 The ransomware itself is called "CriticalUpdate01.exe," the file it extracts is called "WindowsUpdate.exe," and the screen that displays as it begins to encrypt your files looks very much like the modern blue screen that Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 users are familiar with.
"Unfortunately, there is no way to currently decrypt the Fantom Ransomware," While you're waiting for Windows Update to finish and the machine to restart, Fantom is happily at work encrypting all the files it can find bearing any of about 600 different suffixes, including those commonly used for music, video, photo and office files. Encrypted files get the additional suffix ".fantom." When the encryption process is finished, Fantom pops up a ransom note instructing the user to email a Russian email address. No specific ransom amount is mentioned, but presumably the response from the online criminals will include one. Victims have a week to pay up or the files will be erased, the note says in pretty poor English. To prevent infection by any kind of ransomware, don't click on any links in email messages you don't expect and install and run robust, continually updating antivirus software.
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 Apple said that it strongly recommends that all windows users uninstall QuickTime as soon as possible.
The main reason is that Apple is deprecating QuickTime for Microsoft Windows. They will no longer be issuing security updates for the product on the Windows Platform and recommend users uninstall it. Keeping this software on your system does leave you potentially open for attack. Note that this does not apply to QuickTime on Mac OS X.
 The first known ransomware attack on Apple Mac computers, which was discovered over the weekend, was downloaded more than 6,000 times before the threat was contained, according to a developer whose product was tainted with the malicious software. Hackers infected Macs with the "KeRanger" ransomware through a tainted copy of Transmission, a popular program for transferring data through the BitTorrent peer-to-peer file sharing network. So-called ransomware is a type of malicious software that restricts access to a computer system in some way and demands the user pay a ransom to the malware operators to remove the restriction. KeRanger, which locks data on Macs so users cannot access it, was downloaded about 6,500 times before Apple and developers were able to thwart the threat. Still, cyber security experts said they expect to see more attacks on Macs as the KeRanger hackers and other groups look for new ways to infect Mac computers. Just give us a call if you would like us to look at your mac and setup antivirus software and protection.
 Great little gaming system - has a new screen, power switch, new samsung battery, memory upgraded and a brand new SSD solid state drive card installed. Super fast and loads windows 10 within 30 seconds. The Laptop has the following specs - core i7 3610qm, 12gb ddr3 ram, 128gb ssd, 750gb hdd, bluray player, and Nvidia gt 650m 2gb card - this will play most if not all older games like witcher 2, battlefield 4, mass effect 3, bioshock infinite and more. Everything looks and works like brand new
 Microsoft isn’t forcing Windows 7 and 8.1 users to upgrade to Windows 10, but they are pushing it on them pretty aggressively. Windows 10 is now automatically downloaded to all Windows 7 and 8.1 machines as a “recommended update” with the Windows Update tool—whether you want it or not. (Before it was just an "optional update"
Microsoft already made a similar push for Windows 10 last fall, but now they are pushing Windows 10 even harder. The change is meant to make the transition to Windows 10 easier for those who still haven’t upgraded, but the automatic download can be frustrating for some users especially for those in the buisness world who have to stick with windows 7. The download is at least a few gigabytes in size, so if you have a capped data connection, or have no interest in upgrading ever, the automatic download just ends up using data and taking space. Fortunately, in a previous blog we showed you how to stop the windows 10 update and that process still works. You can also just stop windows updates from automatically downloading and installing - this will stop the update too, just make sure you install the important security updates regularly. If you need to keep windows 7 or 8.1 and would like us to help you stop the windows 10 update from happening on your computer - just call us and we can help you out.  Update: The Safari crash bug has now been fixed - according to APPLE
A strange bug is affecting many Safari users today, causing crashes on iPhone, iPad and Mac. For many users, simply tapping in the URL bar will cause the browser app to crash completely. The exact issue causing the crashing has not been locked down, but it appears to be related to Apple’s Safari Suggestions service. It’s a very annoying bug that is affecting a lot of people all of sudden today. When you type a URL, Apple sends what you type to its servers, returning a response with autocomplete search queries, Top Sites and other info. There appears to be a bug in this server request that is causing Safari to randomly crash. Users are discovering some potential workarounds until Apple fixes the problem properly … Disabling Safari Suggestions seems to be helping resolve the bug for many people on iOS. On your iPhone or iPad, go into Settings, tap Safari, and toggle off the ‘Safari Suggestions’ switch. This will fix the crashing, obviously its only a temporary fix until Apple sorts its servers out as it will disable the Safari Suggestions functionality. Another option is to enter Private Browsing mode. In private browsing, by design Safari does not contact the suggestions server for intelligent completion options, so the server is never contacted and the crash never arises.  All next-generation processors built by Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, or others, will only support Windows 10, Microsoft confirmed in a recent blog post. That means if you buy a PC with these upgraded chips—Intel's "Kaby Lake," Qualcomm's "8996," and AMD's "Bristol Ridge"—they will only run Windows 10; you can't downgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1. Microsoft also mentioned that buyers of Intel’s new Skylake processors (which has been out for a while now) have to upgrade to Windows 10 in the next 18 months, or forgo all but the most critical security patches—and those will be available to Windows 7 and 8.1 users only if said patches don’t “risk the reliability or compatibility” on non-Skylake systems. Bad news if you are a die-hard fan of windows 7. However for now there are still many older systems and processors still available for those who need to use windows 7 for the foreseeable future. If you are looking for a new machine with windows 7 - let us know and we will get you the right system to work with windows 7 for the next several years.
 Apple just released two software updates for Mac, iPhone and iPad. These are minor software updates focusing mostly and bug fixes, security fixes and performance improvements. On the Mac, OS X 10.11.3 fixes a bug with external 4K displays and a handful of security patches. As for iOS 9.2.1, it includes similar security fixes.
 As of January 12th 2015 - Internet explorer 8, 9, and 10 are no longer supported. End of support for these versions of Internet Explorer means there will be no more security patches or technical support. If you continue to use these browesers you can be open to attack. Internet Explorer 11 will, however, continue to be supported, and Microsoft recommends first upgrading to IE 11 before removing IE 8, 9, or 10. If you still have Microsoft Vista you cannot upgrade to IE 11 - therefore it would be wise to upgrade to windows 7, 8.1 or 10.
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JasonOwner of Byteback Computers, LLC Archives
February 2019
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