So, our ATT phones have been acting up the past few months....our two
year contract is almost over. I really believe they reduce signal to
people about to expire their contracts. Then they can say it's the
phone, not the service. Then when you get a new phone they throttle
your signal back up. Amazing that it's been bad service for two
months, then I called yesterday and yelled at them for a hour and was
cancelling my service when the rep offered me $40/month off my bill
for three months. So I said OK. Now today, both of our phones are
working perfectly!

I have been told, by a valid source, that utility companies to
throttle down your signal when your contract is close to expiration!!
Notice how they always offer you an "early upgrade option" to get a
new phone. Something to think about.....

Do you ever get frustrated opening internet explorer and having to click on the maximize button each time?  Here is one fix that will help you out!  Open IE, hold down the control key and don't let go!  Maximize the program, then close the program.  Let go of the control key.  Open IE as you normally would.....and ta-da your window should open maximized!!

If you subscribe to Comcast Voice, there maybe a feature you have and don't even know about - Call Filter.  Simply dial *60 from your home phone and activate the service, which is free.  Follow the voice prompts to add numbers to the list.  Do not dial "1", but must use a 10 digit number.  If you dial a "1" the system will not accept the number.  When you are done, all those numbers you entered will never bother you again

1-800-GOOG411

Call this number for toll free information service.  It's like having the Yellow Pages wherever you go!  Call connect is free as well!

How many people are tired of clicking the shutdown menu on Vista and have "standby" come up instead "shutdown"?  If you're like me this starts to get annoying.  Here's an easy way to change it!!

1. Go to Control Panel 
2. Click on System and Maintenance
3. Click on Power Options 
4. Click on Change Plan Settings for the power plan you have selected 
5. Click on Change advanced power settings
6. Click on Power buttons
7. Click on Start Menu power button

Click here to donate a gift to the American Cancer Society

Click above to enter site.  From there you can click underneath of the "thermometer" to donate a gift.  This is in memory of my fiance's mother who passed away from cancer about 5 years ago.  Thank you everyone for your support!  PC Technologies is involved with this foundation year round.  If you are interested in joining the team, please feel free to email us anytime!

So, now it's your turn!  Those of you lucky enough to try the beta version, we would love to hear your experiences with Windows 7.  The good and the bad.

Computer experts watched warily today as a virus infecting millions of PCs activated itself as predicted on April 1.

But fears of internet chaos have proved unfounded – so far – as machines infected with the "Conficker" worm tried to establish a link to command servers as expected from midnight to no ill effect.

With April Fool's Day already nearly over in the Far East, where the majority of infected computers are located, internet security experts reported that no new instructions have been detected from the virus's creators.

Fear of what the virus might do next has spread round the world as April 1 approached – the date when Conficker was scheduled to use local time clocks to change programming. No one knows who created the virus or what they intend to do with the vast network of infected machines they, in theory, now control.

The Conficker virus started spreading late last year. At first it was a relatively simple worm but its creators issued updates turning it into a more sophisticated and resilient virus that has found new ways to spread. It has also gained the ability to shut down a computer's defences.

The programming on the latest version of Conficker tells infected machines from today to generate 50,000 new internet addresses each day that they can try and "phone home" for instructions. Previously, they had been looking for commands from just 250 sites each day. The point of the change is to make it harder for the security community to pre-register those addresses and block them.

Conficker infects machines by exploiting a weakness in Windows, the software that runs on most computers. At its peak it had compromised about 12 million PCs, although that may have fallen to about two million thanks to new security measures.

Once the worm is on a computer, that PC becomes part of a “botnet” – a network of computers that can be controlled by the virus's creator.

In the past year the virus has spread to computers in schools, hospitals and government departments. It has got into the defence forces of Britain, Germany and France, grounding the French Navy's fighter jets for a time. A leaked House of Commons memorandum revealed that the parliamentary IT network had also been infected.

One popular theory is that the makers are setting up a “computing-for-hire” scheme, where time on infected PCs is rented out. Others warn that the makers could try to steal identity data such as credit card details.

Despite lurid headlines, few security experts expected anything major to happen on April 1, speculating that the creators would probably wait until some of the attention had died down before making another move.

"These guys have been pretty smart until now — the worm is unfortunately very well done," said Patrik Runald, chief security advisor for F-Secure. "So far they haven't been stupid. So why should they start on April 1?"

Paul Ferguson, of Trend Micro, an internet security company, said that the best guess as to who was behind Conficker was a gang based in Ukraine – the first version of the virus was designed not to infect computers there.

"It doesn't seem to be doing anything right now," he said as Conficker activation made its way to the western United States. "I hope April 1st comes and goes with no trouble. But, there is this loaded pistol looming large out there even if no one has pulled the trigger."

A task force assembled by Microsoft has been working to stamp out the worm, referred to as Conficker or DownAdUP, and the US software colossus has placed a bounty of $250,000 on the heads of those responsible for the threat.

The worm, a self-replicating program, takes advantage of networks or computers that have not kept up to date with Windows security patches. Microsoft has modified its free Malicious Software Removal Tool to detect and get rid of Conficker.

Among the ways one can tell if their machine is infected is that the worm will block efforts to connect with websites of security firms such as Trend Micro or Symantec where there are online tools for removing the virus.

Cyber-criminals have taken advantage of Conficker fears to lure internet users to websites loaded with malicious software with fake promises of security tools.

Have you updated your daylight savings time profile?  If your Windows computer is showing the wrong time, follow this link for the Microsoft update.

www.pctechnologiesmd.com

If you have any files located at filefront.com please be sure to download them before 3/30/09.  They are discontinuing their services for an un-explained reason.