Dear Clients and Friends,

I hope that everyone is doing well and having a great summer. It is hard to believe that it is almost time for a new school year to start. It seems like summer gets shorter each year. I have a couple of things that I would like to tell you about this month. The first one concerns a scam that is becoming more and more prevalent in today’s environment.

If you get a pop-up on your computer screen telling you that you have a problem and need to report it to Microsoft it is probably a fake. It seems that these scam artists are hitting you with a pop up informing you that your computer has some type of virus or other issue and wants to know if you would like to report it to Microsoft. If you say yes it asks for some basic information like your name and phone number. Shortly after you submit the information, you receive a call telling you that Microsoft would like to help you fix the problems with your computer for a flat fee. This fee is usually between 150 and 200 dollars.

Please do not fall for this scam! Microsoft does not do this. You should never give anyone like this your credit card information or access to your computer. Once they have your credit card information they can make all types of unauthorized charges to your account. If you give them remote access to allow them to “fix” your computer, they can copy any information that is one your hard drive. This could include banking data and other personal information.

I have recently been introduced to a new product that I would like to share with you. If you are like me and wear progressive lens glasses, you probably have a difficult time focusing on papers in front of you, then looking at your computer screen or maybe even some object in the distance. Sometimes it is hard to focus on a cell phone or tablet and then look away at a distant object. I recently needed a new pair of glasses and William Green at Alabaster Optical suggested that I try a new type of progressive lens. They are called Shamir by Intouch. I have been extremely pleased with these new lenses. I can easily change my focus from a paper in front of me to my computer screen without difficulty.

As always, please feel free to call our office at 205-980-9903 with any computer questions that you might have. We are here to serve you. Until next month….

John Browning
Cahaba Valley Computer Services, LLC