Alert: Facebook – Tagged Picture used to spread “Fake” links and Malware. (Plus How to Untag yourself)

Since Facebook is the BIG FISH currently, and most users on Facebook seem to “trust” what they see, the bad guys are now targeting Facebook with more daily scams. From Rogue apps, to fake links, to hacking accounts, to now Fake picture tagging on profiles. The following was something I came across yesterday

the tagged picture was on the profile of someone I know. I did confirm with that person that they don’t know “Julie” (either by name or picture) the person on the tag. Of course Julie has a link on her tag. If you happen to click on the link (even if just by mistake) what you get is sent to a website that will download malware on your pc.

So as always having a Facebook account means that you need to pay attention to what is happening on your account. If you run into a situation where a picture is tagged to you that you don’t want showing on your profile, here are the steps to Un-Tag yourself from the picture.

How to Untag yourself –

From your Facebook home page, locate the blue bar at the top of the screen. It says Facebook, Home, Profile, Friends, and Inbox. Click on “Profile”. Now you will be sent to your profile page.

On your profile page, look underneath your profile picture that is located at the top left. Under it, you will see “Photos”. Click on Photos

Now in the middle section of the page toward the bottom you will find the “Photos and Videos of you” section.

Look at the pictures below this section. Any pictures tagged will appear in this area. Click on the picture you would like to remove.

Now look under the picture for the section that says “In this photo”. Next to that you will find “Remove tag”.

Click remove tag. The photo will not show up on your profile anymore

Facebook: How to check your Facebook Privacy settings, secure your profile (As much as can be done)

With the start of the new year (2011), I think its perfect time to remind everyone, YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE YOUR FACEBOOK SETTINGS ARE WHERE YOU WANT THEM!. Not that I want to yell at you, but I figured I need to get my point across. Facebook makes its money by you sharing, the more you let the world know about you, the more Facebook makes, its just that simple. Which is a reason (and in my opinion the main reason) why Facebook makes its security settings vague (to most non-technical people at least), and why its recommended settings make so much of what you do on the site open for the world to see. (As shown in the example below) See how Facebook “recommends” that You share

All your status info
All your pictures
All your posts

with the entire world, and then adds the line “Share a tagged post with friends of the friends I tag” which means pretty much everyone as well.

(**NOTE: Facebook settings pic shows the green check next to custom, which is in fact the selected settings on Facebook for this account. I highlighted the Facebook “Recommended” settings to show the settings Facebook would like you to use, but I did NOT apply them to the account)

If you are not comfortable with the world knowing that much info about you (and you shouldn’t be), then you need to check your settings and make sure that only those parts of Facebook that you want to share are open to ONLY those people you want to share with (I.E. – Friends and Family)

The techs at PrivacyChoice (LINK: http://www.privacychoice.org (http://www NULL.privacychoice NULL.org)) have written a tool that will simplify your ability to make sure your Facebook settings are Private.

To use this tool, go to the PrivacyCheck page (LINK: http://www.privacychoice.org/privacycheck (http://www NULL.privacychoice NULL.org/privacycheck) ) and once on the site,

Right click on top of the button (In blue) that says PrivacyCheck and then select save “link to Favorites” or “save link to Bookmarks” (depending on which browser you use).

Once you have the page saved in your Favorites or Bookmarks, go to your Facebook page and sign in.

At this point, while you are in your profile, go to your Favorites or Bookmarks and click on the shortcut you created. It will cause a short scan (about 2 or 3 seconds) followed by the following information

If any part of your profile is public, the window will list it and show you what in Facebook you are sharing with the world. Is this scanner a perfect replacement for common knowledge and alertness while online, of course it isn’t. You always need to stay as alert while online as you would be if you were walking in a strange neighborhood by yourself in the middle of the night (I know that sounds over dramatic, but it is the reality of the wild wild web).

