Yesterday McAfee sent out an update to their virus definitions (update 5958), which caused McAfee to detect a critical windows file, svchost.exe as a virus; In many cases, this leads to the file being deleted, which, when you reboot, leads to your computer not working.

Of course, McAfee’s support forums collapsed shortly afterward under the weight of unhappy customers wondering what happened. The good news is that the problem will be fixable without a complete reinstall of your computer, but the bad news is, you’re probably going to need some technical help to make it happen.

If you are using McAfee, and your computer has problems, give us a call and one of our tech’s will get you back up and running, and while you’re at it, consider switching over to ESET.

The basics of the idea is to simplify and standardise the communications businesses have with government, so that business owners don’t end up reporting the same information multiple times to multiple government entities, improve and simply the way business owners authenticate and encrypt their communications with government, and the big ticket item, moving the communication into the software businesses already use, even going so far as to make the reporting just a simple by product of natural business processes.

Pretty loft ideals. Considering how badly these types of upgrades can go, such as the Customs ICS upgrades that have been causing headaches for years (as far back as 2005 that I could quickly find via google), one could be forgiven for thinking this will turn out to be a giant headache for business owners. However, if we assume that after 4 years of planning and development it will work as intended, here’s what we can look foward to;

Business software such as MYOB will be able to put together the information for goverment forms, and even submit the data directly to the government agency. One imagines the first roll out will include such tedious things as BAS and IAS statements, as well as PAYG summaries at the end of the year (for those businesses that employ staff). What would really help small business owners would be the inclusion of reporting payroll information to Centrelink and the Child Support Agency.

MYOB (the software we use to keep the books here at Shift Computer Solutions) has not implemented  SBR, despite launching new versions of MYOB only last month. SBR is being launched on 1st July, and we hope that MYOB will release a point update then to allow submissions via SBR.

Another big ticket item is simplifying the way businesses authenticate themselves when they want to transmit data to government agencies. Called AUSkey, the new system will eventually be a single sign on for ALL government agencies, but initially, will replace the complex digital certificate system currently used by the ATO. Because of this, we expect nearly all small business owners to sign up for AUSkey immediately, as the ATO represents the biggest reporting burden. Despite all these changes being in the works for years already, however, ASIC and other agencies are not expected to be on board for another two years.

One great bit of news; Provided you use AUSkey at least once a year, it will never expire. Anyone who has had ATO digital certificates expire will know how wonderful this news is!

It is unclear exactly what AUSkey really is, but from what has been published so far, it seems it will be a software solution, which you install on your computer, or a USB stick or even on your business server. We will do a follow up article after AUSkey is launched to provide more details. The ATO is saying AUSkey will be available from the 27th April, so we don’t have long to wait.

Further Reading;

• SBR Blog
• SBR Website
• ATO on AUSKey

Multitasking

With iPhone 4.0, certain functions will be able to run in the background; For example, you might be listening to streaming internet radio through an app, now you can exit that app and do something else, and the streaming music will keep playing. GPS applications will be able to keep tracking your location while you check in with another app too.

Apple have done exactly the right thing by limiting full multitasking to those core functions that need it, while not letting everything do it. This way you won’t chew through your battery too quickly, and you aren’t likely to have the phone lockup or crash, which is a problem with other systems where full multitasking is running.

For applictions (like games, for example) that are not allowed to multitask, when you exit them their state will be saved, so when you go back, the app or game will be exactly where you left it. This is perfect for most apps as you can go back to where you left off (which is all you really do with most apps on a PC too), but while you are away, the app is not chewing up your phones battery and processing power.

App Folders

Realising that apps are the big reason so many people are switching to the iPhone, Apple are making it easier to organise them with a folderu system in iPhone OS 4.0. Now you can group similar apps together in a folder. The first thing I’ll be doing when I get the update will be putting all my games into a folder, so I won’t have to troll through them all to find other apps.

