blog

Relia-Tech’s remote server monitoring

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:23:21 -0500

Relia-Tech’s remote server monitoring

For less than the price of a cup of coffee, we’ll conduct a thorough check each and every morning before you start work. We’ll check:

Your backup is complete to make sure your data is safe
Your anti-virus pattern file to make sure your protection is always up-to-scratch
Your disk space to ensure your system won’t crash and your workers aren’t left unproductive while you recover
Your Exchange email system to make sure it doesn’t fill up and collapse leaving you floundering till it’s fixed
Your hard disk and memory health to ensure your system is always in peak operating condition
Your Critical Event Logs to spot other developing problems that could cause downtime during the day

This service is performed automatically – so it’s guaranteed to happen even if staff are sick or on vacation. If we find problems, we’ll immediately alert an engineer so he can act fast to cut potential downtime. We’ll even send you a short note to confirm the checks carried out and their results.

And all this for less than the cost of a cappuccino!

For more information about this service email Andy at andys@relia-tech.com

Malware...explained.

Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:06:07 -0500

Malware, which is tech-jargon for malicious software, is menacing software authored by clever programmers to covertly download itself on to your computer through sly Internet means, and then perform secret operations without the owner's informed consent. Usually they will “piggyback” on innocent-looking web page components or web searches and otherwise-benign software such as game demos, MP3 players, search toolbars, free subscriptions, and other things you download from the web.

Malware is a direct cousin to viruses with a broader portfolio of wicked intentions, and includes spyware, dishonest adware, root kits, worms and backdoor Trojan horses to name a few. Once in place, malware may log your keystrokes, steal your passwords, observe your browsing choices, spawn pop-up windows, send you targeted email, hijack your web browser and redirect you to advertising/phishing pages, report your personal information to distant servers, and serve up pornography. One common method disguises itself as a rogue anti-virus or internet security program, which appears to automatically run a scan, and finds infections on your machine in every folder possible. When you attempt to cancel or stop these scans, you either get prompted that you are infected and need their software, or the annoying program returns to “scanning” within minutes. Of course to remove these “infections”, you have to purchase their product; the end result - you losing your money and rendering your computer useless.

Malware can operate invisibly, often without displaying itself in your Task Manager or disabling many of the administrative features that allow you to stop its processes. To top it off, malware usually refuses to be uninstalled through your control panel, is designed to be undetected by legitimate anti-virus software and requires special tools to delete them from your drive.

No PC user is immune to malware due to its stealth properties. There are several steps you can take to prevent malware from being downloaded onto your computer:

Be aware of how your computer is operating. Unusual activity or sudden slowness can be a red flag for malware
Set your Internet browser so that you are notified anytime a program attempts to download.
Don't download software or programs from unknown Web sites. These seemingly innocent programs may contain malware that will install on your computer when the original program is installed.
Read the fine print when downloading programs. Those user licenses seem boring and repetitive at times, but there can be a wealth of information in them as well, such as giving a company permission to place malware in the form of adware or spyware on your computer.
If you suspect malware presence, contact Relia-Tech and let the experts free your PC of infection!

AT&T V-Tech Phone systems Certified Reseller

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 19:17:06 -0400

Relia-Tech has just been Certified to be an AT&T VTech Synapse, SynJ and Cordless Headset reseller.

Why are we selling telephones you ask? These phones use the same wireing as your network infrastructure and are managed by a web interface over TCP/IP so we are very well suited to do this type of work. It requires TCP/IP network configuration and we've found we are better at doing this type of work than your average phone system company. You could know everything there is to know about a telephone and still have no idea how to setup one of these systems - you need to know how anetwork communicates.

Synapes is good for any size company needing up to 16 phone lines and supports up to 50 extension. The SynJ system will support 4 phone lines and up to 10 extensions. Both systems have voicemail, call forwarding, corded and cordless options.

