Question: I got an email from Microsoft wanting me to download a “private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users”. Is this something we should do?
Answer: I’m truly glad you asked this question, because what you have there is a classic example of an invitation to download malware. Here’s why I think this is the case. Notice the grammar in the paragraph: “Since public distribution of this Update through the official website http://www.microsoft.com would have result in efficient creation of a malicious software, we made a decision to issue an experimental private version of an update for all Microsoft Windows OS users.” Phrasing that makes no sense is a dead giveaway. After rereading the message, none of it really makes much sense. This malware invitation is trying to confuse people into downloading the malware by preying on their insecurities about computers. The message uses Microsoft’s sites and name to try to inspire confidence that the message is legitimate. The final nail in this one though is that it says it can’t use the normal Windows Update process. Microsoft uses that process to send updates to over half of the computers in the world. There’s no way they couldn’t use it to send this update, too. In the show notes, I’ll have the full text of the message and a more complete breakdown of its flaws.
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Cool Gadget: Clickfree Auto Backup DVDs: We’ve preached backup over and over here, but backups can be somewhat complex. You usually have to install software, then verify that the files were backed up. Well, Clickfree Auto Backup DVDs are about as simple as it gets. These DVDs have about 4.5GB of space, so they can hold 9000 Office Documents, 2000 Photos, or about 1000 Songs. So what, you ask? Don’t plain DVDs have 4.7GB of space? Yes. The other two hundred megabytes hold the backup program that comes on each DVD. That’s right, no software to install, just insert the disc and backup begins automatically. Clickfree makes these discs in three varieties: One backs up only photos, one backs up only music, the other backs up only Office Document files and PDFs. Clickfree also makes USB backup hard drives with the same software.
It's All “Geek” To Me: POTS: You may not have heard this term before, but you’ll see this term associated with communications. It means “Plain Old Telephone System”, I kid you not, and refers to nothing more than a regular telephone line. So if you use dial up Internet service, you do so over a POTS line. This is to differentiate it from a corporate-type digital phone line.
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