Tech Tip Tuesday: Wanna Cry

I wanna cry!!!!  That may be what you say if your device is affected by the WannaCry ransomeware virus.

A nasty virus that attacks outdated Windows Devices.  What does it do?  Well its another form of the crypto virus; it will encrypt (basically change your data into unreadable files) and then charge you like 300 - 600 dollars to get them decrypted.

I'm a little late to the party as this all started back in May 2017; that is why in last week tip I talked about keeping your devices updated.



Especially in this case, you need to make sure your Windows device is updated.  Make sure Automatic updates are on.

• For Windows 10. Go to Settings > Update & Security.  You will See your status there. 
  
• For Windows 8.1 go to Settings > Change PC Settings > Update and Recovery
• For Windows 7 go to Control Panel > Windows Update

Windows XP?  You still on that?  Why?  If you are, Microsoft went ahead and released a patch for it for the Wannacry, but keep in mind XP is no longer in service and does not receive updates regularly.  I highly recommend you update or get a new device.

I really hate ransomeware; they basically hold your data hostage.  Another thing to do is keep regular backups of your data.   Weather it be an external hard drive or using the cloud always have more than one copy of your data in a secure place.

 

All Good things must come to an End...

 

 

This is not a throwback Thursday, That's right folks, Windows XP and Office 2003 support has come to an end as of April 8, 2014.  Now you may be asking yourself, "What in the world does that mean?" Well it means there will be no more updates which means no more patching security vulnerabilities. 

Now your XP machine, the machine that has been stable and running for twelve years is no on the open market for hackers.  Now Hackers can easily get into your system.  Did you know when Microsoft puts out an update it reveals the vulnerabilities that it fixed.  Now with Windows 7 and 8 having some major updates the same day, it is easy for hackers to reverse engineer these updates and use them against the vulnerable XP.  I know, XP, has been going stronger for over 12 and half years, causing little to no consequence if a user decided not to upgrade; many home users and Companies still use the operating system.   So, now what do you do?

Simple put, it is finally time to upgrade.  Now the only way to keep using XP and be safe would be to take it off and leave it off of the internet.  So, if you want to have an offline box XP should run fine.  Now if this box hits the net and is used for everyday purposes like e-mail and web browsing; its time to upgrade. The question is, Upgrade to What?  

$119.99

First skip that monstrosity called Vista.  Long story short it was rushed out and had memory leaks.  Now that leaves Windows 7 and 8.  I would say Windows 7 will or has become the new XP.  By that I mean, Windows 7 is stable and is what most people and companies are on at the moment.  With the drastic changes in Windows 8, Windows 7 will be around for a long time just like XP was.  Now don't get me wrong, I for one love Windows 8 and have gotten use to it.  Now before you run off and purchase one of the upgrades you need to make sure that they will run on your PC.  I know you don't want to hear this but sometimes its just time to buy a new PC; especially if its over 10 years old.

Easiest way to see if you computer can handle Windows 7 or 8 is to use Microsoft's own readiness tools. 
Windows 7 Readiness Tool     Windows 8.1 Upgrade Assistant for Windows 7     Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant for Vista and XP

Also, Click this link for the Update to Windows 8.1:FAQ and this link for the Update to Windows 7:FAQ

Now we can't forget Microsoft Office 2003 has also lost support; since then we have had Office 2007, 2010 and the latest 2013.  I would say for now any of the later are fine if you can get your hands on them, since they are still being supported.  And as many of you know a lot of software is going to a cloud base system where you pay a yearly or monthly subscriptions for access to the software.  This allows you to always have the latest version.  Microsoft has Office 365.  Click here to see purchasing options for Microsoft Office.