If you would like more information on these phones, please email me at andys@relia-tech.com

Windows XP: The facts about the future

Wed, 22 Sep 2010 20:54:54 -0400

Microsoft will stop selling Windows XP on October 22, 2010. What does this mean for you? Nothing...if you don't have any proprietary software that won't run on Windows 7. You may have issues if you have older hardware or software that is no longer supported. Those of you who NEED Windows XP can still purchase new PCs but when you get them you'll have to format the drive and install Windows XP from scratch instead of being able to get it pre-installed from the manufacturer.

I personally have been using Windows 7 since December, 2009 and only have had a handful of issues, all of which I was able to correct. I called the manufacturer of that hardware or software and either got a work around or upgraded to a version that worked with Windows 7. Obviously this was not a big problem for me because it was just me, but if you have an office with multiple PCs/laptops that need replacing with multi user software running on a server, the cost could be substantial.

Bottom line - if you must have XP it can be done.

See full detail on the Microsoft site: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-xp/end-of-sale.aspx

Automate Microsoft Update

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 20:09:14 -0400

Microsoft works constantly to release updates to Windows and other Microsoft products, including Office. At Microsoft Update, you can find and install all these updates-not just the critical ones. Often, these updates will improve your computer's performance.

You can make life easier by automating Microsoft Update so your computer downloads and installs all the updates without you having to worry about them.

To automate Microsoft Update:

In your Start menu, click Control Panel.
In the Automatic Updates dialog box, check the Automatic (Recommended) check box. You can define the time of day when your computer checks for updates. If the computer finds any updates, it will download and install them automatically for you.
Click OK.

Make My Computer Run Faster

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:57:21 -0400

Our personal computers are like fine automobiles-they need preventive maintenance to run efficiently and avoid major breakdowns.

The following tips can help improve your computer's performance. These examples use Microsoft Windows XP. Some of the screens may differ from version to version, but overall you'll find these tips work for all versions of Windows, including Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Millennium Edition (Me), Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Vista.

Remove Temporary Files

Run once a week

Your computer can pick up and store temporary files when you're looking at Web pages and even when you're working on files in programs, such as Microsoft Word. Over time, these files will slow your computer's performance. You can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your computer of these deadbeat files.

To run Disk Cleanup:

In your Start menu, click My Computer.
In the My Computer dialog box, right-click on the drive you wish to check for errors (for most of us this will be the C: drive, unless you have multiple drives on your computer), and click Properties.
In the Properties dialog box, click Disk Cleanup.

Disk Cleanup will calculate how much space you can free up on your hard drive. After its scan, the Disk Cleanup dialog box reports a list of files you can remove from your computer. This scan can take a while depending on how many files you have lying around on your computer.

After the scan is complete, in the Disk Cleanup dialog box, click View Files to see what Disk Cleanup will throw out once you give it the go ahead. You can check and uncheck boxes to define what you wish to keep or discard. When you're ready, click OK.
You can also select the More Options tab within the Disk Cleanup screen to look for software programs you don't use much anymore. You then have the choice to remove these unused programs.

Rearrange your data

Run once a month

Don't be shocked, but your computer can get sloppy. Your computer often breaks files side by side to increase the speed of access and retrieval. However, as files are updated, your computer saves these updates on the largest space available on the hard drive, often found far away from the other adjacent sectors of the file.

The result: a fragmented file. Fragmented files cause slower performance. This is because your computer must now search for all of the file's parts. In other words, your computer knows where all the pieces are, but putting them back together, and in the correct order when you need them, can slow your computer down.

Windows includes a Disk Defragmenter program to piece all your files back together again (if only Humpty-Dumpty had been so lucky) and make them quicker to open.

