Lisa Hendrickson is the owner of Call That Girl. She is an Outlook Expert and Microsoft 365 Consultant.
Did you know that computer viruses can now take pictures of you or worse yet, live video? Well they can, and I’ve witnessed it! It’s a pretty scary thing; who knows what kind of information we are unknowingly giving these people. The question is this…is someone really recording the video or is it in the virus programmed to scare you? Either way, don’t take the risk! Here are a few things you can do to protect yourself.
1.) Tape your webcam if you’re not using it or face it towards the ceiling.
2.) Unplug your microphone when you’re not using it.
3.) Check your add-ons in Chrome, FireFox and Internet Explorer.
4.) Hang up on anyone calling you to tell you that your computer is infected.
5.) When adding new software, beware of the new software they will load on your computer, such as the “Ask Toolbar,” “Mcafee Security Scan,” etc.
6.) If you suspect you may have a virus, have your computer looked at by a professional (like Call That Girl!) ASAP.
So I get this computer in the shop. I boot it up and look over and see myself talking. Very odd. Usually the FBI MoneyPak virus just takes a picture of you and then nothing. This one though, was doing a live session. Not only that, but it was zooming in on me….so that means only one thing. Someone was on the other side doing some videos of That Girl! I should have been posing!
This is scary though folks…it can happen to anyone. These viruses change constantly and are a pain the butt to remove sometimes, but it’s now acting like big brother. What’s next??
Tape up your webcam if not in use!
When you set up Outlook for the first time, welcome to RSS feeds friends! You get them set up in the installation process. You sometimes have a chance to not turn them on, but most people just blaze right by that option, so most people have RSS feeds in their Outlook. Let’s start with what RSS feeds are…and what they can do for you and how to turn them off.
RSS means “Rich Site Summary” or the average person calls it “Really Simple Syndication” or just RSS.
RSS feeds are a way to get updates from your favorite websites in your Outlook. It could be news alerts from MSN or a blog post from your favorite blogger (like me!). If you look down the folder list in your Outlook, you may see RSS with tons of blue numbers. This is common, I see it everyday here with my clients. See the example to the right for where my RSS feeds lives. For the purpose of this blog, instead of removing RSS (which you can do and we will cover in a bit) I saved up a bunch to show you. See that MSNBC News one? 8794 feeds that I didn’t really sign up for, Outlook signs you up by default when you agree to RSS feeds in the setup process. This will be removed now!
How to remove RSS feeds
In your Outlook, you need to find your email settings. See pic below. You can click on the “remove” button on each and get rid of them.
Now how do you add an RSS feed from your favorite blog? Go to the top of my website and you will see the RSS feed button. My site says “Posts” but on some websites you may see “Feeds or RSS” with the commonly known logo. If you are new, you can click on the “subscribe” button and then those feeds will be in your Outlook or whatever other program you use.
I will start with the main reason – knowledge. Not every computer repair or support company has the knowledge to support what you need help with. These software support companies put in the time and energy to learn the products on their own so they can support you. But there are few people that know it, so the rates are higher. Compare this to knick knacks you buy at Target. Their section for fun house decor is full of cheap, under $50 trinkets for your home. But if you want something really unique, you go to an antique store where people hand-picked cool stuff. You pay $500 for that one piece that wows people and gives your home a little something extra. Specialty software companies are like antique stores, we know what we are doing and can get things done faster. We know people, the software and how to scoot past first level support (when we call into companies if need be). We also know the quick bugs that the software can create and how to fix them fast. We work in these applications all day, fixing, repairing and supporting is what we know well.
Basic tech support should be relatively affordable; the rates at CTG are competitive in our market and offer quick fixes. But if you are using specialty software such as ACT, CRM systems, Google Apps, Microsoft Office 365 or need server work done, expect higher expenses with your tech support.
Does this make sense? I hope so. I’ve had some clients ask why my Outlook pricing is now a bit more expensive. I have spent 13 years working with Outlook on many different levels; I am fast and fix many problems in 15 minutes or less. If you asked the technician down the street in a local repair shop to fix it, even though their rate may be very low…they could spend hours trying to figure out the problem and not fix it. The may even need to do other things to your Outlook that would make your head spin, like reinstalling, starting from scratch or worse. Their expertise is probably not in Outlook and that costs you more time and money. Hire a knowledgeable software technician and get back to work faster – it will cost less in your time and money.
Call That Girl offers Outlook (all versions), Hosted Exchange Transition Assistance (old POP/IMAP email to exchange, where everything synchs) and is now in training for Microsoft Office 365. If your company is interested in working with us on a beta testing level, we are very interested in talking to you about your company and moving to the robust work of online cloud application support for your IT needs. Call today for a consultation if you’re in need of any of the above. I look forward to helping! 612-865-4475
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Is your computer acting up or being strange lately? Do pop up boxes now show up half regular and half missing? Are you having intermittent internet issues? Or is your computer just running slow and it’s brand new?
In the past few weeks, I have fixed at least five computers that were having issues due to Bluetooth device complications or as an add-on in Outlook. Not sure why the problems are coming now, but it’s something I want to alert everyone of. If you have Bluetooth enabled on your computer and don’t need it, maybe it is time to disable it. Now, of course you are probably hoping I will list it here how to disable it, but with 4 different versions of Windows being used and many ways to disable it, this technician is just going to ask that you call in for help. I have had to finagle many ways to get those five clients disabled.
Call 612-865-4475 for help today!
Attention all Windows 7 users! Microsoft will no longer support security and performance fixes on your computer if you don’t have Service Pack 1 installed by April 9. Service packs contain Microsoft’s software updates, and typically are part of the updates that many people have their computers set to automatically receive. Since Service Pack 1 came out nearly two years ago, there is a good chance it is already installed on your computer, but if it’s not, the update will expire April 9.
To find out if SP1 is already installed on your computer,
If you do not see it listed,
BEFORE YOU UPDATE, back up your files! If you need help or have problems with the update, give us a call at 612-865-4475.
