This time there will only be two versions of Windows for PC, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. Simpler is better.

Announcing the Windows 8 Editions.

Have you upgraded your iphone to iOS 5 yet? Here’s a very good reason to do so. You can enable “Find My iphone” under the icloud settings. Then, if your phone is lost or stolen, you can remotely locate or even erase it.

Here are instructions, complete with photos, on how to set up “Find My iphone”. You need to do it while you have your phone in your possession. So don’t wait!

How To Remote Wipe Your iPhone – Business Insider.

We here at New York Geek Girls take our clients’ personal information very seriously. As the owner, I’d like to discuss what we do to keep it safe.

Our clients’ contact info (name, address, telephone number, and email address) is kept on our server, and is also stored on a secured server in the cloud. We use a Professional Services Management tool that encrypts this information before storing it.

Contact information is also synced to my mobile device so I can reach you quickly. This device automatically locks after five minutes. If lost or stolen, it can immediately be locked and erased remotely, so that no information can be accessed.

On our server, your information is stored on an encrypted hard drive behind a firewall. This means that even if the computer containing your information were stolen, no one would be able to access the info on this drive unless they knew the encryption key. Only one person in our organzation has access to the encryption key.

Extremely sensitive information, such as passwords, is stored only with your explicit permission, and is NOT retained on any mobile devices such as phones or laptops. We store this information as a courtesy to our customers. Also, it facilitates our ability to work on your computers as efficiently as possible. This information is also encrypted.

If you have not indicated that you would like for us to store your passwords, then no password information is stored with us. This is true even if you have previously given a tech a password while the tech was working on your equipment. We do not save this password information unless you explicitly grant us permission to do so.

If you are unsure if you have given us permission to store your passwords, feel free to email us and ask. We’re here to help.

I’m updating my experience with Windows 8 Consumer Preview on our Facebook Page. Eventually I’ll post it on the blog, but if you want the info NOW while it’s fresh, please visit (and consider liking) our Facebook page.

A client recently asked if we would install Windows 8 Consumer Preview on his primary computer. It’s important that everyone understand that Windows 8 is still in Beta and it may have a lot of bugs still to be worked out before it is for sale. It should not be installed on anything but a test machine.

To put it simply, Windows 8 Consumer Preview is not ready for prime-time. Here’s what Microsoft says on their web site:

We strongly recommend that only experienced PC users download Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Before you download the preview, you should weigh the pros and cons of installing software that’s still in development. If you install the preview release, you’ll get to try out the many new features, but you might also encounter errors that you wouldn’t encounter using a released version of Windows.

You should consider downloading the Windows 8 Consumer Preview only if all of the following apply to you:

You like to use the latest software and enjoy experimenting with new technology.

You’re comfortable backing up a PC, formatting a hard drive, and installing an operating system from scratch.

You feel comfortable troubleshooting PC problems yourself.

You don’t mind updating software frequently.

You have the installation or recovery media and the knowledge to restore your previous operating system after you’re done testing Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Are there risks to installing Windows 8 Consumer Preview?
Yes. Windows 8 Consumer Preview is stable and has been thoroughly tested, but it’s not the finished product. Your PC could crash and you could lose important files. You should back up your data and you shouldn’t test Windows 8 Consumer Preview on your primary home or business PC. You might also encounter problems like:

Software that doesn’t install or work correctly, including antivirus or security programs.

Printers, video cards, or other hardware that doesn’t work.

Difficulty accessing corporate or home networks.

Files that might become corrupted.

You should carefully balance the risks and rewards of trying out the Windows 8 Consumer Preview before you install it.

We will be running Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a test machine soon and will report out impressions. Stay tuned!

This morning I received an email that looked EXACTLY like the billing email notifications I get from Verizon, except it said my bill was $1800! ALthough I suspected it might be a fake, I returned from a trip to Europe recently so it was feasible that some billing erro had occurred when my plan was changed back to domestic. The message claimed the amount had been deducted from my bank account. Then I remembered that my Verizon bill is paid automatically on my credit card, not from my bank account. I moused over the link in the email and, as I expected, in the status bar a completely unrelated URL showed up.

Reminder: if you get an email from any company asking you to log into your account, don’t click the link in the email to access your account! Instead open your web browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox, etc.) and type in the URL directly.

When I opened my browser and typed in Verizonwireless.com and logged into my account, my normal bill was there, all paid up.

widespread virus attack on Macs

Great article in the Harvard Business Review:

Is Your Smart Phone Making You Less Productive?

A while back I wrote a post about the ongoing rash of arbitrary flagging that is destroying Craig’s List.

