New Laptop

[Herb]

8.1 is definately an improvement. My daughter is chuffed to bits. The laptop performs well, and all of the social networking stuff she likes is prominent.

The Toshiba is a nice machine. Feels well put together, and I would recommend the refurbished route, at least from Argos. The PC was absolutely mint and back to the original factory spec. We saved quite a bit. £300 was an absolute bargain for this spec of hardware.

Argos have a pretty much no quibble return policy, so it could have been returned for any number of reasons not related to a failure of the actual machine?

[slparry]

8.1 is definately an improvement. My daughter is chuffed to bits. The laptop performs well, and all of the social networking stuff she likes is prominent.

The Toshiba is a nice machine. Feels well put together, and I would recommend the refurbished route, at least from Argos. The PC was absolutely mint and back to the original factory spec. We saved quite a bit. £300 was an absolute bargain for this spec of hardware.

Argos have a pretty much no quibble return policy, so it could have been returned for any number of reasons not related to a failure of the actual machine?

Toshiba's are, as you've noted Jim, good build quality, and as you say the spec you've got is great!

[Boxered]

Of course part of the problem often is that people don't use common sense and run emailed executable files etc.

Recently there's been a flood (still ongoing) of zipped executables going around on emails purporting to be from the HMRC, DHL, Royal Mail, Barclays etc etc all trying to get a user to run the attached file. Once run that machine would also be infected and start pumping out emails from its contact list. So if you receive any such emails just bin them.

Agreed, the really worrying one at the moment is the Cryptolocker virus,
this is really nasty, usually arrives as an email attachment disguised as a pdf file, once in your system it encrypts all of your files and demands a ransom of 2 bitcoins to be paid within 24 hours or the price doubles, it does appear that once you pay the ransom they will decrypt your files, which is good of them
The encryption they use is unbreakable, so you either pay up pronto, or lose all of your files.
There are a few utilities available to help prevent you getting infected
such as cryptoprevent http://www.foolishit.com/download/crypt ... installer/

The source has been traced to the Ukraine, but they remain at large and are making a mint.

Steve

[slparry]

Of course part of the problem often is that people don't use common sense and run emailed executable files etc.

Recently there's been a flood (still ongoing) of zipped executables going around on emails purporting to be from the HMRC, DHL, Royal Mail, Barclays etc etc all trying to get a user to run the attached file. Once run that machine would also be infected and start pumping out emails from its contact list. So if you receive any such emails just bin them.

Agreed, the really worrying one at the moment is the Cryptolocker virus,
this is really nasty, usually arrives as an email attachment disguised as a pdf file, once in your system it encrypts all of your files and demands a ransom of 2 bitcoins to be paid within 24 hours or the price doubles, it does appear that once you pay the ransom they will decrypt your files, which is good of them
The encryption they use is unbreakable, so you either pay up pronto, or lose all of your files.
There are a few utilities available to help prevent you getting infected
such as cryptoprevent http://www.foolishit.com/download/crypt ... installer/

The source has been traced to the Ukraine, but they remain at large and are making a mint.

Steve

2 bitcoins! XE.com list

1.00 XBT = 561.876 GBP

so over £1100!!! ouch!

Can such scammers be executed!

[Herb]

Something needs to be done, but there is limited ability to bring people to justice when they commit cyber crimes across international borders.

It is a worry, some of the phishing emails I get are increasingly sophisticated. They used to be really obvious, but not so much any more.

I hope I am savvy enough to not be caught out, but that said, I had my Paypal account stolen from a couple of years back but paypal noticed the activity and I was reimbursed. The break in was most probably my fault for being a moron with passwords, but I learnt a lesson.

[slparry]

Something needs to be done, but there is limited ability to bring people to justice when they commit cyber crimes across international borders.

It is a worry, some of the phishing emails I get are increasingly sophisticated. They used to be really obvious, but not so much any more.

I hope I am savvy enough to not be caught out, but that said, I had my Paypal account stolen from a couple of years back but paypal noticed the activity and I was reimbursed. The break in was most probably my fault for being a moron with passwords, but I learnt a lesson.

Previous vehicle reg numbers make decent passwords Jim, you may remember the reg number of some bike or car you had ten years ago but no one else would. Plus as they're a jumble of letters and numbers they're not so easy for brute force attacks

[Herb]

I can't remember the reg of my current bike, let alone previous ones.

I have an ingenious (for me) system now for passwords which means every password I use is different but easily memorable and contains letters, numbers and symbols.

I choose a theme, which I change regularly, then change numbers for letters and symbols and then add a code or name relevant to the website.

For example, I might choose cars as a theme, so my paypal password would be m0nde0p@y. (It's not so don't go trying) That way, I only need to remember the theme and the rest fits into place.

I was a dunce before, and accidently used my paypal password on a new web forum. 2 days later my account was hacked by someone in Hong Kong.

[Boxered]

[
2 bitcoins! XE.com list

1.00 XBT = 561.876 GBP

so over £1100!!! ouch!

Can such scammers be executed!

Oh Yes, and if you don't pay in 24h it doubles, and if you remove the virus before you pay it quadruples 'co they have to re infect you before they can de crypt you

we have 3 customers who have been hit, 2 are business and 1 home user, only 1 has paid the ransom.

more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoLocker

Steve

EDIT The Register are reporting that those nice people at cryptolocker have reduced their demand due to the soaring price of bitcoin, down from 2 to 0.5! thats jolly decent of them eh?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/11/25 ... ion_price/

[slparry]

To see it in action

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz2kmmsM ... r_embedded

I would love to spend some time with the authors of this piece of shit, preferably in a small room with a big baseball bat

[Boxered]

A bit embarrassing for the US police

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2 ... NETTXT3487

Steve

[Boxered]

Previous vehicle reg numbers make decent passwords Jim, you may remember the reg number of some bike or car you had ten years ago but no one else would. Plus as they're a jumble of letters and numbers they're not so easy for brute force attacks

That is something that I have done in the past, this article has made me have a rethink

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24519306

Interesting stuff

Steve

[SP250]

And what the F**k is a bitcoin and where do you get one??

[Boxered]

Bitcoin is a virtual currency

here are the basics

http://bitcoin.org/en/faq

Steve

[SP250]

Sounds like a virtual scam to me then.
If you can't hold it in your hand why would anyone trust that it was worth something.
Bet you can't go into your local BMW dealer and buy a bike with it.