Windward Computer Medics

Antivirus is not as important as it used to be! You should always have an antivirus but the free one Microsoft includes with Windows is fine. I repeat this several times a day to folks in the shop and have been for years.

https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/malware-free-cyberattacks-rise-how-to-detect

I'm pointing out this article to emphasize that the dangerous crooks are not using "viruses" anymore, even if you're not an "Enterprise" which is what this article is actually focusing upon. Instead, the crooks are tricking people into believing the email or phone call or text they send you is really legitimate. Once you fall for that, it often leads to worse situations than the old virus infections.

Malware-Free Cyberattacks Are On the Rise; Here's How to Detect Them Last year, 71% of enterprise breaches were pulled off quietly, with legitimate tools, research shows.

Beware FAKE Quickbooks scamming email

Be extremely, EXTREMELY cautious clicking the blue links in emails!
If you weren't expecting the email you probably shouldn't click it. Neither should you open any kind of attachment in an unexpected email either!

Intuit warns of QuickBooks phishing threatening to suspend accounts Tax software vendor Intuit has warned that QuickBooks customers are being targeted in an ongoing series of phishing attacks impersonating the company and trying to lure them with fake account suspension warnings.

Do not fully trust the number showing on your phone! These spoofing scams mentioned in the article are not going away anytime soon.
Side Note: if Zdnet throws lots of ads when you visit it, adding Adblock Plus (not Adblock) to your browser can make things tolerable.

FBI warns of online scammers impersonating government officials, law enforcement

FBI warns of online scammers impersonating government officials, law enforcement | ZDNet Scammers typically call victims and say their identity was used in a crime before asking them to verify their social security number and date of birth.

WD "My Book" backup drives BIG PROBLEM !

Big news. But this is only about Western Digital backup drives that have the name MY BOOK on them. These particular MY BOOK backup drives that have an internet cable plugged into them (not just a USB cord) are susceptible to a remote attack that WIPES OUT THE DATA. The manufacturer Western Digital is warning all who have a "My Book" to disconnect the internet cable *if* an internet cable is connected directly to it, to prevent a Factory Reset which would wipe out all the data backed up to that particular model of backup drive. If you don't have a backup drive labeled as MY BOOK this does not apply to you. If you have a My Book and its ONLY connected with a USB cord and its power cord, this does not apply to you either apparently. And unplugging an internet cable from a computer itself is NOT necessary.
https://threatpost.com/my-book-live-wiped-rce-attacks/167270/

I repeat endlessly that that times have changed and the best backup is one you disconnect from a computer and the internet, if that's used, after completing a backup.

"Expect The Best. Prepare For The Worst."

In recent times, Ransomware is hitting mostly large businesses but any business' best remedy is the same for all of us: HAVE BACKUPS AND DISCONNECT THEM FROM ANY COMPUTER WITH INTERNET ACCESS! Backups will also save any computer user from losing their precious pictures and documents when a computer storage drive fails, and they ALL fail sooner or later.

Article below is one of many stories about how companies and individuals have saved their butts by putting in the effort to make backups that were kept offline and allowed them to rebuild. Its another reminder that "Regret is easy. Forethought is difficult."

This company was hit by ransomware. Here's what they did next, and why they didn't pay up | ZDNet "When it hit, we ran to our server room and data centre and started pulling plugs out." How one company was hit by ransomware, but refused to pay up.