viral – TheTimeDok

If I had a nickel for every time that someone asked me this, I might very well be in Bora Bora or the Maldives working on a tan after that wicked winter that we did not have.

While I stress good anti-virus software such as Eset, no one program is the “Silver Bullet!” You must have some computer smarts when accessing the internet.

When we traverse the back alleys and the main thoroughfares of the “information highway,” it is imperative that we employ a little common sense.

I have written extensively about what to do and not to do in the past, but this latest phone call was rather unique.

While navigating the highways and byways sometimes, we are thrown a curve. Much like a roundabout in a city that does not have them, ever!

“What do I do if a dialogue box appears and it is in some other language?”

You are either surfing the internet or on Twitter or some other app and all of the sudden a dialogue box appears with prominent places to click but, the writing is in a language that you don’t recognize, what do you do?

“If you don’t know the answer to this send, me a nickel.” I am joking but can you imagine someone spending .50 cents to send me a nickel? I guess I could do a PayPal donation button. 🙂

What do I do when a dialogue box appears that I am not expecting and it might be in another language?

A:) Click on one of the boxes that appear to be the “no” box.

B:) Get out your smartphone. Look for a translation application and see what it is before clicking

C:) Pull up task manager, {ctrl alt del}, and kill the app completely (end task)

I realize I made that too easy but would you care to guess how many will just click the button to the right hoping it is the “go away” button?

Pop-ups are rarely a good thing. There are settings in most browsers that will eliminate such things, but still, some brilliant programmer somewhere figures out a workaround to get the pop up to appear anyway.

With all of this talk about cyber warfare and cyber espionage, having real anti-virus software is not only critical but also patriotic.

I was giving a talk, and one bright young man said that his free antivirus was all that he put on his companies PCs. Later that evening I learned that he worked for his parents! I sure hope that they have good insurance and a great backup, disaster recovery plan when their computers are trashed, or compromised or both. Free is not worth what you pay for it. PS… Never hire anyone you can not fire!

If you love your kids (and your sanity) make them find a job with another company.

Why is it patriotic?

Infections of all kinds make it through and sit there waiting for the right moment to activate. Once someone, somewhere, wants to pull off his or her attack, they only “turn it on.” Your computer along with millions of others attached to the internet becomes active participants. The attack could be something as common as a DOS (denial of service) attack, or it is watching every keystroke you make looking for passwords and identity info passing that info back to some nefarious server in someone’s closet.

I have no deals or allegiance to ESET, right now I think it is one of the best out there.

Anytime your application is acting “wonky” task manager is your friend. Pop-ups are rarely useful, especially if they make it through your no pop-up settings.

Bonus Question, Why is B not a right answer?

Think about it; some programmer wrote some interesting looking dialogue box to do something that popped up in the middle of searching for more information on March Madness “while you are working.”

You pull out your smartphone, the camera comes on, and soon you discover that some programmer tells you that you are a winner! Click here to claim your free IPad! You know that is a ruse because you have already won one and it never materialized. Begrudgingly, still upset about the last fraud, you click the no thank you button with hopes that it will now go away. What if the “No thank you” button activates some series of scripts? These scripts require your input to tell your antivirus software to ignore the threats. Yes, you understand all of the risks, and you want to do this anyway?

By the way, that little X up in the corner could also be a “yes please screw up my computer and infect it as our IT staff does not have enough to do.”

Task manager good, Task manager is your friend, become one with Task manager….

“What if the pop up is in English and it tells me I won and iPad.”

Task manager good, Task manager is your friend, become one with Task manager….

Now get back to work! 🙂

Below you will find an “idea” circulating around the internet through e-mail and alike.

Whether Warren Buffet had anything to do with it is really irrelevant. The true issues are that power is a seductive force. Once these folks make it to Washington they loose their soul. Getting elected to congress is almost like winning the lottery! They write laws that do not apply to them i.e. “insider trading.” While you and I would go to jail (paging Martha Stewart) they not only can buy and sell stocks on what they know, they can create the environment with your money and invest before the company is granted some huge infusion of cash (bailout). That is akin to betting on the results of a “fixed contest.”

Washington is dysfunctional and growing the monster larger is not the answer.

If this makes sense to you, just point your friends to this and see what they think. Re-Blog it! A conversation regarding such things is always welcome and in fact, a healthy debate with educated people is actually exciting! So read on and tell me what you think.

-Best

Winds of Change….

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward
this email to a minimum of twenty people on their
address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.


In three days, most people in The United States of America will have this message.


This is one idea that really should be passed around…


*Congressional Reform Act of 2013


1. No Tenure / No Pension.


A Congressman/woman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they’re out of office.


2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.


All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.


3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.


4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 2%.


5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.

This one seems like common sense doesn’t it?
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.


7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen/women are void effective 12/31/13. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen/women.

Two four year Terms
Congressmen/women made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.


If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Don’t you think it’s time?
We can do better than 20 with Twitter, Facebook, and of course the power of the BLOG!


THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS! I would also add Washington.

If you agree with the above, pass it on. Lets make it (dare I say it) Viral!