facebook safety tips
Protect your identity – Be careful what information you post. Many thieves use social network sites for identity theft. Set your profile to “Private” – Change your privacy settings so that only your friends can see your profile, photos and wall posts. Keep your location general – Never post your exact address. Be selective with your photos – Manage photos in which you are “tagged.” You can “remove tag” on any ones you don’t will to be linked to your profile. Don’t post photos you don’t want everyone to see. Games? – Many people play the Facebook games (Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc.) but most may not know that they are sharing their information and all of their friend’s information with the companies that makes...
wireless security 101
Do you have wireless internet access at home or in the office? Wireless networking products are so inexpensive, it seems just about anyone can set one up in a matter of minutes. Here in lies the danger. Many wireless routers you buy off the shelf are inherently insecure; they come wide open for anyone to connect to. What can you do to secure your wireless network? Change the default password Change the default SSID (wireless network name) – Do not use a name that can identify it as being yours (name, company name, street address or unit number etc. Enable WPA encryption (instead of WEP) – WEP is insecure and can be compromised within 60 seconds. Disable Remote Administration Disable uPNP option Have any questions or comments? Email me at...
don’t use passwords
Yes, I am serious. We all have too many passwords to remember. A big security mistake is to use the same easy password everywhere. I recommend to my clients the use of ‘Pass Phrases’ or sentences. An example would be “Now is the time.” As a passphrase it would be typed out as ‘Nowisthetime.’ Pass phrases accomplish many tasks. Sentences are easier to remember than some long, cryptic password (i.e. 4M51jQ1). They meet the length and complexity requirements of most security systems. They are NOT your birthday, anniversary or kids/pets names. To change your password from site to site, add something to the end (i.e. Nowisthetime.ebay or Nowisthetime.yahoo). It is good practice to change your passwords/passphrases every 3-6 months. Finally, please do NOT...
spring cleaning computers
This week I’d like to talk about how to maintain your computer from the inside out. As computers run all day long, their fans draw air in from the front and blow it out the back. This draws in dust, pet hair, and all sorts of ‘gunk’. I recommend every 6 months or so, to open up your computer case and vacuum out the dust. If this is left to build up, it will cause your computer to overheat and possibly crash. If you live with pets, I would do it every 3 months. For laptops it’s a bit trickier. You can use compressed air and blow out the laptop fan. Please be sure that the computer is not plugged in or turned on while performing this type of cleanup. One of the most often asked questions I get is “How to I clean my screen?”. I prefer to use a soft micro...
backup! backup! backup!
This is one of the most important topics when it comes to computers and technology. It is one of the first things I ask my clients about and yet one of the last things we all think to do. I am talking about backing up our computers. Think about how important the information on our computers is to each of us. For some it’s a lifetime of photos or music, for others it’s sensitive financial and business information. Much of the data cannot be replaced. There are many easy and very affordable backup solutions available. External Hard Drives Pro: Inexpensive, fast, easy to use Con: Hard drives also susceptible to crashes, data in same location as the computer Online Backup Services Pro: Easy to use, data stored at a remote site, affordable, automated Con: Slow, the...
free software
The internet is filled with tons of FREE stuff. You can find free software for almost anything you want to do on your computer. Below are links to some of the most popular download sites on the internet. www.download.com – A great place to start www.alternativeto.net – Free and low cost alternatives for Win/Mac/Linux software www.tucows.com – an oldie but goodie www.majorgeeks.com – Nice resource for all things PC www.google.com/apps – Google is filled with all sorts of FREE applications. Send in your favorite download site and we will add it to our list. Email blog@prioritytechsolutions.com Jason Vasquez is Owner and President of Priority Technology Solutions in Santa Clarita. He has over 15 years of industry experience in computer support, networking...
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