Wednesday, November 2, 2022

Had a Data Breach or Experienced a Computer/Network Hack or Attack?! Here's What To Do!

What To Do If You Have a Data Breach or Experience a Computer/Network Hack or Attack!

Despite your efforts to control access, track assets and create secure procedures for your network, online accounts, and computer systems. Data breaches, Server Attacks, Network Attacks, Account Hi-Jacks, you name it! It can happen, and it does happen. Knowing what to do if you suspect or actually have a problem can make the difference between a minor inconvenience, and a disaster that interrupts your ability to do business! The following steps can help you recover after a breach or hacking incident. The faster you can recover, the sooner you can get back to business!

  1. Stop the Breach/Stop the Attack:
    Isolate any devices or systems that have been identified as being a part of the breach and/or attack. If the hacker has used an email or account to access your systems, close them down to prevent further damage. If a specific computer is infecting other systems on the network, disconnect its network connections and get it offline. Ultimately, the faster you can restrict access to the systems, computers, and or accounts that have been affected, the less damage a hacker can do.

  2. Examine the Damage:
    You’ll need to determine the extent of the damage and which systems,  accounts, or users are suspected of being compromised, and which systems are confirmed secure. When you know what has actually been accessed, and what/who has been attacked, you will be better equipped to deal with the overall situation.

  3. Restore your Systems:
    Once the threat has been addressed, you can restore your systems, network, etc so you can continue your normal day-to-day work. If you have a DRaaS or BaaS system in place, your provider will be able to help you recover any lost, stolen, or deleted data quickly. If you don't have any backup systems in place for your critical data, try to work with your in-house IT team to attempt data recovery, and get things back up and running as fast as possible. If you realize you are in over your head, engage with an IT solutions company like Pacific Northwest Computers to help remedy security issues and implement data protection plans for the future.

  4. Perform an Audit:
    Determine how your systems, online accounts, email accounts, etc were accessed. Go over your response to stopping the breach, and the effect the attack/response had on your business. Once you know the answers to those questions, you can make better decisions on how to move forward and be better prepared for the future.

  5. Learn From Your Mistakes:
    After the initial shock has passed and your system is back on track, work with your IT team and or an outside IT company such as Pacific Northwest Computers, and establish a plan to prevent further issues, as well as set up any further needed "safety nets" to limit downtime, enable a quicker response, and prevent any data loss as well as have a system to get data back as quickly as possible. This will lower your risk of further attack as well as better prepare yourself if another attack was to occur. That alone is worth the peace of mind!

    For example, If your attacker got in via your email or by exploiting a poorly chosen password, retrain employees to better protect your network. If the attacker used a lost or stolen device, you may need to address inventory tracking. If data was stolen, held for ransom, etc. you have a backup plan for all of your important and critical data! Plus much more.

As always, if you need help with anything, just give us a call, send us a text, or send us an email!!

Pacific NW Computers
360.624.7379
503.583.2380
www.pnwcomputers.com
www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers.com

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Enable Modern Authentication for Office 2013 & Outlook 2013(On PC)

Enable Modern Authentication for Outlook 2013

A common problem that I have been coming across lately is that since Microsoft increased the security for their Office 365 email services back in August 2022, I have been getting a lot of customers whose Outlook 2013 software will consistently ask for (but will not accept) the user's email account password. This problem is due to the fact that even though Office 2013 does support Modern Authentication, it's actually OFF by default!
Well, I finally found Windows registry modification instructions direct from Microsoft that ACTUALLY work! Applying these Registry modifications to your computer will activate Modern Authentication for your Office and Outlook 2013 software!
You will need to make some registry modifications, however... So back up your system's Registry information BEFORE making ANY modifications! 

Proceed at your own risk!

Method #1

Microsoft Office 2013 installed on a Microsoft Windows computer, does support Modern Authentication. But it needs to be enabled; as it is turned off by default! It was a more advanced security feature that was not as widely used at the time. 
To turn on the Modern Authentication feature, you will need to configure the following registry keys:
  1. Open "Registry Editor"
  2. Navigate to the Registry Keys below.
  3. Create a new "DWORD (32bit Value)" for each entry listed below.
  4. After creating each new "DWORD (32bit Value)", double-click the "DWORD" entry you just created and change its "Value" to 1.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange\
Key Type: DWORD (32bit Value)
Value Name: AlwaysUseMSOAuthForAutoDiscover
Value: 1

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\
Key Type: DWORD (32bit Value)
Value Name: EnableADAL
Value:
 
