But the side-effect of having all these plugins installed is that, in addition to getting security updates for our web browsers from Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, and others, users must also depend upon the creators of the plugins they use on a daily basis to keep those plugins up to date and secure.

And while companies like Adobe have been making strides to improve the frequency and ease by which updates are made available to their users, I’ve been watching the state of security for the popular Internet web browser plugin, “Java” from Oracle Corporation, for a couple weeks now with increasing concern.

Oracle’s release schedule for patches simply doesn’t mesh up with the frequency of new attacks appearing for this browser plugin, and those frequency of attacks means greater risk for you and your small business the longer this plugin is installed and enabled within your web browsers.

So I’m now making the strong recommendation that you take action ASAP to disable the Java plugin within all the web browsers you have installed on the computer in front of you (IE, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) as well as all the other computers in your office and at home.

(please note: I’m not referring to JavaScript. Despite the similar name, JavaScript is different technology and okay to leave enabled.)

The good news is the steps to disable Oracle’s Java plugin for both Windows and Mac users are simple and quick and should not affect any Windows or OS X applications that require Java to operate properly.

Also note that while most users will never notice anything different in their web browsing activity by disabling the Java plugin, if you have a specific need for using a Java plugin on the Internet, there are safe ways to leave Java enabled on your computer in a limited capacity, and I’ll discuss how you can do that in a future post.

In the mean time, please continue to practice safe computing by applying security and other updates as they’re made available to you, pay attention to the links you click, and don’t any open unexpected attachments!

How to Disable Java in your Web Browser

(please do this for every browser you have installed on your PCs or Macs)

Windows Internet Explorer

If you’re running a current version of Internet Explorer on Vista or Windows 7:

1)    Click the “gear” icon in the top-right of the IE window and select Manage Add-ons
2)    When the Manage Add-Ons window appears, make sure Toolbars and Extensions is selected on the left and then look for Java listed on the right.
3)    Select and click Disable for all instances of Java you find.
4)    Restart Internet Explorer

If you’re still using Windows XP and older versions of IE:

1)    Click Tools > Internet Options
2)    Click the Advanced tab
3)    Scroll down and locate the section called “Java”
4)    Uncheck the box for Use JRE (followed by some numbers. i.e. 1.6.0_35)

Mozilla Firefox (Windows and OS X)

1)    Click Tools > Add-ons

Note: Some Windows installs require you to click Firefox > Add-ons

2)    In the Add-ons Manager, click Plugins
3)    Locate and Select the Java plugin(s).

Note: They may be named Java Applet Plugin or Java Platform SE 6.
 You may also see a Java Deployment Toolkit.

4)    Click Disable for each “Java” plugin found
5)    Restart Firefox

Google Chrome (Windows and OS X)

1)    Type about:plugins in the address bar and press Enter (Return)
2)    When the list of plugins appears, locate Java, then click Disable
3)    Restart Chrome

Apple Safari (Windows and OS X)

1)    On Windows, Click the Gear in the top-right then select Preferences
OR
On the Mac, click Safari > Preferences
2)    Click the Security tab
3)    Uncheck the box labeled Enable Java
4)    Restart Safari

The post Tech!Alert: Disable Java in your Web Browsers Today appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

However, Backup and Restore doesn’t automatically “groom” (automatically delete) older backups as your backup drive fills up, so every once in a while, you’ll need to take a trip to the Backup and Restore Control Panel and do a little pruning of your old backups to make room for the new.

Here’s how you do it:

1) Click Start > All Programs > Maintenance > Backup and Restore

OR

Open:  Control Panel > System and Security > Back up your computer

Using either method, you should see the following screen.  When you do, click Manage Space:

2) Clicking Manage Space will show you some handy information about the backups Windows has made.  More importantly, there’s a button to click that will display all backups stored on your external hard drive.

Click View Backups

3) When you click View Backups, you’ll get a list of ALL previous backups sorted by date.  Scroll until you see the OLDEST backup in the list.

4) Select the oldest backup and then click Delete

5) Repeat the process of selecting an old backup and clicking Delete until you’ve cleared enough space on the backup drive for new backups.

That’s it!

