Holidays bring phishing scam surge aimed at small business

The email looked legitimate, so Danielle Radin clicked on the link it contained, expecting to have her products included in a holiday gift guide.

“I instantly regretted it,” says Radin, owner of Mantra Magnets, a website that sells wellness products. “It took me to some random website that looked like those pop-ups telling you that you’ve won the lottery.”

Within days of that click three weeks ago, Radin began getting notifications that people in Ecuador, China and elsewhere were trying to access her email account. She wasn’t surprised; she knew her San Diego-based small business had been the target of a phishing scam.

While cybercriminals strike at any time of the year, they’re particularly active during the holiday and income tax filing seasons when computer users expect to see more emails — and scammers are increasingly targeting individual small businesses with phishing scams, sending messages that look legitimate but do harm instead. An unsuspecting owner or employee clicks on a link or attachment and like Radin finds that malicious software has invaded their PCs.

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Microsoft Confirms Update Warning For Windows 10, Windows 8.1 And Windows 7 Users

The latest Patch Tuesday update from Microsoft included several critical security fixes. Unfortunately, as Microsoft has now confirmed, it also borked some things. If you haven’t applied that August 13 update and are running on Windows 10, Windows 8.1 or Windows 7, you may want to read this before you do.

What’s the problem with the latest Patch Tuesday Windows update?

Microsoft has confirmed a bunch of “known issues” with the August 13 Windows update. Some, such as the “black screen during first logon after installing updates” issue, have hit users after previous updates. That can be filed in the annoying but ultimately not much to worry about folder: it only impacts a “small number” of users and only the first time they logon after the update.

Anything that impacts millions of users is a far more serious thing. And so it is that Microsoft has confirmed that this Patch Tuesday update does just that.

“After installing this update, applications that were made using Visual Basic 6 (VB6), macros using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), and scripts or apps using Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) may stop responding and you may receive an “invalid procedure call error,” Microsoft has stated.

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Windows 7 vs Windows 10: The next big challenge

Time is running out for those who haven’t already moved on from Windows 7 — but are they really ready for the jump to Windows 10?

It’s been some time since Windows 10 overtook Windows 7 to become the most used PC operating system, but with the final end of Windows 7 support looming, there’s still much work to do.

With six months until Windows 7 goes out of extended support, there’s quite a lot of data around to provide at least a rough picture of the current state of play.

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Windows 10: Microsoft is bringing back one of Windows 95’s most popular features

Microsoft is revamping PowerToys utilities for Windows 10.

Microsoft is rebooting and open sourcing PowerToys, the Windows 95 utilities that brought power users the popular Tweak UI, which allowed users to manipulate the Windows user interface, and over a dozen other tools.

Microsoft is planning to publish previews of PowerToys utilities via GitHub this summer, along with the source code under an MIT license, as it did with the recently open-sourced Windows Calculator app. Likewise, it is also encouraging any fans to give feedback about which features it should prioritize for PowerToys.

The effort will see PowerTools rebuilt for Windows 10, after the set of utilities was abandoned following the release of Windows XP.

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Windows 10 version 1903, May 2019 Update, increases storage requirement to 32GB

Starting with the May 2019 Update, the desktop version of Windows 10 will require a hard drive with at least 32GB of space to install correctly.

Windows 10 version 1903, May 2019 Update, is expected to release to the public in late May, and while the new feature update should install without issues on devices already running any release of Windows 10, Microsoft is making changes to the minimum storage requirements.

According to an updated support document, the company reveals that starting with the May 2019 Update, the desktop version of Windows 10 “must include a storage” of 32GB or greater for the 32-bit and 64-bit version.

This is around 12GB more storage than the previous 20GB minimum requirement.

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Millions using 123456 as password, security study finds

Millions of people are using easy-to-guess passwords on sensitive accounts, suggests a study.

The analysis by the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) found 123456 was the most widely-used password on breached accounts.

The study helped to uncover the gaps in cyber-knowledge that could leave people in danger of being exploited.

The NCSC said people should string three random but memorable words together to use as a strong password.

For its first cyber-survey, the NCSC analyzed public databases of breached accounts to see which words, phrases and strings people used.

Top of the list was 123456, appearing in more than 23 million passwords. The second-most popular string, 123456789, was not much harder to crack, while others in the top five included “qwerty”, “password” and 1111111.

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14 Best Free CSV Editor for Windows 10

CSV file is a commonly used format that contains numbers and texts in a spreadsheet format. The datasets are in text form and each of the new lines is separated by commas that signify a new row of the database. It’s simple and helps share huge amounts of data allowing you to view them from any location across the world.

