Telecommute: Preparing for Polar Vortexes, Super-Flu, and Road Closures

microISV How-To's

Weather’s changing here in Maryland. Seasonal, mostly. But we had polar vortex brutal cold last Winter. There’s bridge construction going on between here and Baltimore, with lane closures both promised and complex, changing with rush hour traffic flow. And the super-flu is working its way East. Makes me want to work from home, and connect remotely into computers for work. I’m ready to telecommute; are you?

snowplow out front? telecommute to work!

Telecommutes and remote control for business computers require software. Several types exist; not all of them work for telecommuting.

  • Remote Repair: This is for remoting into a computer for repairs or training, and it requires a person at the computer being controlled, to click a link or run a program. The software used for the connection goes away after the connection is closed, so you can’t log back in without starting over.
  • Managed Services: This is for working on computers unattended. I use a program like this, that lets me control hundreds of computers on-demand. While it can be used for working remotely, perhaps for an entire office, it’s not the economical choice for telecommuting.
  • Remote Login: This is for telecommuting. Like the managed services software, it can connect to an unattended computer, but it will generally be easier to use, and add features like remote printing (print in the office, to your home printer), and remote sound (you hear the office computer’s sounds from home).

There are some other considerations before choosing to telecommute. If your office has gone to the cloud, just log into the cloud servers directly from home. Check with your MIS (management information systems) department first, to see if they have any limitations in place; some systems will only allow logins from work locations. If you run processor-intensive programs, like dictation and speech recognition, it’s better to install those locally, and then just send the completed documents to the work machine.

In Maryland, call us at 410-871-2877 for help getting up and running with telecommuting. We’ve worked with many programs, and can recommend both free and paid products for most requirements. Outside Maryland, we may still be able to help, by remote login, of course.

Phony Phone Calls, Fake Tech Support

Field Reports

Several international fake tech support companies have recently been ordered to pay more than $5.1 million for their acts against unaware computer users. The charges against these fake tech support companies were invoked after they impersonated major companies such as Dell, Microsoft, McAfee, and Norton. The operations were mostly based in India and targeted countries with English-speaking consumers, tricking them into believing that their computers were teeming with malware. The fake tech support companies, impersonating well-known companies, charged consumers hundreds of dollars to remotely access and “fix” their machines.

The fake tech support companies currently facing Federal Trade Commission charges are:

Pecon Software Ltd. Et al.

Marczak et al.

PCCare247 Inc. et al.

Finmaestros, LLC et al.

Lakshmi Infosoul Services Pvt. Ltd. Et al.

Zeal IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Et al.

If you receive a phone call about malware on your device, don’t be fooled.

Microsoft Says Malware is in my Computer. Which One?

Field Reports

I wonder just how big the call center is that’s calling every phone number in the USA and saying these words…

“Hello. My name is Mike”
(Sounded more like his name was anything but Mike, actually.)
“I am calling from the Microsoft. We have for last fours weeks now see malware in your computer.”
Me: Hello, Mike!
“Hello?”
Me: Well, that’s OK. My computers get messed up a lot. Kids.
“Well, yes, we now see malwares in your computer, and we can fix…”
Me: Which one?
“What?”
Me: Which computer is it in? I have eleven.
“How many computer you have?”
Me: Eleven. All the kids have at least one, and a school notebook. Tell me the name of the sick one, or the user name, and I’ll let you fix it.
(long silence. quiet hangup, really)

Remember, fraud implies trust. Your trust. When in doubt, ask lots of basic questions. Of course, “Mike” is no more of a Microsoft employee, contractor, or affiliate than any other con artist. The numbers were in his favor that I would have a Windows-based computer. When you get the call, or the new version when this one stops paying off, just ask nice dumb questions, and it will become very clear, very fast, than the caller isn’t what he claims. Then either hang up, or explain to Mike that there are better phone bank jobs in answering tech support calls than in dialing out for fake malware cleanups.