Backups are great, regardless of which method you use.  However, they might be worthless if you don’t test that they are working!  When was the last time you recovered a couple of files just to make sure your backup is working properly?  Six months ago?  A year ago?  Never?  Checking your backups is good for two reasons:  1) by randomly choosing a few files within your backup, you can get a sense as to whether your backups are working correctly; 2) you will have some practice at recovering files should you have a catastrophic computer failure instead of trying to muddle through the process while under pressure.

I strongly urge you to not wait.  Test your backup system today regardless of what method you are using!

P.S.  If you’re not backing up your data, you are playing Russian Roulette with your important information.  Get going on a backup system today!  Here are the four online backup companies we recommend.

Here is the information about the two webinars in May:

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 * 2:00 p.m.

Smart Phones: Small Computers Which Also Make Phone Calls   

 Wednesday, May 29, 2013 * 2:00 p.m.

Password Nightmares

We have two free webinars scheduled for February.  We hope you will sign up for one or both of them!  Remember, you attend a webinar in the comfort of your own home – no need to dress up or go out in the weather.  Also, as a reminder, if you aren’t able to attend at the actual time of the webinar, sign up anyway!  You’ll receive a follow-up email with all the info!

Here is the information for the February webinars:

 Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 * 10:00 a.m.

Hacking: What You Need To Know

In this free, 30-minute webinar, we’ll: explore a brief history of hacking; explain why some people hack;
and look at the ways you can protect yourself enough that a hacker will most likely pass you by.  We’ll cover a lot in 30 minutes, so join us!

Please invite your friends and family to sign up, too.  Sign up today by going HERE.

Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013 * 2:00 p.m.

Understanding Word Processing Programs

In this free, 30-minute webinar, we’ll discover the basics of word processing programs like Microsoft Word, WordPerfect and OpenWriter.
We’ll see how these programs are perfect for some tasks but not so good for others.
We’ll also explore alternative software when word processing just doesn’t get the job done. We hope you’ll join us for what should prove to be an enlightening 30 minutes together.

Please invite your friends and family to sign up, too.

Sign up today by going HERE.

Here in the United States, Thanksgiving is just about upon us.  Our normal business hours will be altered a bit so here’s the schedule:

Monday, Nov. 19th and Tuesday, Nov. 20th
Regular Hours

Wednesday, Nov. 21st
7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m.

Thursday, Nov. 22nd (Thanksgiving Day)
Closed

Friday, Nov. 23rd (Black Friday)
Closed

Saturday, Nov. 24th
Regular hours, 8:00 a.m.-12 Noon

If you have any computer problems during the hours we are closed, please send an email, fill out the Remote Technical Support form at http://www.4kcc.com/remote or call us at 772-408-4425.  We’ll do our best to get back to you if emergency help is needed.

You can take advantage of Black Friday and Cyber Monday specials that the companies we recommend are having by visiting our Specials page here:  http://www.4kcc.com/products_specials.html

For our U.S. customers, enjoy your Thanksgiving holiday and may blessings flow your way!

Friday, November 16, 2012 * 2:00 p.m. – OneNote: Microsoft’s Best Kept Secret

In this free, 30-minute webinar, you’ll learn about Microsoft’s OneNote – a terrific program that Microsoft started packaging with Office 2007.  Many people have OneNote on their computers but have absolutely no idea what a great tool sits there just waiting to be utilized.  Join us and learn how this little program can save you time and money plus keep you organized.  Please invite your friends and family to join us.  Register HERE.  You’ll need to answer a couple of questions during the registration – thanks for helping us by doing so!

Friday, November 30, 2012 * 2:00 p.m. – Ten “Tricks” All Computer Users Should Know

In this free, 30-minute webinar, we’ll cover 10 computer “tricks” all computer users should know.  Whether you use a PC or a Mac, you should know the things we’ll share.  For some on our list, this will be a review; for other items, you’ll be telling yourself “So, that’s how you do that!”  Join us for this educational but fun 30-minute webinar!  Please invite your friends and family to join us.   Register HERE.

Before you send $200 and before you call the FBI, THIS IS A SCAM!

Lately, one or two customers a week have called us about this scam.  If this happens to you, don’t panic!  Call us and we will help you resolve this issue.  Most of the time, we can get your computer unlocked by helping you over the phone.  Sometimes, we have to come to your home and in a rare case or two, we have to bring the computer to the shop.

Generally, this malware comes via an email attachment or link.  As always, you should take precautions regarding malware.  If you haven’t seen our Malware Webinar, please take a few minutes and watch it now.  You’ll find it here:  http://www.4kcc.com/webinar10252012_malware_primer.html

We have two great, free webinars coming up in October.  We hope you’ll join us and invite your friends, too!  Remember, sign up even if you know you can’t attend in person – that way, you’ll receive all the material after the webinar has taken place.  We look forward to you attending a webinar in October!

Wednesday, October 17, 2012 * 10:00 a.m.
An Introduction To Office 2013

 In this free, 30-minute webinar, we’ll look at the new Office 2013.  We’ll explore some of the new features and explain how you can try it now, if you want!
Join us and learn what’s new, what’s old, what’s changed and what you want to do about it.
Register HERE.

Thursday, October 25, 2012 * 2:00 p.m.
Malware: A Primer

In this free, 30-minute webinar, learn what malware is, how to protect your computer from it and what do to when you come across it online.
Malware has become much more of a problem than in the past and you need to know as much about it as possible.  We’ll cover a lot in 30 minutes, so join us!
Register HERE.

Yesterday, September 21, 2012, Microsoft issued an out-of-cycle critical update for Internet Explorer.  This update was to eliminate a security issue with all versions of IE except IE 10, which was not affected.  This update will be pushed out automatically if you have Windows Automatic Updates turned on. (Most home users should have Windows Updates set to this option.)  You can check to see if the update has been installed by going to Windows Updates and then looking in Update History.  You should see something similar to this:

Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2744842)

(If you’re using an earlier version of Internet Explorer, the version number will be different but the KB # should be the same.)

If you haven’t installed this Internet Explorer update yet, you should do so as soon as possible.

For Remote Technical Support customers, you are welcome to log in and let us check/install this critical update for you.

Java is used almost everywhere – in cars, on smart phones and it’s used in your browser (Internet Explorer, etc.).  Millions of websites make use of Java programming.  If you’re one of our Remote Technical Support customers, we make sure Java is up-to-date every time you log into Remote.

Unfortunately, there’s a problem with the latest version of Java – version 7 – and hackers have just started exploiting it.  As of yet, no patch has been forthcoming and hackers are taking advantage of the situation.  The security of your computer is at risk until Java is repaired.  As a result, we are urging all our customers to either disable Java or remove version 7 and roll back to version 6, which is not affected by the exploit.

If you are a Remote Technical Support customer, we urge you to log into Remote and we’ll remove version 7 and re-install version 6 at no cost to you.  If you’re not an RTS customer, please log into Remote by visiting www.4kcc.com/remote and we’ll make the Java change for you and demonstrate our remote service at the same time.

Besides this blog, we’ll be issuing an alert in tomorrow’s Question of the Week email.