Windows 8.1 - An introduction

All the way from the Oscher Center in Wilmington, Saul Reine gave us a good review of the new and different things in Windows 8.1

"This and That"

Our scheduled speaker had to cancel, so this week's Presentation was a grab bag of topics - AKA, "BB Bytes."  Topics included WiFi problems, the <PrntScrn> button, saving web pages, and Stuttering YouTube videos.  We did pretty well, we got through 45 of the 70 slides prepared.  <grin>

Cyberlocker - Quick Review

I don’t generally send out dire warnings about the newest, baddest, “Worst Virus Ever!” malware, but something is circulating now that you really, really don’t want to get.  The problem is the ‘virus’ is mutating so fast that the Anti-virus companies are having trouble keeping up.  So far this effects only Windows computers, but I’m sure the authors are making so much money that Mac and mobile variants may appear soon.

If you never open email attachments, generally stay on the Internet beaten paths, only install programs from official manufacturer stores, keep everything updated including your Anti-virus program, don’t run Java, and never had a computer infection, you can ignore this message. But if you can’t stop yourself from looking at car crashes on the road … read on!

Bottom line: There is no need to over-hype this; yes, it's a nasty piece of malware, but no different in principle than thousands of other malware programs.  Other than doing the usual things for safe computing and having a good backup of your data (both which you should be doing anyway!) there is no reason to change your behavior because of this thing.