To run the Disk Defragmenter:

In your Start menu, click My Computer.
In the My Computer dialog box, right-click on the drive you wish to check for errors (for most of us this will be the C: drive, unless you have multiple drives on your computer), and click Properties.
In the Properties dialog box, click the Tools tab, and then in the Defragmentation section, click Defragment Now....
In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, select the Volume (most likely your Local Disk C:) at the top of the screen, and then click Analyze.
After analyzing your computer, the Disk Defragmenter displays a message stating whether you should defragment your computer. Press Defragment to clean up your computer if necessary. The Disk Defragmenter will reorganize files by placing together and organizing them by program and size, as shown in Figure 5.

Remote Managed Services

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:55:14 -0400

You asked for it - we can now supply it.

Many of you asked that we come up with a way to keep track of issues or be able to monitor your systems but not break the bank.

We have partnered with a company that allows us to monitor any system for about $2 a day.

Some of the services we are able to monitor are as follows:

Anti Virus Pattern File: Checks that the anti virus is running on the most up to date version to ensure you are always protected. If not, an alert is generated and your client portal is highlighted.
Critical Events Check & Reports: Alerts us in the event of any critical events occurring so that we can act fast to fix potential problems.
Daily Backup Check: Ensures that your backup has completed successfully. If not, an alert is sent and your Client Portal is highlighted.
Daily Anti-Virus: Check Ensures that your system is using the most up-to-date pattern files. If not, it will send an alert so that remedial action may be taken.
Exchange Information Store Size Check: Checks that the size of the Information Store does not exceed a pre-defined threshold. If it does, it will alert you so that steps can be taken to prevent Exchange from crashing.
Drive Space Consumption Check: Checks whether the rate of growth on any drive exceeds your specified limit. This enables you to spot developing problems before they become critical.
Physical Health: Check Monitors for smart disk alerts, checks if any disks have failed, and can even look for failed memory.
Client Monthly or Daily Report: A monthly or daily report of all the problems uncovered and/or checks passed that day. So that you know what we are fixing on your behalf.

CMR 201 17 Compliance, Mass Privacy Law

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:49:43 -0400

Do you accept credit cards? Do you store customer information? Do you store information on your employees?

There are many considerations related to Information Security. Start the process now to become compliant with the new MA regulations (201 CMR 17). Non compliance will result in significant penalties to your business and jeopardize your reputation as well as business revenue.

Don't wait until it's too late. Let us help you protect your business.

Relia-tech, Inc. can help you:

Assess your current level of compliance to the law
Develop a written Information Security program necessary for compliance
Evaluate your IT Infrastructure
Recommend IT enhancements that are required

CMR-17 FAQs
How will CMR-17 affect your business?
These regulations apply to all businesses in Massachusetts who store personal information. Companies will need to institute a security process for the protection of personal information. The regulations include: establishing password protocols for every user, encrypt information sent over the Internet or saved on flash drives or laptops, restrict access to personal information, maintain current anti-virus, malware and firewall protection, as well as train every employee on security procedures.

What is a security breach?
A security breach is an unauthorized possession of unencrypted data that may be used to compromise the security or integrity of personal data and creates a significant risk of identity theft.

What happens in the event of a security violation?
If an incident occurs, you are required by law to alert the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) and the Attorney General as well as the affected party. The law also requires that when a company reports a breach that it also provide details of the steps that have been taken to prevent a breach from occurring again.

What changes will companies need to make?
You will need to develop a written Information Security program and enforce compliance from all employees. You will need to evaluate your IT Infrastructure to make sure your data is encrypted, access to personal information is restricted, passwords are changed regularly, maintain up-to-date hardware and software (firewall, antivirus, Malware, etc.).

How will you know that the vendors you work with are acting in accordance with the regulations?
The vendor will need to sign a document that says that it has a written, comprehensive information security program that is in compliance with CMR-17.

If a company complies with federal HIPAA or Graham-Leach-Bliley requirements, do they have to comply with these new regulations as well?
Yes. These regulations are not pre-empted because both GLB and HIPAA allow state laws to provide for a higher standard of protection.

When do the regulations take affect?
Massachusetts has extended the deadline to March 15, 2010. Prior to the effective date, a company must have a written information security program in place.

