Computer Systems Management
In most cases I try to set up clients on a regular visit contract of a couple of hours a month - With in a very short period of time I will have your system running smoothly while granting your firm a very high level of security. The real test for how good your Tech agent is not how fast they can show up when something goes wrong but rather how little things go wrong.
While I am very quick on site if you are having problems my first objective is to eliminate problems before they happen. Most people would not think of driving a car until it will go no further and then call a mechanic to fix it just enough so they can start driving it again. Yet this is just how most Americans use their computers today. It is estimated that about 70% of all Windows computers are infected with one or more viruses or other invasive software. This is why most Windows computers slow down and become less stable over time. Most of these infections could be avoided if you are willing to invest some time and money up front.
Maulware removal. There are now many types of nasties that can attack your computer.
Maulware - Now used to name all of these nasties as a group.
Viruses - This attack program is usually delivered directly to the victim computer - may or may not require aid from the victim - like clicking on its link in a web site or in your email. The term "Drive By" is sometimes used to describe an infection you can get just by Visiting a site set to attack you when you connect to that site.
Trojans - This attack program is much like a virus except it masquerades as some neat or desirable program. Thus the name relates back to the Trojan Horse of Troy.
Worms - This attack program gains access to your computer directly - usually does not require any help from the victim - This is one of the very few attack types that have any ability to gain access in the Linux OS. Window is normally very susceptible to worms - Thanks to programs like Active-X and the fact that IE is embedded in the OS in Windows 2000 and later. Worms often do not need any help from their victim. A worm can often gain access and run on your computer just because you visited an infected web site. Worms are normally easy to get rid of - just reboot, However, on most Windows boxes they have only one purpose - install a good old fashion Virus or root kit on your system and set it to run on restart - then they usually start making your computer misbehave so that you will reboot and start the virus they have installed. (Note: even though worms that been one of the few attacks that have worked against Linux - So far they have been unable to plant a working Linux virus nor are any of the worms known to attack Linux still able to attack modern fully patched Linux OS's.)
Root Kits - This items first turned up on the old UNIX systems and by theory could be found on Linux Systems before its spread to Windows.. The great new field of "advancement" for this type of software is on Windows base systems in the last 5 years. Today nearly all root kits are found on Windows computers and are what is now loaded by worms. Root Kits are usually a group of programs that take over your computer - to do someone else's bidding and some of their programs do nothing but protect themselves from anyone trying to clean up your computer. They will often hide themselves from detection, even fight back against someone trying to delete them. In some cases attempts to remove them can cause them to destroy all data on your computer.
Scum-Ware or Junk ware - these terms are used to describe the near useless and crippled and "trial" software delivered on your Windows PC at purchase.
Phishing - This is not really any form of attack against your computer it is an attack on you personally. Phishing is where the thief/thug tries to trick you personally to divulge key information about yourself, your accounts, or anything else they can use to steal from you. This method of attack works almost equally well on all OSs. Your only real defense against this type of attack is knowledge and watchfulness.
Botnet - This not an evil program attacking your computer but rather what we call a large collection of infected computers that are at the command of one person or a small group of people. There are many Windows based Botnets on the web - some nearing 2 million computers under the control of one entity. There has been one fairly large Mac Botnet found, However, at the time of publishing to this web page there have been no Linux based bonnets.