Office Upgrade

I have seen time and time again business both small and large struggling with old tech.

Though being sensibly frugal in business is arguably beneficial, the reason this methodology doesn’t work with technology is because technology moves too quickly. Where this issue really comes into play is the fact that the world moves with these advances in technology.

Just recently a client contacted me saying they were having a lot of trouble with their mail systems, receiving bounce backs among other issues. Upon calling their exchange host, the rep immediately said “Are they using Outlook 2007 or older?” I said yes, but I was a little surprised that this was the issue. Now my client is going to have to upgrade everyone to the latest version of Office.

Another client had backend systems that were so old that it would cost over $15,000,000 to get the office up to code and at least two weeks of down time until the system was up and running again. Past technicians notified the higher ups over the years, back when the amount to fix the problems was reasonable. But being that the CEO and other powers never wanted to spend the money in the past, these other technicians over the years were forced to kept the system running through jerry rigging with batch scripts and third party programs with no support. This only made things worse and eventually resulted in the system coming to a grinding halt before the company was forced to file for bankruptcy.  

A Global Engagement Study collected data from nearly 5,000 full-time employees across 20 countries, working at companies with 250 or more personnel. Only 44% of employees said their company uses the latest technology to enable them to effectively perform in their role. That means that more than half of employees don't have the tech that they need to be successful at work. And just 38% said their company supports causes that are important to them.

To me, this is the Achilles heel for all corporations, especially in America. Cutting costs and not listening to employees who are dealing directly with clients must seem economically beneficial to the myopic suits, but the problem is that this only works in the short run.

Back when I was in high school, I worked at Staples as a technician. I don’t remember specifics, but I do remember the store being locked into ridiculous practices that benefited no one but were the demands of the seemingly blind higher ups. We had weekly meetings where the employees unanimously suggested must haves which were never granted. Today, it seems as though nothing has changed. The Easy Tech position is filled similarly to the way Home Depot moves employees around – when it is needed, regardless of the qualifications. I have met Easy Techs who admitted to me that they started at Staples as furniture associates and knew nothing about technology at all.  They admitted that a program which resides on a corporate flash drive does everything for them, and the rest is actually done remotely by someone they don’t even know. The associates in question told me that they didn’t even know what company was remoting into these computers – they assumed it was Staples Corporate. Further, prices on simple tech parts have skyrocketed. I recently purchased a DVI cable, an item which is usually around $9 for ~$40 in store. Though they had cheaper ones online, this was the only cable available in the store. I returned it as soon as the one from Amazon came in the mail.

If you feel that your office isn’t running as it should, give me a call at 617-693-7044 or shoot me an email at Help@MooreITHelp.com. I can give you a free consultation and tell you what you need and what you don’t need. 

iYogi is a scam.

So this isn’t really new news, but I felt it deserving of my attention. 

You may have heard of, or even have been a victim of iYogi “Technical Support”. Several clients have come to me with different stories, whether it be “This stupid iYogi thing won’t go away” or “No, I couldn’t possibly be infected because I am protected by iYogi.” So here’s the breakdown of what you need to know about iYogi without going into too much detail (because, believe me – there’s A TON of material on these guys).

iYogi is a remote tech support company based in Gurgaon, India which once provided end-user support for major tech companies like Dell and Microsoft. Avast, one of the companies iYogi provided support for, began receiving complaints from customers reporting that iYogi was using support calls to aggressively sell annual subscriptions by telling them their computers were compromised when, in fact, they weren't.

Since that time, iYogi has been sued by multiple organizations, individuals and even by the state of Washington for alleged illegal business practices to pressure consumers into buying unnecessary software. Dell, along with other major tech corporations have dropped them and Avast issued refunds to their customers and also jumped ship.

Many people have since received phone calls (usually from India) from people claiming they are from Microsoft to alert users that their computer is infected. They then try to gain remote access to your computer, and if you allow them, will proceed to tell you that your machine is riddled with infections.

I have had customers report that they have spent upwards of $200 with these phone calls before realizing it was a scam. Though these calls are not all from iYogi, they do participate in these aggressive, scareware-esque tactics.

Doing a Google search will yield (aside from a ton of fake websites that all redirect to iYogi’s page) a ton of negative press from both individuals and major businesses such as Consumer Affairs and several posts on the Norton forums regarding scams. According to many customers on the Norton forums site, iYogi is claiming to sell their services with Norton, implying a relationship between the companies and a sort of bundled deal. Norton officials have stressed on several occasions that they hold no relationship with the software.

Even before reading up on iYogi, I could tell that the software installed on my client’s computers was not to be trusted. This all really goes back to my articles on MyCleanPC and PCMatic, but the difference here is the tactics used to sell the same kind of software. These people are praying on innocent ignorance and borderline threatening people into buying their junk software. 

So if you ever get a phone call out of nowhere from some angry Indian guy who says your computer is going to explode, call a technician. Call me at 617-396-7044 and check out my website at MooreITHelp.com

Samsung Support

Keeping with the subject of my post on Microsoft Corporate Greed and the lack of quality in customer service these days, I've decided to share my recent pseudo-trolling of Samsung support.

