All Geeks are not created equal. Capitol City Geeks offers expert computer technicians and network engineers in Washington DC, Northern VA, MD, Middle TN and AL

Tuesday next week Slates record-tying 34 patches for Windows, IE, Office and SharePoint

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Shame on you if you do not back up your data but please call Capitol City Geeks at 877-HAV-GEEKS if you need some help doing it from our industry certified and recently background checked technicians. It is always much cheaper to back it up now than trying to recover it later. Please click on the link for 5 top recommendations.

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Let me Google that for you.

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More than 74,000 PCs at nearly 2,500 organizations around the globe were compromised over the past year and a half in a botnet infestation designed to steal login credentials to bank sites, social networks, and e-mail systems, a security firm said Wednesday.

The systems were infected with the Zeus Trojan and the botnet was dubbed “Kneber” after a username that linked the infected PCs on corporate and government systems, according to NetWitness.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Merck, Cardinal Health, Paramount Pictures, and Juniper Networks were among the targets in the attack. NetWitness speculated that criminals in Eastern Europe using a command-and-control server in Germany sent attachments containing the malware in e-mails or links to the malware on Web sites that employees within the companies clicked on.

NetWitness said it discovered more than 75 gigabytes worth of stolen data during routine analytic tasks as part of an evaluation of a client network on January 26. The cache of stolen data included 68,000 corporate login credentials, access to e-mail systems, online banking sites, Facebook, Yahoo, Hotmail, 2,000 SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate files and data on individuals, NetWitness said in a statement and in a whitepaper available for download from its Web site.

In addition to stealing specific data, Zeus can be used to search for and steal any file on the computer, download and execute programs and allow someone to remotely control the computer.

More than half of the compromised machines were also infected with peer-to-peer bot malware called Waledac, the company said. Nearly 200 countries were affected, with most of the infections found in Egypt, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United States.

The news comes after Google announced an attack targeting it and what is believed to be more than 30 other companies and which was linked back to China. McAfee dubbed that attack “Operation Aurora.”

“While Operation Aurora shed light on advanced threats from sponsored adversaries, the number of compromised companies and organizations pales in comparison to this single botnet,” said Amit Yoran, chief executive of NetWitness and former Director of the National Cyber Security Division. “These large-scale compromises of enterprise networks have reached epidemic levels.”

Call us today 1-877-HAV-GEEKS (428-4335) or visit us online at www.CapCityGeeks.com

A federal appeals court has ordered Microsoft to strip custom XML support from Word 2007 by January 11, effectively banning the sale of Microsoft Word and Office (which includes the Word software) in their current form. Microsoft may be forced to stop selling Word 2007.

The injunction stems from a patent infringement lawsuit filed by the small Canadian firm i4i in 2007. The suit claims i4i owns the custom XML editing technology that is included in Microsoft Word.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas agreed, slapping Microsoft with a $290 million fine and ordering it to remove custom XML capabilities or stop selling the infringing software.

Microsoft appealed, but the lower court’s ruling was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. And now the software giant has precious little time to re-release Word and Office 2007 before being barred from selling the profitable office software.

In a statement issued yesterday, Microsoft’s Director of Public Affairs Kevin Kutz expressed confidence in the company’s ability to meet the injunction date.

With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products. Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for U.S. sale and distribution by the injunction date. In addition, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.

While speaking with Stuart J. Johnston at Datamation Microsoft analyst Rob Enderle admits the ruling “shows the increasing hostility of this market,” before adding, “For Microsoft, I think it’s going to be an increasingly expensive way to do business, with a lot more patent vetting.”

Regardless of whether new versions of Office 2007 will appear in time to meet demand, this significant legal decision will only further the cutthroat approach technology companies apply to protect their patents.

I have lived in Washington DC for 2 years and my son has now been home schooled for 18 of those months. We brought him from a VA school system where I was raised and were just appalled by the DC public school system especially since we live in the Chevy Chase area of Washington DC. If the Upper NW elementary schools are this bad, how bad must they be in NE and SE?

Mr. Alexander has a plan to “Bridge the Digital Divide” making it finally possible for our DC students to compete with their counterparts in Fairfax and Montgomery County.

Leo Alexander knows that this can not be done without finally bringing a seamless technology plan to the DC Public School system that will not only allow our children the
chance to raise their test scores but to see what is available to them outside of their own neighborhood.

Capitol City Geeks fully support his efforts. Please visit Leo’s newly designed website at www.LeoAlexanderForMayor.com

If you don't know, as of today, Facebook will automatically index all your info on Google, which allows everyone to view it. To change this option, go to Settings –> Privacy Settings –> Search –> then UN-CLICK the box that says 'Allow indexing'. Facebook kept this one quiet. Copy and paste onto your status for all your friends ASAP and become of Fan of Capitol City Geeks.

For service or support please call 877-HAV-GEEKS.

Capitol City Geeks Holiday Special – New PC and 20″ monitor plus installation $699 includes a 1 year onsite warranty and Trend Micro 2010 Internet Security. Not only will we install your PC but we will also protect and service it at your home for one full year after purchase. Data back up and restoration additional.