How to Protect Your Network from Hacker Bots

Not all hackers are only after your data. The real prize is your wallet.

To carry out cyber-crimes, many hackers will use email spam, phishing attacks, or insidious websites to infect computers and turn them into "Hacker Bots." These Hacker Bots become drones that can be controlled remotely by cybercriminals, unleashing attacks on businesses that generate a steady revenue stream for the criminals.

A Trend Micro study recently found that roughly 25% of all infected computers belonged to businesses. It's often hard to know for sure whether your computer has been turned into a Hacker Bot. The best solution you can take is to contact a security expert to fully assess the machine.

Before you call a security expert, there are a few initial steps you can take:

1. Disconnect the potentially infected computer from the Internet. If the computer is infected, this step will immediately stop data from being stolen, and prevent attacks on other businesses.
2. Search for any sensitive data on the potentially infected machine and move it to a clean computer. Another option is to move the data to an external hard drive for safe keeping.
3. Clean the potentially infected computer using antivirus software. You can also hire a professional to utilize advanced tools to ensure a complete quarantine of your machine.

If you don't yet believe any of your machines are infected, you are in a great spot. Prevention is the best cure and is much easier and cost-effective to implement long-term. You can start by ensuring that your antivirus definitions are always updated and you have downloaded (and installed) the latest security patches for Windows and the programs you run on Windows (especially Adobe Flash Player).

You can also outsource your security maintenance to a company (such as MAX Communications), who can professionally perform monthly work on your machines remotely to ensure they are as padlock safe as possible. This saves you the time and headache of having to do the work yourself, and will also give you peace of mind knowing that your data is professionally secure.

Contact us about our recently updated MaxMinder Plus Monthly Maintenance Program that includes 24x7 Network Monitoring, Management, Reporting, and Remote Remediation.  Prices starting as low as $199/mo.
Call 847-348-3489, or Book an Appointment for your Free Network Audit.

Recover a Deleted File in Windows 7

Windows 7 has a built-in tool called Previous Version that allows users to recover files they mistakenly delete. In order to recover deleted files you have to first make sure that System Restore is enabled so that Windows can automatically create restore points. These restore points are what you can revert a folder to in order to recover the files that existed at that time and date.

Step 1 - Making Sure System Restore Is Enabled
You can verify that System Restore is turned on by right-clicking Computer and selecting Properties. Next, you'll want to click the System Protection tab and then click the drive you wish to turn on System Restore. The C: drive is usually the drive selected. After selecting the desired drive and clicking OK, System Restore will be turned on if it was previously off.

Step 2 - Recovering a Changed Document in Windows 7

1. Open the folder where the file was located.
2. Right-click in the white space within that folder.
3. Select Properties and click OK.
4. The Properties screen will then pop-up. In this screen, select the Previous Versions tab.
5. The Previous Versions tab will then display various versions of changed or deleted files in that folder. These versions are based on automatic restore points created by System Restore.
6. Choose the version time and date you wish to revert back to.
7. Then click Open.
8. You will then see all of the previous versions of files in that folder according to the time and date you selected.
9. To recover one of those files, rick-click the file and select Send to and then choose the folder you wish to save the file to.

That's it! Now you know how to recover lost files. It's a handy, useful tool that Microsoft built into Windows 7. We recommend you take full advantage of tne Previous Versions tool as it will save you headaches down the road.

In addition, one of our favorite tools is available from www.Piriform.com and can be used to Recover Deleted Files on most version of Windows: Recuva.  It is a FREE Download and works well, even if the file has been removed from the Recycle Bin.

If you have any questions, we are always here to help.  Call MAX Communications at 847-348-3489 or contact us through the web at www.HelpMeMax.com.