I went to the Samsung Support Page looking for drivers for a Samsung laptop. Many manufactures have implemented a pretty awesome feature which allows the website to scan your system for the correct model number and sometimes even scan your system for appropriate out of date drivers. Samsung's website did not have this ability and it did not have a space for me to type in the serial number of the computer in question. Instead, the Samsung website gave a list of hundreds of model numbers for you to search through to find your system. Mine wasn't there. So I clicked the "chat now" button, figuring they could point me to the right driver page quickly.

Here is how well that went:

You are now chatting with 'Abhijit P'. The reference number for this chat is 4325958302.

Abhijit P: Hi, thank you for reaching out to Samsung technical support. How may I assist you?

Visitor: Need to find drivers for S/N:JBMW91RD104609H.

Abhijit P: Hello, I'll be glad to help you with the laptop driver information.

Abhijit P: What is the model number of your laptop? It is located at rear side/bottom side. The model number starts with NP or XE or DP.

Visitor: A S/N wouldn't be better?

Visitor: Okay, NP300E5C-A0DUS

Abhijit P: Thank you for the model number.

Abhijit P: It is not possible from my side to pull the information using the serial number.

Abhijit P: I'll help you with the Samsung SW update software download link, which will automatically download and install all the compatible driver for your laptop.

Visitor: Except the laptop in question doesn't have Ethernet or wifi drivers

Visitor: Soooo, ill need those first.

Abhijit P: Well, in this case the dedicated drivers are not available for your laptop model.

Visitor: How is that physically possible? Every computer on the face of the Earth has individual drivers.

It is at this point that I realized I wasn't going to get the support I needed and simply typed the Hardware ID of the WiFi card into Google. Within about 3 minutes, I had my wifi driver.....From the Samsung site.

Abhijit P: I understand your point.

Abhijit P: However, for your laptop model they are only available from Samsung SW update.
 

Abhijit P: You can download the this software on any other computer that has Internet connection.
 

Abhijit P: And enter your laptop model code to download the driver, then it will download the drivers and you can copy paste it in your laptop.
 

Abhijit P: Shall I help you with the download link?
 

Visitor: Sure.

Abhijit P: Once you click the link, it starts downloading automatically.

Abhijit P: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/SW/201601/20160115093742317/SWUpdate_2.2.5.16.ZIP

Abhijit P: Is the link accessible?
 

Visitor: Hold on one second, please
 

Visitor: Could you tell me what this is?
 

Visitor: http://downloadcenter.samsung.com/content/DR/201210/20121022130058781/WLAN_Atheros_64bit_9.2.0.470.ZIP

*About a 5 minute pause*

Abhijit P: This is the WiFi driver.

Visitor: Aaaaaaand did you not just say that driver was not available?

*About a 10-15 minute pause*

Abhijit P: Just to confirm, where did you check if these are the compatible driver for your laptop?

Visitor: The Hardware ID matches

Visitor: And I just installed it

Visitor: and am now online

*About a 10-15 minute pause*

Abhijit P: Okay, great. However, we are not authorized to give different laptop models driver to another laptop.

Abhijit P: I hope you will understand,.

Abhijit P: You will also get the same file from SW Update.

Abhijit P: Is there anything else I can assist you with?

Visitor: ಠ_ಠ

Abhijit P: Could you please elaborate your last statement?

Visitor: ಠ_ಠ Srsly?

Abhijit P: I'll be glad to help you if you have any further questions for me.

Visitor: ಠ_ಠ Srsly?

Abhijit P: I will be right with you.

Abhijit P: I'm sorry for the delay. I'll be right with you.

Abhijit P: Do you have any further questions for me?

Visitor: ಠ_ಠ Srsly?

Abhijit P: I appreciate you efforts.

Abhijit P: Have a nice day!

Abhijit P: Thank you for chatting with Samsung Support. If you ever need to contact us in the future, please save and reference this chat transcript ID 4325958302.

Chat session has been terminated by the Samsung Agent.

PCMatic - Scam or Legit?

PCMatic.com

As soon as I saw this commercial, I was instantly reminded of the MyCleanPC and/or MaxMySpeed programs. I wrote a blog entry about it awhile back and it has actually gotten quite a few hits: http://mooreithelp.blogspot.com/2012/07/mycleanpccom-scam-or-legit.html

I’ve been meaning to write something regarding all these programs which claim to magically and quickly fix all your computer problems. Not only do these programs usually cost half of what real Internet Security programs cost, they claim that they will even make repairs and tune up a computer, making it run faster than ever. Many of them, including PC Pitstop PC Matic, claim that you will “never get a virus again” which is impossible. These registry cleaners and optimizers claim to speed up your computer by finding and removing orphaned and corrupt registry entries that are responsible for slowing down system performance. Unfortunately, the fact is that there is no statistical evidence to back such claims. These advertisements are borderline scams intended to goad users into using an unnecessary and potential dangerous product. I would not trust any results such programs detect as problematic or needing repair nor recommend using the options to fix them.

