Charter Ups Broadband Speeds Again, Bumps Top Tier to 100 MBps

This came in email from our Charter rep and may be of interest to you if you have not already seen this:

Charter Ups Broadband Speeds Again, Bumps Top Tier to 100 Mbps –

DiGeronimo says DSL is Basically Archaic

Original Publication Date: 12/1/2011

Original News Source: Multichannel News

By Todd Spangler — Multichannel News, 12/1/2011 3:00:00 PM

Looking to kick more sand in the face of DSL, Charter Communications is increasing connection speeds of its three top broadband tiers — Express, Plus and Ultra, which will now provide downloads of up to 100 Megabits per second — at no additional cost for subscribers.

The speed boosts are the MSO’s fourth in the last three years. The faster speeds will take effect in markets with DOCSIS 3.0 technology deployed, which represents approximately 95% of Charter’s service area.

“As customers share multiple devices on a single connection, we want to send a very strong message: DSL is basically archaic,” said Rich DiGeronimo, Charter’s senior vice president of product and strategy.

Charter is increasing Internet Express downstream speeds from 12 Mbps to up to 15 Mbps, and increasing upstream speeds from 1 Mbps to up to 3 Mbps. Internet Plus downstream speeds are being increased from 18 Mbps to up to 30 Mbps, and upstream speeds are being increased from 2 Mbps to up to 4 Mbps.

In addition, Charter’s fastest residential offering is increasing from 60 Mbps to 100 Mbps — with Ultra100 providing 100 Mbps downstream and 5 Mbps upstream. Charter’s Internet Lite tier will remain 3 Mbps down.

The midlevel Plus tier, at 30/4, is now faster than the fastest AT&T U-verse Internet service available. Charter’s footprint overlap with AT&T is 60%, although U-verse is not available in all of those areas.

“We believe we have an advantage in this space,” DiGeronimo said. “The thirst for speed is only growing.”

Charter is offering Express for $19.99 per month for 12 months to new customers, Plus for $29.99 per month. Ultra100 is $40 more per month than the Express tier.

“We’re not asking for more money. It’s really about differentiation,” DiGeronimo said. About 90% of Charter’s broadband customers take either Express and Plus service.

Charter’s broadband services are subject to different usage thresholds. Customers with Lite and Express tiers are allotted at 100 Gigabytes of bandwidth usage per month, while those on the Plus and Max services have a threshold of 250 GB per month. The Ultra100 tier will be capped at 500 GB per month; previously, the Ultra60 tier did not have a maximum usage limit. Charter currently does not charge overage fees for those who exceed the thresholds; however, users’ accounts may be suspended for repeated violations.

Charter also is increasing speeds for business customers, bumping up commercial Internet speeds at no cost for two of its most popular services, Charter Business Internet Essentials16 and 25. The speed increase will take place in approximately 95% of Charter’s service areas nationwide.

Specifically, the speed increases are: Internet Essetials16, with download speeds of 16 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 Mbps, will increase to up to 20 Mbps download and up to 3 Mbps upload; and Internet Essentials25, with download speeds of 25 Mbps and upload speeds of 3 Mbps, will increase to up to 30 Mbps download and up to 4 Mbps upload — which the MSO notes is at least 6 times faster than 5 Mbps DSL service and 20 times faster than T1 lines. Charter’s fastest commercial offerings, Pro50 and Pro100, remain the same, providing up to 50 Mbps download/5 Mbps upload and up to 100 Mbps download/5 Mbps upload, respectively.

Homeland Secure IT loves Charter! We help Greenville & Upstate South Carolina individuals & businesses get connected with high speed internet all the time and Charter, especially Charter Business, has the highest customer satisfaction of any of the ISPs we work with. If you are feeling the need for speed, email us at info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748 and we can assist you in the search for the best service and the best price!

Need a FUN band for an Upstate club, bar, party or other event? The Dockside Band wants to play!

If you follow me on twitter or are a friend on facebook, then you probably know I am in an Upstate SC band called The Dockside Band…

We are hoping to book more gigs in the area and need your help!  If you would, please mention us to anyone who matters at bars, clubs, restaurants, and if you know any event coordinators, let them know we are available for bookings too!

We’ll play just about anything, from street fairs and festivals, to weddings, anniversaries, graduations, you name it!  Having a big family reunion? We’re in. Barn raising? Yep, sounds great!

