This year’s Annual Otto Golf Classic was held at the Orchards Golf Course yesterday, May 22nd on the Southeast end of Belleville, IL. This is one of the main events the Chamber of Commerce puts on during the first half of the year and is one of the main events to raise money for the chamber and their many cool events yet to come. The day was overcast, but the golfing was hot!

Our very own Amy Yan and Terri Dambacher were out representing CompuType IT Solutions and MidAmerica Web at the putting challenge. $5.00 was a chance to win a $100 giftcard to Silver Creek donated by Silver Creek and a golf putter donated by Curt Smith Sporting Goods. The beer was donated by Grey Eagle Distributors at no charge.

Left to right, Erin of Grey Eagle Distributors, Brandy of Belleville News Democrat, Terri Dambacher & Amy Yan of CompuType IT Solutions and Nicole of Our Lady of The Snows

Left to right, Amy Yan, John Lengerman of The Belleville Chamber of Commerce and Brandy of BND.

Additional Sponosors:

Jack Schmitt Chevrolet of O’Fallon donated a 2013 Chevrolet Malibu 2LT for the hole-in-one giveaway.

Tavern on Main donated Lunch for 2 and a pizza and salad certificate

Marco’s On Main donated a $25 Gift Certificate

Shenanigan’s donated an appetizer pizza party for 100 people

It’s no secret that social networking platforms have taken this world by storm, and chances are you utilize at least one of them to connect with friends, family, or those “friends” you don’t actually know but are still on your friends’ list. Facebook, the most popular social networking medium by far, can be a great way of keeping up with people close to us (or those others), but can also be a great way to get us in a lot of trouble. The general rule of social networking is to never post anything you wouldn’t want your grandparents to see – which is good advice because a lot of us are Facebook friends with our grandparents. It has also become somewhat common knowledge that pictures posted on the internet will never truly be deleted. This is not absolute truth, but for safety reasons we should assume it to be.

Remember last Saturday? Of course not, you were tanked! But I bet your employer and family remember it clearly with all the pictures your friend courteously uploaded without your permission. Luckily Facebook has features that allow us to limit the damage done by our inconsiderate friends, or even by us. There is nothing that prevents someone from uploading a picture of you, but you sure can keep them from tagging you in it! It’s actually fairly easy and only takes a few steps:

First you’re going to want to log into your Facebook account. In the top right corner, you will see a few buttons that are all related to your account. You will want to click on the settings button, which looks like a little gear.

Click on privacy settings. Playing around with the settings in this menu can really open your eyes to who can see what you post. You may be surprised if you haven’t done any maintenance here previously.

The most important item on this menu is the “who can see your future posts” section. This basically controls who is allowed to see what is posted on your own profile. By default, it’s set to “friends,” but if you’re like me, you don’t want everyone on your friends list to see everything on your timeline. You can easily add either groups or individuals by pressing the “edit” button to the right of it. This feature comes in handy when you want to filter someone from your profile, but feel bad denying the person’s friend request , and we all know the “I never got a friend request” excuse only works once. The rest of this menu is pretty self-explanatory, so if you know how to get to it, changing settings isn’t that bad.

Now to take care of that problem with your Facebook-obsessed friend who found it necessary to post your Saturday night shenanigans for the world to see. First, you’ll need to click on the “Timeline and Tagging” tab on the left side of the screen. You will be presented with a screen that looks very similar to the last:

There’s a lot in this menu, so let’s stick to what we came here for first. You’ll want to click the “edit” button I have highlighted, and then switch the option to “enabled.” From this point on, every time someone tags you in a photo, you will be notified and asked to approve the photo to be posted on your profile. However, you will still be tagged in the photo even though it’s not shown on your profile. The second edit button that’s highlighted controls the actual tagging of the photo. Enable this option, and you’ll be in full control over what pictures you’re tagged in regardless of their appearance on your profile.  

Taking these few steps to secure your profile is a great start, but far from a complete solution. The only way to be sure your profile isn’t the subject of misuse is to simply not misuse it. Remember – it’s your life and you can live the way you want, but not everyone needs (or wants) to see what you choose to do privately.

Lower your risk of spyware infection

The vast majority of viruses in the workplace come from non-work related sites. Well established business websites are rarely the cause of a virus infection. The following are some examples of websites to avoid while on a corporate network.

