CLIENT NEWS

VC3, Inc.

VC3, Inc. has announced it is expanding its Columbia office space by an additional 6,000 square feet. The additional space is an extension of the Company’s current headquarters at 1509 Lady Street and will house VC3’s custom application and product development teams as well as the TestView business development team and will allow space for the Company’s research and development lab.

VC3 services, such as application and web development, IT and consulting services, e-government and K-12 academic services are used by hundreds of private and public sector clients throughout the Carolinas and Georgia.

NEWS FROM BP&S

April 17 Barbeque

Please join us for lunch on April 17.  For the seventh consecutive year, we will be serving a catered barbeque lunch in the “front yard” of our office on April 17.  If you are picking up your tax return, are hungry, or just want to come by for a visit, we would love for you to join us. 

Russell Bauknight

Russell has been named Reserve Deputy of the Year in Lexington County.  Congratulations to Russell (and a warning to speeders in Lexington County—there is a reason he was named deputy of the year—beware).
 

TECHNICAL ISSUES
From Steve Waszazak (the BP&S IT guy)

Protect Yourself

Dangers continue to grow on the Internet. It is a rare day that does not bring a new virus, worm or some other type of threat.

You must take the time to protect yourself. If you do not, you could easily lose your identity. Or your bank or stock market account could be raided.

Fortunately, the threats are generally well understood. Protecting yourself is not difficult, although you may have to travel a learning curve.

The following are for Windows XP. Many also apply to earlier Windows versions. Note that some systems might already be protected by your corporate network.

Anti-virus

There are tens of thousands of malicious programs circulating on the Internet. These include viruses, worms, Trojans, dialers and other monsters. This stuff poses a terrific threat to computer users.

To counter these programs, use anti-virus software. If you have a new computer, it probably comes with an anti-virus program. Having that on your computer is not enough. You must buy the program so you can get updates. If you let the software tryout expire without subscribing to the updates, you are asking for trouble.

Firewalls

A firewall performs two duties: It hides your computer from automated attackers. And it blocks outbound transmissions if something awful takes root on your computer.

Automated programs on the Internet ping computers on various networks. When you go onto the Internet, you are on your Internet service provider's network. Without a firewall, these programs can find and attempt to communicate with your computer.

Anti-spyware

This threat is generally not as serious as that posed by viruses, worms and Trojans. But it is growing, and it can make your computing experience miserable.

The terms spyware and adware are often used interchangeably. In general, spyware tracks your Web surfing and reports your interests to a computer on the Internet. Adware sits on your computer and feeds you ads. Both are intrusive and undesirable.

Anti-spyware protection is two-fold. You need programs that will keep most spyware pests from taking root. And you need other programs to annihilate spyware that collects on your computer.

Windows Update

Over the years, Microsoft has issued many security fixes. Still, holes continue to be found. It is critically important to keep your copy of Windows updated.

I recommend the automatic update feature in XP. To activate that, click Start>> Control Panel. Double-click System. Select the Automatic Updates tab. Make your choices.

You also can update manually in all versions of Windows. Open Internet Explorer. Click Tools>>Windows Update. Let Microsoft scan your computer. Download any updates marked critical or security.

Updates are essential. An unprotected computer will be attacked within minutes on the Internet, guaranteed.

If you are interested in reading about IT services provided by BP&S, go to our Computer Hardware & Software Consulting web page or contact Steve Waszazak.

Back