Alert for AT&T internet customers

Got this from AT&T today:

Dear AT&T Internet Service Member:

We have recently noticed an increase in the number of “phishing” emails being reported among both our members and other Internet services. These emails attempt to obtain your personal or account information by falsely posing as a reputable company, such as AT&T, and ask you to reply by verifying your account information.

As general policy, we do not ask members to supply or verify Member ID and/or password information in email communications.

While it is necessary to send our members occasional email messages requesting updates to their personal or payment information, those requests will always direct you to a secure AT&T site, like the Member Center, that requires you to authenticate by logging in to access your account information and make changes. (Secure sites are designated by an ’s’ after the “http” in the address bar and a lock icon at the bottom of the screen.) We will not ask you to reply to an email message with this information.

Should you receive a request to provide this information by replying to an email, do NOT replyto it and do NOT provide your account information or password.

If you have any doubt of a message’s authenticity, you can forward the email to scam@abuse-att.net.

More tips on how to identify and avoid phishing scams can be found at www.att.com/safety.Simply type the URL in your navigation bar.

We hope you find this information helpful. Thank you for being a part of our online community!

Your AT&T Internet Services Customer Care Team

Windows 7 in 8 days

Do you really need Windows 7 now?

If you are running Windows Vista and happy with it — NO.

If you plan to buy a new computer in under one year — NO.

If you’re not those groups, it’s time to give Windows 7 some serious consideration.  Your computer is probably several years old and running slow.  Yeah, you could reinstall Windows XP again … if you can find the CD.  Why bother?   Upgrade to Windows 7, so you can have a modern operating system….one that Microsoft is going to keep updating.

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If you are just looking for the software, I highly recommend you buy it from NewEgg.com.   They are offering a full version of Windows 7, so if you lost your Windows XP disc you are OK.    Purchasing this particular version does not shorten or lengthen the work that needs to be done to your computer.  It’s a 3 to 5 hour job and please ask for my special rate good through Nov. 8.  You can order from NewEgg by going to this link:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116752

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If you are looking to buy a brand new computer I highly suggest Vision Computers out of Atlanta.  They’ve been in business since 1991 and provide U.S. based support when you call them for help.   All Vision computers have a 3 year warranty included.   Desktops start at $499 and laptops start at $899.

http://www.visioncomputer.com

Comcast’s new attempt at internet security

Click on the link below for the FULL article:

Comcast tries pop-up alerts to warn of infections

(AP) — Comcast Corp. wants to enlist its customers in a fight against a huge problem for Internet providers – the armies of infected personal computers, known as “botnets,” that suck up bandwidth by sending spam and facilitating cybercrime.

Microsoft e-mail program in Windows 7

I want to correct something that I said previously about Windows 7 and e-mail.

I hate to sound like a politician, but I was right and I was wrong.   The real question is…. was I right before I was wrong?  HA HA.

Windows 7 does not come with a built in e-mail program like Outlook Express in Windows XP or Windows Mail in Windows Vista.     Even if the story ended here, there are other alternatives such as web mail, Mozilla Thunderbird, or Microsoft Outlook that would adequately enable you to manage your e-mail.

There is still hope for those who have been using a simple Microsoft program for e-mail and want to continue doing so.   Enter the Window 7 solution:  Windows Live Mail Desktop.   This application along with many free programs that were traditionally built right into Windows are now available as free downloads from Microsoft after you being using your new or upgraded Windows 7 system.    Microsoft took this approach with Windows 7 so that people could choose only the applications they really wanted.    If you desire to continue using a Microsoft program for “basic” e-mail needs, Windows Live Mail Desktop is your ticket to the party.    It is actually a web based program, but does not open in a web browser.  It looks very much like any other program that you run on your PC.   The difference is that your mail is stored on a web server.    Most of you wont even notice difference.   Windows Live Mail Desktop is designed using a newer technology that allows Internet based applications to look like traditional computer programs, merging those 2 worlds into one.

The real question you should be asking is will I be able to transfer all of my existing mail from Outlook Express or Windows Mail to the new Windows Live Mail Desktop? It depends.   Your existing messages can certainly be backed up, so you don’t lose them and you can keep your same email address, but whether or not you can MOVE your current messages to the new program is a case by case issue.   You should have no problem transferring your Contacts (e-mail addresses).   If you are intent on using a Microsoft e-mail program, the one nice thing about Windows Live Mail Desktop is that once you start using it—- you won’t go through these issues if you ever change computers in the future or need Windows to be re-installed.

Windows 7 preview from Wall St. Journal

This short preview of Windows 7 by Walt Mossberg (Wall St. Journal – technology columnist) does more justice to the operating system with less words than I can ever do.    A short video is found on the page as well.

http://ptech.allthingsd.com/20091007/a-windows-to-help-you-forget/

I am all on board for this launch.  I pre-ordered my copy of 7 back in July when it was 50% off.  I will be installing it on my MacBook sometime on the weekend of Oct. 22 – 24.   Yes you can run Windows on a Mac!!  I can’t wait.

