Why TeknacomPC ltd. Uninstalled Windows 8 from its Test Workstation and will Never Reinstall!


By: Michael Paul Talev

TeknacomPC ltd. a Microsoft Partner was a  tiny part of the testing team on Windows 8 when it was still in Beta meaning pre-release to companies and the public. We here at TeknacomPC ltd. kept waiting for the final fix to make it user and business friendly though the fix never arrived!

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that Windows 8 is the worst computing experience We’ve ever had. As a desktop operating system, it’s annoying, frustrating, irritating, and baffling to use. I’ve tried on many occasions to explain exactly why it’s so awful to use day-to-day, and most of the time, smoke starts pouring out of my ears. I thought it would be better to get down exactly what the issues are and why you should avoid it.

What is even worse that Microsoft Employees are calling Windows 8 "The New Vista" Which as we all know in the IT industry Vista was a complete failure in which Microsoft saved itself in the operating system arena with Windows 7.

http://news.yahoo.com/microsoft-employees-reportedly-call-windows-8-vista-175427951.html

What it comes down to is this: Windows 8 is a tax on your brain. That dealing with it, day in, day out adds to your world being slightly worse in a dozen different but slightly irritating ways.

This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it is an exhausting list of reasons why we at TeknacomPC ltd. will never touch Windows 8 again here at our offices. We not alone: software to hardware developers and business users world wide have declared Windows 8 a catastrophe.

We have seen this type of Operating System before Windows 8 was even on the design board , it was called Lenovo Tiles that looks and feels very similar to Windows 8!

What difference does 32-bit versus 64-bit make on Microsoft products?

Microsoft’s Windows has brought to the forefront the question of 32-bit versus 64-bit processors. This article explains what it means to your programs’ ability to perform and why its a good idea to stick with or downgrade to Windows 7 Professional!


By:
Michael Paul Talev - President TeknacomPC ltd.

 

 

32 BIT VS. 64 BIT:

 

This is something that's been asked since the introduction of consumer-level processors bearing the “x64” nomenclature. It feels like just yesterday that Intel and AMD supporters were at odds over the Athlon 64. At that time and even as recently as the introduction of Windows Vista, software and drivers for 64-bit setups were slim-pickings.  Analogous to the shift from 16 to 32-bit computing, the jump to 64-bit has been a slow one. Windows XP x64 never took off, though 64-bit versions of Vista did, thankfully. The ride was a bumpy one, but hardware manufacturers and software developers alike have finally widely adopted the 64-bit architecture - and there’s no turning back now.

At this point in time, nearly everyone is on the same page about the transition. If your old video card and printer have yet to receive 64-bit compatible drivers, odds are they won’t be getting any. A boatload of legacy hardware support was dropped with Windows Vista, and Windows 7 certainly won’t pick it back up, regardless of which version you install.

Now, you’re probably wondering why 64-bit operating systems are being phased in and what benefits they deliver over their 32-bit predecessors – both legitimate questions. One of the most commonly cited differences is that the 32-bit architecture has a memory access limit of 4GB (2^32 bytes). This permits you to use about 2.75-3.5GB of RAM after IO reservations are factored in.
On paper, the 64-bit architecture can address 16 exabytes of memory (2^64), or more than 4 billion times that of its precursor. Consumer editions of Windows Vista permit from 8GB to 128GB of physical memory to be accessed, depending on the version. Windows 7 bumps that up to 192GB with the Professional version and above.  Other benefits of running a 64-bit OS include enhanced security with hardware-backed DEP, Kernel Patch Protection and mandatory driver signing. This is all just scratching the surface, but I suppose the real question should be:  Why shouldn’t you install Windows x64?  The short answer is that you should go with Windows 7 64-bit unless you’re running a system well into its antiquity where driver support is going to become an issue.  Microsoft has useful online tools that can scan your system and external peripherals and give you an outlook of what's currently supported and what's not. A few useful links:  

- Windows Vista Compatibility Center
- Windows 7 Compatibility Center (not yet available)
- Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor

Did you know?
Retail versions of Windows 7 will include both 32-bit & 64-bit discs on the box in case you are undecided or prefer to make the jump to the 64-bit version of the OS at a later time.

