MISC. MEMORIAL DAY RAMBLING

Do you use Skype, or, are you planning on installing it in the near future? If so, I have two words for you: "Be Careful". If you're downloading the software please make sure you are doing it from the correct website and haven't been re-directed to a website that looks like Skype. This may be pure coincidence but last week I ran across two customers who were infected by something related to Skype.

In incident No.1 the user was downloading Skype and as soon as it finished and the install began - they became infected with numerous virus/trojans.

In incident No.2, from what little was passed on to me, Skype was in use previous to infection. Their PC arrived with a variation of the "FBI VIRUS". Working my way through my logical troubleshooting steps I found that it was the Skype.dat file that started the whole thing, so be careful on installations, updates, and Skype messages.

I.E. 10 is still crap and a large percentage of calls regarding Internet access or full access into a secure website end up with a technician un-installing the I.E.10 update which reverts it back to I.E. 9 (the lesser of two evils).

Also, as in many service calls, some infections could have been prevented by applying patches to Adobe Flash, Reader, and Oracle's JAVA.

'Nuff Said,
Brian