• Social Networking Sites
  1. MySpace
  2. Facebook
  3. Twitter

Social networking sites are targets for people promoting the spread of malware and viruses. These types of sites are targeted because of their large user base. Once an account has been infected, it will attempt to spread to everyone in that user’s friends list by sending links or files that would tempt the user to click or open these links and files to further spread the malware.

• Webmail Sites
  1. Hotmail
  2. Yahoo Mail
  3. Gmail
  4. Live.com Mail

Webmail has long been a target and tool that virus writers use to spread their code. It provides anonymity by offering free accounts with little or no proof of identification. Webmail is not as thoroughly filtered by virus scanning software than most corporate mail servers, this leads to employees infecting their work computers because they are checking personal email that does not get scanned by your servers.

• Suspicious Emails
  1. UPS, FedEx, DHL, USPS shipping manager in the subject line.
  2. Unknown senders
  3. Known senders with suspicious content or attachments.

If in doubt, do not open the email or attachment. Many people get virus infections from their friends, family and coworkers because these people have been infected and the virus is now sending out emails to everyone on their contact list. If your aunt Betty doesn’t know how to send a picture attachment then there is good reason to believe that something may be amiss. If you’ve never seen the name before, use caution, it may be spam with links to virus infected webpages.

• Non work related websites
  1. Obscure blogs
  2. Pornography
  3. Torrents, illegal downloads
  4. Entertainment: Music, Movies, Gossip, Shopping
  5. FREE offerings (IE: screensavers, wallpaper backgrounds…)

There are many sites that at best are deemed questionable. The less known a site is, the less likely it is to be secure. For example, Amazon.com vs. shopping123.com. Small, insecure sites are targets for the placement of viruses and malware, once these sites are infected, anyone visiting the site will be infected. If you stick to large, well-known, work related websites, you greatly reduce the risk of infection.

If you do happen to get a virus, the best thing to do at that point is to shut the PC down. Most viruses have been known to retrieve additional code or other viruses from the internet making the problem worse over time. Infected PC’s that have been left on and used for days have been found with dozens to several hundred infected files and different variations of viruses. Others that have been shut down quickly were  much more easy to remove, saving you time and money in the long run. 

The O’Fallon-Shiloh Chamber of Commerce wants to encourage you to spend first in your home community. By spending local, you can improve your community because a portion of the money stays local. Consumers can win by winning prizes and O’Fallon-Shiloh wins by supporting local jobs, funding community programs, and strengthening local businesses.

 
Follow the instructions in each category and get your passport stamped. Once you’ve completed all four categories, return passport to the O’Fallon-Shiloh Chamber of Commerce.
We will hold a drawing for prizes for at least three lucky winners on Feb 13th. Keep checking our website ofallonchamber.com to see what prizes you could win! You do not have to be a resident of 62269 to win. Original stamps required, but facsimile forms will be accepted. Must be 18 to participate.

 
This passport runs Nov 2012—Feb 12, 2013. All businesses listed are chamber members. For more information on these businesses visit our website at ofallonchamber.com

Once you have the “SIX” stamps, mail this passport to O’Fallon-Shiloh Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 371, O’Fallon, IL 62269 or drop it by 116 E. First St. O’Fallon By February 13th, 2013 by 10 a.m. Call 618-632-3377 for questions.

 
Your contact info:

E-mail____________________________________________
Print Name____________________________________
Phone#__________________________________________

Click here to download the flyer for more information and details – and remember to shop local!

The O’Fallon – Shiloh chamber held their 15^th annual Far Oaks Golf Tournament yesterday, September 11^th. Far Oaks is located in Collinsville, IL, just North-East of 64 and 159. This is the chambers primary fundraising event, which makes it possible to hold other robust chamber programs and activities within the community. It was a gorgeous day to be outside – upper 70′s, breezy, sunny and there was a great turnout of golfers!

Amy Yan of CompuType IT Solutions and Sheri Welch of Sheri Welch Insurance

Amy Yan of CompuType It Solutions was there representing the company and working the “Putting Challenge” competition. The competition was over early in the day when Jeff Baskett hit a Hole-In-One, winning the Putting Challenge Event and a $200 Southwest Airline gift card. Way to go Jeff! Lots of other prizes were awarded for events including “Longest Drive” & “Closest to Pin”.

