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Thousands may lose Internet on July 9, don't be one of them.

7/5/2012

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This coming Monday hundreds of thousands of people could lose Internet access, if their computers are infected with malicious software from 2007. 

Despite repeated alerts, the number of computers that probably are infected is more than 277,000 worldwide, down from about 360,000 in April.

Users whose computers are still infected Monday will lose their ability to go online, and they will have to call their tech support providers for help deleting the malware and reconnecting to the Internet.

The problem began when international hackers ran an online advertising scam to take control of more than 570,000 infected computers around the world. When the FBI went in to take down the hackers late last year, agents realized that if they turned off the malicious servers being used to control the computers, all the victims would lose their Internet service.

In an unusual move, the FBI set up a safety net. They brought in a private company to install two clean Internet servers to take over for the malicious servers so that people would not suddenly lose their Internet.

But that temporary system will be shut down at 12:01 a.m. EDT Monday, July 9.

To check whether your computer is infected, you can visit a website run by the group brought in by the FBI: http://www.dcwg.org.

The site includes links to respected commercial sites that will run a quick check on the computer, and it also lays out detailed instructions if users want to actually check the computer themselves.

Of course, you can always call us for help checking your machine to make sure that you are malware free.



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New Phishing Scam - Over Quota Alert

5/24/2012

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A new phishing scam has hit our mail system informing users that their mailbox quota has been exceeded and that the user needs to click on a link that is provided  and login with their username and password to re-validate their mailbox.

If you have received this e-mail message, DO NOT click on the link as it is not legitimate.  One obvious way to tell that this is a scam is that neither the link nor the originating e-mail address ends in a .com address to which you subscribe.  If you are ever in doubt about a message that asks you to click a link, log in or provide information, please contact us at 802-583-4129. We can easily help you decide if it is legitimate or not.

Here is an example:

From: MANGER, EILEEN [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Sat 19/05/2012 12:08
Subject: mailbox quota storage limit

You have exceeded your mailbox quota storage limit

Please copy/click the below site for quota upgrade

http://msupportlink-helpdesk.tk
 
System Administrator
192.168.0.1

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    Notes from Mike...

    Mike has been running around Central Vermont for over a decade working on a variety of different machines. Mike's seen just about anything that happens to personal and business computers.

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