In addition there is 1 more step you should take –

You really need to check and see what 3rd party applications have access to your Facebook account. There are many apps in Facebook that people find useful, at the same time, many other Facebook apps are just there to steal your data, or use your account in ways that you don’t want.

To check your Privacy settings for 3rd party apps, click on account (on the top right of Facebook) and then click on Privacy settings.

Now (in the lower left corner) select Apps and websites, where it says “Edit your settings”

This will take you to the Apps and Websites page where you should remove any app that you either do NOT recognize or that you no longer use

On this page in addition to apps, I recommend checking the settings for

Info accessible though your friends – which means that you share something with someone on your list, is that person allowed to then share it with people they know (which could be people you DON’T know)
Games and Apps – Do you really want everyone to know that you spend 20 hours a day working on your farm? (Just saying – but this setting is up to you)
Instant personalization – Do you want to other sites (currently limited to Bing (http://www NULL.bing NULL.com), TripAdvisor (http://www NULL.tripadvisor NULL.com), Clicker (http://www NULL.clicker NULL.com), Rotten Tomatoes (http://www NULL.rottentomatoes NULL.com), Docs (http://www NULL.docs NULL.com), Pandora (http://www NULL.pandora NULL.com), Yelp (http://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/l NULL.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww NULL.yelp NULL.com%2F&h=9a4cf), and Scribd (http://www NULL.scribd NULL.com) but I’m sure this list will grow) know what you are sharing on Facebook, so that they can then show your info to your friends when the friends visit those sites. Yes I know it talks about Letting you see relevant info about your friends when you go to those sites, but think about it, that has to be a 2 way street. How else are the friends going to know about you unless you say ok.
Public search – Do you want anyone to be able to Google or Bing (among other search engines) your name and find your Facebook profile. Personally no but this one is also your call.

So there ends the lesson on Securing your Facebook profile in 2011, or at least until Facebook changes its policies AGAIN!

Software: Windows – Optimize your computer for peak performance

People think a pc is like a TV, just there, you click on the power button and it turns on, and that all you need to do. In fact that is wrong, a computer needs to be treated more like a car than a TV. You should be doing the pc equivalent of an oil change and tune up, so that you can get the most out of your pc.

The following tips can help improve your computer’s performance. These examples are for Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP. However, you’ll find that these tips work for all versions of the Windows operating system.

By the way, it is not possible for you to blow up your computer or your files with any of these procedures. These tasks use utilities provided within the Windows operating system to help you to achieve the best system performance. This article does not address tinkering with the registry files

Microsoft at home has a great article with tips on what you should be doing. “Optimize your computer for peak performance”. (LINK) http://www.microsoft.com/athome/setup/optimize.aspx?WT.rss_f=At%20Work%20RSS&WT.rss_a=Improve%20your%20computer’s%20performance&WT.rss_ev=a (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/athome/setup/optimize NULL.aspx?WT NULL.rss_f=At%20Work%20RSS&WT NULL.rss_a=Improve%20your%20computer)

Software: How-to fix: When Internet Explorer gives you “Page cannot be displayed” error

An issue I’ve been dealing with recently involves Internet Explorer unexpectedly coming up with the message “This page cannot be displayed”, when surfing but only on some websites. Sometimes it is the entire page with that message, sometimes its only part of the page.

(I have found 2 solutions that have helped clear up this issue. I suggest trying solution #1 and seeing if that corrects things and then moving to solution #2 if the issue continues.) The issue seems to occur because something inside of Internet Explorer gets “corrupted”. To clear up the corruption you can do the following

Solution #1 – Clear Cookies and Temporary Internet files.

To clear cookies and Temporary Internet –

Close all open copies of Internet Explorer
Go to Start –> Settings –> Control Panel –> Internet Options

When Internet Options opens –> Click on Delete (Middle of the page)

When the Delete Browsing History opens –> Make sure that Preserve Favorites website data is unchecked and that Temporary Internet files and cookies have a check next to them.

