I’ve had several people contact me today about an email apparently from PayPal concerning an order from Dell.  Everything about the email looks legitimate and all the links appear to go to PayPal as you would expect….

….however at the very bottom of the email there is a message asking if the transaction is correct and if not, there is a cancel button – its this cancel button that takes you to a fake PayPal site so that the phishers can get your details.  The fake site itself is believable, just the address is completely wrong!

So beware of emails from anyone – PayPal, the bank, Dell etc etc – asking about a transaction you can’t remember and then offering a bnig cancel button – before clicking always make sure the link goes where you think it does!

Click here to see what the email looks like.

1. DRG is 5 years old
2. Business Continuity
3. Social media and business
4. Don’t forget our blog
5. Linux in the classroom

DRG is 5 years old!

Since Paul first setup DRG Technology from his spare room in 2005, DRG has gone from strength to strength. With over 800 clients on the database, ranging from home users to large businesses (some with multiple offices around the country), we are justifiably proud of our customer service ethic and our ability to solve any computer issue you can throw at us!

Over the last 5 years, we have watched many of our clients, like us, shift from operating as one-man bands in the spare room, growing into significant sized businesses.  We are proud to have been there to help them along the way.  From setting up computers and networks, to building web sites, we can provide the full range of IT services to make sure your business grows smoothly and reaches its potential.

The DRG team (Paul, Alex, Dominic and Tammy) provides over 20 years IT experience, including Microsoft Certification. Our experience and qualifications means that there is little you can throw at us that we haven’t seen before!

Business Continuity

With the recent earthquakes in Chile, volcanic eruptions in Iceland and flood’s in Southland, it’s a good time to think about your business continuity.

What is Business Continuity?

Business continuity refers to the planning process that businesses should go through to ensure it can still operate during unforseen circumstances. Businesses should first consider what constitutes a disaster – and this may not be the obvious huge natural disaster event. Its worth considering how your business could operate if your server was damaged beyond repair, if you were to lose critical data or machines or if you were faced with a significant period of ‘down time’.

Among companies who lose data in a disaster, 50% never re-open and 90% are out of business within two years! Source: The Cost of Data Loss: By Harald Anderson (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Cost-of-Data-Loss&id=7111)

DRG Technology works collaboratively with its clients to ensure that businesses are considering their critical systems, and ensuring that these are backed-up and that there is redundancy within the system or that quick replacements are available. Regular and reliable backups are a critical part of this planning – you can’t recover what you don’t backup.

To help businesses to look at their continuity plans we have produced a guide – click here to download your copy.

Social media for Businesses

Social media sites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin can be very useful marketing/networking tools if used correctly. Building up a strong network can increase your profile in the market place – but getting it wrong could kill you stone dead!

There has been much debate as to whether Facebook and Twitter are good tools for marketing your business. How successful these tools can be for your business will depend largely on how much effort you are prepared to put into them, and also whether it’s the right place to be advertising/promoting your business. Both mechanisms can be time consuming, but on the flip side, there is almost an expectation that a business will have a social marketing presence.

For or against, businesss are deciding for themselves whether online social marketing is worth the effort. Tourism Industry Blog puts its case forward here. DRG Technology has a facebook page and Paul has a linkedin profile (see below). We won’t help you decide what to do, but if you need help setting things up, we’d be delighted to help.
http://www.tourismindustryblog.co.nz/2010/04/why-you-shouldnt-ignore-facebook-as-a-marketing-tool/

DRG on Facebook

Don’t forget our blog

For those you haven’t been to our web site in a while you may not realise that after a re-development early last year we added a blog. Paul periodically updates the blog with IT news, significant security issues, new hi-tech toys and other things as he finds them. Visit www.drg.co.nz to see the latest posts – just click on ‘our blog’ on the menu bar.

As part of DRG’s own social media marketing the blog is also repeated on our Facebook page and Paul’s LinkedIn profile.

Linux in the classroom

A recent post on our blog covers Paul’s first impressions with Ubuntu running on his laptop.  Ubuntu is a free Linux based operating system – a replacement for Windows!  It can be installed on an existing PC as a second boot option or it can completely replace your current OS.  The Edbuntu packages offers a huge range of free educational software for all ages – from Pre-School up to Tertiary.  The software covers everything from spelling to maths to astronomy!  And the best thing?  Its all free! If you are interested in finding out more about Ubuntu give Paul a call or drop him an email.

Now is the time to be thinking about your business continuity.