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity\
Key Type: DWORD (32bit Value)
Value Name: Version
Value: 1

Method #2

  1. Make sure that Outlook and any other Office software applications are closed.
  2. Open up the "Notepad" application; specifically Notepad! Do not use Word or Wordpad, etc.
  3. Copy and paste the following text into Notepad:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Exchange] "AlwaysUseMSOAuthForAutoDiscover"=dword:00000001

    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common]
     
    [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Common\Identity] "EnableADAL"=dword:00000001
    "Version"=dword:00000001

  4. Save the file with the file extension ".reg" instead of ".txt" in a location that's easy for you to find. For example, C:\Users\%USERNAME%\Desktop\Office2013_Enable_ModernAuth.reg.
  5. Open File Explorer (formerly known as Windows Explorer), browse to the location of the ".reg" file you just saved, and then double-click it.
  6. In the User Account Control dialog that appears next, click Yes to allow the app to make changes to your device.
  7. In the Registry Editor warning dialog that appears next, click Yes to accept the changes.
  8. Next, you will need to sign out of your user account and sign back in for the change to take effect. You may even want to just restart your computer.

That's it! 
The next time you open Outlook, you should get the modern authentication login pop-up where you can enter your email account login information, and your Outlook email should work again!

Pacific Northwest Computers
www.pnwcomputers.com
www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers
360-624-7379

Friday, October 14, 2022

Recommended PC Apps, Programs, Tools & Utilities! *UPDATED*

A basic list of software tools, and utilities that we use and recommend!
We will update this list as much as possible! 

Tools and Utilities:

  • Hirens All-In-On PE/USB Boot Disk - Great bootable utility with TONS of diagnostic software; password recovery, data recovery, disk & boot loader repairs, various diagnostics, and MORE!
    http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/
  • BleachBit When your computer is getting full, BleachBit quickly frees disk space. When your information is only your business, BleachBit guards your privacy. With BleachBit you can free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn't know was there!
    https://www.bleachbit.org/
  • GParted - GParted is a free partition manager that enables you to resize, copy, and move partitions without data loss. Some repair capabilities as well.
    http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php
  • Memtest86 - MemTest86 is a free, thorough, stand-alone memory test for x86 architecture computers.
    http://www.memtest86.com/
  • Offline NT Password & Registry Editor - This is a utility to reset the password of any user that has a valid local account on your Windows System.
    http://pogostick.net/~pnh/ntpasswd/
  • HFSExplorer - HFSExplorer is an application that can read Mac-formatted hard disks and disk images. It can read the file systems HFS (Mac OS Standard), HFS+ (Mac OS Extended) and HFSX (Mac OS Extended with case-sensitive file names), including most .dmg disk images created on a Mac, including zlib / bzip2 compressed images and AES-128 encrypted images
    http://www.catacombae.org/hfsx.html 
  • DiskInternals Linux Reader - Access files and folders on Ext, UFS, HFS, ReiserFS, or APFS file systems from in Windows.
    https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/
  • Ext2explore - Ext2Read is an explorer like utility to explore ext2/ext3/ext4 files. It now supports LVM2 and EXT4 extents. It can be used to view and copy files and folders. 
    https://sourceforge.net/projects/ext2read/
  • IsoBuster - IsoBuster is actually a CD/DVD and BD/HD DVD data recovery software that can interpret, open, and extract various CD/DVD/Blu-ray disk image files, including DMG.
    http://www.isobuster.com/download.php
  • WinDirStat - WinDirStat is a disk usage statistics viewer and cleanup tool for various versions of Microsoft Windows.
    https://windirstat.net/
  • CutePDF Writer - CutePDF Writer is the free version of commercial PDF creation software. CutePDF Writer installs itself as a "printer subsystem". This enables virtually any Windows applications (must be able to print) to create professional quality PDF documents - with just a push of a button! ALL FOR FREE!
    http://www.cutepdf.com/products/cutepdf/writer.asp
  • Sumatra PDF Viewer - Sumatra PDF is a slim, free, open-source PDF reader for Windows. Sumatra has a very minimalistic design and is nowhere NEAR the security risk that Adobe Reader can be. Simplicity has a higher priority than a lot of features with Sumatra. It's small, secure, and starts up very fast.
    http://blog.kowalczyk.info/software/sumatrapdf/download-free-pdf-viewer.html
  • Piriform Recuva - Accidentally deleted an important file? Lost something important when your computer crashed? No problem! Recuva recovers files deleted from your Windows computer, Recycle Bin, digital camera card, or MP3 player. And it's free!
    http://www.piriform.com/recuva
  • RStudio Data Recovery (Paid For) - Empowered by the new unique data recovery technologies, R-STUDIO is the most comprehensive data recovery solution for recovery files from NTFS, NTFS5, ReFS, FAT12/16/32, exFAT, HFS/HFS+ and APFS (Macintosh), XFS, Little and Big Endian variants of UFS1/UFS2 (FreeBSD/OpenBSD/NetBSD/Solaris) and Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 FS (Linux) partitions. It also uses raw file recovery (scan for known file types) for heavily damaged or unknown file systems.
    https://www.r-studio.com/
  • CloneZilla - Clonezilla is a partition and disk imaging/cloning program similar to True Image® or Norton Ghost®.
    https://clonezilla.org/
  • Macrium Reflect -  Are you looking for free backup, free cloning, or free disk imaging software? Macrium's Reflect Free is one of the best no-cost solutions on the market.
    https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree
  • Microsoft Windows OS Media Creation Tool(s) - You can use installation media (a USB flash drive or DVD) to install a new copy of Windows, perform a clean installation, or reinstall Windows.
    https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d