Local Notifications

The new OS will let applications send notifications internally, rather than just from an external server as it is now. This means, for example, you could be cooking a recipe using an app, which allows you to tell it when you put the food in the oven; Instead of you having to time it yourself, you could close the app and go do other stuff, and when the time is up, the app can notify you the food is ready. This will be great for apps that upload stuff to facebook, flickr and the like too, so you can close them and do something else while the data uploads, and the app can let you know when it’s done.

New Mail App

The Mail application has been ugpraded too, so now if you operate multiple email accounts, you can see all your email in a unified inbox. Another welcome addition is mutliple exchange accounts, something that we will be using extensively as soon as it’s available.

Custom Backgrounds

Not a big deal, but something a lot of people would like, is the ability to set a custom background image for the entire phone experience, not just the lock screen. Well, soon, you will be able to.

There are plenty of other minor adjustments and updates, and we think that iPhone OS 4.0 will ensure the iPhone is the lead smart phone for at least another year or so; If Apple manage to release another hardware update later this year, the competiton will have to do plenty to close the gap all over again.

Step 1. The Page

The first thing to do is login to your own personal Facebook account, and set your business up with it’s own page; You always use your own login to manage it, but your business has it’s own facebook identity, completely separate from yours. If you are already logged in to Facebook, just click through here and setup your business right now! Facebook also have a help section about creating and using pages to promote your business.

Step 2. The Profile Icon

You are going to need to upload an icon that will be displayed against all your business posts. This can be a little tricky, because in most instances, Facebook are going to show a square thumbnail rather than what you upload. To keep it safe, have your design guru create your icon 200 x 200 pixels square, and ensure that all the important stuff that needs to show in the thumbnail is in the middle, and no bigger than 176 x 176. Taking some care here will ensure your brand is properly displayed to your clients and prospects alike.

Step 3. Engage with your fans

Engagement is the big buzz word at the moment, and with Faceboook, it’s really the only one you need to remember; make sure you are regularly posting news and information to your facebook profile. Sometimes you can link to articles you write on your own website, and other times, post links to things your customers will be interested in that you digg up on other websites. You don’t need to flood Facebook with 20 messages a day, but you should update at least every few days, with something useful. Once you do, people will start suggesting your page to their friends, and your brand becomes exposed to so many more people.

If you are creating products that photograph well, make sure you regularly post photos of your best work. Take a look at Vanilla Lilly Cake Design, these guys are doing Facebook the right way, and reaping the benefits.

Step 4. Offer promotions

A good way to push your Facebook page foward is to offer special discounts or competitions to your facebook fans.

Step 5. Think about your URL

If we are looking after your website, we can setup facebook.yourdomain.com.au to point to your facebook profile; Doing so provides you with an easy to remember address to find yourFacebook presence, and makes advertising it that much easier.

They just added video support to the app, so I’m guessing the plan to hike the price, so now would be the time to pick this one up.

See it on iTunes – See it on Facebook – See it on the web

In fact, all the Dr Seuss apps are $1.19 today! If you have little ones, now would be a great time to stock up on these classics.

These are the Dr. Seuss-branded apps currently available:

- The Cat in the Hat e-book

- Dr. Seuss’s ABC e-book

- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! e-book

- Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition

- Dr. Seuss Camera – The Grinch Edition

- Grinchmas! kid’s game

Xsticky Notes

Add this to Firefox, and it allows you to put a sticky note right onto a webpage, that will be there when you revisit it. A great use for this is where you lookup a few different websites, and need to ring the companies behind them and get more information; Just use this extension to take notes during each phone call, then those notes are saved right on the webpage, so you can refer back to them quickly and easily.

Give it a try!

To disable Google Buzz;

1. Log into Gmail
2. Scroll right down to the bottom of the page
3. Click Turn Off Buzz

To delete your Google Profile;

1. Go to google.com/profiles/me
2. Click the Edit profile link on your profile page.
3. Click the Delete profile link at the bottom of the page.
4. Select Yes, delete my profile.