However, to edit these files you would need a CSV editor that are spreadsheet software. This type of software allows you to change the files into cells that help transfer data among different databases. While there are many CSV editors available these days, not all are free.

Therefore, we have shortlisted some of the best CSV editors for Windows that are a mix of the free and paid.

CSVed

CSVed is a free program that can handle any type of CSV file with any type of separator. It has the ability to add, remove, edit, and include items, import and export data, delete duplicate data, connect and break columns, insert, remove, or re-align columns, and more.

It comes with a fully packed interface that features a navigation sidebar, chief document view above the compact editing window, and a four in one toolbar. This easy to use program offers a font manager, and also a portable version.

CSVStar

CSVStar is again a freeware that helps prepare, edit, and take care of CSV files. The interface represents function areas using colors and offers help through a PDF file with instructions. While creating templates, it’s much easier to modify the Headers and Trailers with the help of the simple wizards.

Moreover, it offers several functions that help generate the CSV file fields automatically, based on conditions. You can also manage the templates easily that enables you to prepare more such identical files like that of the template. Furthermore, it works with multiple data varieties for its fields such as int, string, enum, etc.

iMatrixitor

If you are looking for a CSV editor with comma and tab limited fields, iMatrixitor can be great for you. It works with Unix / PC formats of Text and binary files that are stored both on the native hard disk and on the remote FTP server. The program can open /change/store local and FTP files and also provides support for “save as” files between local and FTP. The program works with an external define file to format a kind of data file.

The program displays all fields and headers using external define file. It also offers a shared read/write mode, and also allows you to unlock while opening a file. It provides support for Windows and Unix format of new line and number. Moreover, it also offers a function that helps to open and save files from local disk and FTP server. Best of all, it automatically refreshes the opened files both on local disk and FTP server.

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5G is coming for real, but it will cost you

5G is coming, and with it a massive boost in bandwidth that will feed artificial intelligence applications, enable the long-fabled internet of things, and deliver more streaming video. Lots of streaming video. But all that extra bandwidth won’t be much use if the average consumer can’t afford a 5G connection, or if those connections are hobbled by restrictive bandwidth caps.

When the major carriers rolled out 4G in the early 2010s, it typically wasn’t offered as a separate service from their existing 3G networks. 4G speeds were used as a selling point where they were available, but they didn’t cost consumers directly. That might not be the case with 5G.

Verizon on Wednesday announced what could be the first “real” mobile 5G service in the US, dubbed 5G Ultra Wideband. It’s scheduled to launch April 11 in “select areas” of Chicago and Minneapolis as a $10 add-on to the carrier’s existing unlimited plans; there will be no additional charge for the first three months. The first 5G-capable phone for Verizon’s network will be the Motorola Moto Z, which requires an additional $50 hardware accessory called the “5G moto mod” to actually use the new service. The company plans to expand to at least 30 cities this year.

Verizon isn’t advertising specific speeds but says the service will use millimeter-wave technology, a key part of the official 5G spec.

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Microsoft reveals pricing for Windows 7 Extended Security Updates

Windows 7 may be creakingly old now, but it is still widely used. While large numbers of consumers have migrated to Windows 10, there are still plenty of organizations that are clinging to the old operating system out of a sense of nostalgia, an unwillingness to upgrade, lack of funds for upgrading, or legacy requirements.

As of January 14, 2020, Microsoft will no longer be providing support or security updates for Windows 7 — apart from for those who are willing to pay for it. The company is offering up to three years of Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU), and pricing has just been revealed.

Details of pricing have been shared, and they are predictably high. Extended Security Updates will only be available to Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise customers, and the cost doubles on a year-by-year basis. For the first year (January 2020-21), Windows Enterprise customers can expect to pay $25 per device, rising to $100 in the third year. For Windows 7 Professional, the starting figure is $50 per device, rising to $200.

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Windows 10 updates are broken again, but this time it’s not Microsoft’s fault

Windows 10 users switch to Google’s Public DNS after bad ISP DNS setting blocks Windows Update.

Multiple Windows users in the US and UK have been unable to download updates from Windows Update. But rather than the problem lying at Microsoft’s end, the culprit appears to be various ISPs’ domain name system (DNS) settings.

Users have also reported the same DNS issue preventing app updates from the Windows Store and breaking Microsoft’s security feature, SmartScreen. 

Windows users pinpointed Comcast’s DNS settings as the source of the problem, and, oddly, found that switching the computer’s network settings to use Google’s Public DNS allowed Windows Update to resume.

Affected people on a separate Xfinity post about the same issue reported that Comcast appeared to have fixed the issue on Thursday afternoon, although the company has not announced the DNS issue has been resolved.

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