E-mail account security breach

According to this article from MacWorld
http://www.macworld.com/article/143167/2009/10/gmail_phishing.html

Tens of thousands of Comcast, Gmail and Windows Live (Hotmail) accounts were hacked into exposing passwords.

If you have not changed your password in the last 60 to 90 days, and you use one of these services, please do so now.   You should be changing your password every 2 to 3 months as a measure of precaution.

You’ll need to log into web mail to change your password, even if you don’t use it to check your account regularly.

http://www.comcast.net
http://www.gmail.com (Go to Settings)
http://mail.live.com (Hotmail)  (Go to options more options)

How to close a window without your mouse

The threats against Windows based computers are non-stop these days.     It’s almost like the spread of a real human disease because no one seems to be able to kill them at the source.    Please be sure to know which Anti-Virus or comprehensive security suite software you have installed on your computer.    If you get any pop up ads for an anti-virus or security product OTHER than those you use……there is a serious problem.

DO NOT CLICK THAT AD!!   You run the risk of losing files and spending hundreds to fix the problem, even at my discounted rates!!

You can close a window, whether it be an Internet browser window, a window in your word processing program or a window that represents a folder by USING YOUR KEYBOARD

Alt + F4.   (That means pressing the ALT key and also pressing F4 at the top of the keyboard

Alt + F4

Alt + F4

I hope I don’t have to repeat myself any further. 

You don’t have to wait until there is a threat of a problem to try this out.  Next time you are in your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox) in Windows.  Try ALT + F4 to close the Window.   You can use this method every time if you want, but at the very least please remember how to do it in times of an unfamiliar window pop-up.

Now if for some reason you forget Alt + F4 when you receive a pop up for a security program that doesn’t resemble the one you have installed…..
hold down the power button on the front of your desktop of the top of your laptop for about 10 seconds and your computer will manually power off.

I’ve always told you NOT to do this regularly but  — in times of emergency — there really aren’t other choices.

Hope this helps and for those of you in the Mac family, you can close any Window by pressing   Command (key) + W.
Take confidence in the fact that these security software scams have not infected Macs yet.

Comcast to raise modem rental fees

from dslreports.com

…the cable giant now says they’ll be increasing their cable modem rental fee from $3 to $5 nationwide. “We continually invest in providing customers with next-generation equipment and technology that delivers advanced voice and Internet services with enhanced capabilities,” said Comcast in a statement. “Our costs for this new equipment will increase by 167% over the next two years,” justifies the cable giant. “As a result, we will increase modem equipment charges by $2.” Want to avoid the fee? Buy your own cable modem.
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FYI, some people do buy their cable modems at a cost of $60 to $100.  That is perfectly acceptable.  I’m not really taking an opinion on this one way or another because if you do rent your cable modem — you can bring it back to Comcast at no charge and get a replacement.  If you purchase a modem, it may have warranty.  However, when there is a problem it could take you substantial time to complete an exchange with the manufacturer.

That said, if your cable modem lasted at last 2 years (and most do), it would probably be good to buy your own.  AT&T and other DSL providers have never been in the business of renting modems.  Comcast probably wants to get out of the rental aspect of modems.  I don’t blame them.

Remembering 9/11

I can’t let this day pass without making a remembrance of this day.  9/11 is always a very hard one for me….often the most difficult day of my year.  I cried several times today contemplating the events of 9/11/01 — a day that changed my perspective on the world.   Rather than writing an article for you on why I know Islam is not a religion of peace and raise your level of alarm even further, I am going to leave you with the words of Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address.    We are still in a time of war.  The long term picture is not a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but a war of of ideology and global domination.   Those who carried out the attack and their supporters would love to do it again and are not relaxing their vigilance because there is a new sheriff in town or a new party in power.   Some forces cannot be reasoned with and seek no common ground.   9/11 was not an accident or an anomaly — it was an attack.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

ICONN.org Connecticut State Library

I know many of you over the years, including myself, have used a website called Iconn.org

It was set up by the Connecticut State Library and allowed you to access FOR FREE, editions of the New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, Hartford Courant, Wall Street Journal and many magazines.

All you needed to do was type in your Library card #.

I just logged in to ICONN this morning and was troubled to see the following message:
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a result of insufficient funds to cover iCONN’s ongoing costs, as well as current obligations, we are forced to suspend access to the following databases effective September 1, 2009:

AP Images
Campus Research*
CINAHL Full Text*

And, in the absence of additional funding, we will have to suspend access to the following resources effective October 1, 2009:

ABI Inform*
CINAHL Index*
Newspapers, including the Historical Hartford Courant
PsycInfo*

*These resources are licensed exclusively to academic libraries

We hope to be able to retain access to HeritageQuest, one of our most heavily used databases, beyond October 1, but that will depend on our budget situation at that time.

As soon as the state has a final budget in place, access to these databases will be restored, as funds allow.

All other databases not enumerated above, as well as the reQuest Statewide Library Catalog and Downloadable Audiobooks, will be retained through June 30, 2010 (budget permitting).

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We can hope that funding for this project is restored, but we must also remember that these resources were not FREE to the State in the first place.  They were paying hefty license fees to aquire the licenses for this information and simply providing it to Connecticut residents as a public service.     Maybe the old media is not dead after all?