Amy Yan of CompuType and Jason Spengler of The Spengler Company

As always, the true goal at chamber events is the pure networking opportunity for business members of the chamber. Building relationships between local businesses not only spurs on more chamber referrals, but it keeps revenue here in the city we all call home. Shop local and remember, people only do business with those that they trust!

The National Shrine of Our Lady Of The Snows catered a fantastic lunch and Outback Steakhouse sponsored a hearty dinner for the golf event. Other sponsors include Lindenwood University, New Horizons Computer Learning Center, Jack Schmitt Cadillac, Wells Fargo and many more.

The Putting Challenge at Far Oaks Golf Course

For the typical home user, these three terms can be very confusing. What is the difference between them? Are they different at all? Yes they are, but to you they are all the same thing – a pit, full of time and money. Since this is the case for most of us, we will use them as interchangeable terms. When they infect your computer, they can make your PC run incredibly slow, sometimes to the point of being unusable. They can block internet access, hack your email, track what you’re doing, and in some cases take full control of your computer for whatever their programmers’ malicious intent is. So how can you prevent against these infections? Cue the singing angels, because you’re about to find out.

Prevention:

Here at CompuType, we hear some form of this phrase at least once a day: How did my computer become infected when I pay for antivirus?” I hate to say it, but antivirus is merely a first line of defense. Not to lessen the importance of a good antivirus program, but it’s not everything. The biggest part of prevention is your browsing habits. You must be careful of what you click on; always know where a link is going to take you before you click on it. If you don’t trust it, don’t click on it. This, however, can be easier said than done. I went to download CCleaner, a program very useful for cleaning out the temp files on your computer. Once at the free download page, I was presented with this:

This is a typical (even conservative) example of download link confusion. With three different download links, and only one being legitimate, people are understandably confused as to which button to click on. While this site doesn’t seem to have any malicious links, many other free download sites can have upwards of five or six different download buttons. Pressing on the wrong one can open the flood gates for malware, and your antivirus chance of catching it after it’s downloaded is spotty at best.

Here is another tricky one:

If you have seen something that looks like this, you were most likely somewhere on the internet you should not have been. If you have seen this more than once, you are most likely a teenage boy. The key to identifying this as an illegitimate message is the title bar. It is a message from Internet Explorer, in this case meaning it is no more than another internet window (pop-up). Had this been a legitimate message, your antivirus (avast, AVG, Norton, etc.) would be the one telling you that you need to run a scan, and would not ask you to download anything more than virus definitions. You should NEVER click on this window, as it gives the infected files permission to download onto your computer, most of the time bypassing your antivirus program. Out of all the different computers we service for virus infections, this is the most common means of infection.

There are, of course, other means of infection: email hoaxes, ads that promise you you’ll lose weight by using just this “one little trick” and so many more that it would be impossible to cover in this article. But luckily most of these can be thwarted by using a little common sense. If you know your grandma doesn’t know how to work her email program, don’t open the attachment she sent you from her account; it most likely wasn’t her. Don’t click on an advertisement that promises a free iPad, because anything that looks too good to be true probably is. And if you have a teenager, it may be best to invest in some sort of parental control software (here is a link to a PC Magazine article detailing several different programs), because he/she will most likely be the cause of your next virus infection. It’s nothing against anyone of that age, but teenagers (especially boys) are quick to click on ads that interest them without thinking about the consequences.

But wait, nothing about antivirus software was mentioned, how can that be? Simply put, it doesn’t really matter what antivirus software you have. There’s no doubt that some are better than others, but the determining factor of your computer’s safety is you.

Now that you’re armed with this new knowledge, keep in mind that internet trickery is everywhere. If you do happen to fall for any of these tricks, it is important that you get it fixed right away. The longer an infection is on your computer, the more information they can gather about you, or even worse, your bank account. If this ends up being the case, CompuType’s trained technicians will be happy to help you out of the extremely annoying and stressful situation that is a virus infection.

Did you know that a normal human being blinks 20 times in a minute, whereas a computer user blinks only 7 times a minute!

