Ask Leo! #583 – Possible Lastpass Phishing, Ransomware32, MAC address filtering, downloading torrents, and more…

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Let's Talk About Ransomware32

Continue Reading: Let's Talk About Ransomware32
https://askleo.com/21154

Featured

Is MAC address filtering a viable wireless security option?

I've read your posts on network/router security and using WPA to secure your network. I use MAC address filtering and don't use WPA. I realize that means I must physically enter the MAC address of each pc/printer/tv/etc. that wants to connect to my network, but I believe that MAC address filtering is also a viable security solution (with or without WPA or WEP), though using all is probably the most secure. I haven't seen any comments from you on using MAC address filtering, could you comment on this as a security configuration, please?

I do hear about MAC address filtering from time to time. At first, it sounded kind of intriguing, but ultimately it turns out to be kind of like a cheap padlock: it only keeps honest people honest.

It'll certainly keep the casual or accidental connection from happening, which is fine as far as that goes; but for true security, it's actually pretty close to not having any at all.

I'll explain why.

Continue Reading: Is MAC address filtering a viable wireless security option?
https://askleo.com/4350

Is it illegal to download torrent files?

Downloading Torrent Files, is it illegal?

No. It's quite legal to download torrent files.

BUT WAIT …

Before you run off and start downloading last week's bootlegged theatrical movie release, you really need to understand why that particular download, and others like it, probably are illegal.

Continue Reading: Is it illegal to download torrent files?
https://askleo.com/21060

Possible LastPass Phishing Vulnerability

News broke over the weekend about an approach to a phishing attack that could fool you into giving a hacker your LastPass credentials, even bypassing two-factor authentication. It's not yet been seen in the wild, but code has been made available, so I'd expect it to start appearing.

Quick bottom line

If you get a message from LastPass that your session has timed out and you need to log in again, don't. Instead, I recommend you close your browser, re-open your browser, and log in using the LastPass icon on the browser's menu bar.

Continue Reading: Possible LastPass Phishing Vulnerability
https://askleo.com/21222

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Glossary Term

telemetry

Telemetry is a technical, generic term for remote tracking data.

The term is perhaps most commonly associated with spacecraft. Data is more or less continually being transmitted back to earth reporting on the craft's position, condition, and activities. This data is referred to as telemetry.

In the computer world, the same term can apply to any data being used to remotely monitor the condition or activities of a computer. Regardless of the level of detail – from minor and anonymous error reports to deeply detailed activity logs – data sent back from computers to a central location for purposes of reporting or monitoring is also referred to as telemetry.

Glossary Terms are featured selections from The Ask Leo! Glossary.
Have a term you'd like defined? Submit it here.

Featured Comments

Does "end of support" mean "end of life"?

bb writes:

Leo: Related, but maybe warranting another article is the general dropping of support for SHA-1 signed certificates. Since XP does not have support for the replacement (SHA-2, aka SHA-256), since 1 Jan 2016 IE & Chrome can no longer connect to secure sites ... like askleo.com.

(Despite the note above) Firefox is the only common browser that still works on secure sites under XP. Firefox has it's own certificate store which supports SHA-2; unlike IE and Chrome which relies on OS certificate support.

Leo writes:

They should be able to connect just fine - there'll simply be a warning that would need to be ignored.

Samir writes:

Not only is IE pre 11 support being stopped, but I saw in the news that Windows 8 support is now being stopped. So now I really have to decided whether to upgrade to Windows 10.

Leo writes:

Windows 8.1 is still supported. The least challenging would be to update 8 to 8.1.

Block Windows 10 With GWX Control Panel

Peggy writes:

I have upgraded my 3 year old Windows 7 laptop to Windows 10, not because I like it or really wanted it but because I have learned enough from Ask Leo and my own research and fixes over the years to be the go to person in my family and for my friends when they have any issues with their computers and tablets. I even got into a friends computer that he did not have the password for, it was his late wife's. His IT friend from Northrop couldn't do it, after trying, his suggestion was to buy a new laptop, but I said I could do it. With a some research from Leo's site and my own researching, I was able to burn a disc with what I needed and get in, delete the password and get him back control of the accounts and laptop. Bragging? No. Just letting you know how helpful Ask Leo has been for me for a long time. I love his site. You can never know enough or know it all, in fact my motto is, "You can't know it all, but you can know how to find it".

So, anyway, I figured if I was going to be able to continue to help friends and family, I needed at least one machine with Win10 on it. However, I will not be updating my Win7 desktop and I have installed the GWX program on it and my brother's Win7 machine. After running the program, it found several MB's of Win10 files on them. I had turned off updates last June after hearing that MS would be pushing out Win10 in July. Which means that MS pushed out Win10 files before the actual opening date for download.

I am very happy with my Win7 machine. I have no need to have MS shove something down my computer just because they think they know what is better for me then I do. One of my brothers in Oregon is a beta tester for MS and he sings Win10's praises all of the time...of course he doesn't always mention the many times he has had to rebuild his system over and over because of it, but he is happy. I say, good for him. I am also happy.

After working with Win10 for several weeks now and like someone else above said, "there is nothing in Windows 10 that is any more useful than what is in Windows 7". Oh, and don't get me started on Office365, {{sigh}}

Sorry for the long rant. People telling me that what I don't want is not really what I don't want burns me up.......LOL. Anyway, to everyone reading this page, Ask Leo can be the best resource for info and help you may ever need, listen to what he says!

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Posted: January 19, 2016 in: 2016
Shortlink: https://newsletter.askleo.com/7406
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I'm Leo Notenboom and I've been playing with computers since I took a required programming class in 1976. I spent over 18 years as a software engineer at Microsoft, and after "retiring" in 2001 I started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place to help you find answers and become more confident using this amazing technology at our fingertips. More about Leo.