Ciphertek Systems, LLC

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Computer Hardware Issues?

Call or email us today about your computer issues so we can help repair/replace your failing hardware today. You can check this out to see how others have either resolved or diagnosed their computer problem.

Safety Practices for everyone on the Internet

1. Never click on anything that pops up on your screen unexpectedly. Just right click on the application (usually it's Internet Explorer) in the Task Bar and select "Close" from there. Alternatively, press Alt and F4 simultaneously in order to close the active window. Still another alternative is to use Task Manager (Ctrl - Alt - Del) to close the offending program.
   
   The reason for this is that the "bad guys" can make the window say anything that they want. For example, they can make the little X in the upper right corner of the window (normally used to close a window) actually install the bad stuff on your system.
   
   
2. Don't ever, ever open any email! Yeah, that's a bit extreme - but the bad guys can fake an email from your best friend and you'd never know it until you checked with your friend.

So, always suspect emails with attachments - they're where most of the damage is done. It doesn't matter if it 's just a picture, or if it's a strange file that you have no idea about - they can all be infected with viruses. If you open one, make sure that your anti-virus and anti-spyware programs are running and scanning.

The best way is to "preview" your emails before opening them. Using web-based email, read the text before deciding if the attachment is from someone safe. For email on your computer, use a "screener" like the free program MailWasher (I like this one so much that I bought the Pro version). It'll allow you to read the first 20 lines of an email without downloading it - and you can delete the bad one's by using it's interface.

For all parents out there

1. It’s always a good time to discuss computer security issues with your children. Here’s some thoughts to start: Generally, don’t talk to strangers. Unfortunately, children are not going to abide by this, as part of the fun of online games is to meet and play with other people.
2. Don’t tell anyone your real full name. A first name should be good enough.
3. Don’t tell anyone your age.
4. Don’t tell anyone where you live. For purposes of playing with new-found friends on-line, just tell them the state, or the time zone and when it would be possible to play together again.
5. To register online for games, don’t give out your birthday! As a general rule, always use January 1st. If the site has a requirement to verify the user’s age, then the year of birth could be used. But all online birthdays should be January 1st. (All horses have a birthday of January 1.)
6. Many sites now ask only for your zip code. But even there, if you’ve ever lived at a different address than you do now, use that old zip code. In fact, if the site is not going to be actually sending you anything via US Mail, use that old address for all registrations.
7. Establish an online email account for the purpose of using it as the registration email address for any online registration.
8. Establish an answer to the online “security” questions, like “Name of favorite pet” or “Mother’s maiden name”. Especially for something like “Mother’s maiden name” which is actually used for identity purposes later in life, make up an answer. If your children have a school mascot, what’s its name? And just use that same answer for all the *online game* registrations.
9. And if there’s going to be money involved, always require that a parent be involved.

ALL INFORMATION WAS TAKEN FROM FORUMS.