Bryley Basics: Getting you informed in 100 words or less

WARNING:  Exchange 2003 is not compatible with Microsoft Office 2013

Exchange 2003 was a very popular version of Microsoft’s email server; it was available separately and bundled within Small Business Server 2003.  It’s End-of-Life was in April 2009, but extended support will carry it to April 2014.

Microsoft Office 2013, which includes Outlook 2013, does not work with Exchange Server 2003.

Options include:

  • Upgrade Exchange 2003 to the current Exchange 2013 or Exchange 2010
  • Downgrade Office 2013 to Office 2010*

*Note: This option is not available with the OEM version of Microsoft Office 2013; it is available with the Open License versions of Office 2013.

How to protect yourself against cyber threats on an ongoing basis

In part five of his interview with The Cleaning Crew, Bryley Systems President, Gavin Livingstone, discusses how to ensure that you remain protected against cyber threats.

 

How a small business can protect their online identity

In part four of his interview with The Cleaning Crew, Bryley Systems Inc. President, Gavin Livingstone, explains some of the steps a small business can take to protect their online identity.

What are the threats associated with cyber security?

In part three of his interview with The Cleaning Crew, Bryley Systems President, Gavin Livingstone, answers the question “what are some of the threats associated with cyber security?”

 

Assabet Valley Chamber After-5 — Event a huge success!

AVCC After-5

I estimate about 50-60 attendees who arrived early (about 4:45pm) and left late (last one out the door at 8pm).

Everyone seemed engaged; there were conversations in every nook and corner with people sitting in the comfortable chairs, moving from one area to another, and, generally, having a good time.

Thank you to Telly and Garin who stuck around past 6pm and met folks; Roy, Beverley, Mike M., and Terry also made appearances.

Special thanks to Cathy L., who prepared the food and drink and made everything wonderful.  Kudos to Anna and JoAnne with an excellent gift basket, which was won by Nancy Z. of Certified Bank Trainer.

Gavin

AVCC After-5a

Bryley Employees in Worcester Business Journal

There have been some changes recently at Bryley, and the Worcester Business Journal has commented:

MICHELLE DENIO has been promoted and JAMES WHEELERand TELLY CASTERNOPOULOS hired at Information technology service provider Bryley Systems of Hudson. Denio was promoted to administrative support technician. She joined Bryley Systems in 2008 and is a resident of Clinton. Wheeler has been hired as an Internet marketing associate. He is the assistant clerk for the town of Berlin. Wheeler has a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Maine in Orono. Casternopoulos joins Bryley as service desk technician. He served with the U.S. Army for five years at the rank of sergeant. He was an air traffic control maintenance technician and served in the Information Management Office while stationed in Iraq.”

Read the full article here.

Hackers Hijack Email Contacts

Have you received a rogue email from a friend or acquaintance that seems out of character?  For example:  Why is Aunt Mildred calling me “Friend” in her email?  Or, does neighbor Fred really want me to invest in Nigeria?

Odds are, their email accounts – particularly if located at online services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Windows Live Hotmail – have been hijacked.  (Visit About.com at About.com:Free Email Review for a review of the top 16 free email services by Heinz Tschabitscher.)

With an online service, the email application is cloud-based; the application does not reside locally on the computer, so it is probably the online account that has been compromised.  (Your PC could also be infected, which is discussed later.) Typically, the password is discovered, providing an easy entry to stored emails (which could contain sensitive information) and a contact list that can be exploited.

If this happens to you, login to your account and take these steps:

  • Change your password – Use a complex password with at least eight upper and lower-case characters, numbers and special characters.  (Please See the January 2013 issue of Bryley Tips and Information for the article “Simple passwords = disaster” at Bryley-Tips-and-Information-January-2013
  • Change your Recovery Information (challenge questions) – If the hacker has account access, he/she can retrieve your challenge questions.  Using these questions, he can then reenter the account after you change the password.
  • Set the highest-possible level of security – Select the highest-possible level, even though it adds complexity to the login process.
  • Check related accounts – You might have put passwords into saved emails that the hacker can now access.  Change your passwords and your Recovery Information on all other accounts that might have been compromised.
  • Contact list – Email the folks in your Contact list and tell them:  “I am having an issue with my email account, which I am addressing.  Please contact me if you receive an unusual email that appears to have come from my email address.  Do not open any links within the email itself.”
  • Backup emails and contacts – Backups allow recovery; backup your contacts whenever you add or change a contact.  Backup your emails as often as necessary to keep from losing stored emails.

As with any account, change your password regularly and change your challenge questions periodically.  Visit the About.com article on how to change your Gmail at About.com: Change Your Gmail Password.

For a related article by Leo Notenboom at Ask Leo, please visit Ask-Leo.com: How to stop someone sending email with my address.

If the email application reside locally and connects to a secure site, your PC would be suspect and should be interrogated by virus and malware scanners.  You should also scrutinize your Microsoft Outlook contacts and rename the Contacts folder.

It is still possible that your computer is infected; your account information might have been recovered through a keyboard logger that records your keystrokes and sends them to the hacker.  If so, you need to clean-up your computer before taking the steps above.

HP still top PC manufacturer worldwide in a slowing market

Despite internal issues, HP remained the top manufacturer of PCs worldwide in Q4 of 2012 followed by Lenovo (the Chinese firm that purchased IBM’s PC business in 2005) and then Dell. Overall, PC shipments dropped 6.4% from Q4 of 2011.

Dan Reisinger of eWeek notes that Q4 of 2012 is the first time in five years where the PC market declined; possibly due to economic conditions or the increasing popularity of tablets. Other potential factors noted by Mr. Reisinger:

  • Declining innovation in PCs
  • PCs last longer, slowing replacement
  • PCs are a boring commodity, no longer competing for mainstream interests

Go to HP tops Lenovo in lackluster PC market for the full briefing from Lance Whitney at CNet News. Visit HP barely maintains PC lead over Lenovo in Q4, says IDC for a related article from Sharon Gaudin at ComputerWorld. Visit PC Sales Persistently Declining: 10 Reasons Why for more from Don Reisinger of eWeek.

Preview into Microsoft Office 2013

In addition to Windows 8, I have also been using Office 2013 over the past few months; I like some things, but not everything:
• Excel updates ripple slowly down the page; they seemed to run a bit faster in previous versions.
• The top-right Window icons have shifted somewhat; the Minimize icon ( _ ) is now in the middle rather than on the left while the Help icon is now on the left.
Since I rarely use the Help icon, but occasionally use the Minimize icon, I dislike this change

Booting Windows 8 into Safe Mode

Safe Mode is useful for diagnosing PC problems. Because Windows 8 starts quickly, you cannot get into Safe Mode by pressing [F8] during the boot-up process (as you could with previous versions of Windows). The new procedure:

  • Go to Settings and then select Power
  • Hold [Shift] and then press Restart to open System Recovery Options
  • Select Troubleshoot from System Recovery Options
  • Select Advanced options
  • Select Startup Settings
  • Enable Safe Mode