Security Software:

What is a rootkit!? A rootkit is a program or a program kit that hides the presence of malware (or itself) in a system. A rootkit for a Windows systems is a program that penetrates into the system and intercepts the system functions; Windows API. It can effectively hide its presence by intercepting and modifying low-level API functions. Moreover it can hide the presence of particular processes, folders, files and registry keys. Some rootkits install their own drivers and services in the system and they also remain “invisible".  

Software Sites:

  • Ninite.com - Great "update-all-at-once" site that lets you install/update multiple programs without dealing with individual installers, prompts, etc. One download, one install; as many programs as you like!


Let me know of any issues with links!

Pacific Northwest Computers
www.pnwcomputers.com
www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers
360.624.7379

Wednesday, October 12, 2022

Get Cash Back On Spending & Increase Your Credit Score!

Here are a few tips to help put some of your hard-earned money back into your bank account and wallet, and ALSO increase your Credit Scores!

  1. I highly recommend using the website NerdWallet to find good credit cards, banks, loans, retirement plan ideas, etc. I have been using this website for YEARS and is such an excellent resource to better spend AND save your money!

  2. Use cash back store cards for companies like the Amazon Store Card. It's not a full fledge credit card, so you can ONLY use it at that specified retailer. With Amazon specifically, you will get 5% back on all that you spend/buy (this does not apply to financed purchases, however). It's an over-glorified version of the espresso stand punch card. I typically get around $1000 back every year just by funneling payments through store cards like this!

  3. If you drive a lot, go out to eat a lot, etc. Get a credit card that gives you cash back on those purchases. I personally love my Costco Visa card as you get cash back on Gas, Food, Costco Purchases, and a lot more. Another example, I have an American Express card that I use just for my cell phone bill and also gas, because I get 5% cash back on those payments through Amex as well. With Costco, I get around $500 back every year; with Amex about $100.

  4. If you have money saved and just sitting in a regular old bank savings account, think of putting that into a ROTH IRA or a Certified Deposit; or even a high-interest (and thusly high balance) savings account. Something where your money can sit AND earn interest as it just sits; there are other options as well. But the premise is to earn money as your savings just sit. *Roth IRAs are complicated but you can typically remove what you have personally invested without penalty.

  5. People with credit scores in the 800s use less than 5% of their available credit. So if you had a $8,000 credit line, you use only $400 at a time. While people with scores from 701 to 750 have 27% credit utilization. So don't go maxing out your cards!! Responsible purchasing, on-time bill payments, and low credit usage will get your scores up FAST and HIGH!

  6. If you create an account with each of the Major Credit Bureaus, they sometimes have a "spending scanner" available on the user's account page. This "spending scanner" can scan your bank accounts for purchases that can be applied to your credit score! I jumped my score through Experian by 10 points just by using their "purchase history spending scanner"! But, only do this if you feel comfortable letting these companies access and scan your bank accounts... Is a Better Credit Score Worth Exposing Your Bank Data?

  7. Lastly, and MOST importantly, set up weekly automatic bill pay through your bank or through your card account for any/all of the cards that you have set up. That way you don't get hit with a big ol' bill at the end of the month, or accidentally spend more than you have.

These are just a few tricks that I use to better spend and save my money, and I just wanted to share some of what I have learned. Hopefully, it's not a bunch of "I already know that" kind of stuff...
Hopefully, you found at least 1 thing useful from this post  

Feel free to comment/share any other tips and tricks you might have!