Has the state provided guidelines for compliance?
Every company is different and will have requirements specific to the nature of their business. However, the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation will provide a model plan as a guideline.

PC/Laptop Scheduled Maintenance

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:45:49 -0400

Some Computer Maintenance Dos & Don'ts.

Regularly scan and defragment your hard drive.
Use canned, compressed air to clean out your keyboard, mouse and computer CPU.
Use the application's uninstaller (or Windows' Add/Remove Programs utility) to remove programs.
Regularly clean up the contents of your temporary Internet files.
Check to be sure that have up-to-date security patches from Microsoft.
Periodically use your virus checker and make sure your virus definitions up to date.

Don't

Use water or harsh cleaners, especially on monitor screens.
Use Windows Explorer (or other such tools) to remove programs by deleting files and folders.
Shut down your computer by pushing the power button.
Edit the Registry yourself unless you're 100% sure that you know what you're doing.

Secure Online Backup

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:44:40 -0400

Many of you have inquired about online backup. There are a number of online backup companies out there. Yes they are cheap, yes they are pretty to use...but do you know where your data actually is and who might have access to it?

We introduced our own Relia-Tech online backup at the beginning of 2008. Unlike the other guys, We store your data. We own the equipment. We control who has access to your data.

New Massachusetts Law

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:41:32 -0400

201 CMR 17.00 Standard for the protection of personal information of residents of the Commonwealth

Whether you are a business with one or with a thousand employees, effective March 1st, 2010, you will be required by Massachusetts law to take very specific steps to secure all forms of personal information you keep (hard copy or electronically) belonging to Massachusetts residents (whether they are customers, employees, or vendors) This will include but is not limited to hard disk encryption and email encryption.

Does the law apply to your business? YES!

The law states you will be required to take steps if you meet these requirements:

If you store a Massachusetts resident's name along with one or more of the following:

a) Social Security number
b) Driver's License number or state issued ID card number
c) Financial account number or credit/debit card

If you need help determining your level of compliance with this new regulation, please contact me for a free audit and assessment. We'll quickly determine where you stand and what action you need to take to become compliant.

The link below is to the mass.gov site for the complete verbiage of the regulation:

Amended Regulations on mass.gov site

What Are Parasites?

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:39:34 -0400

'Parasite' is a shorthand term for “unsolicited commercial software” — that is, a program that gets installed on your computer which you never asked for, and which does something you probably don’t want it to, for someone else’s profit. The parasite problem has grown enormously recently, and many millions of computers are affected. Unsolicited commercial software can typically:

plague you with unwanted advertising (‘adware’);
watch everything you do on-line and send information back to marketing companies (‘spyware’);
add advertising links to web pages, for which the author does not get paid, and redirect the payments from affiliate-fee schemes to the makers of the software (such software is sometimes called ‘scumware’);
set browser home page and search settings to point to the makers’ sites (generally loaded with advertising), and prevent you changing it back (‘homepage hijackers’);
make your modem (analogue or ISDN) call premium-rate phone numbers (‘diallers’);
leave security holes allowing the makers of the software — or, in particularly bad cases, anyone at all — to download and run software on your machine;
degrade system performance and cause errors thanks to being badly-written;
provide no uninstall feature, and put its code in unexpected and hidden places to make it difficult to remove.

