Blog & Updates

phone scams

New Phone Scams on Businesses, Please Send Your Cancelled Check

June 6, 2016

  Ever since the invention of the telephone, there have been money wiring scams. Throughout the decades, these scams have taken many forms. There are times when the cons are more difficult to recognize. Regardless of how it has been dressed up, non-legitimate requests for  money have the potential to be devastating to your organization. The most recent incarnation follows a familiar structure: a phone call seeming to be from a trusted vendor, but they’re asking you for sensitive information.  They say you owe them money, and they ask for a cancelled check to prove you paid them.   We are now seeing our local clients and their businesses targeted by this particular scam. How it works Through social media sites,

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How Twitter Updates Could Help Your Social Media Presence

May 17, 2016

Twitter is known for its short, to-the-point approach to posts. Since its inception, the company has allotted 140-characters per tweet. This included photos and video links, which were automatically shortened to take up only 23-characters. This punchy, stream-of-consciousness style has helped to set Twitter apart from competing social media sites. It was recently announced that the site will soon stop counting photos and links as being part of the 140-character limit. This could open up discussions between companies and clients who use this site, as well as encourage users to add more media to their posts. While Twitter hasn’t formalized when this change will come into effect, it will likely provide more opportunity for companies and consumers to expand their

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High-quality IT support services by Twin State Technical Services, specializing in cybersecurity, data backup, and network management for businesses.

How to spot a suspicious email

March 24, 2016

We have been blogging about the Crypto Virus for some time now because of the serious nature of this threat. We want to make sure that your business and employees are armed with the knowledge of how to handle a suspicious email and attachments. In the example below, you will see a perfect example of how to handle a suspicious email. Steps followed by one of our clients employees: They identified that someone sent them an attachment that they weren’t expecting. The email subject line had nothing to do with the interior email context. They did not open the attachment They forwarded it to us to double check. The Help Desk is always happy to check for you. After we received

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Resurgence of a Crypto Locker Variant

March 15, 2016

We are informing all our clients that we have seen a resurgence of a very dangerous virus variant to the Crypto Locker, which destroys computer data, programs, and files quickly. Rebuilding and restoration from backup is often the only alternative once you are infected. Please inform your employees to be especially vigilant. The virus bypasses AV scans by enticing and tricking the recipient to click on the infected object, and then moves with devastating speed to do its business. The description below provides more detail in what to look for to avoid getting infected. Description: Essentially once this virus is on one of your computers it begins encrypting your personal files. We know for sure it encrypts Microsoft Office documents, Access

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online presence

2016 Online Presence Resolutions

January 7, 2016

It’s the New Year, making resolutions to get healthy, organize and learn to fly fish may be on your list. If you’re a business owner, giving your online presence a check up should be towards the top! Here are 5 simple resolutions you can make this year to connect to your customers online! 1. Help customers quickly find information about your business online Quick fix: Claim or review your local listings on Bing & Google Lasting Change: When you claim your listings, your current or soon-to-be customers will not only find your address, but your phone, hours and photos as well.  Without visiting your website, they can get the information they need to contact you immediately.  This will enhance your online

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Notice: Microsoft Botched Patch

December 11, 2015

Microsoft released a botched patch on patch Tuesday (second Tuesday every month).  Look out for KB3114409, it was meant to give administrators better control to stop Outlook 2010 from opening in safe mode.  However it did the exact opposite, causing Outlook 2010 to only open in safe mode.  You can tell if Outlook is in safe mode by looking at the top of Outlook, it will say, “Microsoft Outlook (Safe Mode).  To remove the update, go to Start->Control Panel->Programs and Features->View Installed updates.  Then search for KG3114409, right click and uninstall.  Microsoft has pulled the update as of Wednesday morning, so it won’t reinstall next time Windows update runs.

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Flooded server room caused by water leak at Twin State Technical Services.

Happy Halloween from TSTS!

October 28, 2015

Everyone has their own favorite way to celebrate Halloween, whether it be candy apples, corn mazes, trick ‘r treating, or a good old-fashioned marathon of monster movies. Here at Twin State Technical Services we like to share IT horror stories. Here is one we would like to share with you… Enjoy! IT: Inoculation for Tetanus On All Hallows’ Eve, “Ned” (name changed to protect the well intentioned!) had been at work late, always the last one to leave. As the moonlight began to stream through his window he suddenly heard an odd sound…Drip. Drip. Sizzle. Ned, being cautious, decided to check out the hall. He heard it again… Drip. Drip. Sizzle. He continued to investigate for a few short minutes

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High-quality IT support and cybersecurity solutions by Twin State Technical Services. Reliable managed IT services for business efficiency.

We are now officially a Google Partner!

October 26, 2015

We earned the badge! Yes, the Google Partner badge and we are pretty excited! This badge represents that we are now officially a Google Partner. Our online marketing services are trusted by Google because we excel with Google products, including AdWords. Our team is constantly adopting the newest tools and technologies, and we’re innovating and always changing to meet demands. Google recognizes that we have three key qualities it takes to be a Google Partner. We have book smarts. We stay up to date with the latest Google technology. Constantly expanding our own knowledge to pass along to you. We have street smarts. Google describes it as “proven success” that puts us above the rest. We use industry best practices

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Crypto-type Virus Alert

August 13, 2015

Recently, we’ve heard reports that some clients have received emails which contain a very bad virus (a Crypto-type Virus, destroying data access). If you didn’t get our email, here’s what you should be on the lookout for. This email comes disguised most commonly as a resume or a scanned file and may have an attachment that has some kind of dot-m (resume.doc-m) – you may think this is from a mobile device or something like that. This particular virus is called Cryptowall, and it works by encrypting your files and follows the scheme requiring you to pay a fee to unlock the files again. While it is easy to disinfect the computer, unencrypting those files is next to impossible without the key that you need

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