Thursday, September 29, 2022

IT Advocacy Services - We Can Be Your Technology Advocate!

What Is an IT Advocate?

An IT advocate is an individual who supports and advises clients with their IT product/service needs, as well as any other technology-related needs. Not everyone has, needs, or can afford a CTO or a dedicated System Administrator to help with, and represent, their business. But now, you can hire Pacific Northwest Computers to represent your company in those roles, if and when that need ever arises! 


The IT Advocating Services that Pacific Northwest Computers Provides, Include:

  • Liaison Responsibilities
  • Investigate, Document & Resolve Product or Service Issues With Vendors/Providers
  • Refer & Consult Clients on Recommended & Needed Technology Products/Services
  • Conflict Resolution & Mediation with Vendors/Suppliers/Etc.
  • Crisis Management & Crisis Prevention/Response
    • Malware Attack Investigation, Documentation & System Improvements
    • Data Breach Investigation, Documentation & System Improvements
    • Data Loss Disaster Assistance, Policy Development & Data Loss Prevention System Development
  • Information Technology Professional Witness for Legal/Court Cases
  • Help Set Up Appointments for Needed Services or Support From Vendors/Providers
  • Warranty Exchange/RMA Support
  • Termination of Service(s) Support (Software Vendors, Services, Etc)
  • General IT/Technical Advising
  • HIPPA Consultation
  • Technical Documentation Services
    • Reading & Understanding Technical Documentation 
    • Reading & Understanding Service/Setup Material & Instructions
    • Implementing Needed Technical Procedures for Products & Services
  • "On-Demand" IT Administrator/CTO Services: 
    • Develop policies and procedures
    • Recommend the use of technology to enhance products and services for a client's internal operations, as well as their customer's experience.

Jon Pienkowski
Pacific Northwest Computers
360.624.7379

Wednesday, September 21, 2022

Xbox Elite and PS4 Controller PC Gaming Issue - Keyboard Keeps Popping Up!

When gaming on a PC with a Xbox, Xbox Elite, or PS4 controller, a virtual keyboard opens when pressing the left stick!


A virtual keyboard that pops up when clicking the left stick on an Xbox controller (or even a Playstation Controller), is specifically related to a Steam App gaming feature called "Big Picture Mode".  Somehow this feature can get triggered outside of Steam if it just happens to be running in the background, and it can affect other controllers/games as well.


Here is how to fix the issue!

  1. Go into "Settings" in the Steam App
  2. Click on "Controller" near the bottom
  3. Next, you want to click on, and open, "Desktop Configuration" settings
  4. When the settings window opens, you will see the left stick has the "Show Keyboard" setting mapped to it
  5. Click where it says "Show Keyboard" in the Left Thumbstick mappings list
  6. At the bottom of the mapping window that opens up, click where it says "Remove"
  7. Then close the "Desktop Configuration" settings window
  8. Close out of settings all together
  9. That should remove the problem permanently for you!

Jon Pienkowski
Pacific Northwest Computers
www.pnwcomputers.com
www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers
360.624.7379


Friday, September 2, 2022

Microsoft Surface Random "Kernel Power" Shutdown

Microsoft Surface & Surface Pro
"Kernel Power" Shut Down Bug

Here are a few ways you can fix the random "Kernel Power" shutdown issue that some Microsoft Surface and Surface Pro systems can have. 
The issue seems to be tied to the Intel Graphics/Display driver and/or the associated Intel Graphics Command Center software settings.


Option 1: Update the display drivers to the latest version (from Intel, not Microsoft):


Option 2: Disable the "Panel Self Refresh" option in the Intel Graphics Command Center:

  • Install the Intel Graphics Command Center from the Microsoft Store. 
  • Open up the Intel Graphics Command Center software after it has been installed
  • Go to System > Power and look for "Panel Self Refresh"
  • Turn it off for both "On Battery" and "Plugged In"

Option 3: Change the display drivers to the Microsoft Basic Display Adapter:

  • Open the Device Manager.
  • Expand "Display Adapters".
  • Right-click on "Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics" and select "Update driver".
  • Choose "Browse my computer for driver software".
  • Choose "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer".
  • Select "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter" and click Next to install the drivers.
 