The post Tech!Note: How to Delete Old Windows 7 Backups appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

Fortunately, repairing glass displays of devices such as Apple’s iPhone is a relatively inexpensive and quick procedure.

Here’s a short photo essay of an iPhone 3GS glass panel repair we completed just today:

1) First, we first remove the existing display assembly including the glass front panel, digitizer and LCD panel.  Once completed, we clean the interior of the iPhone, removing built up gunk and grime from years of use (yeah, it can be pretty gross).

2) Next we remove the LCD panel from the broken display assembly and transfer it to the new one. Perhaps the toughest part of doing this is keeping track of the tiny screws Apple uses, because each screw is roughly 1/2 the length of a grain of rice!

3) And finally, we reinstall the newly repaired Front Panel Assembly and run the device through a full battery of tests to ensure it’s working at 100%.

Here’s the before and after comparison of our iPhone Front Panel Glass Repair:

Time to repair: Approximately 1 hour.

For more information about our iPhone repair services, please contact us at (847) 802-9372!

The post Repair of the Day: iPhone 3GS Front Panel Glass appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

This vulnerability could cause a crash and potentially allow an attacker to assume control of a system. Unfortunately, are already attacks floating about the Internet in the form of a Flash file embedded within an Excel document.

The affected versions of Flash Player and Acrobat Reader include:

• 10.2.152.33 or earlier for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris
• 10.2.154.18 for Chrome
• and 10.1.106.16 for Android
• The Authplay.dll component that ships with Adobe Reader and Acrobat X (10.0.1) and earlier 10.x and 9.x versions for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

Adobe Reader 9.x for UNIX, Adobe Reader for Android, and Adobe Reader and Acrobat 8.x are not affected by this issue.

A fix is in the works and should be released during the week of March 21st. Interestingly, if you’re using Acrobat X on Windows, a patch won’t be released until the next regular patch cycle scheduled for June because Acrobat X’s sandboxing feature — a feature not yet found in the versions of Reader for other platforms — offers extra protection to the underlying OS.

In the mean time, as we wait on the patch from Adobe, please practice safe computing, pay attention to the links you click, and don’t open unexpected attachments.

For more information:
http://www.adobe.com/support/security/advisories/apsa11-01.html

The post Tech!Alert: Adobe Issues Critical Security Advisory appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

Don’t get me wrong, Facebook can be a great tool for personal use like keeping in touch with old friends — the virtual class reunion — but, unlike Twitter or LinkedIn, unless you’re planning to drive a ton of traffic to your Facebook page through a deliberate and possibly resource intensive marketing campaign, I’ve never seen Facebook as a particularly good tool for a small business to generate new leads.

And, while I would certainly never dissuade anyone from using Facebook as a supplement to services like Twitter and so on, I would be hesitant to recommend any small business put all of their eggs into that one Facebook basket.

I suppose over the years I’ve been burned by witnessed more services like Facebook fall by the wayside after riding the crest of a wave of popularity (Myspace (née MySpace)?, Friendster?, Orkut?, Pownce?),  that perhaps I’ve grown more wary of jumping into services like Facebook with both feet.

All that said, your mileage can and will vary, because the benefits you’ll gain for your small business through the use of a site like Facebook are only realized through the effort you put into it.  As I mentioned a moment ago, if you’re willing to invest the time and resources needed to drive traffic to your site via a big Facebook (or Twitter) campaign, chances are you’ll likely see a lot of good come of it. It’s by raising your Facebook presence through these types of campaigns that you can gain the followers needed to use the service for marketing your business.  After all, why do you think so many ads you see these days invite you to “Like” their business on Facebook?

But then, depending on your market, and the customers you’re trying to reach, that same can be said of ANY media campaign, both traditional and social alike.

I felt compelled to share my thoughts on Facebook today after spotting an interesting article over at PCWorld (linked below) that lists three reasons why your business should avoid Facebook.  And while avoiding Facebook entirely may not be the best take-away you’ll get from this article, it still provides some important issues to keep in mind when considering Facebook as a social media platform for your small business.