At this point click on Delete (at the bottom). Once the system finishes removing your temp files and cookies, you can close the Internet options windows by clicking ok.
Now open Internet Explorer and try one of the sites that wasn’t working again.

Solution #2 – Reset Internet Explorer to “Factory Defaults”

Sometimes the issue with Internet Explorer can be caused by a toolbar, or add-on that is just not working properly. If Solution #1 didn’t fix your issue, try the following steps. (Again this is done with Internet Explorer closed.)

Go to start –> settings –> Control Panel – Internet Options
In the Internet Options Window –> Go to the Advanced Tab
Then Click on the Reset button (towards the bottom of the box)

The following Window will open –> click on Reset**. (See Below if you want to know what changes with this reset)

(Prior to this reset make note what your homepage address is, as that will be changed back to msn.com)

Once reset completed, close the Internet Options window by clicking ok, and then try one of the sites that wasn’t working correctly.

This is what happens when you do the reset.

Reset Internet Explorer settings

By resetting Internet Explorer settings, you return Internet Explorer to the state it was in when it was first installed on your computer. This is useful for troubleshooting problems that might be caused by settings that were changed after installation. When you delete personal settings, some webpages that rely on previously stored cookies, form data, passwords, or previously installed browser add-ons might not work correctly. Resetting Internet Explorer to its default settings does not delete your favorites, feeds, Web Slices, and a few other personalized settings. See the table below for a complete list of all settings and information about whether they are reset or maintained.

Resetting Internet Explorer’s settings is not reversible. After a reset, all previous settings are lost and cannot be recovered. Rather than resetting everything, you might want to reset specific settings or delete your webpage history. For more information, see the links at the bottom of this topic.

Internet Explorer settings that are affected by a reset

The following table describes what will happen to various settings when you reset Internet Explorer.

Settings categories

Items affected

Settings that are deleted

Disabled toolbars and add-ons

Websites added to intranet, trusted, or restricted zones

Websites added for special cookie handling under the Privacy tab

Websites allowed to use pop-ups under Pop-up Blocker settings

Settings that are reset to Windows, manufacturer, Internet provider, or corporate defaults

Home page (for information about backing up your home page tabs, (SUGGESTED – NOTE WHAT YOUR TABS ARE)

Search providers, tabbed browsing settings

Colors, languages, fonts, and accessibility settings (General tab)

Security settings for all zones (Security tab)

Advanced tab settings

Privacy tab settings

Pop-up blocker, AutoComplete, SmartScreen Filter, and Zoom settings

Page setup, toolbar, and text size settings

Feeds settings (sync and notification, not feeds themselves)

ActiveX controls that are not on the pre-approved list (reset to opt-in state)

Toolbars, browser helper objects, and browser extensions are disabled

Settings that are deleted (Delete personal settings is selected)

Browser history, temporary Internet files, cookies, form data, and stored passwords

Typed URL information, menu extensions

InPrivate Filtering data

Explorer most recently used list

Settings and items that are maintained

Favorites

Feeds and Web Slices

Content Advisor settings

Pre-approved ActiveX controls

Temporary Internet file (cache) path settings

Certificate information

Internet Programs (e‑mail, instant messenger, and other programs associated with Internet use)