Business owners should be especially worried; A single malware infection on your business computers can cost you thousands of dollars in lost revenue, and worse, can expose your private business files to hackers and others online. It’s vital that you do everything you can to avoid getting infected in the first place, so making sure all your staff have read this post is an excellent first step.

Anti Malware Software
You must ensure that your systems are fully protected by proactive anti malware software. This software needs to be installed on every workstation, and if you have staff that use their own personal computers at work, or for work, then you need to insist their machines are protected the same way. Any machine that is left unprotected can be the gateway for an infection that can take your entire network down.

We use and recommend ESET Anti Virus. This award winning software is very reliable, highly effective, and an easily affordable solution. We believe that no computer should be left without it. We believe using this product gives you the very best protection available.

Setup an account and use OpenDNS
DNS is the system that allows your computers to find a website when you type in the name, such as www.shiftsolutions.com.au; Because every website has to be looked up at least once, it’s possible to make a list of known dodgy websites and block them. By configuring your computer or network to do all it’s lookups using OpenDNS, you can have them simply refuse to let you go places they know are bad. This takes some configuration, and is not for the non techie, but our engineers can set it up quickly for you. If you want to give it a go, head over to www.opendns.com and check them out.

Use Firefox to browse the web
Many infections start when the attacker uses a known flaw in the software on your computer to sneak through and install onto your machine; Unfortunately, there are so many flaws being found in Internet Explorer all the time, that we think it is just safer to use something else. Mozilla Firefox has many features built in to help prevent infections by malicious websites, and we think everyone should be using it as their primary web browser. We install it on every machine we service.

Be more suspicious of emails
Many malware authors will spread their nasties by collecting email addresses off an already infected persons computer, and emailing all of them with a specially crafted email designed to look like something you would normally open. They include a link, or sometimes an infected attachment, which if you open, infects your system. Be very careful when you get emails that you didn’t specifically request. It wouldn’t hurt to either delete them immediately, or compose a new email back to the sender asking them to clarify what the email is about.  You should always delete emails that appear to be jokes, videos or pictures from your friends, these are one of the more common ways malware spreads.

Continue that suspicion onto Facebook, MySpace etc
Now that you are suspicious, be extra dubious about “that hilarious video” your friend messages you about in Facebook. Lets face it, if they wanted to share a video, they’d upload it to Facebook, and it would appear in your news feed; If you get a mesage with a link, just delete it, and ring your friend, they are probably infected already, and will need our help to clean their system!

USB Drives can be dangerous
If you are running a business, the safest rule is to make sure nobody brings a USB drive from anywhere outside the business and plugs it into a work computer. Just don’t do it, it’s too easy for malware to infect USB drives and move onto every machine you use the drive on. If USB drives are a handy tool in your business, buy each employee a company USB, and have them only use that one within the office, never outside of it. The same theory works at home; Use your own USB drives at home, but make sure they never get plugged into random computers, and that your friends and family leave theirs at home when the visit.

Don’t download software online without looking into it first
Many users get infected when they download “video players”, or “smilie packs”, or even screen savers. While there is plenty of good software online, there is also plenty of rubbish, so it’s best not to start wandering the internet downloading things to “try them out”, because it will usually lead to disaster. If you are after software for your machine, try download.com, a reputable site that makes sure things it provides are not infected with malware.

Never install music and other downloading software
So called “peer to peer” or “p2p” software is one of the leading causes of malware infection; Nearly every machine we see infected has a program called Limewire installed. People install it to illegally download music, but it brings with it a whole host of malware when you install it, and once installed, it can allow more to get in. Plus, it tends to upset your internet service provider, so all in all, its best to avoid this type of thing.

Get your machine serviced at regular intervals
This is probably our best piece of advice; Getting your systems serviced at least once a year ensures that everything is humming along as it should, and the users of the machine haven’t started doing dangerous things that might lead to disaster later on. Business users should always have a maintenance plan, which takes the worry off the business owner, as it ensures an engineer is onsite regularly to checkup on the systems.