Unfortunately this warning has not gained a lot of media attention and by the time people find out about it, well it might be too late.  Internet service could already be interrupted by then.

Here is the link to the FBI’s official site.

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/november/malware_110911

DNS Changer can infect both Windows and Mac systems.

Linux users are safe, as are those using iPhones, iPads, Android devices and other systems.

The Trojan in question is called DNS Changer, a piece of Malware that was discovered back in 2007 and is estimated to have infected millions of computer worldwide.

The malware intercepts websites visited by the web browser, redirecting the users from the site they had chosen to visit to servers under the control of the cybercriminals. These servers were then used to pushed web ads to the user, earning the criminals millions of dollars in the process.

However, last year the FBI, working in conjunction with the Estonian police, seized the servers used by the cybercriminals and broke up the crime ring behind the operations. However,  the servers used by the criminals were kept online so as to not disrupt the web activities of those infected (although they no longer served up ads).

But running these web servers isn’t cheap, and so the plug is being pulled on them come July. Because systems infected with DNS Changer have had key settings changed that redirects all their web browsing through these servers, once they are pulled offline, the internet will disappear for anyone using an infected system.

The DNS Changer Working Group (DCWG), the that’s been maintaining care of the servers since their seizure, has created a website that allows you check if your computer is infected and, if it is, remove the DNSChanger malware.

Back in January of this year the DCWG estimated that some 450,000 systems were still infected with DNS Changer.

These popular sites will have removal tools as well.

• Hitman Pro (32bit and 64bit versions)
• Kaspersky Labs TDSSKiller
• McAfee Stinger
• Microsoft Windows Defender Offline
• Microsoft Safety Scanner
• Norton Power Eraser
• Trend Micro Housecall
• MacScan
• Avira

Given that after July 8 you might not get the chance to do this, you might want to check your system for DNS Changer sooner rather than later.  Hopefully you have access to another PC if you wait too long, this way if your internet is cut off, you can still go to another PC, download the fix and place it on a USB drive in order to run it on the infected PC.

But to be honest it’s better to be pro-active and just click the link now and check if your infected.

First step to check if you are infected is to go here:

www.mywanip.com

Then write down your IP address.

then go to this site and enter your IP address in the box.

https://forms.fbi.gov/check-to-see-if-your-computer-is-using-rogue-DNS

They want to limit your freedom.

Sign the petition to put a stop to this.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Wiki has gone dark for the day.

Google has put a black bar over there logo for the day.

All to protest this bill.

This does pose a question for those hacktivist organizations such as Anon.  As they typically take actions vs people or organizations that try to censor the internet.  Would they go after the government? After shutting down paypal, Visa, and other major companys it would not be a far fetch of the imagination to think they would go after certain departments of the government for censoring freedom. At what point is O.K. for someone to tell another what information they have a right to view on the internet?

We saw first hand what happen can happen when Syria recently shut down the entire country’s internet in the attempt to censor what was really happening there, people still found a way to get the information out to the rest of the world.

If you like MMO’s (Massive Multiplayer Online) games, then this is the year for breakthroughs.

Enter Bioware and EA who have teamed up with Lucas Arts to create a new type of game.

In the past people were limited to reading subtitles, or in a game like Age of Conan you had actors voices for the first 20 levels and then it went back to subtitles.

SWTOR is fully voiced with thousands of actors.

As you play the game it reminds me of the old “Time Machine” books, where you get to choose how your story develops and ends.

You get to make either Light or Dark side choices which have an effect on the outcome of the story.

There are multiple classes and each class has two sub classes you can choose.

I highly recommend you pick this game up.   If you liked World of Warcraft, then I’m sure you will love Star Wars the Old Republic.

Simply a genius idea!  I love it when some no name person comes flying out of no where with a brilliant product.

Slide rails are limited in length, bulky and a pain to bring along to a video shoot.

Enter Cineskates.

They look like the wheel’s from roller blades.