Internet connection, proxy, and VPN settings

Default web browser setting

Toolbars are not restored

Settings categories	Items affected
Settings that are deleted	Disabled toolbars and add-ons Websites added to intranet, trusted, or restricted zones Websites added for special cookie handling under the Privacy tab Websites allowed to use pop-ups under Pop-up Blocker settings
Settings that are reset to Windows, manufacturer, Internet provider, or corporate defaults	Home page (for information about backing up your home page tabs, (SUGGESTED – NOTE WHAT YOUR TABS ARE) Search providers, tabbed browsing settings Colors, languages, fonts, and accessibility settings (General tab) Security settings for all zones (Security tab) Advanced tab settings Privacy tab settings Pop-up blocker, AutoComplete, SmartScreen Filter, and Zoom settings Page setup, toolbar, and text size settings Feeds settings (sync and notification, not feeds themselves) ActiveX controls that are not on the pre-approved list (reset to opt-in state) Toolbars, browser helper objects, and browser extensions are disabled
Settings that are deleted (Delete personal settings is selected)	Browser history, temporary Internet files, cookies, form data, and stored passwords Typed URL information, menu extensions InPrivate Filtering data Explorer most recently used list
Settings and items that are maintained	Favorites Feeds and Web Slices Content Advisor settings Pre-approved ActiveX controls Temporary Internet file (cache) path settings Certificate information Internet Programs (e‑mail, instant messenger, and other programs associated with Internet use) Internet connection, proxy, and VPN settings Default web browser setting Toolbars are not restored

Software: Unix/Linux Command Cheat Sheet

I ran across the following Unix/Linux cheat sheet at the FOSWire.com site. For anyone who just likes to keep a cheat sheet handy, here is a very good one with Unix / Linux commands.

(http://files NULL.fosswire NULL.com/2007/08/fwunixref NULL.pdf)

Click the image above to download a full PDF. Print it out, stick it on your wall, and pass it on. It’s licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (http://creativecommons NULL.org/licenses/by-sa/3 NULL.0/) license, so feel free do distribute and modify it, even for commercial use! Just keep the FOSSwire credit on the page.

Translations are already available, so if you have your own translation you would like to share, post it in the comments and we’ll add it here!

Russian (http://ulmencave NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2007/08/unixlinux-cheat-sheet NULL.html)
Spanish (http://kernelsource NULL.org/2007/08/03/guia-rapida-de-comandos-unixlinux/)
Simplified Chinese (http://linuxtoy NULL.org/archives/unix-linux-command-cheat-sheet NULL.html)
Traditional Chinese (http://kkbruce NULL.blogspot NULL.com/2008/04/linux_27 NULL.html)
Japanese (http://www NULL.yotabanana NULL.com/hiki/ja/?fwunixref)
Bulgarian (http://stanislav NULL.org/?p=83)
Italian: (PDF) (http://files NULL.fosswire NULL.com/2008/04/fwunixref_it NULL.pdf) (ODT) (http://files NULL.fosswire NULL.com/2008/04/fwunixref_it NULL.odt) (credit) (http://www NULL.falappa NULL.net/)
Greek (http://elkosmas NULL.gr/2007/08/28/linux_cheat_sheet/)
French: (PDF) (http://files NULL.fosswire NULL.com/2009/08/fwunixref_fr NULL.pdf) (ODT) (http://files NULL.fosswire NULL.com/2009/08/fwunixref_fr NULL.odt) (translated by Jean Peyratout, Scideralle (http://scideralle NULL.org))

Alert: iPhone users – those not using Recurring alarms. The alarm STOPS working on 1/1/2011

It seems that Apple is facing another issue with its alarm clock feature in the iOS software. The following information comes from 9to5MAC (LINK: http://www.9to5mac.com/45310/new-years-2011-breaks-non-recurring-iphone-alarm-clocks (http://www NULL.9to5mac NULL.com/45310/new-years-2011-breaks-non-recurring-iphone-alarm-clocks) ) posted this evening 12/31/2010. The work around for the issue is to make all alarms set on iOS software recurring for the time being …….

*******************************************************************************************************************************

According to multiple users expressing their frustration through Twitter (http://twitter NULL.com/search?q=iphone%20alarm), come New Years 2011 (where ever you are) your iPhone alarm clock won’t function correctly. You may recall a similar bug in iOS (http://www NULL.9to5mac NULL.com/33276/daylight-savings-welcomes-ios-alarm-bug-to-europe) when daylight savings time switched on but this is exactly the opposite. This New Year’s 2011 iPhone alarm clock bug shows its face to users without recurring alarms.

