Monday, January 28, 2013

The Beatles make their debut on iTunes - 2010

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Middle Ages Tech Support

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Busted by the FBI?






New Internet Scam
‘Ransomware’ Locks Computers, Demands Payment


There is a new “drive-by” virus on the Internet, and it often carries a fake message—and fine—purportedly from the FBI.
“We’re getting inundated with complaints,” said Donna Gregory of the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), referring to the virus known as Reveton ransomware, which is designed to extort money from its victims.
Reveton is described as drive-by malware because unlike many viruses—which activate when users open a file or attachment—this one can install itself when users simply click on a compromised website. Once infected, the victim’s computer immediately locks, and the monitor displays a screen stating there has been a violation of federal law.
The bogus message goes on to say that the user’s Internet address was identified by the FBI or the Department of Justice’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section as having been associated with child pornography sites or other illegal online activity. To unlock their machines, users are required to pay a fine using a prepaid money card service.
“Some people have actually paid the so-called fine,” said the IC3’s Gregory, who oversees a team of cyber crime subject matter experts. (The IC3 was established in 2000 as a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. It gives victims an easy way to report cyber crimes and provides law enforcement and regulatory agencies with a central referral system for complaints.)

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Podcast: Reveton Ransomware
“While browsing the Internet a window popped up with no way to close it,” one Reveton victim recently wrote to the IC3. “The window was labeled FBI and said I was in violation of one of the following: illegal use of downloaded media, under-age porn viewing, or computer-use negligence. It listed fines and penalties for each and directed me to pay $200 via a MoneyPak order. Instructions were given on how to load the card and make the payment. The page said if the demands were not met, criminal charges would be filed and my computer would remain locked on that screen.”
The Reveton virus, used by hackers in conjunction with Citadel malware—a software delivery platform that can disseminate various kinds of computer viruses—first came to the attention of the FBI in 2011. The IC3 issued a warning on its website in May 2012. Since that time, the virus has become more widespread in the United States and internationally. Some variants of Reveton can even turn on computer webcams and display the victim’s picture on the frozen screen.
“We are getting dozens of complaints every day,” Gregory said, noting that there is no easy fix if your computer becomes infected. “Unlike other viruses,” she explained, “Reveton freezes your computer and stops it in its tracks. And the average user will not be able to easily remove the malware.”
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Friday, January 25, 2013


Mac Basics: Time Machine

Summary

Learn how to set up Time Machine to perform backups, how to restore items (or your entire system) from a Time Machine backup, how to migrate existing Time Machine backups to a new Mac, and more.

Products Affected

Mac OS X 10.6, OS X Lion, OS X Mountain Lion, Time Machine
Time Machine is the built-in backup that works with your Mac and an external drive (sold separately) or Time Capsule. Connect the drive, tell Time Machine to use it, and relax. Time Machine automatically backs up your entire Mac, including system files, applications, accounts, preferences, email messages, music, photos, movies, and documents. But what makes Time Machine different from other backup applications is that it not only keeps a spare copy of every file, it remembers how your system looked on any given day—so you can revisit your Mac as it appeared in the past. Time Machine keeps hourly backups for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the past month, and weekly backups until your backup drive is full.
OS X Lion and Mountain Lion let you encrypt the Time Machine backup external drive using FileVault 2.
Time Machine in Mountain Lion also lets you encrypt Time Capsule backups.
Collapse All | Expand All

Setting up Time Machine backups using an external drive

Setting up Time Machine is as easy as connecting an external drive to your Mac via Thunderbolt, FireWire or USB. You can also use a secondary internal drive if your desktop Mac has one (that is, a drive that you don't start up from).
If you haven't specified a Time Machine backup device yet, Time Machine asks if you would like to use the disk for backups the first time you connect it.

Click "Use as Backup Disk" to confirm you want to use the drive for Time Machine backups.  Time Machine preferences will then open with this drive selected as your backup destination.
Check "Encrypt Backup Disk" if you want to encrypt the Time Machine backup external drive using FileVault 2 (OS X Lion and Mountain Lion only). Note: If you want to use Encrypt Backup Disk, but the choice is dimmed (grayed out), you'll need to turn on FileVault 2.
That's all you have to do for Time Machine to automatically backup your Mac.

Manually preparing a new disk for Time Machine
  1. If you want to erase a disk before using it with Time Machine, follow these steps:
  2. Open Disk Utility (located in the Utilities folder).
  3. Connect the disk if it isn't already attached.
  4. In the left side of the Disk Utility window, select the disk you want to use with Time Machine.
  5. Optional: If you want to partition the disk, click the Partition tab and select a layout. Make sure "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" is selected in the Format menu for the partition that will be used for backups. Click Apply.
  6. Click the Erase tab.
  7. Optional: If you want to securely erase the disk, click Security Options to configure, then click OK.
  8. Click Erase.
  9. After erasing, open Time Machine preferences in System Preferences and configure as described in the section above.
     
About the first backup to an external drive
You may want to set up Time Machine in the evening so that the initial backup can be done overnight because it may take a while depending on the size of your OS X volume. You should not interrupt the initial backup. You can continue to use your Mac while Time Machine backs up.
Once the initial backup is completed, Time Machine performs subsequent hourly backups of only the files that have changed on your Mac since the last backup (as long as your backup drive is connected).
Tip: You can manually initiate a Time Machine backup cycle at any time by choosing Back up Now from the Time Machine menu, even if you have Time Machine preferences set to off.
Changing your backup drive
You can manually select another backup drive in Time Machine preferences.
  1. Select Time Machine menu > Open Time Machine Preferences…
  2. Click "Select Disk…"
  3. Choose a drive where backups will be stored, then click “Use Backup Disk”
Note: Every available drive that can be used to store backups is listed. If you’ve partitioned a drive, the available partitions are listed. Time Machine can’t backup to an external drive that's connected to an AirPort Extreme, Time Capsule, or a drive formatted for Microsoft Windows (NTFS or FAT format).  If you select an NTFS or FAT-formatted drive, Time Machine prompts you to reformat the drive. Choose a different drive or reformat the drive in Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. Because reformatting erases any files on the drive, only do this if you no longer need the files or if you have copies of them on a different drive.
The most common format for a Time Machine backup drive is Mac OS Extended (Journaled)  format, but Time Machine also supports Mac OS Extended (Case sensitive, Journaled) and XSan formats.
If the drive is partitioned using the Master Boot Record (MBR) partition type, some partitions may not be available for use with Time Machine. The GUID Partition Table (GPT) or Apple Partition Map (APM) partition types are recommended.
Time Machine works best if you use your backup drive only for Time Machine backups. If you keep files on your backup drive, Time Machine won’t backup those files and the space available for Time Machine backups will be reduced.
OS X Mountain Lion, OS X Lion v10.7.2 and later: Starting from the recovery partition of a Time Machine backup drive
Hold down the Option key at startup to boot into the startup manager. Select the Recovery system of the Time Machine backup to start from. Once started, you will have all of the functionality of Recovery.

Setting up Time Machine for backups using a Time Capsule

Selecting items to exclude from the backup

Restoring data from Time Machine backups

Additional Information

Backup drive fills up

Important: Information about products not manufactured by Apple is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute Apple’s recommendation or endorsement. Please contact the vendor for additional information.
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