Snap them onto a gorilla tripod, and you now have amazing capabilities for videos.  Give your video’s that professionalism it’s been lacking all these years……

Much cheaper than the traditional slide and rail setups, yet in my opinion a hands down better product.

www.greyareagraphics.com

There prices can’t be beat and everything I ordered showed up instantly.
I was extremely impressed with how fast everything showed up and the quality of the custom graphics.

I had a custom logo for my company I wanted converted into vinyl decals for my vehicles. They came out perfect and have some special type of coating so they will not fade. That’s good to know considering the Florida sun is brutal.

The custom T Shirts were even better than I expected. I’ve ordered custom shirts from a few places before and the quality was sub par. But this company used the best shirts I’ve worn in forever. I even ordered a few more just because they were so comfortable.

I ended up buying more than I probably should have, but they had too many cool items on there site for sale so I figured what the heck the decals were cheap and I could change them up on my vehicle whenever I wanted.

“What are the best IPhone Apps?”

I hear that question more times a day than I ever though possible….

As IProducts have taken over the masses in the private sector they are now switching there focus over to the business world (About time I must say).
About 6 months ago I ditched my Droid for an IPhone. Don’t get me wrong, the Droid was a great phone but to be honest the iPhone trumps it. But that’s for another post later…

Now back to the best apps for iPhone in 2011.
Sure not all apps were released in 2011, but this list is more a compilation of apps that are relevant and still used in 2011. (or at least I still use them)

These are in no particular order and are all free unless noted.

Drop Box – Free app with 2gb storage space, unlimited bandwidth. You can pay for more storage space if needed. Finally an easy way to transfer your files from the PC to any Apple product. Drag and drop the files. Doesn’t get any easier. I use this for work all the time. Encryption is the same the banks use. But still remember, anything in the “cloud” is potentially vulnerable to hackers. Make sure you use secure passwords, but that goes without saying for all things.

File Browser (Paid app) – One of the first apps I ever bought. Using a VPN to my work I am able to browse the entire windows explorer like I was sitting at my PC. Now my work files are always at hand. In fact I use this more than my laptop these days as if I just need a word or pdf file real quick I can pull it up on my phone. Much quicker than pulling my laptop out, booting it up and then opening the file.

CineXPlayer (Paid) – Great app for playing movies that normally would not play on an iPhone or iPad likes xvid files. I use this to watch Even supports 3D movies.

ScanBizLite – Tired of the endless business cards handed to you, then you must enter the info into our contact list manually. Well this little gem does OCR (optical Character Recognition). OK in non computer dork terms it means you use your camera to take a picture of the business card and it converts the picture into text and adds it to your contact list.

RDP – Speaks for itself. Remote Desktop. I use this when on the same wifi network or using a VPN to connect to computer desktops. Tiny on the iPhone, but it does work and has come in handy a few times while on the road.

TeamViewer – Same software as on the PC or Mac. Allows a remote desktop session to a PC.

VNC – Another remote desktop software.

NetCamviewer – I use this software to connect to an Axis security video camera at the office, but it will work with most cameras that have a presence to the Internet.

Sonicwall mobile connect – Used for connecting a VPN to a sonic-wall appliance. For those companies who have a sonic-wall firewall, this is a long awaited app.

iNet – Shows information about the network you are connected to.

Camera+ (Paid) – The best camera app hands down. Very easy to use, and has tons of features for editing after you take the photo as well as burst shot, timers, etc. If you use the camera on your iPhone a lot, then this is a must.

Textpics – If you text on your phone then this app is awesome. Instantly insert cool little pictures made out of text. ASCII Art is what its technically called.

Urban Spoon – Looking for a local place to eat? This app solves all your problems. You can even lock down settings for food type or cost before searching. Also shows reviews, photos and location.

Remote – Does what it says. It’s a remote control. If your like most these days then you have a pretty good stereo system hooked to your PC. Well if your reading this, then you have an iPhone or iPad which in turn means you have to have iTunes installed on a computer. Well as long as the PC is on and your iPhone or iPad is on the same wifi network you can start your iTunes library up and play any song, raise and lower volume on the PC. Works great at the house.