This means that anybody who sets an alarm just for tomorrow won’t be woken up by the iPhone’s built-in alarm clock application. To avoid this issue you need to set a recurring alarm by tapping repeat to select the days you want the alarm to go off on. Apple is yet to say anything and it is still unknown whether this is iOS 4.2.1 only or if it affects past system versions too. Be sure to tell everyone you know with iPhones! (via Engadget (http://www NULL.engadget NULL.com/2010/12/31/psa-iphone-alarms-not-working-come-new-years-day-2011/))

Update: We just ran a few tests and the above iPhone alarm clock issue fixes itself on January 3rd. You should follow our steps to avoid the issue above until then. Reader Aaron F. (https://twitter NULL.com/aaronmfisher) has let us know that the issue is occurring on his iOS 4.1 iPhone 4 as well. Let us know if you see the issue on anything earlier.

(http://www NULL.9to5mac NULL.com/45310/new-years-2011-breaks-non-recurring-iphone-alarm-clocks/repear)

How to: Win 7–Fix for printer share error 0x000006d9

I ran across an interesting error this week that I hadn’t seen before, on a Windows 7 pc as I attempted to share a printer. I would go into the printer properties –> sharing tab and label the printer and as soon as I clicked on either apply or ok I would see “Printer settings could not be saved. Operation could not be completed (error 0x000006d9). The issue turned out to be caused by the Windows Firewall being turned off.

The solution was actually very easy -

1 – Go to Control Panel –> Administrative Tools –> Services

Once you are in services – go to the bottom and make sure the Windows Firewall is turned on

If the Firewall isn’t turned on – Double click directly where it says Windows Firewall. You will get a pop up window where you can click on start.

Once you have started the Firewall service – > Click on OK. (You can close the Firewall –> Services –> and Control Panel Windows.

2 – Now try and SHARE the printer, it should share without any errors
3 – If you have a need or reason for running with the Firewall off, you can at this point go back in and stop the firewall in Control Panel – > Administrative Tools –> Services.

You can now attach to your shared printer from other pc’s…….

How to: Add an automatic signature to the bottom of your emails on your Android phone

With the amount of email being sent from my Android phone these days, one of the easiest things to do was add a signature, so that at the end of email typed on my phone its says my name followed by “Sent from my HTC EVO” so that others now I’m working from my phone.

Adding a signature to your e-mail — especially when you’re working from a smartphone — can be either a badge of honor, or an excuse.

Adding a signature in your Android smartphone’s email account is easy.

Start your email app.
Press the menu button. (On the phone)
Choose “More.”
Choose “Settings.”
Choose “General Settings”
Tap “Signature.”
Type whatever message you want to add automatically at the bottom of your email. (Yes this is where you can brag that you have the latest and greatest technology)**
Click OK.

**Keep in mind that if you have more than 1 email account set up on your phone, that you will have to repeat the steps while in each account. The good thing about that is that you can have a message specific for each account.

Signatures can be handy to let the recipient know that you’re working from a phone, and so the response might not be as long as it would be if you were working from a desktop.

Software: Error "The operation failed. An object could not be found" when you click Send and Receive in Outlook

This one was just brought to my attention today by one of my customers. They recently went thru an upgrade from Office 2003 to Office 2007. Now when they attempt to send/receive an email they get the error “The operation failed. An object could not be found” (Shown Below).

It appears that the issue involves your profile in Outlook. The follow steps should correct the issue.