 

Leave no trace: Tips to cover your digital footprint and reclaim your privacy.

Privacy is at a premium. Whether it’s the NSA, a hacker cabal, or corporate marketers, someone is looking over your shoulder every time you use your PC.
You can minimize your exposure, though. Whether you’d just like to keep your Web browsing under wraps or you want to obliterate all evidence of digital activities, follow these tips to stay on guard and off the grid.

Conceal your Internet activity

Covering your tracks on the Web starts with your browser’s private browsing feature. Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Firefox each have this functionality, which prevents the browser from keeping a history of the pages you view. You can enable private browsing from the main menu—in Internet Explorer it’s called InPrivate Browsing, in Chrome it’s Incognito mode, and in Firefox it’s simply referred to as a Private Window.

Note that private browsing won’t remove every trace of your Internet activities. Any files you save will remain. Private browsing also doesn’t do anything to obscure your Web traffic from the server’s side. Websites you visit will still have your IP address, and any unencrypted data you send is as susceptible to interception as it would be in a normal browser session.
A more covert option is to use private browsing in conjunction with Sandboxie, an application that prevents other programs from saving any data to your disk (including malware that might try to sneak in from the Internet).
Finally, there’s Tor, a network that allows you to browse the internet completely anonymously. While you’re running the Tor software, any outgoing or incoming network traffic is first bounced among many other computers that people have set up to act as nodes in the Tor network. Any sites you visit won’t know your IP address (which can be used to find out where you live), and anyone listening in on your outgoing traffic (including your ISP) won’t be able to tell what sites you’re visiting.

Tor lets you browse the Web anonymously--and very slowly.
But while Tor may be the biggest weapon in the battle to protect your privacy, it’s certainly not the fastest. All that server-bouncing slows down your browsing considerably. Unless you’re a dissident in a repressive regime, or someone else with a life-or-death need for Web anonymity, you may well find that Tor is more security than you actually need.


Put your data on the down low

The next step is to protect the personal data on your PC.
You should have unique user accounts with passwords set up for each person who uses your computer, including guests. (Windows guest accounts have lesser privileges.) By default, any file in the C:/Users directory (which includes My Documents, My Photos, and all related folders), is accessible only to the user account that created it. It’s not airtight security, but it will reduce access to your files.
User accounts alone won’t protect your private data from someone determined to get at it. To make your hard drive snoop-proof, you need to encrypt it. The easiest way to do this is with Bitlocker, the full-disk encryption built into the Ultimate and Enterprise editions of Windows 7 and Vista, as well as in the Pro and Enterprise versions of Windows 8. By default Bitlocker isn’t enabled, but you can turn it on by going to Control Panel > System and Security > Bitlocker Drive Encryption. Encrypting your whole drive will make it completely inaccessible to anyone who doesn’t have your Windows user password.

If you don’t have Bitlocker, you can still get free full-drive encryption with TrueCrypt, which secures your files with military-grade protection. Like Bitlocker, it can be used to encrypt your whole hard drive or just a subset of files. Files locked with TrueCrypt aren’t just inaccessible—they’re invisible to anyone who doesn’t have the password for the containing volume.
Don’t assume a deleted file is gone for good. Windows doesn’t actually remove the data from your hard drive, it simply gets rid of the bit of your file system that points to the file. Even if you remember to empty your computer’s recycle bin, trashed data can frequently be recovered with software like Recuva. There are many utilities available to destroy a file. A program like Eraser, for instance, actually overwrites that data on your hard drive, ensuring that it can never be resurrected.

Corral clandestine activities to a private OS

Many privacy pitfalls boil down to the fact that Windows is a complicated operating system, and it’s difficult to keep track of all the nooks and crannies into which your data is being sorted. To eliminate evidence of your activities, the best option is to work in an operating system entirely separate from your regular one.
One easy way to do this is with virtualization. Using free software like VirtualBox, you can run a separate Windows or Linux computer in a window on your PC. Virtualization sets up a wall around the virtual computer, so nothing you do on the PC in VirtualBox can leave any files on your normal Windows file system. If you’re really paranoid, you can even keep the VirtualBox data in a TrueCrypt volume, so that nobody but you can see it.
Finally, if nothing so far in this article is enough security for your needs, there’s one last piece of software that provides absolute privacy. It’s called Tails OS, and it’s for when you want to go deep undercover.