Flow – Point at an object and it scans it and attempts to identify what it is and where you can buy it at. Seems to work better as a bar code scanner than an object identifier.

RedLaser – Scan any bar code or UPC and it will tell you where to buy it at and what the current cost is. Works great.

iTorch 4 – Turns on the LED light of your iPhone so you can use it as a flashlight. Super bright and has helped me out countless times.

Scan – Ever see those funny looking white squares with tons of random black dots in a magazine or on some other product. Use this app to scan it and it will take you right to a special website.

Facebook – Do I even need to talk about this app?

Twitter – This falls in the same category as facebook. If I need to explain it, you probably don’t need it.

Skype – Free app, you add friends and you can video chat for free. Text, make phones calls. If you pay for the monthly or yearly service you can get multiple user conference video chat. Great for keeping up with the family or business meetings.

Trover – User populated photos of local areas. Great for travelers, photographers or even someone who just wants to see the local sites. It organizes photos by distance from you. Really cool app.

Linkedin – Business version of facebook is the simplest way I can describe it.

IM+ – Tired of having tons of different chat programs? This app will combine all your favorite instant messenger programs into one.

Yelp – Great for finding local things to do.

Joinme – Remote desktop support app. Like logmein or RDP.

WeTalk – Facebook chat program. Allows you to chat to all your facebook friends.

Around me – Like Yelp. Used for finding local things to do.

foursquare – Used for letting others know where you are in the world. Great for meeting up with people.

The Weather Channel – Probably the best weather app around. Has everything you need.

Nighty News – Great app for watching and keeping up with the most trusted name in news.

NFL 2011 – Great NFL app

TED – Great videos from some of the top minds in the world.

G4 – Gaming central. But these days you can find lots of information on other techie toys and gadgets from them as well.

Dragon Go – Word recognition software. Say “Google Ferrari” and up comes google with the relevant searches for Ferrari. Works great and its free.

Tivo – If you have Tivo, then this is a must! Ever out and about and then realize your favorite show or game is about to start. Well with this app you can remote into your tivo and see whats recording, and even start recording something.

Remote – If your home computer is setup to a nice stereo system, then you will love this app. It controls your ITunes library from anywhere on your wifi network. Start, stop, raise volume, change songs all from your iPhone or iPad.

UStream – Best app for streaming live video feeds from your iPad or iPhone right to the web. That’s right, you can now broadcast live right from your phone. Awesome!

Flixlab – Want to put together a quick little movie with photos, video and music right from your iPhone or iPad. Super easy to use.

Socialcam – A quick and easy way to share pictures and video with friends.

Google Translate – Translate any language. Just type what you want translated and what languages to use.

Shazam – Ever hear a song and wish you knew who sang it or the name of the artist. Well start this app up and it will tell you everything you wanted to know.

Sprd the Note – This one is a must! How many times have you had a friend with songs on there iPad or iPhone that you want to transfer to your iPhone. Well as long as you are on the same wifi network you can use this app to do just that. Share songs back and forth. Works great, only downside to this app is the fact that you have to plug in your iPhone/iPad into itunes before you can publish the music to your iTunes library.

Appzilla – Tons and tons of useful apps all bundled into one.

Weave – Manage everything in one clean interface. Meetings, appointments, to do lists.

SpotWorld – a free social travel guide.

Magic Piano – Fun game, free but more songs can be purchased.

Nasa – If you love space, then you will love this app.

5-0 Radio – Best police, fire and EMS scanner out. Listen to your local police radio or choose from many from across the country.

Spy Cams – Not really so much spying. These are all public web cameras around the world that you can view.

Gas Buddy – Great for finding the cheapest gas in your local area.

VoicePlus – Fun app that changes the way your voice sounds.

Fake Text – Send anyone a text message, but make it appear to come from any number you choose. Great for practical jokes.

USB Disk – turns your iPhone or iPad into a portable usb drive so you can store anything to it.

