A number of our customers called today reporting problems connecting to the Internet. Here's why: Nationwide CenturyLink outage.

Where are your five nines now? CenturyLink's nationwide outage affects millions
gigaom.com
If you’re one of CenturyLink’s 5.8 million broadband subscribers, you’re probably fuming because your service is out. Such nationwide outages are rare, but that doesn’t make it any less painful for customers.

If you use Hotmail or Live – do this ASAP! Google has had this for a while and this is the best way to keep your account (and life) secure. Someone with access to your primary email can get into all sorts of online accounts.

Add Two-Factor Authentication to Your Microsoft Account
lifehacker.com
Two-factor authentication is one of the best things you can do to secure your online accounts. Today, Microsoft is rolling out this important feature for Microsoft accounts—the key to Outlook.com, Windows 8 PCs, SkyDrive, Skype, Office, and more. Here's how to enable it on yours.

We've moved!! IT Xpress is now located at 1061 S Third St Ext, Mebane, NC. Only a mile south of our old location, at the entrance to the Mebane Arts & Community Center next to the Third Street Salon, on the corner of 3rd St Ext and Corregidor St. We're very excited about this new building and location, but it's taken us longer to renovate than we expected. All customers with systems currently in house will receive 10% off their service due to delays in getting everything moved. Thanks for your patience and stop by and see us!

Had a user with a dead desktop come in today. His power supply had failed and given the upgrades to the desktop, wasn't powerful enough anyway. So we got him back up and running with a stronger power supply. Looks a bit Medusa like when you are just testing it out. Once the new supply is installed, it's much neater!

It's too bad more laptop manufacturers don't do this. All of the 'easily' replaceable parts in a laptop under one big cover you can remove with a few screws. This laptop needed a new CPU, and it was trivial to replace it. Most laptops require you to completely disassemble them to get to many of these parts. Thank you ASUS You saved this user some $$$ in labor costs.

Anyone remember this early 'personal' computer? Still cracks me up how the only way you could 'download' programs back then was to buy books or magazines and type the programs in by hand! Like and share if you know what this is!

All of our new IT Xpert users will get one of these handy reminder cards for their keyboard. Anytime they have a computer question, they can just hit F8 and ask! Super simple AND their systems are maintained throughout the year in the background.

Don't forget, through March you can get My ITXpert for $99 for the first year! That includes 1 hour of free remote support and 10% off parts and labor for each covered computer. See http://itxpress.biz/services/my-itxpert/ for more details and to sign up!

Who remembers this??? Like and share if you do! "Greetings Professor Falken. Would you like to play a game?"

This type of hack is becoming more and more common. When a system is compromised, the virus encrypts all of your data and holds it ransom (in this case for $325+). Of course just because you pay the money – you have no assurance they'll give you what you need to decrypt your files.

The best way to protect yourself against an attack like this? Backup your data daily. Either to an external hard drive (using a backup program as a simple copy could fall victim to this attack), an off site backup service like BackBlaze (http://www.backblaze.com/partner/af0239), or both! And while it is no guarantee you'll stay virus free, having an IT expert handling many day to day maintenance tasks for your PC can help keep you secure and safe (http://itxpress.biz/services/my-itxpert/)

Share with your friends – the hackers are not sitting back hoping FBI warnings will earn them a living. They are getting more and more creative (and destructive). Like if you've installed a security update recently!

Russian ransomware takes advantage of Windows PowerShell
nakedsecurity.sophos.com
What's a reasonable price to pay to get your data safely returned to you from the guys who stole it? How about 10,000 Rubles? No? According to the cybercriminals behind this new ransomware ta…

We get asked often by users how they got a virus, when they don't go to 'those sites'. Years ago, many viruses were spread primarily on porn and gambling sites. But in recent years the bulk of the 'exposure' comes from legitimate websites that have been compromised. Hackers will hide attack code on a legitimate website and it stays there until the site owner realizes it is there. Every user who visits will be exposed to potential infection. As this recent hack shows, even huge sites with dedicated support teams can be compromised, exposing hundreds of thousands of people to infection. So any website you visit could potentially be a threat. Always make sure you install updates when prompted and if any popup windows appear in your browser that you didn't expect – don't click ANY buttons – only click the red X to close the window. If it won't go away, restart your computer.

PS – Don't forget for the month of March, save $30 off the first year of our My ITXpert service! http://itxpress.biz/services/my-itxpert/

NBC.com Hacked, And May Have Given Visitors Malware
www.huffingtonpost.com
The website NBC.com was hacked Thursday and security experts warn that visitors to the site may have infected their computers with malicious software. "We identified the problem and are working to resolve it," an NBC spokeswoman told The Huffington Post.

Thank you to all of you who have liked our page on Facebook! We've had more activity on our page this week then ever before! We try to post a lot of useful information, so if you like something we've posted, share it with your friends. That helps what we post get seen more and also helps ensure you see stuff we post in the future, given how Facebook works. We'll be launching some contests soon for free stuff too!

Are you having trouble getting a reliable WiFi signal in some rooms of your house? Small WiFi Repeaters like this can take a weak signal and boost it, which can be much cheaper than trying to relocate or upgrade your router. Whatever your wireless networking needs, IT Xpress can help. New routers, router configuration, repeaters, long distance connections, and more…

One of the hardest things to tell a client is their HD has crashed and they've lost everything. Pictures, email, contacts, music, memories. Some people will backup their data onto an external hard drive – but what if your house is broken into or your equipment is damaged by a power surge or fire? Secure offsite backup is SO inexpensive – as cheap as $4/month for *unlimited* storage. So why risk it? IT Xpress partners with Backblaze for all of our client's offsite backup needs. You can too! Click here to sign up and get peace of mind that your data will ALWAYS be safe and secure: http://www.backblaze.com/partner/af0239

Don't miss out on the chance to adopt a friend at Paws4Ever! IT Xpress recently setup wired and wireless networks in both their training center and adoption center as they converted over to Voice over IP telephones. They have an amazing facility, so if you are looking to adopt OR train, give Paws4Ever a call!

It's the last week to "Share the Love!" Adopt a cat and one of their friends for the price of only 1 adoption fee! Or you can get 50% off the adoption fee for some of our dogs! Hurry, before it ends! http://ow.ly/i58fw

Paws4ever
ow.ly
Adopt a friend. Shop for a cause. Play forever. Improve the lives of dogs and cats at paws4ever.org

Did you know one of the top causes of slow PC performance is dirt? Computers constantly circulate air to stay cool and over time dirt can build up on cooling vents and surfaces, causing the system to overheat. When PCs get too hot, they slow themselves down to prevent damage, which means a slower computer. Laptops are especially prone to this given the small heatsinks used to cool them. They're inside so you can't see when they're dirty. But be careful! Opening up a PC and vacuuming it out can destroy it due to static electricity. IT Xpress can clean your system safely and quickly, while you wait!