Support Blog

Anyone having trouble connecting to their webspace via FTP should change from ns1.gct21.net to www.gct21.net

If you use a Tallahassee number please note that 850 270-1500 has been changed to 850 270 1030. And as always please check with the operator to be sure the access number is local from your area.

President's Day is Monday Feb. 20th and we will be closed for the holiday.

Microsoft owns up to two new security problems, one of which is yet another issue with Windows Metafile (WMF) images.

On the same day Microsoft assured consumers it could protect their PCs, it owned up to two new security problems, one of which was yet another issue with Windows Metafile (WMF) images, the flaw that sent users scrambling in late December and early January.

On Tuesday, Microsoft released a pair of security advisories in response to an out-in-the-wild tool that can escalate attackers' privileges, and a new WMF hole in older versions of Internet Explorer.

The IE problem, said Microsoft in the advisory, is yet another in a long list of Windows Metafile vulnerabilities, but affects only IE 5.01 and IE 5.5, two aged versions that by one Web metrics vendor's estimate, accounted for just 2.3 percent of all browsers used in January.

The bug is similar to the zero-day vulnerability which went so wild in late 2005 that users rushed for an unauthorized patch before Microsoft finally went out-of-cycle to fix the flaw. As in the earlier scenario, hackers could use this new one to craft malicious WMF images, then plant them on Web sites or deliver them by e-mail, to grab control of PCs.

Users of IE 5.01 and 5.5 should upgrade to IE 6.0, which is not vulnerable to the new bug.

Ironically enough, an anti-spyware security expert predicted earlier Tuesday that the WMF bug would haunt Windows users in 2006.

"The Windows Metafile vulnerability will continue to be the way most spyware is delivered throughout 2006," said Richard Stiennon, director of threat research at Boulder, Colo.-based Webroot.

This is an old article but we have posted it because we want our customers to be more aware of Spyware and what it can do.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Joy Mills said she is extremely careful when using her computer.

Despite changing her account passwords every few months and never doing business with unsecure Web sites, someone broke through her defenses.

She found out after she couldn't log into her Yahoo account.

"I got an e-mail on my business account saying that my password had been changed and my account had been canceled," Mills said.

Mills knew something was wrong, and soon learned that someone had hacked into her accounts and starting changing her passwords.

"I was a little spooked, because I do a lot on eBay," Mills told Channel 4's Casey Black. "Then I realized that that password had been changed, too."

Mills searched eBay for her user ID and found that someone was bidding on PlayStations under her name and trying to pay for them with her money.

"So I e-mailed the sellers of all of the merchandise and said, 'Someone has hijacked my account. Do not take bidding from this account,'" Mills said.

But it was too late for one eBay seller. Thinking that Mills bid was legitimate, a seller in Denver paid $70 to ship the PlayStation to someone in Jakarta, Indonesia, who was using her name.

Computer experts told Mills that she was a victim of malicious spyware, which allowed someone to monitor every stroke she was making on her keyboard.

"Spyware is something that is put on your computer, typically without your knowledge," said Mike Anderson of Secure SI Inc.

Anderson said spyware appears in many forms on a computer, some of them annoying, some of them harmful.

"For instance, like a keylogger ... a program that would actually record your key sequences and then send them somewhere else," Anderson said.

That means the illicit program is recording everything, even account numbers and passwords.

"The scary part of all of this is that I do not know what else this person may not have gotten," Mills said.

Computer experts say spyware can get onto computers through following a link on an unscrupulous e-mail, or downloading something like a screensaver or chatroom tool from a Web site.

Even downloads of pop-up ads or unsolicited e-mails that claim they will remove spyware from a computer can actually download it.

Mills said she has filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the FBI.

Copyright 2006 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Numbers in TX are ringing busy both locally and long distance.

Numbers affected during this ticket :
- 4096242600
- 4097882600
- 4095832600
- 4097332600
- 4092822600
- 4097932600
Unfortunately we have no ETR at this time

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We have been a bit slack with the reader polls but we are back on it now!
Check it out, cast your vote!

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Scams are the bane of the the work at home parent's existence. They abound on the Internet and in the world in general. Fortunately, there are some warning signs you should always look out for that will keep you from falling for most of them.

Work at Home Job Scams
Home Assembly and Crafting Scams
Envelope Stuffing Scams
Online Surveys Scam
Chain Letters and Randomizers
Mystery Shopping Scams
Ad Posting Scams
Data Entry Scams
Reshipping Scam
Payment Processing Scam
Medical Transcription/Billing/Coding Scams
Fake Work at Home Job Leads
Work at Home Job Board Scams

Home Business Scams
Refund Tracers Scam
Internet Marketing Seminars
Online Business Scams

MLM Scams
Multi-Level Marketing Scams

The FTC also offers some excellent advice on selecting a franchise or business opportunity, which applies to both online and offline opportunities.

In General
Watch out if the ad promises hundreds or thousands of dollars with little effort, "guaranteed!" No one can guarantee that any business will succeed, and all businesses require effort and time to make money.

