Question: Gayle asks, "I opened an email from an employee who was out yesterday and now I've got a program telling me I've got a bunch of errors and it wants $60 to fix it. What happened?"
Answer: Good question, Gayle. We have here a rarity. First off, no legitimate anti-malware or system cleanup type utility will ever just pop up automatically, tell you that your computer's about to blow up or something, and then demand money to fix the problem. This is yet another example of the social engineering that goes into malware attacks. They used an address that was enough like one you recognized to trick you into opening it. Even savvy users can be tricked by that one, but the thing that makes this one rare is that it's being spread via email. That's rare nowadays. What we'll need to do is run MalwareBytes and SuperAntispyware to clean it off. Go to DAConsult.com, click on Antimalware Toolkit, then scroll down and get the programs found there, run their scans and let them remove whatever they want to. Once that's done, you'll want to update your regular antivirus software and run a full scan to be sure.
Cool Site: ConstitutionDay.cc: Well, tomorrow is officially Constitution Day which commemorates the birth of our government. Many schools will be teaching about the Constitution today and this site is one that can help. Most of the links on Constitution Day.cc point back to a former cool site of the week. But you'll find activities and lesson plans geared toward upgrading your students' awareness of the Constitution. There's a poster contest, there's a "What's your Constitution IQ" interactive quiz. There's a link to a Real or Fake quiz, a link where you can get free Pocket Constitutions, and there's a free Constitution iPhone app link or you can just go to the apple app store. It's called "The U.S. Constitution & Fascinating Facts About It".
Cool Gadget: Electronic Boggle: Remember the game of Boggle? Well, it's been re-released in a new travel-friendly form that earns it our cool gadget of the week. Gone is the hourglass timer, replaced by an LED that counts three minutes as Green, then Amber, then Red, and a beeper that sounds the end of the three minutes. The letter dice are still there, but now you needn't worry about losing them. Simply give the game a half-twist and it expands for shaking the dice. Twist it back and the dice form up into the familiar 4x4 Boggle square and the timer starts. The game is completely self-contained. It can fall, get bumped, whatever, and you needn't worry that it'll become scrambled differently, or that you'll ever have to contend with lost dice.
Cool App: Breezy: Folks love smartphones but most suffer from a lack of printing capabilities. When you want to print, you have to transfer files to your computer and then print them. This week's cool app, called Breezy, addresses that issue and is available for Blackberry, iOS devices, and soon for Android. Now, because this app is available for multiple platforms, the show notes will only link to the website. But you're going to need the website because Breezy works with your computer and printer. You download the Breezy Connector, and it connects your printer to Breezy's servers. When you need to print files, Breezy takes over and sends the file to your computer, where it gets printed. If you're not near your computer, then Breezy has a Partner Network of businesses that will let you print on their printers. Free printing plans are available, with limited file types and watermarks on your documents, or $2.99/month for expanded file types and no watermarks.
It's All "Geek" To Me: System Requirements: This week, we're talking about System Requirements. This is a term that refers to what you need to have in your computer to successfully use whatever you're looking at purchasing. Software always has a section in its description, or on the box that lists what version of Windows you need, how much disk space should be available, how much memory you need to have, etc. in order to use that program successfully. The article we'll have linked in the show notes lists several good things in addition to those you should know or give to friends before going shopping.