More information can be found by going to http://www.facebook.com/DocksideBand (please LIKE us!) or visit our website at http://www.TheDocksideBand.com

The Dockside Band

The Dockside Band performs what we consider to be “Fun, Summertime” music spanning many genres such as country, rock, beach, blues and folk and many generations, from the 60s to current.  Artists we cover include Jimmy Buffet, Zac Brown, Journey, Bad Company, Matchbox Twenty, Van Morrison, Otis Redding, The Drifters, Kenny Chesney, The Commodores, Toby Keith, Jimi Hendrix, Tom Petty, Garth Brooks, etc…

We have played at restaurants and events that require low volume levels, so that is never an issue!

If you would like to check us out, we are playing New Year’s Eve at The Hide-Out in Easley, and then January 28th at Rendezvous in Greenville!

For more information, give me a call at 864-979-1224 and thank you for your support!!!!

Coming next Tuesday to a Microsoft Windows machine (and some Macs) near you… UPDATES! #PatchTuesday

Security Padlock

Secure IT

Microsoft didn’t forget your Christmas gift….  And it’s coming early!

That’s right, Microsoft Patch Tuesday is upon us again, and this December 13th you can expect a slew of updates covering the entire line of current Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Operating Systems: Windows XP 64 & 32 bit, Server 2003 64 & 32 bit and Itanium based servers, Vista 32 & 64 bit, Windows Server 2008 and the Server Core, Server 2008 R2 Windows 7 32 / 64

Other Software: Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7, 8 and 9, Microsoft Office for Windows 2010 & Office 2004 2008 for Mac and individual applications Publisher 2003 & 2007,  Excel 2003 PowerPoint 2007 & 2010,  PowerPoint Viewer 2007, Office compatibility pack for Word, Excel and PowerPoint File Formats.

Chances are good that if you own a Microsoft Windows machine, or a Mac with Office, then you need to be letting your system update.

The complete bulletin can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/security/bulletin/ms11-dec

If you need assistance applying these updates or with any other computer service issue, please let us know!  864.990.4748 or info@homelandsecureit.com

 

 

The US Postal Service did not email you about a returned or refused package. Don’t open that attachment!

In the last 24hrs, I have spoken with or assisted at least 3 people who have become infected due to opening a malicious email.

One of them was my wifey, Pamela, who received an email from the US Postal Service stating that her package had been refused and to open the attached file for details. Due to her old Microsoft Windows Vista system which without question should be updated, the payload from the trojan was dropped and she was without her computer for 3 hours while over 300,000 items were scanned again and again and her icons restored so she could use her desktop.

What is happening is a bit of social engineering.  The emails appear to come from someone you trust, in this case the Post Office, and they appear to have important information, just too good to pass up. A busy worker may be momentarily fooled, and likely, at the very moment they click on the item, they think, “Ohhh I bet I shouldn’t have done that”, but it is too late.

  • How can you keep from becoming a victim of this type of exploit?
  • Avoid using unpatched Microsoft Windows systems!  When updates are released, install them.
  • Install all updates to important applications, such as Microsoft Office.
  • Install all updates to Adobe Reader, Flash, Acrobat, and to JAVA.
  • Keep current and trustworthy anti-virus such as Trend Micro Titanium 2012 on all your computers.
  • Use caution when opening attachments. Ask yourself why the USPS would be sending you and email and why would the information be in an attachment before clicking on it.

Before I get responses such as “Macs do not have that problem”, yes, Apple Mac OS X does have that problem. We have dealt with almost as many Mac security issues this year as we have Windows 7.  Regardless of the Operating System, a little common sense and preventative maintenance goes a long way!

Should you need help with a virus cleanup or virus removal for your personal computer or your business, we can help. We also partner with Trend Micro to offer Worry-Free, Trend Micro Titanium, and the entire outstanding line of Trend Micro anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-everything software, just give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com.

Vulnerabilities in HP LaserJet and other network printers could expose your data and set your business ablaze

Excuse the sensational title, but it may not be too far from the truth.

There is an article over on ComputerWorld.com that reads, “HP LaserJet Printers vulnerable to attacks, researchers warn“… (opens in a new window).

Our in-house expert, Greg Varner, believes that if an attacker could exploit the device to the point of causing it to brown paper in the fuser,  it would not be overly difficult to disable the safety mechanisms discussed in the article that protects this from happening.

Without question this does give us cause to pause and think about these connected devices.

 

Useful & Quick Keyboard Shortcuts to Save You Time

Keyboard

Keyboard Shortcuts

Just using your mouse to make computer commands takes more time than you think – keyboard shortcuts save both time and energy by reducing multiple clicks to a single combination of keys.

Keyboard shortcuts are used for tasks that you do all the time, such as opening or saving files, but a large number of people do not know they even exist!

The table below offers only a fraction of the common standard-keyboard shortcuts, many of which work across Microsoft Office applications—such as Outlook, Visio, PowerPoint, Word, Excel & Publisher.