Steps are from Microsoft Support Article #312354 (LINK) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/312354 (http://support NULL.microsoft NULL.com/kb/312354)

- To resolve this behavior, create a new profile. To do this, follow these steps:

Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
Double-click the Mail icon.
In the Mail Setup dialog box, click Show Profiles.
If you want to be able to select a specific profile each time you start Outlook, click the General tab, click Prompt for a profile to be used, and then click Add.
In the New Profile dialog box, under Profile Name, type a descriptive name for the new profile, and then click OK.
In the E-mail Accounts dialog box, select Add a new e-mail account in the e-mail options, and then click Next.
Click the type of server that your e-mail account works with, and then click Next.
Complete all of the required fields, including those that are on the tabs that appear after you click More Settings.
When you finish providing the required information, click Finish

ALERT: Windows Live Messenger 2009 Users–“Active links in Messenger 2009 temporarily turned off to prevent a malicious worm”

Microsoft has announced via the Windows Team Blog (LINK) http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2010/11/12/security-alert-active-links-in-messenger-2009-temporarily-turned-off-to-prevent-a-malicious-worm.aspx (http://windowsteamblog NULL.com/windows_live/b/windowslive/archive/2010/11/12/security-alert-active-links-in-messenger-2009-temporarily-turned-off-to-prevent-a-malicious-worm NULL.aspx) that they are now blocking Active links in Windows Live Messenger 2009. What that means is that when you are in a chat with someone, if a link appears that you will NOT be able to directly click on it to open the link. If you wish to see the link you will need to copy it from the chat window and then past it into your browser.

Keep in mind that not only in WLM chat but in all chat programs there is always a possibility of receiving “Rogue” links that were not actually sent by the person who you are talking to. If you ever receive a link via chat, you want to make sure and check with the person you are talking to, so that you can confirm if its legit or not.

Those who click on the malicious link, will download a Worm (a form of virus), which will install on your pc, and then use your pc to send itself to all your friends links. As always you should make sure you have an up to date Antivirus.

A particularly malicious worm (a self-replicating computer virus) is currently trying to spread itself through many of the world’s largest instant messaging and social networks, including Windows Live Messenger 2009. We’re very serious about protecting our customers, and are pursuing multiple avenues to help stop its progress. The worm spreads by inserting a link into an IM conversation with a person whose computer is already infected. When someone clicks the link, it opens in a browser, downloads the worm on the recipient’s computer, and then repeats this process.

Normally, when Messenger sees a web address in a conversation it is turned into a hyperlink which, when clicked, automatically opens in a web browser. This feature makes it very easy for the malicious worm to be unknowingly installed on your computer by clicking on the link and being sent to a web site containing the malicious software. We’re pursuing a number of activities to help protect you, working actively with industry experts and law enforcement to help stop this criminal activity.

Most notably, we’ve temporarily turned off active hyperlinks for web addresses sent in IM conversations using Windows Live Messenger 2009. You will still be able to copy a web address and paste it into a browser window if you know it to be safe, but by removing active hyperlinks from Messenger 2009, we’re taking a significant step towards stopping the unintentional spreading of this worm.

Because we’ve now blocked active links in Messenger 2009, starting today, some customers may also see a notification in the main Messenger window warning them that some features might not be available.

Messenger warning message (http://windowsteamblog NULL.com/cfs-file NULL.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles/00-00-00-53-82-metablogapi/6116 NULL.messenger_2D00_warning_5F00_3E135389 NULL.png)

Messenger 2011 is not impacted in the same way, thanks to its Link Safety feature. However, we are actively monitoring the situation and investigating different approaches to help protect customers using the latest version of Messenger, should the situation change.

As always, we encourage customers to exercise caution with links to web pages that you receive in IMs, especially if the links are to a web page that you are not familiar with, unsure of the destination of, or suspicious of. Malicious software may be installed in your computer simply by visiting a web page with harmful content.

If you think your computer may have already been infected by a malicious worm, check the , please visit the Security TechCenter on Microsoft TechNet (http://technet NULL.microsoft NULL.com/en-us/security/default NULL.aspx), and then download and use the malicious software removal tool (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/security/malwareremove/default NULL.aspx). For additional help with Messenger, check out the Messenger Solution Center (http://windowslivehelp NULL.com/product NULL.aspx?productid=2).

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Category Archives: Solutions