Rogue Antivirus and Antispyware Programs

A recent, major hindrance to efficiency on PCs has been the massive increase in fake antivirus and antispyware programs. These web pages or applications purport to have found security problems on your computer, and often intrusively insist that you pay to activate their full functionality to fix "the problem" they have reported. This is nothing more than technological blackmail. Though some of the items reported may, in fact, be real issues (the existence of cookie files in your web browser file folders, the existence of old entries in the Windows Registry for programs previously uninstalled, etc.) these items may not even be a real threat to your computer or data. The application itself can use many resources on your computer, display pop-up ads, and even install other applications without your knowledge or approval.

Microsoft has an article describing this threat as well as the best practices for avoiding the problem:

http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx

Best practices include:

• using a strong firewall solution
• using antispyware and antivirus software on your computers
• keeping current with security patches.

The maintenance measures of these best practices are automated by the systems at C&G Consulting for our Managed Network Service clients.

When does a Completed PO drop off the open PO file in MAS 90 / MAS 200?

If you are a Sage MAS 90 / MAS 200 user, follow this link for a recent Sage Community post that clarifies when completed POs drop off the open file:

http://community.sagemas.com/sagemas/board/message?board.id=BizApps&thread.id=2078

Alerting technology used to help in the collections process

C&G recently created a process, using email alerting software, for a client wishing to automate their collections process for overdue invoices. As soon as an invoice reaches 1 day overdue, the alerting software will send an email to the customer, gently reminding them that the invoice is overdue and thanking them for their business. This happens without the client's manual intervention.

C&G has helped numerous companies with similar and much more sophisticated alerts. The tools works with most ERP systems. Call us today to learn more.

New Security Flaw from Microsoft

We are proactively assisting our Managed Network Service clients who are affected by the latest serious security flaw from Microsoft. Windows Server 2008 and Windows Vista are at risk for a security flaw which enables malicious people to crash your computer by simply sending it one packet of information.

The temporary fix for the flaw is detailed here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=4373&tag=nl.e539

If your computer is behind a firewall, as most are, you are at lower risk for this flaw and if your computer is not running Server 2008 or Vista, you are also not affected. Feel free to contact our Support Center at 262-522-8226 if you have questions or concerns.

Another Wireless Network Security Standard Falls

Reported a few week ago, hackers can now breach the security of wireless networks protected by WPA-TKIP, a common network security protocol which replaced the last standard to fall victim to hacking, WEP. Wireless networks are not safe from proven hacking techniques unless they are encrypted using WPA-AES, the newer version of WPA. If you are unsure of your wireless network security, contact us to take a look at your network. Without proper wireless security, your entire network is open to anyone within wireless range. More information on the recent breaking of WPA-TKIP is found here: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/082709-new-attack-cracks-common-wi-fi.html

Decent free website monitoring

If you have ever gotten a call or email from someone telling you that your web site is down, consider setting up an account at pingdom.com. The free account can alert you via email when your web site is not available and when it comes back on line. This is a good tool for accountability of the service level agreement from your web site hosting company. If you would like to monitor the status of your own internal servers, Internet connection, email delivery, antivirus system status and more, consider our own Managed Network Service alerting system.

Capturing data at the time of product receipt

We recently assisted a company with streamlining the receiving inspection process by moving the required measurement data, and the measurements taken at the time of receipt, to being stored electronically inside of their ERP system instead of on paper. This allows for not only quicker retrieval of inspection information but also detailed analysis of inspection of an item over time.