Your Place for Mr. Pink's News and Very Own Hot Tips!       Are you ready for "The Cloud?"  The storm is upon us - and comes bearing gifts. Many of you have probably heard of "The Cloud," but might be wondering what it is exactly.  "The Cloud" simply means storing all your stuff (data) and doing all your computer work on the internet. All your stuff is then readily accessible from any internet-ready device. How? By signing up with one of the companies providing cloud stuff is how. We have clients on the Google cloud and the Microsoft cloud. Because we are anticipating great contributions toward "User Friendliness," we are really looking forward to iCloud by Apple. When working in the cloud it means email, calendar, contacts, documents, spreadsheets etc. are all accessed and managed through a web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome), smartphones (iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, etc.), tablets (iPad), or netbooks. Why is this cool? When sending email from your computer, it shows up as "sent mail" on your smartphone within seconds. When adding or changing a contact on your phone, it is updated on your computer and tablet within seconds. Two or more people, who share the same cloud account, can work on a document simultaneously and see changes in real-time. Best of all, you can go to any internet accessible device (your friend's cell phone, the public library computer, any of your own devices)  and all your stuff is easily accessed. I could go into all the other features like group email, group calendars, spreadsheets, chat, video chat and the fact that it integrates well with Outlook and all Microsoft software, but that would take too long. If you are still plugging your phone into your computer to sync or wishing your email was in one place or wanting your family and/or business to have instant syncopation of calendars etc., maybe it's time for you to think about moving to the cloud. Call us for a free consultation.     You've Been Hacked!      What to do when your password isn't yours anymore. Have you ever received an email from a friend, clicked on a link to a video and all of a sudden your anti-virus software warns you're being attacked? Or worse, you are not warned but shortly following it becomes evident your system is now infected with a virus. Then to make matters yet even more worse, friends contact you saying they've been infected by an email now sent from you. There are three common ways email accounts are used to spread spam or malicious software: A virus takes control of a computer's email program and sends out malicious email. A person or program has hacked your webmail account and is using it to send out malicious email. A computer or webmail account belonging to someone who has you in their contact database has been compromised and is sending out malicious mail pretending to be from you. Once thinking your system has sent out malicious email, or you have been accused of sending out malicious email, there are certain steps you need to take: Scan your system for viruses and malware or have someone do it for you. Change your email password immediately after your system has been deemed clean by your antivirus and anti-malware scans. Make your new email password meet the minimum password recommendation of 8 to 16 characters, 1 capital letter, 1 lower case letter, 1 number, and 1 - 2 special characters. For instance consider something like:           Jim@)!!57 Jim      = user's name @)!!    = 2011 in caps 57       = user's year of birth Contact the people who may have complained about unwanted malicious email from you and ask to be contacted if it happens again. The first two steps above should take care of the first two types of email hacks. The third step will let you know if someone else's computer is the problem. If people are still getting malicious email from you after your computer has been cleaned and your passwords have been changed, you can take a look at all the people who got the malicious email. Even though a pain, try to determine who is missing from that circle of friends or contacts. If you can isolate it down to one or just a few people who are not getting malicious email but do have you and all the affected people in their contacts, you can ask them to have their computer scanned and passwords changed, as they are the likely culprits.        Get a New Password!     Password crackers gone wild. Modern high-powered computers can crack simple passwords quickly and efficiently. This is why we are getting a ton of calls about hacked email, facebook and other accounts every couple of days. We recently even had a customer with a fairly complex password whose YouTube account got hacked. Being "hacked" means someone or something has figured out your password and gained access to your account. We are recommending clients "upgrade" passwords to at least 8 characters long (12 to 16 recommended), contain at least 1 lower case letter, at least 1 upper case letter, at least 1 number, and a special character or two. Special characters are: ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ - + = ] [ { } " : ' , . / <> ? \ | `~ Adding one or two of these to a password makes it much tougher to crack. We've been getting calls about Hotmail, YouTube, Live mail, MSN mail, AOL, Google, Gmail, and COX accounts being hacked. In one case our client changed her AOL password with another simple password and it was hacked again within two weeks. Once the password was changed again, adding two special characters, the client has not had a problem.    No! My Computer Can't Die Now! There's hope - replace that dead computer for less than $400. Meet the netbook! Netbooks are mini-laptop computers. They usually come without a CD/DVD drive* and have 10" screens. The amazing thing is they are fully functional PCs.   And the thing most don't realize about a netbook? You can attach your existing monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard and printer** to your  new netbook! This gives a true desktop experience at your stationary location, yet also provides for an easy on-the-go solution - simply unhook from the external devices and go! Netbook computers were cool when you could get them with Windows XP. Now there are even cooler models, powerful enough to run Windows 7.  We recommend netbooks made by Acer or Asus - but not just any model. MAKE sure the system has the new Intel N570 processor and 2 GIGs of RAM. The ASUS Eee PC 1015PX-SU17 has an Intel dual-core processor and 2 GIG's of RAM. This gives this system enough power to work well with Windows 7. It comes in black, white or blue for less than $400. Click below to see this model at NewEgg.com. ASUS Eee PC 1015PX-SU17 * External USB CD/DVD drives are available starting around $40. ** Mouse and keyboard must be USB type. Printer must be Windows 7 compatible.     Friend us on Facebook!    News, Tips, Free Stuff, Specials Every couple of days we read or hear about something we think our customers should know about. Our Facebook page is our main portal for dispersing these goodies. All our Facebook friends have the latest information. So if you're not already, become our friend on Facebook. If you're already on Facebook, click here to  friend Mr. Pink Computer Shrink. If you are not on Facebook... Um... Well... Call us before your friends forget about you!   Credit Where Credit is Due Mr. Pink accepts payment via all major credit cards. We can accept credit card payment on the spot at the time of your service call, or offer you a Pay Now by credit card link on your emailed invoice. Just ask and we're happy to oblige. Please note that Mr. Pink's policy is that payment is due at the time of service, unless prior arrangements have been made. Your Two Cents If there's a subject you'd like included in our newsletter, just let us know and we're happy to comply. CLICK HERE to email us your ideas. Less Acne, More Experience We've been working with computers for more than 25 years.  Call us at: (805) 966-2966 if you'd like to ask us anything under the sun. :-) Mom & Pop Know Best Mr. Pink Computer Shrink is a home-based and locally-owned business. This means competitive & reasonable rates for you! CLICK HERE to check out our fees & services.