study” is the suggestion to use specially formulated inks containing colour pigments which are absorbed directly into the paper in order to prevent “washing”. But the real challenge says Bill Huzar of the Consumer Council of Canada, is to educate consumers on identity theft and to sensitize them to pay attention for example, by destroying sensitive documents before putting them into the garbage.
For your computers there are two principal things you can do. First and foremost, make sure you have effective antivirus and antispyware programs installed and kept current. The better programs, such as our preferred choice from Computer Associates, allow you to schedule regular updates and scans to ensure that you are always protected. Equally important is creating “secure passwords”. According to the Leger Marketing study, 43% of Canadians don’t bother to create unique or challenging passwords to protect their accounts and themselves from identity theft and fraud.
The University of Maryland study found that the most common password-guessing approach was to reenter or try variations of the username. Almost 43% of all these attempts simply reentered the username. The username followed by “123” was the second most tried choice. Other common passwords attempted included “123456”, “password”, “1234”, “12345”, passwd”, “123”, “test”, and “1”.
Security experts suggest that passwords should never be identical or even related to its associated username and that the most effective approach is to choose longer, more difficult passwords that are a combination of upper and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols that are not open to “brute force” dictionary type attacks.
For an excellent article on 10 ways to avoid being a victim of identity theft, click on this link to the TechRepublic website.
Microsoft calls it “WOW, our Members say...
Much has been written of late about Microsoft’s new “Vista” operating system and as one would expect not all of it positive. We think it is fair to say however that Vista offers many enhancements over its predecessor, Windows XP, but at its core these are more convenience and appearance changes rather than new fundamentals. There is no question that security elements have been dramatically improved, the ability to search for information or documents tucked away in some obscure corner is made much easier and the so-called “Aero” (Windows Aero) is intended to be a cleaner, more powerful, more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing user interface, it includes new transparencies, live thumbnails, live icons, animations and eye candy) interface (on all versions except Vista Home Basic) is very cool. On the downside, its hardware requirements are very demanding. There are some challenges still with 3rd party software and hardware in terms of integration and operability and as might be expected with any new product, there are still a few glitches to be worked out.
To quote John Clyman of PC Magazine; “The new operating system is far more than Windows XP with a pretty face. Many aspects of Vista are substantive improvements; stronger security, better built-in apps, networking enhancements, parental controls, and DirectX10 graphics support, to name just a few. As a whole, Vista feels more evolutionary than revolutionary. That’s not all bad; one of Microsoft’s strengths has been its commitment to backward compatibility, which continues with Vista.”
With 192,000,000 entries on Google against a “Microsoft Vista” search we don’t want to rehash what’s been said here. Some interesting links from that search, should you want to dig deeper yourself are; Microsoft’s own site which provides, as you would expect, a comprehensive overview of the product. (http://www.microsoft.com/canada/windows/products/windowsvista/default.mspx), as well as a user “blog” hosted by Microsoft where you will find some interesting discussions. It can be viewed at http://windowsvistablog.com.
CNet, one of the internets most respected technology sites has devoted significant resources to understand Vista and offers a comprehensive guide to the subject at; http://www.cnet.com/4520-13111_1-6687520-1.html. Two other comprehensive explorations of the pro’s and con’s can be found at PC Magazine online (PCMAG.com) http://www.pcmag.com/category2/0,1874,1786052,00.asp and a most interesting and thorough site called; Paul Thurrott’s Super Site for Vista which can be found at http://www.winsupersite.com.
At easyTechCare we have helped several customers purchase new Vista machines and have been supporting many others as they navigate their way through the new features. Surely not a scientific study but from these conversations and support calls here’s what we’ve gleaned.
One of our newest Members (from Scotland no less) found us on the net and came to us for remote support as her old laptop had seen better days. Fortunately Mairi had an external hard drive backup and we supported through setting up her new Vista computer, formatting her outlook files into the new “Windows Mail” and then uploading from the backup device. When asked about her experience so far she said “I like it a lot…..but it does take a bit of patience and exploration….. Having a set of “gadgets” like a notepad, the local weather…and a pretty slide show of pictures is cool.”
Mark, who operates a home - based business and recently upgraded his whole system echoed the same sentiment saying “it takes some getting used to but I’m thoroughly enjoying it."
Al, quite a savvy and determined home user, struggled at first but has become accustomed to and appreciates many of the new features.
All three though warn to pay attention to compatibility issues with regard to your existing hardware and software programs. It is often the case that manufacturers and developers have not yet completely updated their “software drivers” that manage how they work together.
If you are curious if your machine is up to the task you can go to this Microsoft link and it will assess your current hardware and software configuration to determine if it can handle the “load”. Click here
What’s up online in Canada:
Canadians are in the top tier of the connected world, tied in 4th place with the United States with just under 64% of all Canadians using the internet at least once per month according to a survey conducted by eMarketer in January of this year. Only South Korea (70.5%), Japan (68.4%) and Australia (64.5%) have higher penetration numbers. It is interesting to note however that Canadians spend about 25% more time online than do our neighbours to the south, clocking 75 minutes per day online verses an average of about 60 – 65 minutes per day for Americans.
What are we doing for those 75 minutes you ask? Well, 80% of Canadian Internet users shop on the web (but don’t necessarily buy there) which is virtually equal to the UK and even exceeds the US rate of 78%. Canadians though are less likely to purchase online (only 56% of Canadian users actually complete a purchase on the net) than people 
living in the UK (70%) or American (66%). eMarketer reports, based on data from Stats Canada, that 2 principal factors are driving these differences. It may be surprising to you that only 11% of Canadian companies actually offer their goods or services online thus making the “offering” rather slim, and perhaps more importantly, depending on which survey you read, between 75% and 81% of Canadians express concern over online security and privacy.
In our Fall Newsletter from last year we looked at what adults and teens were doing online. Here’s a little peek at “tweens”, (6 – 11 year olds). How often do you wonder or check what your children are doing while online? If you’re like more than 1 in 5 parents, you may be sitting with your child doing homework or research for school projects. Researchers estimate that the percentage of users from this age group will grow to 71% by 2010, up from an already high 67% today.
Finally, related to what we do on our computers is the whole question of increasingly popular “home networks”. According to a new poll from Harris Interactive, 39% of US adults already have a home network of some sort but most of these are used simply to enable laptops access to the internet wirelessly on a shared connection in the home. In the same report, Harris found that 37% would like to use their PC’s as media centres to control their entertainment systems, and 31% would use them to download pictures, videos and music to their televisions. Part of the challenge surrounding the “digital home” (of which home networks are the centre piece) is that they are viewed as being too expensive (90%) and too complicated to set up (66%) (Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates and Hill & Knowlton, January 2007).
This of course is where easyTechCare can help. By now we have helped many of our customers set up just such networks and they have been pleasantly surprised by the “value for money” they received. So, how about you? We’re here to help you get the most out of all your digital devices. Call us for a free consultation and explore the world that’s at your fingertips (literally and figuratively) today!
As always, we are here to answer your questions and to “Make Digital Work for You”. So don’t hesitate to call for support.
For more Tips and Help, call EasyTechCare at 416-987-EASY (3279)