Option 4: Remove "Modern Standby" features and create a new (non-balanced) power plan:

  • Open the Registry Editor and navigate to: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power".
  • Change the "CsEnabled" value from '1' to '0'. 
  • Click OK and restart the Surface Pro.
  • If you do not see the "CsEnabled" subkey, create it by right-clicking on "Power", selecting "New", and then click "DWORD (32-bit) Value" and typing "CsEnabled" as the value name, and then press Enter.
  • Now you should be able to change the "CsEnabled" value from '1' to '0'. 
  • Click OK and restart the Surface Pro!

One or all of these tricks might be needed to correct the Kernel Power shutdown bug. But I have gotten the problem fixed for clients by using one, or all, of the tricks listed above!


Jon Pienkowski
Pacific Northwest Computers
www.pnwcomputers.com
www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers
360-624-7379

    Thursday, September 1, 2022

    Fix the "Virus Scan Failed" download error in Google Chrome, and the "Couldn't Download Virus Scan Failed" error in Microsoft Edge

    Fix the "Virus Scan Failed" download error in Google Chrome, and the "Couldn't Download Virus Scan Failed" error in Microsoft Edge

    1. Locate the following registry subkeys:
      \HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Attachments
    2. If you do not see the "Attachments" subkey, create it by right-clicking on "Policies", selecting "New", then clicking "Key", and then typing "Attachments" as the key name.
    3. Right-click "Attachments", select "New", and then click "DWORD (32-bit) Value".
    4. Type "ScanWithAntiVirus" as the value name, and then press Enter.
    5. Right-click the new "ScanWithAntiVirus" DWORD value, and then click "Modify".
    6. In the "Value data" box, type 1, and then click OK.
    7. Exit the Registry Editor.
    8. Restart your computer, and then log back into Windows to have the registry change take effect!

    The download error(s) should be now resolved in both Google Chrome and Microsft Edge!

    Jon Pienkowski
    Pacific Northwest Computers
    www.pnwcomputers.com
    www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers
    360-624-7379

    Thursday, August 11, 2022

    Guerilla SEO


    Guerilla SEO

    Step 1:

    Have a website made, or build a website for your company.
    For its ease of use and simplicity, we use and recommend Weebly for easily building and maintaining a website inexpensively.

    Step 2:

    Get your business signed-up and set up with “the big guys”:

    Step 3:

    Create a business page, and/or account, with all of the major Social networks. Be sure to Include ALL of your important business information; including your logo, address, phone number, email, website, etc.

    Step 4:

    Once you have all of your social media accounts set up, go through the “Free Web Business Listings” list below and set up a business listing through EACH service. Include ALL of your important business information; including address, phone number, email, website, social media accounts, etc.

    Step 5:

    Create a free Linktr.ee webpage for ALL of the different web links you now have! You can list your main web page, blogs, social media accounts, payment services, etc.

    *Extra:

    If you would like to accept ANY form of payment from your customers (besides check, cash and credit cards) sign up with the following payment services as well:

    Tips, Tricks, and Recommendations:

    1. Purchase your website domain for 2 years or more when signing up or renewing. Renewing your website for just 1 year can make your page appear “temporary” to search engine bots.
    2. If search engine bots come across your website information in different places across the internet, your website will start to rank higher in search results organically due to your site’s “perceived” importance.
    3. I recommend using Instagram as the main “Hub” for the bulk of your social media posts. With Instagram, you can connect your Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr accounts to share whatever you post on Instagram, to those other social networking platforms as well! From there you can share that same post to other social media platforms by just copying and pasting the post.
    4. Use hashtags in your social media posts to have your posts listed in those associated hashtag categories.
    5. Go through your website page by page, and make sure that certain “keywords”, that you want to be found with, are used at least 4 times on the associated webpage.
    6. When posting to social media, use your main website address AS WELL as your Linktr.ee address.

    Free Web Business Listings:

    A website with a * indicates that either the website is having issues, or the website might be a "paid for" service and may not actually be free.

    Jon Pienkowski
    Pacific Northwest Computers
    www.pnwcomputers.com
    www.linktr.ee/pnwcomputers

    Tuesday, August 9, 2022

    Get your Business Listed Online for FREE!



    Want more people to be able to find your business online?
    Use this list of websites to get your business listed for FREE!

    By listing your company on the various websites listed below, you will help potential customers find you no matter the service or platform they are using! Additionally, having your company information and website information listed around the internet also makes your website look "more important" to search engine crawlers! Which in turn, could improve your web search rankings! Pacific Northwest Computers offers this as a service to our customers as well! So feel free to get in touch with Pacific Northwest Computers if you would like some help getting this all set up for you! 

    Jon Pienkowski
    Pacific Northwest Computers
    360.624.7379