PCWorld’s 3 Reasons Why Your Business Should Avoid Facebook

The post Social!Tech: Is Facebook Right For Your Small Business? appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

These emails are scams.

Included in the fraudulent messages are warnings that “due to account activity that violates the Patriot Act” accounts are being suspended, unless the consumer follows a link to confirm their identity and other personal information using a system called “IDVerify”.

DO NOT CLICK THESE LINKS.

Following the links provided in the false messages may result in identity theft and/or the installation of malware on your personal computers. Under no circumstances should you click the link found within these messages.

According to the alert issued by the FDIC:

“The FDIC is attempting to identify the source of the e-mails and disrupt the transmission. Until this is achieved, consumers are asked to report any similar attempts to obtain this information to the FDIC by sending information to alert@fdic.gov.”

For more information, please visit:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2011/sa11010.html

The post Tech!Alert: FDIC Warns of Phishing Attempts appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

A perfect example is the following email that I received just today (click to enlarge):

While it’s blocked in this example, this particular scam made sure to include all public registration information for the domain as well as several other misleading items that this might actually be a notice to renew the domain.

However, there are many clues to look for that this is not a legitimate request for renewal — beside the fact that I know from my records this domain is NOT up for renewal, nor did I have any prior business dealings with this company.

1) This letter is to inform you that it’s time to send in your search engine registration…

None of the major search engines require a fee to register your domain with them.

2) Failure to complete … may result in the cancellation of this offer…

While it would be nice if they never bugged me again, I wouldn’t hold my breath that this is the last “offer” I’ll see from them.

3) Though never actually detailing what service they’re offering me, they’re quite clear that I am under no obligation to pay the amount stated above … unless I accept this offer by Jan. 5th.

4) And: This notice is not an invoice.  It’s merely a “courtesy reminder” to pay for a service I never used in the first place.

5) Most importantly, pay attention to any unsolicited email that invites you to pay for goods or services “securely” online.  Odds are that if you do enter your credit card number, you may as well contact your bank to cancel the card now.

Those are just a handful of examples for things to watch out for when reading emails like this.

To be honest, it’s really not hard to read between the lines, but companies sending notices like the example above, hope something that looks to be official, will be blindly paid without giving the matter a second thought.

But it’s that second thought that’s the most important one.

The post Tech!Alert: Beware Misleading Domain Registration Notices appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

These notices are ploys to trick the recipient into following a link to a third party application site offering downloads of knock-offs of the official programs.

Do not click these links! Downloading unofficial editions of real software can often lead to infestations of Trojan Horses, Viruses, key-loggers, and other malware on your company PCs.

Here is an example of the “Skype 2011″ notification:

Bogus "Skype" Notification (click to zoom)

Note the signature allegedly from “Alex Anderson” of the “Skype Support Center” accompanied by bogus URLs which do not lead to Skype’s official site.  Many of the “major new features” listed are features found within Skype since its inception.

Here is an example of the “Adobe 2011″ offer:

Bogus "Acrobat" Notification (click to zoom)

Note the signature allegedly from “John Watt” of the “Adobe Acrobat Reader Support” accompanied by bogus URLs which do not lead to the Adobe Acrobat Reader official site.  This particular message is also very easy to identify as a fake thanks the the spelling and formatting errors.

Again, do not be taken in by these links.  Always visit the software vendor’s site directly for news of updates, or use the program’s built-in updating tools to ensure you’re running the latest releases.

When in doubt, throw that message out!

The Official Adobe Acrobat Reader X for both Windows and Mac can be downloaded from: http://get.adobe.com/reader/

The Official Skype for Windows and Mac can be downloaded from: http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/get-skype/on-your-computer/

The post Tech!Alert: Identifying the App Fakers appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

The following article over at Macworld.com offers up a handful of holiday tips to help recognize several of the more popular methods used by scammers that help prove the idiom, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”

“How to avoid holiday tech scams”
(http://www.macworld.com/article/156130/2010/12/techscamholidays.html)

The post Tech!Alert: Avoiding Holiday Scams appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.

“5 LinkedIn Privacy Settings You Need to Know“

The post Tech!Link: LinkedIn Privacy Settings appeared first on ESC! Technologies Group.