Hackers are shifting their focus to home routers. Always make sure 'Remote Management' is DISABLED. Few people need to be able to login to their routers to make changes from outside their home. Unsure if your router is secure? IT Xpress can help – bring your router by and we'll upgrade it and ensure it's configured securely!

Time to Harden Your Hardware? — Krebs on Security
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Most Internet users are familiar with the concept of updating software that resides on their computers. But this past week has seen alerts about an unusual number of vulnerabilities and attacks against some important and ubiquitous hardware devices, from consumer-grade Internet routers, …

See what these hackers did to unsuspecting users… At least they tried to be helpful. Is your router secure? Not sure? We can help! IT Xpress can update and securely configure your router for you, often while you wait!

Dear Asus router user: You’ve been pwned, thanks to easily exploited flaw
arstechnica.com
Hackers expose eight-month-old Asus weakness by leaving note on victims' drives.

Due to the winter weather, IT Xpress will be opening at 12 o'clock today.

Due to the winter weather, IT Xpress will be closed today. However, we will still be checking email and voicemail if you need urgent assistance or remote support

You may have heard of 'Solid State Drives'. They are basically hard drives that use electronic chips for storage instead of spinning disks. They are robust (no more crashed drives from bumping into your computer) and VERY fast. They can drastically reduce boot times and allow programs to start with blazing speed, even on slower computers. This is a laptop that had a new SSD installed. It's NOT a super fast computer – it's actually an entry level/value model (Athlon II Dual Core 2.1 GHz). Just watch how fast it boots and is completely ready for use in less than 30 seconds. If the smaller size of SSDs is a problem because you have lots of music and/or photos, a hybrid drive is the answer. Almost all the SSD performance with tons of storage capacity.

IT Xpress can do these upgrades same day and for approximately $200-$250 including parts depending on the hard drive chosen. You won't believe how fast programs start and windows switch! Turbo boost your computer today!

Using Firefox? Time to update!

Firefox 27 is out – Tuesday's second non-Patch-Tuesday update
nakedsecurity.sophos.com
Also Extended Support Release 24.3.0 (security fixes only, no feature updates)…

Does your laptop get REALLY hot? Does the fan seem to stay on all the time? (and it seems to have gotten louder?). Something like this part is all that keeps your laptop from melting. The copper plate sits on 1 or 2 chips inside and transmits the heat to that tiny little heatsink. With such narrow fins, that heatsink will trap dust, dirt, hair, pet dander, and more in no time. As it does, airflow is drastically reduced and the laptop cannot cool itself properly. So after it maxes out the fan speed, if it still can't cool properly, it slows itself down to prevent damage – which means it'll run slower. So it's important to have your laptop serviced annually and make sure heatsink cleaning is part of that service.

All laptops tuned up at IT Xpress have their cooling systems thoroughly cleaned as part of the service. Just $99 for a complete tuneup!

It's getting harder and harder to see posts from pages you like on FB. Consider liking our Google+ page as well. Posts are much more likely to be seen. https://plus.google.com/+ITXpressMebane/posts

IT Xpress – Google+
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IT Xpress hasn't shared anything on this page with you.

This is a very common way to trick users into installing malware. A webpage that looks like a real anti virus warning. It can be hard to tell as this video shows.

What a fake antivirus attack on a trusted website looks like
arstechnica.com
Video shows how drive-by attacks turn healthy paranoia against their victims.

You've certainly heard me talk about two factor authentication, but may not really understand what it is. Here is a primer and why you should use it.

The power of two – All you need to know about two-factor authentication
nakedsecurity.sophos.com
This article covers the major aspects of two-factor authentication, including what it is, how it works and where you can use it. Over and over we hear of stolen password databases, phishing attacks…

This is big. Hackers who have access to your primary email account can get into almost anything they want. If you use Yahoo – make sure you change your password ASAP. And while you are at it – you should enabled 2 Factor Authentication AND the login page shield (which shows a picture you'll recognize on EVERY login for Yahoo. Makes it easy to know when you're at a fake one trying to grab your info)

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Head's up Yahoo email users: Usernames and passwords of some customers have been stolen and used to gather personal information http://abc11.tv/1eByInC

When a customer replaces a dead hard drive with a really fast solid state drive, it's a joy to repair! Amazing how fast things run and update! Looking to give your computer a significant boost in responsiveness, plus often boot in under ONE minute? Consider upgrading to a solid state drive or hybrid drive. Usually for ~ $200 parts and labor.

One of the nicer features of the RingCentral phone service. We are an authorized RingCentral dealer and can help your small business impress current and potential customers.

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Call-handling (or routing) is one of @[133333713988:274:RingCentral]'s most popular features — but do you know how it works?

Here's a quick tutorial of how the RingCentral system handles incoming calls from start to finish: http://ringcentr.al/1k8MoM0

We've had a number of clients call in reporting errors related to MSVCR80.DLL missing. This is apparently due to a broken iTunes update. If you are having this error, we can help! If you haven't updated iTunes yet, hold off for a few weeks until Apple can fix this issue in their update.

2013 was our best year ever here at IT Xpress and we're working hard to expand our capabilities for 2014. We've now tripled our data recovery capacity, adding faster cloning systems that will drastically reduce many data recovery times. But sometimes despite newer fancy equipment, you need to go a little old school to get data back with an ice bath (don't try this at home!). We can also recover data from USB flash drives, including those with broken connectors.

The best bet is not to let it get to where you need these services of ours. Instead, consider signing up for My ITXpert with unlimited data backup so your pictures, documents, music, and more are securely stored online. See http://myitxpert.biz/ for more details!