Also beware if no experience is required. While there may be legitimate opportunities out there that do not require experience, it is more likely that they are trying to prey on the inexperienced.

LOOK OUT FOR CAPITALIZATION!!! AND EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! Got your attention there, didn't I? That's their goal too. A scam wants you to get so excited about their opportunity that you don't think. Be too smart to fall for that.

Vague ads where you have no idea what the product or service you will be selling are also trouble. Legitimate companies want you to know what you'll be selling, so you'll be excited about the business and the product. Scams just want you to be excited about the business.

If you feel pressured to make an immediate decision, tell them the answer is 'no.' Once again, a legitimate company wants you to be enthusiastic and happy with your decision. If you're buying a franchise opportunity, make sure they have a money back guarantee.

Check the company out on the Ripoff Report. Businesses can reply to reports here, so you get both sides of the story. See also the BBB's report on work at home scams.

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 6 — Google, the search-engine giant, is expected on Tuesday to disclose that it will join its instant-messaging service with its popular Gmail program, the latest indication that the company has set its sights on the broader communications industry.

The new program, called Gmail Chat, will let Gmail users exchange text messages with others without having to log onto a separate chat program, making instant messaging simpler and more integrated with the e-mail program.

From anywhere in Gmail, the user can see who is available to chat. The program will also allow users to store instant-message conversations.

But regardless of its features, Gmail Chat faces a considerable challenge if it hopes to lure users away from established instant-messaging programs like those of AOL, Yahoo and MSN, with tens of millions of users in total.

Gmail Chat will be able to send and receive instant messages from a small set of competitive programs, including Jabber and EarthLink, but none of the larger ones like AOL, Yahoo or MSN. The more popular instant-messaging problems do not interact, and interoperability remains the holy grail of instant messaging.

Google's vice president for product management, Salar Kamangar, declined to say how many people used Gmail, saying only that there were millions. AOL's instant messenger has 53 million users; MSN's 27 million and Yahoo's 22 million.

Mr. Kamangar said Gmail Chat would be available Tuesday to an unspecified number of Gmail users, and to all users of the system by the end of February.

Gmail Chat builds on the company's earlier instant-messaging technology, called GoogleTalk, which it announced in August. That program, which will still be available, allows GoogleTalk users to converse with others in remote locations, in addition to sending text messages.

GoogleChat, on the other hand, will focus on simplifying the experience of sending and receiving text messages, Mr. Kamangar said.

Countdown On For Kama Sutra

As the clock continues to tick toward the anticipated destruction of Microsoft Office documents, Adobe files, and backup archives, security companies on Thursday posted their latest research and advice on the Kama Sutra worm.

Also known as Blackworm, Blackmal, MyWife, and Nyxem, the worm has been active for about three weeks. It's a throw-back, designed not to simply hijack a PC or steal confidential information, but to destroy data. Starting Friday, Feb. 3, it will begin corrupting 11 different file formats by overwriting those documents and files with a mindless string of text.

Chicago-based LURHQ revisited its data, and now puts the estimate of Kama Sutra-infected systems at twice its earlier guess. "Based on the more recent logs plus different methodology, we believe the total number of users infected worldwide is actually closer to 600,000," said the company in a Web site posting.

Helsinki, Finland-based F-Secure, meanwhile, said Thursday that although the worm is supposed to ruin files on any network drives connected to an infected machine, its tests weren't able to duplicate that behavior.

"In practice, the worm failed to [damage files] on network drives, at least in our test environment. Files on local and removable drives (including USB memory) were damaged by the payload," the company noted in an online alert.

A researcher at the Internet Storm Center (ISC) confirmed the finding in independent tests. "At this point, I do not believe that the destructive payload will occur via shares and/or mapped drives," concluded ISC's Lorna Hutcheson.

Microsoft chimed in with an updated security advisory, originally released Monday, that now tells enterprise users a blank log-in password may protect them from the worm spreading throughout the network.

"In an environment where you can guarantee physical security, you do not need to use the account across the network, and you are using Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, a blank password is better than a weak password," the advisory now reads. Blank passwords, Microsoft added, can be used locally in Windows XP (SP1 and SP2), Windows Server 2003, and Windows Server 2003 SP1. "If the account password is blank, the account is not valid as a network credential," the advisory states.

But it was U.K.-based Sophos that had the smartest advice Thursday: Don't panic.

"Sit down, have a cup of tea, and work out if you have done everything you should have done to ensure your computer isn't at risk from the Nyxem worm, and indeed any of the other 120,000 pieces of malware in existence," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, in a statement.

Maintenance time range :
- Start : 2/9/2006 1:00:00 AM EST
- End : 2/9/2006 1:30:00 AM EST

Original Issue :
- There will be a bandwidth upgrade in Milwaukee, WI. There will be a slight outage during the maintenence window. The affected markets are: Milwaukee, Appleton, Green Bay, Madison