by Shane Grantham | Feb 23, 2019
A client of mine was complaining of pop-ups on their Android Tablet this week. While they were reading a book on the tablet, a pop-up would take over the entire screen for a few seconds and then close itself. My client would continue reading and another one would come along some time later.
I looked at the applications under settings and found no security software installed. In my opinion, all computing devices need some kind of security software. I like Comodo products and they have one for Android devices. Mobile Security can be found in the play store of any Android device. There are also versions for Linux and Windows computers. It’s very easy to install and use. Once it was installed, a full scan was done and nothing malicious was found. So the tablet was not infected as far as Mobile Security was concerned.
Later I realized what the pop-up was. A news app was running in the background and popped up on me with a CNN news story. I removed the app per my client’s instructions and now there aren’t any more pop-ups and the tablet is safer with Mobile Security installed.
by Shane Grantham | Feb 12, 2019
Today I was sending an email message to a vendor when an error message appeared I’ve never seen, “HTTP error 502”. I tried again from another device and same error. A few hours later I realized my mail account had gone over quota of 250 MB for this mailbox. An examination of my default folders, Sent, Trash, and Junk, found 4570 messages in my Trash folder. These messages went back three years. They aren’t needed any longer so all were deleted. The Junk folder had 500 messages and once they were deleted, my quota problem was solved. My mail resumed to normal and I went about my day.
Remember, in most email programs, when you delete an email, it usually goes to the trash(or deleted) folder and still takes up space in your mailbox.
I had messages going back three years that I no longer accessed or needed!
by Shane Grantham | Feb 10, 2019
I have an Apple iBook G4 laptop which is used for keeping current with Apple computers. I can do work on it like edit my web sites, email, and search the internet. Some of my computer clients have Apple computers and this is a good reason to stay in practice with Apple. I do enjoy Apple computers and I feel they are more secure than Windows computers.
A problem occurred last month when I turned on my Apple laptop. I was going to open Dropbox to see if it was current. A message appeared saying my current version was old and a newer version was needed. I went to download the latest Dropbox version and it wouldn’t install. From what I recall, there wasn’t any specific error message. The reason was probably because my Mac OS X operating system version is too old. I’ve tried to update it but the laptop architecture is too old for anything newer. When I run the OS update, it says it’s current.
Oh well – I bought it used around nine years ago so it has served me well. I guess I’ll start looking a for a used Apple laptop computer.
by Shane Grantham | Feb 8, 2019
Tuesday was the New Haven Chamber Networking Group meeting at Rack and Helen’s Bar and Grill in New Haven. Our group is open to everyone and the cost is free. We start at Noon and today about 15 people attended our 1 hour meeting. Two or three new people were there and a couple who haven’t been around for a while. We make it easy to attend and because of this you’ll see many people there. You won’t see them all at once but over many meetings. Don’t worry about conflicting with another business in your category – we are open to multiple business who do the same thing. Every meeting Monika from the chamber informs us about the upcoming chamber events and provides handouts for us. Stop by and join us next Tuesday for some great networking in an hour or less.
After the February 5, 2019 meeting
by Shane Grantham | Feb 5, 2019
On Saturday, one of my Fort Wayne computer repair clients called to say their Windows computer was speaking to them. It was telling them they were infected and not to shut down their computer. Something took over their Windows desktop and my client was helpless. They couldn’t close the scareware screen, minimize it and even get to the Windows start button. I urged them to shut down the computer with the power button and don’t use it until I arrive Monday.
When I arrived today, I turned on the computer and was greeted with the same scareware screen which was supposed to be from Microsoft. I got it closed with some fancy keyboard shortcuts and by running the Windows task manager. I felt their security program, Windows Defender wasn’t cutting the mustard and I replaced it in favor of Comodo Internet Security. Once it was installed I ran a full scan and many infections were found and removed.
The scareware screen came from their Firefox web browser so I checked it for malicious extensions and plug-ins. Ten were found with names like Maps Galaxy, Search Encrypt, MyFormsFinder, PDF converter, and DirectionsAce. My client never knowingly installed these so I removed all of them. I found the home page set to a questionable search engine so I changed it to to refdesk.com which is a safe site.
My client tested the computer by visiting his web sites in Firefox and nothing crazy popped up while they was browsing. Needless to say they’re happy now.