Tails OS is part of the Tor Project, which we discussed earlier. It’s not a web browser like Tor itself, but rather an entire operating system devoted to privacy. You install Tails OS on a DVD or USB drive and run it on any computer you want. Everything needed to run Tails OS stays on the removable disk, and nothing gets written to the computer’s main drives. All data transmitted to and from the computer is filtered through the Tor network, so your browsing activity is completely untraceable, as well. Also, the operating system comes loaded with encryption and secure erase tools, as well as other privacy-oriented software. Think of it as your pocket privacy toolkit.

Again if you need any assistance or consultation please feel free to contact our company

TeknacomPC ltd. at Tel: 440.479.7837 or visit us at www.teknacompc.com

Think Your Firewall is Safe? 'Heartbleed' computer bug threat spreads to firewalls and beyond!

Hackers could crack email systems, security firewalls and possibly mobile phones through the "Heartbleed" computer bug, according to security experts who warned on Thursday that the risks extended beyond just Internet Web servers.

The widespread bug surfaced late on Monday, when it was disclosed that a pernicious flaw in a widely used Web encryption program known as OpenSSL opened hundreds of thousands of websites to data theft. Developers rushed out patches to fix affected web servers when they disclosed the problem, which affected companies from Amazon.com Inc and Google Inc to Yahoo Inc.

Yet pieces of vulnerable OpenSSL code can be found inside plenty of other places, including email servers, ordinary PCs, phones and even security products such as firewalls. Developers of those products are scrambling to figure out whether they are vulnerable and patch them to keep their users safe.

"I am waiting for a patch," said Jeff Moss, a security adviser to the US Department of Homeland Security and founder of the Def Con hacking conference. Def Con's network uses an enterprise firewall from McAfee, which is owned by Intel Corp's security division.

He said he was frustrated because people had figured out that his email and Web traffic is vulnerable and posted about it on the Internet - but he can't take steps to remedy the problem until Intel releases a patch."Everybody is going through the exact same thing I'm going through, if you are going through a vendor fix," he said.

An Intel spokesman declined comment, referring Reuters to a company blog that said: "We understand this is a difficult time for businesses as they scramble to update multiple products from multiple vendors in the coming weeks. The McAfee products that use affected versions of OpenSSL are vulnerable and need to be updated." It did not say when they would be released.

The Heartbleed vulnerability went undetected for about two years and can be exploited without leaving a trace, so experts and consumers fear attackers may have compromised large numbers of networks without their knowledge.

Companies and government agencies are now rushing to understand which products are vulnerable, then set priorities for fixing them. They are anxious because researchers have observed sophisticated hacking groups conducting scans of the Internet this week in search of vulnerable servers.
"Every security person is talking about this," said Chris Morales, practice manager with the cybersecurity services firm NSS Labs.

Cisco Systems Inc, the world's biggest telecommunications equipment provider, said on its website that it is reviewing dozens of products to see if they are safe. It uncovered about a dozen that are vulnerable, including a TelePresence video conferencing server, a version of the IOS software for managing routers. A company spokesman declined to comment on how those issues might affect users, saying Cisco would provide more information as it became available.

Oracle Corp has not posted such an advisory on its support site. Company spokeswoman Deborah Hellinger declined to comment on Heartbleed. Microsoft Corp, which runs a cloud computing and storage service, the Xbox platform and has hundreds of millions of Windows and Officer users, said in a statement that "a few services continue to be reviewed and updated with further protections." It did not identify them.

Officials with technology giants IBM and Hewlett-Packard Co could not be reached. EMC Corp and Dell said they had no immediate comment. Security experts said the vulnerable code is also found in some widely used email server software, the online browser anonymizing tool Tor and OpenVPN, as well as some online games and software that runs Internet-connected devices such as webcams and mobile phones. Jeff Forristal, chief technology officer of Bluebox Security, said that version 4.1.1 of Google's Android operating system, known as Jelly Bean, is also vulnerable. Google officials declined comment on his finding.

