The SMB Minute Aaron and Tim discuss technology and computing important to Small and Medium Businesses.

Recently I’ve seen an increase in the infections of computer by Fake Anti-Virus Programs. These are horrible programs, which are tested by their creators to bypass your Valid Anti-Virus program. Not only are they created to get past your Anti-Virus, but they also created to fool the people using the computers, into installing this Malware.

I came across a great list of these Fake Anti-Virus programs
Via Technibble.com If one of these Rogue programs is installed call your IT department or contact your Computer Consultant.

– Tim Krabec

Posted under Podcasts

Interview With Chris Nickerson part3
The last part of the interview where Chris talks business with the crew.

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Some of you may have received an email similar to the one below:

**************

Hey, some jerk has posted your pictures (u understand what kind of pictures are there) and sent a link of them to all ur friends. I have already replied back. Said, that he is an idiot. See the link:

http://photobank.********.****.*****/id1073bv/get.php?email={Your Email is here}

{SOME NAME}

**************

Newsflash folks, they haven’t. Well, at least not the people purporting to have done so in this email!

Educate your users, don’t click on the link. We’ve had a user actually do so and managed to infect their machine. To most, it seems more of a pain to clean it than anything. But let’s put it this way: Your technical company (or your internal technical person) has to go clean this up. Say your outsourcing firm charges $100 per hour. Something like this takes at least 2 to 3 hours to clean let alone ensure it has been eradicated. I’m not counting the checks of ALL your other systems on the network. Now we’re talking more along the lines of 5 or 6 hours. Now factor in the cost of the downtime to the user who has been infected. Now you’re looking at $1,000 or more in real money that has been lost. Now factor in there is the very real possibility this user has had documents lost or destroyed by this virus.

User education doesn’t seem so expensive any more.

Posted under Information/Advisories, Podcasts

I’ve been seeing more email trying to get me to install patches which are not from Microsoft.

Subject: “Update for Microsoft Outlook / Outlook Express (KB910721)”

Now unless you’ve signed up with Microsoft to receive notifications via email you’re not going to get them.  And most certainly the WILL NOT be sending patches via email, except possibly if you’re on an active support call.  So once again don’t open attachments,  when you’re not expecting them.

Posted under Podcasts

http://media.libsyn.com/media/tkrabec/OSMBMinute-nickerson-SMB_part_2.mp3

Sorry about the audio in part 1.

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Finally after a long Hiatus we’re back

http://media.libsyn.com/media/tkrabec/SMBMinute-nickerson-SMB_part_1.mp3

– Tkrabec

Posted under Podcasts

Here is a nice tip to keep Aero but lose the transparency to gain some speed

http://tweaks.com/articles/39811/quick-aero-glass-speed-tip/

XP Move for Windows 7 (You need to check to see if the machine supports some HW VBirt)

http://tweaks.com/articles/39847/share-your-screen-with-sharedview/

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Please hop on over to Survey Monkey and fill out this brief 6 Question Survey
Click Here to take survey

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Given the recent problems with the T-mobile Sidekick, I am reminded that we have lots of data in the cloud.  Be it data with Google, Amazon, Flickr, LinkedIn, Snapfish, etc.  While the cloud is a great convenience for storage and  sharing, it begs the question; how do I back up my information?

Lifehacker has a nice article, including links, to tools for backing up some of the data you may have stored in the cloud.  http://lifehacker.com/5335553/free-tools-to-back-up-your-online-accounts.

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Posted under Misc, Podcasts

We recently took the kids to Disney for my birthday. Doing so kept the arguments about who’s birthday we should go on to a minimum, but I digress. Upon arriving we discovered Disney gives patrons a button to wear proclaiming to the world it’s your birthday. I put the button on and promptly forgot about it. A short while later, a Disney cast member wished me happy birthday. Then random strangers did the same. It felt nice so I started wishing others with the button a happy birthday.

Now, to pull it all together for you;

• a simple idea (wishing people a happy birthday if they have a special pin on will make them feel welcome and enjoy their stay)
• a little training (if you see someone with the pin, wish them happy birthday)
• some reinforcement (employees see management doing it)

Now you have a park full of employees wishing guests happy birthday. It catches on and the guests start wishing each other happy birthday. People are happy, enjoying their stay. Therefore they are likely to spend more money while at the park. More money, more profit … well, you see where we’re headed.

Sometimes a small idea can have big results.

Posted under Podcasts