MONDAY MARCH 17th

ONLY A FEW BYTES THIS MORNING

Microsoft, trying to lure XP users away from the OS, and at the same time boost sales of Windows 8 computers are offering $50 off a Windows 8 computer as an enticement to switch. This news comes after Firefox decided to ditch the browser they were developing for the Metro interface, citing the low percentage of Windows 8. And, while on the topic of XP, I read an article over the weekend that said two-thirds of the ATM machines still ran on Windows XP, which makes me wonder when we will read about ATM attacks...

As reported on the Malwarebytes Blog, scammers are making use of the missing aircraft, flight MH370 on Twitter and Facebook to make some money with some of the following eye grabbing headlines:

“Shocking Video: Malaysian Airlines missing flight MH370 found at sea”

“Malaysian Airplane MH370 Already Found. Shocking Video Release Today by CNN”

“Plane has been spotted somewhere near Bermuda triangle. Shocking videos released today. CNN news”

“MH370 Malaysia plane has been found. Shocking videos released today. Last video of passengers crying released”

If you get one of these from one of your "friends", ignore it and please don't pass it onto your other unsuspecting "friends".

And while on the topic of scams, let me remind you about the NetFlix scam from several weeks ago.

This was reported on several sites, including the Malwarebytes Blog. While it's something you should be aware of, my reminder is that this type of scam [ed. - fake tech support numbers, phone calls from Microsoft Support w/ thick Indian accents, etc.] is quite common, and take the time to question yourself about it's legitimacy before clicking a link, calling the 1-800 number in front of you, or letting someone who called you purporting to be some technical support person gain remote access to your computer.

'Nuff Said,
Brian