Other security experts said that they would avoid using any device with the vulnerable software in it, but that it would take a lot of effort for a hacker to extract useful data from a vulnerable Android phone.

Most cloud services pose security and compliance risks to European businesses.

Created by MPT

European businesses are vulnerable to cloud security risks as only 1% of the cloud services in use offer enterprise-grade security and store organizations’ data in Europe’s jurisdictional boundaries.

That means 99% of cloud services store data in countries where data privacy laws are less stringent or don’t have enterprise-grade security capabilities, or both, revealed a study. Getty Images/Wavebreak Media
 

European enterprises use an average of 588 cloud services, according to the study's European cloud adoption and risk report. But despite such prolific use of cloud computing, only 9% of the cloud services provide enterprise-grade security capabilities, while the remaining 91% pose security risks.
When it comes to data privacy and data residency, the risk is even higher, as 99% of cloud services either store data in countries such as the US, Russia and China, where data privacy laws are less stringent, or don’t have enterprise-grade security features.

The study revealed that 25 of the top 30 cloud services in the collaboration, content sharing and file-sharing categories were based in countries outside Europe. Despite the buzz around data privacy, as much as 72% of cloud services used in Europe store data in the US.

This also leads to legal and compliance implications for certain organizations. The report further found that only 5% of cloud services in Europe are ISO 27001 certified, posing additional compliance issues for those organizations unaware that their employees are using uncertified services.

 

Shadow IT presents cloud risk

One reason for such high risk from cloud services is because of the uncontrolled proliferation of shadow IT. Shadow IT is hardware or software in an enterprise that is not supported or approved by the organization’s central IT department.

Much of the cloud adoption in European organizations occurs under the radar of the CIO or CISO, leading to a situation where shadow IT is widespread, according to Sky high Networks, the cloud company that commissioned the report.

The ease with which employees can now consume cloud applications means there is often little consideration for the security implications or impact on wider business policies. When CIOs examine the use of cloud services across the organization, they find shadow IT is 10 times more prevalent than they initially assumed, the report stated.

“Cloud services certainly enable agile, flexible and efficient businesses, and employees should be encouraged to use them," said Rajiv Gupta, chief executive of Skyhigh Networks. “But many employees are still unaware of the risks associated with some cloud services, and could even be jeopardizing the overall security position of their organization.”

Businesses need to get smarter about the cloud and IT needs to develop a greater understanding of cloud’s risk, said Gupta.

 

Five Common Technology Mistakes Made by
Small Businesses, and How to Avoid Them!


Technology such as computers, email, and the Internet can help make the process of starting and managing a business much easier, but there are certain pitfalls that can delay, or even stop, the growth of an otherwise healthy enterprise.

Here are five common and easily avoided technology mistakes which small businesses make:

1. Low-Quality Hardware or Software
The expense of running a business may tempt you to cut corners on purchases. Unfortunately, when you buy computers or software with a smaller price tag than mainstream products with a solid reputation, you often pay the difference on the back end. This could be because you need to pay a subscription fee to use a certain component of your software, or you have to replace your hardware after only a couple of years because it wasn’t built well. A low-quality product might also crash sooner meaning you lose any data saved on it. The ‘extra’ money you spend to purchase a high-quality product pays off by saving your business time and productivity.

2. Outdated Hardware or Software
Holding on to outdated hardware or software can cost your business more than the price of new products. By keeping old equipment (monitors, credit card readers, laptops, etc.) you run the risk of not being able to meet the needs of your clientele and your employees when it comes to processing orders and payments.  You might even jeopardize the keeping of records such as payroll information or client contact data. Old technology just ends up costing you the efficiency, ease of communication, and increased productivity that comes with having hardware and software that is on that same level as the companies you partner with and the clients that you serve.

3. Not Having Enough Security
Small businesses can be vulnerable to security breaches because they can be seen as easier targets by some hackers. This is often because small businesses tend to not believe that they are big enough targets for hackers to care about. Be certain you have some sort of anti-virus software running on each computer at your company. The software should handle at least basic viruses that may come from sources such as junk mail. Check with specialists to make sure that you have the level of security that’s appropriate for your business. A local bakery is going to have different needs from a private investigation agency.