Have you ever had eyestrain, blurred vision, delayed focusing, headaches, back and neck aches, dry and burning eyes, light sensitivity, distorted color vision, forehead heaviness, or sore eyes after using a computer for long periods at a time?

Quick fixes for common eye strain

1. Blurred vision; red eyes: Get a full glass of water and drink the entire glass, then blink and rub your eyes gently, blink and rub, blink and rub. (Also see recommendations below)
2. Migraine or bad headache: Massage your temples on both sides of your face. Dim or lower the environmental lighting around you if you can. If that still does not help, then chug 2 bottles of Gatorade.

Recommendation(s)
It has been suggested that after 20 minutes of computer use, you should take a 20 second eye focus break and look at objects that are 20 feet away from you.

Be sure to adjust your monitor refresh rate to the highest available setting as it is easier on your eyes.

Helpful tools such as Eye Defender http://www.eterlab.com/eyedefender/ is a freeware download from Eterlab that will automatically interrupt your work and make you take a short eye break.

3 for 1 special: Get off your butt and take a water break.

1. This will remove the computer from your vision and help relax your eyes
2. Help hydrate your eyes and overall body as we all need a large source of water in our daily diet.
3. Exercise your body by going to the water cooler or getting a refill of water.

This article is not intended to inform your employer that you need more breaks or that your computer is causing any permanent damage to your health, however this article is trying to help you be aware of your personal health and ways to prevent temporary strain on your eyes. So who is winning, your eyes or the computer screen? You be the judge as you can control this for yourself. Delay no further and take control to knock your monitor out by doing the recommendations listed above.

Good luck and we wish you all many more years of safe computer use.

Eye Strain related illnesses for further research:
Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS)
Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

On Tuesday, July 10th, 2012, Microsoft released a security advisory regarding sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista and Windows 7. All gadgets, old and new, now pose a security threat to your computer. They can be compromised to allow a hacker to have access to your PC and all of your data. Microsoft’s current solution is to disable gadgets completely. Follow this link for the “fix” and to read more about it – http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2719662

Here is Microsoft’s official recommendation: “Customers who are concerned about vulnerable or malicious Gadgets should apply the automated Fix It solution as soon as possible. For more information, see the Suggested Actions section of this advisory.”

To be safe, CompuType IT Solutions recommends that you follow Microsoft’s suggestion and disable your gadgets. You can use the “Fix It” application found at the Microsoft link above, or disable the gadgets manually. Hopefully MS will provide a solution to this issue, to keep all the gadget users happy. If you are not comfortable making these changes and repairs yourself, just give us a call and we’ll be glad to assist.

CompuType would also like to remind you to keep your Windows Updates current, as well as your Anti-Virus, Java, Flash or any other application that constantly nags you to update it. Most of the updates these companies push out are to fix security vulnerabilities, so it is good practice to keep up with them. If you’d like to have CompuType help you keep up with these issues, just give us a call. We can set you up with remote support, using GoToCompu, or one of our skilled technicians can stop by and take care of your issues.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Monday is not “Internet Doomsday”. There will be no cataclysmic shutdown, no Al Gore pulling the plug with a demonic laugh, no sudden termination like the TomKat split. July 9, 2012 on the Mayan calendar does not say “Adios Internet”. What is happening is described in detail here.

Essentially, the FBI is shutting down some servers on Monday that have been allowing PCs infected with the DNSChanger virus to use the internet as if nothing is wrong. Once these servers are shutdown, PCs with the virus will not be able to access the web.

Yes, that sounds horrible, but it is easily avoided. Before Monday, July 9, please visit http://www.dns-ok.us from every PC you own to see if you have the virus. If you see green, do a happy dance because your machine is clean. If you see red, then don a hazmat suit – you need to start cleanup procedures immediately.

If your antivirus program isn’t correcting the problem, then be sure to contact professional help, or even that 29-year-old “kid” that lives in your neighbor’s basement. If you don’t get it cleaned up this weekend, you won’t be able to check fantasy baseball stats and upcoming summer sales access important work related websites.

Experts currently estimate the number of infected PCs is down to 250,000 or less, so you’ve got a .02% chance of being infected. Much better chances than winning a lottery jackpot though so be sure to get your PC checked out soon!