April Newsletter

URGENT!!!

The COMPUTER RICH NEWSLETTER was scheduled for publication on April 15th (UGG!), but it is being published today due to the announcement of the HEARTBLEED BUG & Microsoft ending support for WINDOWS XP. Please read carefully and take appropriate action.

What You Need To Know About Heartbleed, A Really Major Bug …

Heartbleed, a long-undiscovered bug in cryptographic software called OpenSSL that secures Web communications, may have left roughly two-thirds of the Web vulnerable to eavesdropping for the past two years. Heartbleed isn’t your garden-variety vulnerability, so here’s a quick guide to what it is, why it’s so serious, and what you can do to keep your data safe.

Windows XP is dying. On April 8, Microsoft will stop supporting the ancient operating system that was released in 2001 – and at one point was used by 400 million people. Bill Gates introducing Windows XP in October, 2001.

Still have Windows XP? DON’T PANIC YET!!

COMPUTER RICH will tell you when to panic!

Here are some practical steps to help you get by until you CAN afford to upgrade, (and WILL HAVE to upgrade eventually).

1.CHANGE ALL OF YOUR PASSWORDS for the reasons explained earlier.

2. Disable Windows Update- about the only update you may get now will be “Scareware” or “Pesterware”, telling you to upgrade.

3. CLEAN out your PC- in other words, remove saved passwords and saved form fill-in data.

4. Remove documents, pictures and other personal data- save them to DVDs, external hard drives or flash drives, then DISCONNECT the storage drives from your PC.

5.UNINSTALL Microsoft Security Essentials Anti-Virus- There are several FREE anti-virus programs available – AVG, Avast and Avira come to mind.

6. DO NOT use Internet Explorer – Install a different browser. Google Chrome, FireFox and Opera are very popular browsers. I prefer Chrome but FireFox is very popular amoung GEEKs.

7. Be VERY SMART and AWARE of websites you are visiting- Only use TRUSTED websites and STAY AWAY FROM PORN!

8. DO NOT use banking or other sensitive websites- this is a sure way to get your personal information stolen or your bank account wiped out.

9. Create a new STANDARD User Account and USE IT – using a Standard User Account instead of an Administrator Account will prevent you from downloading and installing most programs and/or software.

10. UPGRADE to Windows 7 or greater- Chances are, if you have an older machine running Windows XP, you MIGHT be able upgrade to Windows 7 but probably NOT Windows 8, due to hardware compatibility problems.