PDFReader Lite – a must if you plan on opening any adobe pdf files on your iPhone or iPad.

Mirror – Well technically its not a mirror, it just turns on the camera so you can see yourself. But it does work and come in handy.

Planets – Interactive star and planet maps. Hold your iPhone or iPad to the sky and move it around, it then tells you which stars, planets and constellations you are looking at.

Bump – Fist bumps are the new hand shakes for some. Well with Bump, you save all your contact information into the app, then if someone else has the bump app, you just fist bump and both of you exchange contact information.

Dragon Dictation – Dictate text messages or have it read them to you.

Zillow – Hands down the best app for viewing real estate information on your iPhone or iPad. Shows prices of homes, if they are sold, for sale, rent, etc. What was the home sold at. What is its current price, etc. This one is a must to get!!!!

Zoopla (Overseas version of Zillow)

Mouse Lite – Turns your phone into a touch pad mouse for your laptop.

Printing Test – Allows you to test if a printer is working on a network.

Emoji Free! – Ever see others with iPhone sending cool little faces and pictures. Well this is the app they use. Install it, and it unlocks hundreds of hidden pictures and icons that are already inside your idevice.

Line2 – Tested this out briefly as it only has a 7 day free trial, but it worked great. Could be a very good option for a small company just getting started and wishes to have multiple business phone lines.

Find Iphone – Even though this is at the bottom of the list, this should be one of the very first things you setup in your iPhone or iPad. After all its free and if your device is stolen or lost you can log in to there website and find it through GPS tracking.

When someone like me shows up talking to there boss, they instantly think it’s bad news for them.   I know for a fact this happens as I have been the Director of Information Technology & Security for a few high profile companies.  It happened to me.  You instantly start to think, great is my boss going to fire me and my staff and replace us with this managed service company.

You start to think about all sorts of things.  How managed services can save the owner of the company countless overhead costs.  After all, a managed service company does not need sick days, vacation days, medical benefits, salary, insurance, etc.  It is actually a very cost effective way to run any small to medium sized business.

But this is not always the case. People just have a bad tendency of assuming the worse.  Once I got over my initial fear I sat down with a few managed service providers and listened to what they had to offer.  For a very small cost I signed on with a manged service provider, who actually was not even in the Naples Ft Myers area.  But my needs did not require a local MSP.

I had hired them for one sole purpose, to take over the repetitive, mundane tasks like patch management, virus updates and removal, server and workstation maintenance which they could do remotely.

Why you ask?  After all I had a staffed internal IT department already so why on earth would I spend more money on IT Support?

Simple. Return on Investment.

By allowing the managed service provider to take over the cumbersome and time consuming tasks it freed up myself as well as my team to focus on core issues in the company, such as increasing productivity through streamlining business processes.   By having more time I was able to go through the entire company department by department and identify areas that could be improved.

As the contract I had signed was a fixed price for 12 months I was able to forecast a cost for that years IT Support and after crunching the numbers we realized we had increased productivity so much throughout the whole company that our Christmas bonuses were the largest they had been even though we were in a recession.

So if you are in charge of your companys computers, servers, repairs, sales, security and networks then you might want to consider a managed service solution.

The Lytro is a tiny little digital camera without the traditional parts of past cameras, as well as removing past limitation of traditional cameras.

Take one photo, and then click where you want to focus.  You can make the same photo appear completely different by changing focus area and saving.

Never miss that photo again due to being out of focus.  I tinker with my Nikon D80 as a hobby, usually shooting wildlife or vehicles.  I can not count how many times a certain photo would of looked much better if I had focused on a different area of the photo.  This solves that issue.

Hate how there is always a shutter delay? Not any longer with this little gem.  When you click the button, the photo is instantly taken.

Can’t wait to get my hands on one. 

Visit there official site to purchase one or at very least check out there interactive gallery that shows how it works.  It truly is amazing technology.

https://www.lytro.com/

We are an Information Technology company that specializes in Managed Services.

We have years of experience streamlining companies and their work flow.

Inquire on how we can help you increase your profits.