There’s a new cookie in town… and it’s not chocolate chip!

You’ll be hearing a lot about flash cookies soon. Flash cookies are a new way of tracking your web movements and storing a lot more info about you than the usual cookies do and certainly a lot more information than you are comfortable with. The cookies we’re used to can save only 4kb of data but a flash cookie can save up to 100kb!

Flash cookies:
– Stay on your computer for an unlimited amount of time
– Store 100 kb of data by default, with an unlimited max
– Can’t be deleted by your browser
– Send previous visit information and history, by default, without your permission

We recommend the use of Google Chrome as an internet browser – among it’s many benefits it has a facility to delete the flash cookies and we highly recommend you follow these steps for more security. Click&Clean is a free Google Chrome extension which deletes all cookies including flash.

Open your Google Chrome browser and click on the spanner (on right hand side)
Go to Options and click Under the Bonnet tab. Click Content Settings and then click Clear cookies and other site data when I close my browser
Then select the button Show cookies and other site data
You’ll get a window with a list of all the cookies on your computer, just select Remove All
Close all the windows down and go back to Google Chrome browser and click on the spanner/Tools/Extensions, what you want in the list is Click&Clean, if it’s not there go to Get more extensions and in the search box type Click&Clean

Install it by following the prompts. Now every time you close your browser you will get a prompt up to delete your cookies which makes for much safer browsing. Tick the items you want. We suggest you tick the top one Obliterate the following Chrome items, and also Delete Extension Cookies. Then select Clear Private Data.

Flash cookies exists on 98% of global computers, across all operating systems. There’s no easy way to tell what sites are using flash cookies to track your movements. There’s no list, and there doesn’t have to be a flash GUI or visible application for flash cookies to be present. In fact, most websites using flash for user tracking don’t create GUI’s, toolbars, or applications that you can actually see in your browser while browsing the site. Many times a tiny flash module, 2 kb in size or less is loaded into your browser on every page visit in the same way a gif, jpg or other image is. The whole purpose of this tiny, invisible flash module might be to simply record the page request, and your username or other session variables.

You can also do the following to delete all flash cookies currently being stored on your computer:
– Go to the Settings Manager (Website Storage Settings)- Go to the far-right tab
– Click Delete all sites
And to prevent websites from storing any more information on your computer:
– Go to Settings Manager
– Click the second tab from the left Global Storage Settings
– Set the Storage Settings slider to None
– Uncheck Allow Third Party Flash Content to store data on your computer

Okay, now you won’t overload your system with those fattening cookies!!! Seriously though, it’s really worth the effort to ensure your security as much as you can, the above is certainly one way to do it.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1

The first service pack for Windows 7 has been released in Beta (SP1). If you have Windows 7 and would like it installed, please bring your computer to our Mittagong shop.

BEWARE OF THIS SCAM

We have had several customers tell us that they have received a phone call and the person says they are from Microsoft support centre (or something like that). Then they ask if has a virus (or something happening which could be a virus). Some customers have had the person say, Microsoft is concerned that there is an infection on the computer and they want to log in and check for you.

THIS IS A SCAM!!! Revati has confirmed with Microsoft today and they NEVER call on the phone, and don’t have a support team for this kind of thing. They are only available if you call them so never ever believe a phone call of this nature. Obviously these people have negative motives for these calls.
Also beware if you have a wireless network, ensure there is an encryption so others outside your office or home cannot access the network. If you need help on this, please call or email us at the shop 02 4871 3885, support@lotuscomputers.com.au

Microsoft system info – msinfo32

There may be times you need to find information about your computer such as how much RAM you have, how much is available and so on.

Go to Start button and in the search box type in msinfo32.

The System Information window will appear with the relevant information about RAM, operating system and so on. Click on the picture below, it will open in a new page for easy reading.

VIRUSES

VIRUSES – yes those nasties that at best will cause you to spend money, lose time and give you great irritation, and at worst… well, read on…

Computer viruses are contracted through email, by downloading software over the Internet, P2P sharing, and attaching external devices to a computer. There are many names given to indicate a negative program, such as virus, malware, rootkit, Trojan, phishing, I have simply said ‘virus’ in this column for ease of reading.
Viruses can have numerous properties enabling them to do many things (see the list below). And viruses can carry other viruses, making them more lethal. They may be memory resident, meaning they infect every time a new file is opened. Some viruses even have the capability of modifying their code which means one virus can have many variants that change attack from one thing to another.

A virus can stay on the computer even if the computer is formatted – some have the capability of infecting different portions of the computer such as the CMOS battery or master boot record. If a computer is completely erased and the virus is on a backup disk it can easily re-infect the computer. There are viruses that can track your key entry and therefore track bank accounts, passwords, and the like.

Viruses can affect any files, however, usually attack .com, .exe, .sys, .bin, .pif or any data files. Viruses have the capability of infecting any file; however, will generally infect executable files or data files, such as word or excel documents that are opened frequently and allow the virus to try infecting other files more often.
Infection can be hidden such as when It deletes files as the file is run – most files are loaded into memory, once the program is in memory the virus can delete the file used to execute the virus.

Below are different issues you may experience when you are infected with a virus. Keep in mind that you also may be experiencing any of the below issues by another computer related issue and not a virus.
• Deleted files
• Various messages in files or on programs
• Randomly overwrites sectors on the hard disk
• Replaces the MBR with own code
• Create more than one partition
• Attempts to access the hard disk drive, which can result in error messages such as: Invalid drive specification
• Causes cross-linked files
• Causes a “sector not found” error
• Cause Hardware problems such as keyboard keys not working, printer issues, modem issues etc
• Cause keyboard keys to be remapped
• Alter the system time / date
• Cause system to hang or freeze randomly and run slow
• Randomly change file or memory size
• Extended boot times
• Cause computer to make strange noises, make music, clicking noises or beeps.
• Display pictures randomly
• Different and/or undocumented types of error messages

You can see just how important a good internet protection program is. It is also important to ensure your internet security program is updated regularly. A word of caution, many programs say “automatic updates” however, this does not occur unless your computer is switched on when the update comes through. Ensure you manually update so you get the latest patches. Also ensure you scan every USB device or disk you attach – and that includes flash drives, external hard drives, mobile phones and sound devices.

There are over 200 viruses hitting the internet every day and at Lotus Computers this is becoming one of the biggest issues for computer users that visit our business. If you feel your computer is infected, please get help fast from your local computer technician. And remember – backup everything as you go just in case. If you do lose valuable data because of a virus or the like, you will at least have backup. Remember to scan the backup device with your internet security program to ensure it is virus-free.