Ask CyberGuru Archives

Ask CyberGuru: What is the difference between Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Home?

cyberguru Support November 27, 2018November 26, 2018Ask CyberGuru, Windows 10, Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Home vs Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Pro

CyberGuru is asked, “I am looking a new computer and the different options. I was wondering what the difference is between Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Home?”

Generally, Windows 10 Pro devices are designed for business use whereas Windows 10 Home is for personal use. This means that Pro devices often have higher specifications than Home devices.

Oftentimes, Windows 10 Pro devices are used for PC-based servers or advanced needs as they allow for. Windows 10 Pro allows for you to set up Remote Desktop to connect to your computer remotely BitLocker disk encryption, the ability to connect to a domain and Client Hyper-V, allowing you to run “virtual machines” on your computer.

Depending on your set up and requirements, you may not require these functions, or you may already have alternatives in place, so you can use Windows 10 Home. If you already have or decide to buy a device with Windows 10 Home, you can generally upgrade to Windows 10 Pro should your needs change in the future.

For more details on the features and differences, please visit the Compare Windows 10 editions page.

If you have any questions we can answer for you, please contact us.

Ask CyberGuru: Have I been hacked?

cyberguru Support October 29, 2018November 5, 2018Ask CyberGuru, Compromised, Hacking, RAT, security

In this month’s Ask CyberGuru, we are asked: “I received an email advising that my email account has been hacked and a RAT installed on my computer. Further, it says I have been filmed using my webcam and personal information has been downloaded and will be shared on my social networks if I don’t pay the ransom in crypto-currency. Is this true?”.

There has been a series of emails doing the rounds recently advising that “RAT” (remote access technology) software has been installed onto your computer, threats of a personal nature are made and advised that this software will be made available to your social media if you don’t pay via crypto currency. Along with this, in some cases, the information include may include a password that you may have used.

This type of scam is the current flavour of the month and we have heard of several forms of this scam. One of the reasons these emails have particularly spooked clients is that the emails often contain threats of character assassination such as releasing “video” of the recipient watching adult content to their friends and family on social media, irrespective of whether they have done so or not.

Whilst this email seems threatening and intimidating, generally this email is an attempt to blackmail the recipient into paying money to the scammer. Oftentimes, the password may have been made public through a previously compromised website, and these passwords are often what makes this email more concerning.

If you suspect you may have been compromised in any way, protect yourself by:

Changing all passwords on accounts with the password if displayed or not. Please check the “Have I been Pwned?” website (link opens in new window) to identify if your email account has been listed as being compromised in a data breach. If so, make sure you change any passwords immediately. As the email address and password is known, leaving these changes may cause issues in the future.
Performing a full antivirus scan of your computer using a reputable internet security program. Further, please ensure you use secure (HTTPS) websites only to ensure your information is encrypted and remains safe. Always use internet security software on your computers and devices when online.
Deleting the email and do not respond in any way to the hacker, and most certainly do not pay the ransom. Be wary of emails requesting you click to open a website or to access an important file. Do not take any action on the email.

If you are concerned you may have been or are compromised in any way, please contact CyberGuru for further advice. If you believe you have been the victim of identity theft or any information has been leaked, we strongly recommend that you seek immediate assistance.

Ask CyberGuru: Should my domain name include my business’ service?

cyberguru Design September 27, 2018November 26, 2018Ask CyberGuru, business name, domain, domain name, domain name registration

CyberGuru has recently received some enquiries regarding what domain name a business should use. For example, should a bookkeeping company called Acme use domain name acme.com.au or acmebookkeeping.com.au?

In terms how important the word is (in this case bookkeeping), if your business is predominately a bookkeeping company, then having www.acmebookkeeping.com.au is useful to search engines such as Google as it would likely index you more accurately (through the word “bookkeeping” being added).

However, you may also wish to purchase www.acme.com.au as this is easier to manually type from say a business card or brochure, or your business was to expand from just computers in the future. These domain names could be linked in that if you were to have both, you could redirect one of them to the other.

If you have any questions or to register a domain name, please contact us today.

Ask CyberGuru: Do I need to update my modem router’s firmware?

cyberguru Support April 24, 2018April 22, 2018Ask CyberGuru, drivers, firmware, hardware, modem, operating system, router, security, software, update, updates

CyberGuru was recently asked, “I saw in magazine recently that it suggested that you should ‘update your [modem] router’s firmware to fix security defects as well as provide optimum speed and performance’. Is this the case and how do you do this?”

Yes, it is important to be looking to update your modem router, along with your computer’s operating system, hardware and software on a regular basis. As you have noted, it is important for security updates and ensuring your devices are running at the most optimal level.

Generally, if you have bought the modem router yourself, you can do this by accessing your modem router’s firmware or settings and choosing the appropriate link to update, which can take between 5-10 minutes to do. If you are unsure how to access the settings, details can be found by reviewing your modem router’s user guide. If you can’t find this, please consult your modem router manufacturers’ website.

However, in the case that your the modem router that has been provided by your internet service provider as part of your plan, you may not be able to install updates are these are likely to be managed by them. They will often release the updates on their own schedule to ensure support and compatibility with the devices on their end. Again, if you are unsure, please consult your internet service provider who can advise you accordingly.

Depending on the device, we also suggest that you perform backup of any contents, and settings prior to installing any updates. Should the updates cause any issues, the settings and contents can be restored easily.

If you have any questions you would like to ask CyberGuru, please contact us.

Ask CyberGuru: What is the D: drive used for?

cyberguru Support January 30, 2018February 1, 2018Ask CyberGuru, C:, C: drive, D:, D: drive, disk drive, drive letters, hard disk, hard disk drive, NAS, server, Windows

CyberGuru is asked, “I have noticed on my computer I have several hard drives appearing. I know that the C: drive is the main computer’s drive, what is the D: drive used for?”.

During the days of text-based operating systems such as Microsoft Disk Operating System (MS-DOS) the use of drive letters helped us to navigate between drives on computers. In order to select a drive, we would often refer to it by its drive letter.

Modern computers running Windows have their drive letters begin at C: for hard drives. The drive letters A and B were reserved the floppy drives. Over time, as more drives are installed into computers, such as optical (CD and DVD), and USB drives, these are also using drive letters.

The C: drive is often referred to as the system or boot drive, which is used for the Windows as well as important system files and program files. If your computer has a second drive or the D: drive, it is often used stores your data and documents. Sometimes, system manufacturers such as HP and ASUS include Recovery partitions on the D: drive as well.

This drive, depending on your computer set up, may be an actual second physical hard drive (such as a solid state or hard disk drive), or a partition (division) of the first drive.

In addition, if you have a server or Network Attached Storage (NAS) connected, we often map network drives to drive letters also (such as N: drive for NAS or S: for Server) to make it easier to find their contents.

If you have a question you would like to Ask CyberGuru, please contact us.

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