• Firewall-Microsoft Windows XP w/SP2 and Windows Vista both have a software firewall included with the operating system.  By default they are enabled and provide somewhat good protection.  There are a number of free and pay software firewalls available on the Internet that have more features and some provide better protection.
• Disable File and printer sharing- This feature in Windows, by default, is disabled.  However many people will enable this feature to allow them to  share files and printers at home or the office.  When you have this turned on and you connect to a wi-fi hot-spot, anyone who is also connected to that wi-fi hot-spot has access to your files and folders.  You can disable file and printer sharing by visiting the Microsoft  knowledge base article .
• Check your SSID- Verify with the Hot-Spot operator what the SSID is for their locations.  Its possible that a scammer or other criminal type may set up a rouge access point or even ad-hoc connections to trick users into connecting to them.  This will allow the scammer to capture all the data that is sent or received by the user.
• Browse with caution-Any time you are in a public location connected to a public Wi-Fi hot-spot you are at a potential risk.  I would strongly suggest not conducting any type of secure or sensitive transactions, such as those that involve credit card or banking information
• Disable your Wi-Fi adaptor-If you are not using your wi-fi connection, disable the adaptor.  This will prevent Windows from automatically connecting to a wireless network, and prevent your computer from being vulnerable to penetration attacks.
• Update your computer-Always have the latest updates for your operating system as well as the latest updates to your virus and spyware protection software.
• VPN-A VPN is a virtual private network and is typically used by users to connect to their office network.  This allows all traffic to pass between the users laptop and the users work network securely and encrypted.  So in the event the data is intercepted it will be useless to the scammer.
• Remote Access-If you don’t have access to a VPN connection, there are a number of services online to protect you as you browse.  LogMeIn is one service that allows 128bit encrypted connections to your home or work computer securely over the Internet.  Once connected, it is just as if you were sitting at your remote computer.

As with any service there are times when something occurs that causes grief, such as outages, lost static IP addresses…things like that.  Things that I can understand that happen.  This however is not one of them…

 I noticed a few days ago, when I mis-typed a web address and landed on . 
this screen.
 

I was not sure what it was…where it came from or even how I got there.

After doing a little research I discovered what they are doing and why.  I also discovered that allot of big name ISPs are doing the same thing and or testing similar services.  Basically what they are doing is using their DNS servers to redirect nonexistent web addresses to their ad supported search portal.  This is a direct violation of the DNS standard, which requires that a query for a nonexistent domain must return the “NXDOMAIN” error response.

As of this writing I have not found out what software Grande Communications uses to redirect the traffic, but hopefully when I write a follow up I will have additional information on that. 

Now what does this mean to the average user? Well late last month a bug in the software that EarthLink uses to redirect customer mistyped domains may have allowed attackers to launch undetectable phishing attacks against any Internet site and get the pages to run the hackers own JavaScript code. With the browser treating this code as if it were from a legitimate domain, hackers were able to steal users’ cookies, create fake Web sites that appeared to be hosted on legitimate domains, and even log into certain Web sites without authorization.  “This”, According to Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing with IOActive, a security consulting firm, “underscores a fundamental security risk in the way that some ISPs are attempting to generate advertising revenue from mistyped Web addresses.”

Please contact Grande Communications today and file a complaint.  Tell them you don’t like the service, you don’t want the service, and you don’t like the fact that Grande Communications is hijacking YOUR web traffic.

Call 512-878-4600

When looking to implement or outsource Microsoft Exchange, there are several key factors to consider. Is the service reliable? Are there engineers on standby 24×7 in case a server goes down? And does the service offer the full benefits of Exchange?

RELIABILITY AND UPTIME

Our service operates out of a tier-four datacenter, with state-of-the-art cooling, power supply, backup generator and fire suppressants. For you this means that your email is constantly running. Your Exchange service will run on clustered servers and an EMC storage area network – so if one server or disk drive stops working, your email keeps working.

As well as offering the highest-quality IT infrastructure, we do nightly backups to protect your data. For your peace of mind, we offer a 99.9% service-level agreement (SLA) which allows for just a few minutes of email downtime each month.

24/7 monitoring and management

To further ensure reliability, we employ a team of Microsoft Exchange engineers and administrators 24/7. So if a server problem occurs at 3am on a Sunday morning, we will be there to solve it – in a matter of minutes. This same team installs Microsoft software patches immediately, as well as anti-virus and anti-spam updates, for full protection.

Add-on features

We offer a complete range of add-on features including hosted BlackBerry, ActiveSync for Windows mobile devices and Good Mobile Messaging for Treos and other smartphones, so you can instantly activate email service for your handheld. Rather than spending thousands of dollars on your own server, you can use our managed service for just a few dollars a month.

You can also add archiving – from simple message journaling, to keep an exact copy of all your message, to compliant archiving, which fulfils regulatory requirements from the SEC, NASD, HIPAA and so on. Also available is fax via email, which gives you a local fax number and emails your faxes to you as PDFs.

PC or MAC

Many Exchange hosting companies do not offer both Outlook 2007 (for PC) and Entourage (for Mac) support. We offer a free download of both, so your staff can use either PCs and Macs, or both.

Our Microsoft Exchange hosting service is fully-managed, with constant uptime and instant add-ons like BlackBerry or archiving. All this, plus a significantly lower total cost of ownership than managing an Exchange server in-house.

Yup!  Its true I am going to tell you how to get your hands on free anti-virus AND FREE anti-spyware software.  Unfortunately too many people are running computers with no protection and their computer and privacy are in jeopardy.  If you follow these simples steps you can help protect yourself against virus and spyware infections.

1. GET PROTECTION