The registry is a crucial component of Windows, storing information and settings for all hardware, software, users, and preferences - basically the makeup of the Windows Operating System, to a degree. So, these programs which can aggressively scan and make violent changes to this system can render the system inoperable. Some may argue that these registry cleaners are required for specific types of infections, and that is true. However, improperly removing registry entries can make the removal process more difficult if your computer becomes infected. Removing malware related registry entries before the infection is properly identified (and steps taken to remove said infection) can contribute to system instability and even make the malware undetectable to removal tools.

I could delve into benchmark testing and detailed explanations as to how PCMatic and programs like it are basically advertising bold faced lies, and how its promises and "features" are borderline impossible, but to be frank - its not worth it. This program is just like all the other magic wands. Quickly, if you are willing to dig around the PC Matic web site, you will eventually find information about Super Shield, the proprietary real-time technology component to PC Matic. That page goes into a little detail about their use of a "white list" approach in addition to a "black list". Not mentioned is the company's use and explanation of its heuristic and behavioral detection technology. Aside from the numerous complaints filed against the company, the vendor's website doesn't specifically say how the product “protects against modern security threats”. They also fail to tell customers that their product has high false positive rates.

Expecting results similar to the MyCleanPC.com scams, I didn’t bother to do a scan on a test system like I did in MyCleanPC.com - Scam or Legit. I did, however, find that someone did it for me and it was exactly as I expected. Joe53 of SpywareHammer.com reported that the program found hundreds of "bad" registry entries on his system (which was working perfectly well), that his system had TCP connection problems (when he had no internet connection problems), extreme fragmentation of his hard drive (despite his regular use of Diskeeper), identified his System Restore files as "junk files", and suggested he delete them and identified that all his internet settings (HTTP, TCP, DNS et.al.) as needing to be optimized (despite the fact that SpeedTest measurements showed his connection and ping times to be well within parameters.)

Now,

Many people are starting to say that most of the negative press is from several years ago and that PCMatic has been perfecting itself over the past 4 years or so. To that, I respond with this very same article. The fact remains that this is a PRODUCT that claims to fix all your computer problems! It's half the price of a traditional, reputable AV and yet claims that it will not only REPLACE your Antivirus program, but that you will never get a virus again! The features and claims are so ridiculously silly, its not even worth a detailed examination. 

Internet Security in 2015

I got a phone call a few days ago from a young lady whose file extensions were all replaced with ".ECC". The folders where said files resided now all included a new text document titled "HELP_RESTORE_FILES.txt". This sounded like another variant of the kinds of infections I encounter all the time. However, after running through my usual process, I found that these files werent actually "infected" per say, but rather that they were encrypted by a virus called EccKrypt.
This was a new one for me, and basically boils down to that age old technician's warning;

BACK UP YOUR FILES!!!

The computer is now an appliance to which almost every American owns. With Windows still dominating the market, big businesses are seeing the demand and the opportunity for profit in promising advanced protection from the big bad hackers. Now we see ads for products like the FixMeStick, MyCleanPC.com, Win Cleaner, and MaxMySpeed.com - and just like everything else in big business - its all one big lie. 
No antivirus solution is completely infallible, and even with the latest and greatest installed, one can still get infected. Further, removing infections is often not the concern! What about identity theft? None of the aforementioned "protection" products offer real time scanning or any form of firewall, and in the case of my new client, the damage has been done! Even with a squeaky clean PC, her files were encrypted - How is a Registry Cleaner going to take care of that?!

So call a mechanic for your car, a roofer for your house, and a tech for your computer. Ensure that you have the best protection in place and the best backup in place. Call MooreITHelp.com at 617-396-7044, or shoot me an email at Help@MooreITHelp.com.  

Verizon’s FiOS Customers to Receive Upload Speeds That Match Their Current Download

You may have seen the ads as of late regarding Verizon Rewards program. If you were distracted by the guy being taken away by birds in the commercial, Verizon’s message was that they will match your download speeds with your upload speeds. Now, for anyone trying to run a small business or an avid gamer – this is huge.

Maybe you didn’t know it, but yes, your internet connection has different speeds for uploads and downloads. Without getting too much into network architecture and how data transfer actually works, just know that ISP companies set the default setting to download faster than upload, as most people have more of a need to download information. If you are running a VPN Server or perhaps sharing a video with friends – you may notice that your computer’s speed isn’t nearly as impressive as when you download something or stream a movie.

Now, allow me to preface this by stating that this free upgrade seems totally worth it, so far. As commonplace with Verizon, I’m waiting for a surprise technicality on my next bill. However, if you do go through the two second steps to match your upload speeds to your download speeds, don’t be too surprised when you see something like this:

Yeah,

To my surprise, I’m paying for 15MBPS, yet I’m receiving over 24MBPS. Which is pretty cool, but it’s not what Verizon’s Rewards program is selling. They are selling to match what you are paying for. Probably should have mentioned that in your ads, Verizon.

Then again, one really can’t complain – I’m getting more than I’m paying for plus the added bonus of increased upload speeds. All in all, a pretty good deal.

For more help and tips, check out www.MooreITHelp.com