Tag: Tech Support for businesses Minneapolis-St. Paul
Will your internet work on Monday? Take the test to find out if you have malware
Taken from Mashable, (they did a great job on the write up).
http://mashable.com/2012/07/06/dnschanger-malware-removal/
A nasty piece of malware called DNSChanger will kick thousands of Mac and PC users off the Internet on Monday, and there’s a chance you could be one of them.
The FBI is shutting down domains that have been affected by the DNSChanger malware, which has been circulating the web since as far back as 2007. The malware redirected Internet traffic to sites with paid advertisements where cybercriminals reaped profit from unsuspecting visitors.
The trojan’s creators — six Estonian nationals — shut down their services when they were caught and arrested about eight months ago.
Although the FBI has been urging consumers for months to check if their systems have been affected by DNSChanger, about 275,000 computers are still at risk of not having Internet access on Monday, July 9.
The good news is that it’s easy to see if your system has been infected and fix it if needed. The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG) launched a check tool (Click on the link below to test your internet)
— if you click on the link and the box is green, your computer is clean (If the box is red, your Internet will be dead).
A Note from Call That Girl…
If you are in the “red” zone, feel free to call us and get a virus spot check completed or a complete virus removal.
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Tweet That Girl!
You may have noticed an addition to the sidebar of our website recently. The pink box under the blog sign-up is another 
way for me to share computer tips with my social media followers. I’ve had a Twitter account for some time now, but finally decided to vamp up the usage of it. You can now “Tweet That Girl” your computer problems with the hash tag #tweetthatgirl. If the advice fits in 140 characters or less, I’ll give you the best support that I can for free! Check out what advice I’m giving to others in the “Look Who’s Tweeting That Girl” box on the sidebar of our website daily to get some extra tips, too. Click on the image to follow Call That Girl on Twitter and get your own personal advice, along with regular tech tips! And as always, if a simple answer in a tweet can’t fix it give us a call, 612-865-4475, or fill out the form below to set up an appointment.
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I have a Mac, it doesn’t break. Or does it?
Contrary to popular belief, Macs ARE susceptible to malware and CAN benefit from the occasional tune-up. Yes, Apple’s 
Mac Operating System X does maintain itself well, but with time files pile up on the hard drive and start to drag the computer down. Many Macs may experience freezing or locking up of programs, long startups and shutdowns or just plain old slowness. These issues may be caused by little to no available hard drive space, lack of memory to support computer function or malware (malicious software, which includes viruses and spyware. And yes, although it’s less common on Macs, such software still exists).
If you have a Mac and you are experiencing any of these problems, a tune-up may be just the thing to get your computer running at top speed again. The good news is Call That Girl does Mac tune-ups and virus removals! If you’d like our help keeping your Mac healthy, fill out the form below and we’ll get an appointment set up for you.
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Simple Business IT Solutions for Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth
Are you unhappy with your current IT solutions? Do you want to talk?
Or does your company need us if you don’t own the business? Let’s talk!
In the past year, more and more requests have come from my contacts asking if we offer business IT solutions and of course we do, but due to demand of the “Cloud” we have moved to a new outline of offerings for our new clients.
In a nutshell…
- Let’s chat about your current IT needs and see what you need us to do for your company
- Then we will send out one of our techs to do an onsite assessment
- I will figure out a proposal and send to you within a day or so
- You can review and if you have questions, we can talk
- You like what we have to offer and our pricing, we work on an implementation program
That’s it. No monthly fees, no contracts
What we can offer you and your company…
- Antivirus solutions
- Online back up
- Email transitions from your server to the “cloud”
- File sharing software
- Smartphone (iPhone, Droid) device help and calendar, contact synching
- PC and Mac support
- Outlook assistance
- Night and weekend hours (open Sundays too!)
- Remote live helpdesk technicians
- Onsite technicians
- Discounted prepay time available
We have technicians in the Twin Cities, Winona and Duluth.
Email Lisa@callthatgirl.biz today to schedule a phone appointment. Or fill out the form below, thanks!
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Possible LinkedIn hackers leak millions of passwords
First Pinterest, now LinkedIn; it seems like all the popular social media sites are being hacked these days! With LinkedIn,
however, it is not a virus you need to worry about, but your password’s safety instead. There have been reports of a Russian hacker who has leaked nearly 6.5 million LinkedIn passwords. The claim has yet to be confirmed, but LinkedIn has reported that they are looking into the incident. To be safe, I suggest changing your LinkedIn password ASAP and make it complex so that it is harder for hackers to crack. For more information search the internet for “LinkedIn password leak”, it is blanketed across the internet now.
What are the concerns with this reported password leak? In addition to all the private information on these sites becoming available to the world, it is likely that the email addresses connected to the accounts of the stolen passwords are in the hands of the hackers as well. This opens a door of problems for the owners of these emails as the hackers could blast them with infectious spam emails.
To change your password, log into your LinkedIn account and hover over your name in the top right corner. Click on the settings link and find “Password” on the left-hand side of the screen. Click change; you will be prompted to enter your old password and then create a new one. Remember, complexity is the key to safety!
How to troubleshoot your internet connection before calling CenturyLink or Comcast
Is it not the most painful thing in the world to call CenturyLink or Comcast/Charter to troubleshoot your modem?
This blog is very old btw..not sure if it’s still accurate or not.
I hate it and always say “agent” right away…but that doesn’t matter because you have to continue to go through all the prompts from the fake lady on the other end. What I hate about that fake lady the most is the phony tone they give her, with inflections of emotion? Like she’s real LOL. My favorite, “umm, I’m not sure I heard you right, did you mean you wanted to continue with our telephone button troubleshooting or did you want an agent?”
Me: Agent
Fake lady: “aah, I’m not sure I heard you right the first time, are you really sure that you want an agent or should we continue to try to troubleshoot the long and tedious way.”
Me: (yells) AGENT!!!!
Fake Lady: “OK, it sounds like you want an agent, but before I transfer you over, have you reset your modem? Let’s get started with some simple tips….”
Me: UGH.
So before you call in a trouble ticket, here is what we tell our clients at Call That Girl to do when we get the exact same call. And we do this for free, no waiting in a queue, no yelling at computers.
1.) Start with unplugging your modem power cord for one full minute. After one minute, plug back in and let the modem reset itself and see if all the blinking lights come back on. If you see any that are orange or amber and not green and blinking, you may have a modem issue. The internet company will need to “reset your modem” at this point. But let’s say everything is blinking ok, we will move on to the next step.
2.) After the modem is back to blinking lights, then go to your router power cord and unplug it for 10 seconds. After 10 seconds, plug back in and look for blinking lights. You should see the internet or Ethernet blinking for sure. If that’s good to go…we move on. If those lights are not blinking, then your router may need repairing or replacing. At that point, you can call us to help.
3.) Now you have reset your modem and router the right way, all lights are blinking ok…it’s time to restart your computer. Be sure to do a full restart/reboot so the computer gets a fresh connection to the internet. If you didn’t change anything with the computer settings, the internet should come back for you.’