A full list of built-in keyboard shortcuts can be found in the Help section of any particular computer-based application.

Press this To do this
F1 Open Help
F7 Check the spelling of titles or words in any Office application with the Spelling & Grammar checker
Windows logo key Open the Start menu
Alt+F4 Quit a program
Alt+Tab Switch between open programs or windows
Ctrl+N Open a new (blank) document
Ctrl+A Select all content in a document, window, or text box
Ctrl+S Save the current file or document (works in most programs)
Ctrl+C Copy the selection
Ctrl+X Cut the selection
Ctrl+V Paste the selection
Ctrl+P Print a document or webpage
Ctrl+Z Undo an action
Ctrl+Y Redo an action
Ctrl+F Find text in a document
Ctrl+H Find and replace text in a document
Ctrl+B Boldface text
Ctrl+I Italicize text
Ctrl+U Underline text
Ctrl+G Go to a page, line, or bookmark in a document
Windows logo key +F1 Display Windows Help and Support
Esc Cancel the current task
Application key Open a menu of commands related to a selection in a program (equivalent to right-clicking the selection)

 

This information comes courtesy of our partner, ACRBO…

And the winner of the free copy of Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012 is… @MontyPhotoArt

An Early Christmas for Ryan

We love to give things away! From Cisco Flip cameras to X-Box 360 game consoles and everything in between…

Our November giveaway was a copy of Trend Micro Titanium Internet Security 2012 and the randomizer picked Ryan Montgomery…

You may know Ryan from Twitter as @MontyPhotoArt, but if you don’t know him at all, you should take  moment to look at his work, he’s one heck of a photographer!  Here’s his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/RyanMontgomeryPhotos

If you didn’t win this time, there will be plenty of other free stuff! The more you connect with us, the more “entries” you get to our little games.

Actually, everyone is a winner.  We’re discounting Trend Micro Internet Security 2012 from the normal retail of 49.99 to only 30.00 because we want everyone to be protected!!!!  If you want this awesome anti-virus for your computers because you will only settle for the best, then come on down and pick up your copy. I doubt we will be able to offer this rate much longer though, so hurry! When our vendor realizes they have been charging too little and raise their rates back up, we will have to follow suit. We have about 50 copies in stock currently.

This deal is only good at our 104 Mauldin Rd, STE E, Greenville, SC office. At this price we can’t ship it to you…

Need anti-virus for your business? Trend Micro and Homeland can help you out as we offer protection for one computer or a thousand, including servers, Microsoft Exchange mail servers and more!  864.990.4748 or info@homelandsecureit.com for more information.

 

Microsoft Ditches Windows 7 Gadgets

Windows 7 Logo

One of the features that made Windows 7 attractive to some people has been the “Gadgets”.  Where you could place a clock, weather, stock ticker, or other gadget on your screen sidebar.

Well, it appears that back in September, Microsoft in their infinite wisdom dropped that feature… If you visit their website looking for gadgets, you will be told that the Windows Live Gallery has been retired “in order to focus support on the much richer set of opportunities available for the newest version of Windows”. You will find only a few options for downloading new gadgets.

Your existing gadgets are there and function fine, but there is no support from MS.

This is presumably in preparation for Microsoft Windows 8, which has a totally different way of handling these live tiles, or gadgets.

1

Disk encryption likely to hinder law enforcement efforts

Hope you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  We sure did, but we are back at work.

While reading an article over on physorg entitled “Research team finds disk encryption foils law enforcement efforts“, I was reminded of conversations from over a dozen years ago with friends in law enforcement about how criminals were using PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) to encrypt their files, from the records of bookies to prostitutes and their client list. We discussed how this simple form of encrypting files would be almost impossible for an investigator to circumvent.

File, folder and entire disk encryption has come a long way since then and is affordable and easy to implement by the typical user of a computer. While it has not become “mainstream”, you can bet that criminals are busily integrating encryption into their storage.

One point they make in the article is that if the police raid the home/business of a (suspected?) criminal, they are likely to find the computer/s on and running. If they can manage to get them in this state, they may be able to move around the drives/folders and copy files to another device. If the criminal shuts the computer down, (or the police do so to move it to their lab) upon bootup or access of the encrypted drive/folder, an encryption key/passphrase would need to be input. Some of these encryption packages are destructive, so if an incorrect attempt is made X number of times, the data becomes totally unusable, even for the legitimate owner.

If you would like to utilize encryption in your home or business to protect against criminals (hopefully not law enforcement), we can help. Shoot us an email to info@homelandsecureit.com or call 864.990.4748 if you are in the Upstate or Greenville SC area and we can assist with protecting your precious data, whether it is a flash drive, usb drive, a folder, a file or an entire drive on your computer.