Where do they come from? There are three major ways unsolicited commercial software can make its way on to your machine:

Some freeware programs are ‘bundled’ with parasites, which are installed at the same time. Often if you are careful to read the small print when you install the software it will warn you about this, and it is sometimes possible to opt out. So always skim the licence agreement when you install and don’t just click Next-Next-Next... but you still can’t be sure they’ll tell you.
Many parasites load using Internet Explorer’s ActiveX installation option. When a web page includes a link to an ActiveX program, a window will appear asking the user wishes to execute it. If ‘Yes’ is clicked (or if IE security settings are set lower than normal so that it never even asks*), the software is allowed to run and can do anything at all it likes on our computer, including installing parasites. For this reason, you should never click ‘Yes’ to a “Do you wish to download and install...” prompt unless you are 100% sure you trust the publisher of the software, which might not be the publisher of the web site you are viewed — read the dialogue box very carefully. Sometimes sites (or pop-up ads) try to fool you into clicking ‘Yes’ by stating that the software is necessary to view the site, or opening endless error windows if you click ‘No’, or claiming that the digital certificate on the code means it is safe. It means no such thing. ‘Microsoft Authenticode’, signed by companies like Verisign, means only that the company that wrote the software is the same as the company whose name appears on the download prompt — nothing more.
Some of the really bad parasites, particularly homepage-hijackers and diallers, execute by exploiting security holes in Internet Explorer, ways of getting code to run that are not supposed to be possible, but are due to mistakes in the browser code. You can do your best to guard against this by ensuring you have the latest updates and patches from Microsoft. Still, there are usually a handful of security holes that have not yet been corrected, so you can never be 100% sure you are safe. One way of reducing your risk of exploitation is to go to Tools->Internet Options->Security and set the security level for the Internet Zone to ‘High’. (If no slider is visible, click ‘Default level to make it appear first.) Then set the security level for the Trusted Zone to ‘Medium’ and add the sites you use and trust to this zone; you may need to do this quite often as many badly-designed sites just won’t work in high-security mode.

Why dosn't my anti-virus software detect this? Technically, most unsolicited commercial software isn’t viral: it doesn’t spread from computer to computer, it just installs and runs on one system. That doesn’t mean it’s not harmful, but anti-virus software does not attempt to detect all software that could be harmful. Actually some anti-virus programs do detect some of the parasites outlined on these pages, but not nearly all, and not all versions of them. Parasites that install using IE security holes are more likely to be targeted by the anti-virus software vendors, but the selection of targets seems for the most part to be pretty arbitrary. For this reason there are now a number of anti-parasite packages around that work as a complement to anti-virus software. If you think you have a parasite infested computer, call us to schedule a visit to your office or home for our "Spring Special Clean-up".

Create an Outlook distribution list from a category of contacts

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:37:55 -0400

Assigning categories to your contacts makes it easier to filter out special groups of contacts. You also might want to send email to this group. To make it easier to input the names in the To field, create a distribution list from that category of contacts. To do this, display your Contacts folder with the By Category view. Then select all of the contacts in the category and choose Action | New Message To Contact from the menu bar. When you do, a new message form opens with all the selected names in the To field. Now, select the text in the To field and choose Edit | Copy from the menu bar. Close the message form. Then choose Actions | New Distribution List from the menu bar or press [Ctrl][Shift]L. In the Name text box, enter a name for this group and press [Enter]. Then click the Select Members button. Right-click in the Add To Distribution List text box and choose Paste. All the email addresses you copied are added to the list. Then click OK and click Save And Close in the Distribution List window. Now you can use the new distribution list to contact all the people in that category.

Quickly create an Outlook contact from an email message

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:34:58 -0400

The Contacts folder is the best way to keep track of email address, phone numbers and other important information about the people you do business with. A quick way to create a contact item for a person is by using an email sent from that individual. To do this, open the email from the person for whom you want to make a contact item, then right-click on the contact's name after the From: field. In the resulting shortcut menu, choose Add To Contacts. A new contact form is opened and the email address is already filled in for you. Just complete the contact's information and click on Save And Close.

Revert the Start Menu to Classic Windows Style

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:32:20 -0400

Microsoft has designed a new two-column Start menu for its windows XP operating system to provide you with quicker access to the programs and features you use most often. However, if you find that this new, larger Start menu is occupying too much space, you can easily change it back to the classic, one-column Start menu from previous versions of Windows.