What is Business Continuity? It is the planning for how your business will survive a disaster.  And a disaster doesn’t have to be major like a flood – what about a fire, theft or even a hard drive crash?

Backing up your data is the most critical part of your planning. If your data is safe – so is your business.

Remember – you can’t recover what you haven’t kept!

DRG Technology has produced a guide to business continuity planning – click here to download it.  And if you need any help in your planning, give Paul a call.

Among companies who lose data in a disaster, 50% never re-open and 90% are out of business within two years!
Source: The Cost of Data Loss: By Harald Anderson (http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Cost-of-Data-Loss&id=7111).

The Ubuntu distro started in 2004 with the aim of increasing the uptake of Linux on the desktop PC and it now appears widely on various systems – ACER Aspire One netbooks, ASUS EeePC and Dell have all come with Ubuntu pre-loaded.  The name Ubuntu comes from an African word meaning ‘Humanity to others’, or ‘I am what I am because of who we all are’.

I’ve been having a play with Ubuntu on my laptop – which already had Windows on it.  To install it on a PC already running another OS is a very simple process – it does all the work to create a new partition and setup the boot screen giving you a list of OS on your PC to boot from.

Why use Ubuntu? Aside from the fact that the OS itself is free, it also comes with a huge range of free software, including:

• OpenOffice for word processing, spreadsheets and presentation;
• The GIMP for all your graphics needs;
• Evolution for email;
• Rhythmbox Music Player;
• Firefox web browser;

And to add new software its just a case of using the built-in ‘package manager’ (applications for Linux comes in the form of packages) to search for software by keyword or name.

Ubuntu also comes with a number of ‘mega-packages’ aimed at eduction (edubuntu) – from pre-school to tertiary.  These mega-packages includes a huge range of software from games to programming tools.

Here are just some of the educational software included in these free downloads:

• Marble globe and map widget;
• tuxmath math game for kids with Tux;
• tuxpaint A paint program for young children;
• kstars desktop planetarium;

Some screenshots:

So is Ubuntu the ultimate free lunch? It would appear so – other than having to buy a PC to put it on!  One nice thing about Ubuntu is that it will run happily on systems that Windows would struggle with.  This means it can be loaded on older hardware or on something like the Viewsonic PC mini 120 which is available without a pre-installed OS from DRG Technology for as little as $350 + GST.

Last year, we raised over $8000. This year, with your support, we hope to do even better.

Date Sunday 2nd May
Venue Warkworth Golf Course
Time 12:00 pm shotgun start
Greenfee $50 per person

Click here for more information or email Paul.

• Can you demonstrate 3 years of IT experience?
• Server/Network experience?
• Flexible can-do attitude?
• Committed to providing excellent customer service?

PROVE IT!

See our jobs page for more details.

The email, also sent to DRG Technology, will advise you that your password has been reset, and that the recipient needs to click on the attachment to get new log in details.

Our advice to clients is the same for all of this style of virus application. IGNORE IT. However, if you or any other member of your family/business have already clicked on this application, call our friendly team for advice and support – 09 488 7014.

Sure enough my first thought was right – it was junk!  The email asked me to click on a link to confirm my details – checking the address the link went to I could see it was defiantly not the IRD!  But the site could confuse the unsuspecting – it had the IRD logo, links to other Government departments and a link to register with the IRD.

Click here to see the original email.

This is a good reminder that there are scammers out there trying to get your personal information – not just your bank account numbers but email passwords, IRD numbers, Trademe accounts etc.  When ever you get an email from any organisation asking for you to log in to their site to check some details – assume it is a scammer!  If you want to check, go to the organisations web site as you would normally (typing in the address or clicking on a bookmark – not the link in the email).  If it’s a real request there will be information about it on their site.  Otherwise, just delete the email!

According to the web site www.itworldcanada.com PC Live Care now has online support designed to convince victims that the product is legitimate. The agent answers message by instant message. Symantec Corp. warns support staff try to persuade users to buy products for up to US$100.

For the full story click here: http://www.itworldcanada.com/news/rogue-antivirus-program-comes-with-tech-support/140004

Unfortunately it appears to be able to get through most antivirus software! Malwarebyts (www.malwarebytes.org) will remove it – the only problem being that PC Live Care blocks the malwarebytes web site!

The best way to deal with viruses is to avoid them in the first place – remember, keep your antivirus up to date, don’t download applications unless you trust the site, and don’t follow links in unexpected/odd emails!

If you have been hit by PC Live Care – give us a call straight away.