4. Leaving Staff in the Dark
When there’s a change in the technological infrastructure of your business, it’s vital that everyone working at your company knows how to use the new applications or equipment that is being introduced in as efficient a way as possible. They also need to be convinced that it’s going to make their life easier!
Though some basic tasks can be learned by searching through a user manual, in order to save time and increase productivity, it’s helpful to get an expert to train staff to use the new technology. Even the time spent searching for the answer to a question takes time away from your business’s productivity and so harms profitability. Seek out certified trainers for the particular equipment and software that you plan on using at your company and make sure that everyone who will be using this new technology receives good training and understands all the secrets and shortcuts related to using the product in a fast and efficient manner.
 
5. Not Backing Up Data
Thinking that a computer crash, virus, or fire won’t happen to your business and, therefore, not preparing for it to happen, is a huge mistake that could cost your business customers, products, information, time, and money. Not to mention giving you, the owner, a huge and unwelcome headache.
When you lose information your business can end up scrambling, and spending money, to recover that information or reconstruct it. Prepare your business by purchasing external hard drives onto which you can back up your important documents. Backing up data monthly is recommended. If you are in a fast moving business, you may want to back up two or three times each day.
If you need to back up data more frequently than every two weeks or so, consider subscribing to an internet-based data backup service. These companies will back up everything on your computers each time that you are online so that your data is backed up every single day that you work.
Though these are the basics, there are multiple ways in which your small business could find itself not using technology in a safe and profitable manner. Using these tips to get started, reach out to an information technology specialist in order to make sure that your business’ technological infrastructure runs as smoothly as possible and that you’re using your technology and your time to their fullest potential.

“Heartbleed” Threat Affects Entire Internet What You Should Do

You’ve probably been hearing about it. There’s a bug…a security hole on the internet in the secure socket layer called “Heartbleed.” You may not understand some of the words I just typed. You may not think it matters, but this one matters. This one matters very much indeed. Read on and I’ll tell you why:

What is SSL?

You might not know what SSL is or means (it is the “Secure Socket Layer” ) but you’ve probably seen it a thousand times. When you go to a website to buy something, or when you log on to view your bank account information, sitting there in the upper left hand corner of the address bar, you see a little icon of a padlock. That’s the visible manifestation of the secure socket layer, and it’s an important symbol, because it means that your data is protected on the page where that symbol is displayed. That nobody can see what’s on that page, or get to your password and/or credit card information.

Or at least, that’s what that symbol was supposed to have meant.

 

It turns out though, that the secure socket layer really wasn’t all that secure. Some very smart people found a flaw in the code that would allow hackers to tunnel past the security that the little lock icon represents and get to your sensitive information after all. The flaw was in the “heartbeat” (thus the name of the bug).

So what’s the heartbeat?

Well, in simple terms, the software has to send out a “pulse” or “heartbeat” periodically to let the other parts of the system know that the connection is still there and still valid, and in that heartbeat lives the vulnerability.

The good news is that there’s already a fix for the bug, and that fix is being rolled out as we speak. Even better, there’s more than one layer of protection that companies can use if they want to add extra protection to their sites. (They can utilize something called “Perfect Forward Secrecy”).

The bad news? This bug has been out there, undetected for more than two years. In an era where computers go from bleeding edge to obsolete in less than 18 months, that might as well be forever. Even worse, if someone has been “listening in” on web traffic, recording where you go and what you do (think NSA), then they could utilize the data gleaned from this bug to cull that stored data for information too.

What You Should Do?

By the time you read this, the major players on the internet will be well on their way to implementing a fix to close the security loophole. Nonetheless, your first move should be to reset all your passwords. All of them. Everywhere, because we don’t know which sites were ultimately impacted.

Your second move should be to test the sites you visit for vulnerability. Note that you don’t need to test them all, but do test the ones that require you to enter passwords, or that you’ve entered payment information into in the past.

Test the sites you visit here: http://filippo.io/Heartbleed/

For full information on the bug, visit: http://heartbleed.com/