Recently I placed another ad on Craig’s List, this time advertising a part-time job as office admin. The ad ran successfully for a few weeks. It was in the proper category and location (part-time jobs/North Jersey). After a couple of weeks I renewed the ad by clicking the “renew” button on the Craig’s List site. A few days later I received this cryptic email:

This posting has been flagged for removal.

Please be sure to comply with posted guidelines and the CL TOU:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/terms.of.use

Information on flagging and community moderation is available:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/help/flags_and_community_moderation

Advice from CL users about flagging can be found in flag help forum: http://forums.craigslist.org/?forumID=3.

Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your understanding.

As I already discussed (and others have confirmed) in my previous post on this issue, there is no help to be found from the “community” in the forums, just abuse from trollers who apparently have nothing better to do than stare at their computer screens all day hitting the flag button. (Or maybe there’s an iphone app for that now.)

Assuming I’m not the only jobs poster who was flagged without cause, a lot of people who need a job won’t find one on Craig’s List. For their own sakes I hope they find more a more reliable place to search.

For anyone interested, here’s the text of the ad that got flagged. Controversial it’s not, I think you’ll agree:
============================================
Date:2012-03-10 10:24:38
PostID:2894969229
Title:(admin/office jobs) Detail-Oriented Office Admin for Home Office

Part-time administrative assistant for home office is sought for a growing computer service business.

I am looking for someone nearby who could come in a total of twelve to fifteen hours per week on weekday mornings. An increase in responsibility and hours is possible as things progress.

Some remote work is also possible, including some remote weekend work.

Location: Teaneck, south of Cedar Lane. FYI, I have a cat so if you are very allergic this is not the job for you.

Friendly, casual, but sometimes intense atmosphere.

Some of the tasks you will perform:

Schedule appointments; perform client intake and customer service; enter and track daily company information and data including client info, appointments, job hours, and job summaries in online company portal; track and follow up with clients when necessary; order parts; type emails; and install and activate anti-virus licenses for clients remotely.

I also have a side vocation as a jazz musician. You will be performing some tasks related to that as well including:

Concert booking, managing and editing venue and mailing list contacts; CD mailings; updating events on social media sites and web-page; posting events to social networking sites; assembling press kits, web research and pursuit of possible performance opportunities and help with tour booking.

You should be able to speak well on the phone, i.e., you have a pleasant and professional demeanor, and people can understand what you are saying. Strong writing skills are also required. Attention to detail is critical as is the ability to track tasks and follow up independently.

The preferred candidate will be very comfortable with MS Word, Excel, and Outlook as well as Facebook. You may also wish to indicate if you have experience reconciling bank statements (either manually or with financial software) and using QuickBooks.

TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION, YOUR RESPONSE TO THIS AD MUST INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING:

-A brief in-line cover letter demonstrating your ability to write coherently
-An attached resume in Word or PDF format
-A desired or required salary range

Submissions that do not contain all of the above will not be considered.

I am willing to pay for a highly qualified, detail-oriented person who is capable of working independently once they understand the job.

If we meet I will request business references. This is an on-the-books position. Start date is flexible.

Thanks!

We sell Kaspersky Anti-virus and Internet Security products because they are the best products of their kind for the residential/consumer market. However, the company behind Kaspersky pursues renewals and upsells extremely aggressively. This has led to several of our customers unknowingly purchasing a license for a different product than we originally installed for them. When the customer tries to activate their current product with the new license key, of course it doesn’t work. The customer then calls us to have us remove the old product, and download and install the new product. Since the client has to pay us for our time, and since they are buying a more expensive product that they didn’t really need, this ends up costing the client a lot more money than it should.

Another thing that has been happening with residential customers is that they receive the proper license key, but the instructions on how to actually use the key to activate the renewal are either inadequate or non-existent. Since there’s no support phone number in the email from Kaspersky, the client ends up calling us, frustrated that they purchased the renewal and they’re still getting pop-ups that their protection has expired.

This has occurred so many times that I now feel compelled to respond. I suggest that if you are a residential client and you receive a pop-up from your Kaspersky software that the license is about to expire, you may wish to contact us instead of renewing with Kaspersky. We will not try to upsell you on a different product if your current product is still meeting your needs. Additionally, if you buy a license from us, we will remote into your computer to activate the license for you at NO extra charge. We do this as a courtesy. So the only expense you will have is for the license itself. We will not upsell you, and your license will be properly activated.

We send out a notification a few weeks before your expiration date so that you will know that your software may be expiring soon. Whether or not you receive this notification, feel free to contact us to discuss your renewal options.