Browser & Search Engine alternatives for better Security & Privacy

Have you noticed that once you search for an item or topic in your internet browser you start seeing ads related to those items in your browser, social media, etc. ? You're not alone. Many browsers and search engines provide free services....but with hidden costs in the form of tracking our internet activities for marketing purposes. If this concerns you then you'll be pleased to know there are alternatives to keep your activities private and secure.

Online marketers abuse advertising by tracking a person's online activities and inserting files and super-cookies into their browses. Ads can be very disruptive to your productivity as a result. An alternative browser that will keep your browsing secure and private is Brave (https://brave.com). It has been developed by the co-founder of Mozilla (Firefox) and is designed to block ads and trackers to keep your browsing activities private. Brave's commitment is appealing to users who want to get rid of those annoying and intrusive advertisements and those who value privacy. 

In order to keep your search engine activity private it is recommended to use a search engine committed to your privacy such as DuckDuckGo (https://duckduckgo.com). It doesn't store your personal info, doesn't follow you around with ads, and doesn't track your activities.

These two great alternatives to the mainstream options can be a winning combination in beating the war on privacy.  They play together nicely. The first step to taking control would be to install Brave and within the browser settings you can make DuckDuckGo the default search engine. 

Hackers Infecting Network Routers

It is being reported that hackers have infected 500k routers with malware (VPNFilter) worldwide. The attacks are designed to collect login credentials, gain supervisory control and disable the device entirely. Antivirus provider Symantec issued its own advisory Wednesday that identified the targeted devices as:

Linksys E1200

Linksys E2500

Linksys WRVS4400N

Mikrotik RouterOS for Cloud Core Routers: Versions 1016, 1036, and 1072

Netgear DGN2200

Netgear R6400

Netgear R7000

Netgear R8000

Netgear WNR1000

Netgear WNR2000

QNAP TS251

QNAP TS439 Pro

Other QNAP NAS devices running QTS software

TP-Link R600VPN

In an effort to minimize the effects of the attack, it is advised that users perform a factory reset of their routers. This is typically performed by pressing the reset button for 10 seconds. This will remove any special configuration on the router as well, however. Users should also change the router's password, update the firmware and disable remote administration. 

I hope this information has been helpful. As always, feel free to contact me if you need assistance. www.georgephillipscomputerservices.com

All USB ports stop working after Windows 10 update

This has really been a doosey! Thanks, Mr. Roberts. :) The symptoms of this issue is that all the usb ports on the Windows 10 computer do not work which prevent using the keyboard and mouse from working and logging into the computer. The keyboard and mouse do work, however, before Windows loads (ie BIOS settings screen).

The root cause of the problem is a recent Windows update (KB4074588). This was published mid-February 2018 and I'll focus the steps below for this specific problem. I'll cut out many of the troubleshooting steps I did and give you a targeted solution to speed up your recovery for this specific issue. I'll list the easy things to try first that may work then progress to other solutions. The ultimate goal for this problem is to remove KB4074588 and prevent it from re-installing by whatever means you can muster.

Try the easy things first:

• Use remote access to remove the update by the normal method (if remote access had been previously configured)
• Attempt to restore your pc to an earlier date when it was working properly
• Try booting into Safe Mode and removing the upgrade

That's about all the easy things to try that may actually work. Now on to the the solution that worked for me. 

To perform these steps you need to get your pc to the Windows Command prompt in the diagnostic mode either using a boot disk or turning your pc on and off (push power button when the Windows logo is displayed) 3-4 times. That will launch the built-in diagnostic screen. Follow the on-screen menus to eventually get to the Command Prompt.

Once at the command prompt, enter the command below on one line then press enter:

• dism /Image:c:\ /remove-package /packagename:Package_for_RollupFix~31bf3856ad364e35~amd64~~16299.248.1.17

The package will be uninstalled. It may state that an error has occurred and no changes were made but most likely it has been removed. 

You will likely be able to login to Windows now but you're NOT DONE yet. Go ahead and log in and do the victory dance! It's down hill from here. Once you're in, go immediately to Windows Update and remove KB4074588 via the normal uninstall process. Once that is remove you may need to restart. Almost done.

After restarting, follow the instructions at https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/3073930/how-to-temporarily-prevent-a-driver-update-from-reinstalling-in-window to prevent KB4074588 from automatically reinstalling. 

If none of these methods worked for you the last resort is to restore your pc to factory defaults which could result in loss of data if you don't have backups or can't backup the data beforehand. 

I hope this information has helped you in some way and got you working again rather quickly. As always, feel free to contact me if you need assistance. www.georgephillipscomputerservices.com 

Password this and Password that. Tired of getting locked out and resetting passwords?

If you're like me then you have too many passwords to keep straight. These days we have passwords for various shopping sites, our banking websites, our email accounts and on it goes. Sure, some of those websites will allow you to save the password so you don't have to enter it each time but then.....one day it happens. Either the cache is cleared and the passwords are no longer available or we have device trouble which requires us to enter the password. Since we haven't been entering the password regularly it's likely that we'll have to go through the password reset procedures. That process could be repeated through the year many times among the various websites and becomes very frustrating.

We could use one password for everything but that leaves us vulnerable if the password is ever divulged. Some have resorted to writing passwords on sticky notes and pasted to the computer monitor (you know who you are) which is never a good idea. Well, there is a better way. There is a small program that can keep your account passwords secure and organized. It is called KeePass and can be downloaded at https://keepass.info/. Click the Download link on the left side, then click the large green button for your operating system. Once it's downloaded, double-click to begin the installation. It's a very simple application so it's fairly intuitive.

Once KeePass is installed you now have a secure location to store all of your passwords that can be easily retrieved when necessary. One thing I would recommend doing is backing up the file that contains your passwords. You can either store it on an external flash drive or transfer to cloud storage periodically.

Hopefully this will help you manage your passwords better in 2018 and beyond. As always, if you need assistance you can reach me via my website - www.georgephillipscomputerservices.com.