All you need to do is right-click on the Start menu button and choose Properties from the shortcut menu. Next, in the Taskbar And Start Menu Properties dialog box, select the Start menu tab, and then select the Classic Start Menu option button. You'll see a preview of the classic Windows Start menu in the preview pane at the top of the screen. Then, click Apply and OK, and your Start menu will revert back to the Start menu you're used to in previous Windows operating systems.

How can I shrink my Outlook .pst file?

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:29:45 -0400

Outlook stores its data in a file with a .pst extension or, if you connect to an Exchange Server, an .ost extension. The maximum size for this file is roughly 2GB for older versions of Outlook but much larger for 2001 and later.

To shrink this data file, first delete items from their folders, then from the Deleted Items folder. To clear out the Deleted Items folder manually, choose Tools | Empty "Deleted Items" Folder. Or you can let Outlook take care of this automatically by choosing Tools | Options, then clicking on the Other tab and making sure there's a check in the box labeled Empty The Deleted Items Folder Upon Exiting.

After you've done this, Outlook should compact the PST file automatically. But if you look at the file size before and immediately after deleting the items, you won't see a difference. The compaction takes place in the background when the CPU is relatively idle while Outlook is running.

As a quick test, we created an e-mail with a 4MB attachment, deleted it, and then let the computer sit idle, checking on Outlook's progress every so often. Shrinking the file to its original size took about 20 minutes. The process may take longer than you care to wait, and if the file is on another computer on your network, the automatic compaction may not work at all.

You can run the compaction manually in the foreground, though. In Outlook 2002, choose File | Data File Management..., highlight the PST file you want to compact, click on the Settings... button, then select the Compact Now button. In Outlook 2000, right-click on the Personal Folders entry in the Folder List; choose Properties, the Advanced button, and then the Compact Now button. Compaction will start immediately and take far less time.

Don't Just Run "Disk cleanup"

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:25:08 -0400

Canter Jeff Cornblatt of Andover asks:

"How about some tips on "cleaning up" useless junk, temporary files and any history we don't want to accrue? I think that "Disk Cleanup" is limited in that respect."

Well there is more you can do. Some are manually done others are done automatically by Windows. For example:

You can delete all *.gid, *.chk and *.tmp on your drives.
Set Internet Explorer to "Empty Temporary Internet Folder when browser is closed"
You can remove items from startup which will help your overall system performance. This requires you to go into the registry to delete/changes items. This is a task you'd want a trained technician to perform.
Delete unused or unwanted programs. Short of going thru your system to see what can be deleted and what can stay, you do need to be careful on how you delete programs - always use the add/remove programs option in Control Panel. Deleting programs by going through Windows Explorer and deleting folders will get you in trouble.

Thank you for your question, Cantor - I hope this helps you.

Hotkey for address book in Outlook

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:23:12 -0400

Sam Lovick of London Economics in Cambridge had a helpful tip to share.

When you are in Outlook and don't remember the email address that you want to send an email to but have an idea...all you need to do is go to the To: field and type the first few letters of the persons name i.e.: "s" (without quotation marks). Then hit <ALT> K. This will search all your contacts for an email address that begins with s. A list to pick from comes up then you double click on the one you need and off you go.

Thank you, Sam, for your helpful tip - we at Relia-Tech already use it.

Clean Out Deleted Items

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:21:47 -0400

One good way to save room on your hard drive is to empty the Deleted Items folder on a regular basis. Right-click the folder and select Empty Deleted Items Folder. To have Outlook do this automatically, select Tools, Options, click the Other tab, enable the Empty The Deleted Items Folder Upon Exiting check box, and click OK.

How to Email a Screenshot

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:20:45 -0400

To send a screen shot via e-mail, open the desired window, and press Alt+PrtScrn. Open a new message in Outlook, then press Ctrl-V to paste the window into your message. To capture the entire desktop, rather than just the active window, press the PrtScrn key without the Alt key.Tech Tips, Com