Job Requirements:

• Be awesome to customers and be awesome with computers!
• Have at least 2 years hands-on experience, Associates/Trade School, or College Degree in computer science/related field.
• Detail oriented and be able to perfectly follow instructions and documentation
• A+ Certification or equivalent, more advanced certifications and knowledge desired.
• Experience with Windows, MacOS AND Linux
• Some scripting/programming ability preferred, comfort with the command line.
• Interpersonal skills and outward personality that fits South City Computer’s Brand
• A strong desire to be awesome and self-starting
• Be able to sell to and get along with a variety of different customers and personality types
• Remain calm under pressure, criticism, and customer freak-outs

In the newest release of Ubuntu, 16.04, we have finally upgraded from PHP5 to PHP7. But when the upgrade happens, it’s possible that the MySQLi plugin does not get upgraded. If you recently upgraded from a previous version of Ubuntu to Ubuntu 16.04, try reinstalling the plugin from scratch using the below commands.

First, make sure your software sources are up to date: sudo apt-get update
Completely remove the MySQL Plugin: sudo apt-get --purge purge php-mysql
Reinstall the MySQL Plugin: sudo apt-get install php-mysql

While there are a variety of highly technical and complex things that can go wrong with your computer, one of the simplest, and yet the most deadly is a liquid spill. Here at South City Computer, we have seen many laptops that have had liquid spilled on them, most commonly liquid-damaged MacBook Pro models.

If you have spilled water or other liquid on your computer, there’s a few things you can do. Most importantly, you should power off the computer. When liquid is spilled into a computer, it can cause short circuits between different live traces on the motherboard. By removing power from the computer, you can prevent this behavior. Power off the computer, remove the charger cord. If you have a computer with a removable battery, take the battery out. If this is a MacBook liquid spill or spill onto an other computer with a non-removable battery, it is even more important to get the PC or Mac to a service technician who can properly take care of it.

If you are comfortable taking apart your Windows computer or Macintosh, you may also want to consider removing the hard drive. Liquid entering the hard drive could mean permanent loss of your data, so the sooner you can get that part dry, the better. Using a different computer, look up the disassembly instructions for the liquid spilled laptop, and carefully remove and dry the hard disk.

While these tips will help you recover from liquid being knocked over onto a computer, the best thing you can do is take the computer to a professional repair shop like South City Computer. We have special tools to read data from the hard drive and recover it, and we can order replacement parts for ones that have been water damaged. If you have a laptop that has been subject to a liquid spill open a support ticket online or visit us.

South City Computer offers desktop repair services for the St. Louis metro area. We service all makes and models of desktop computers. All brands such as Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Compaq, MSI, custom build, and gaming computers.

The most common desktop repair services are virus repair, malware removal, tune-up, data recovery, hard drive repair, power supply repair, hardware repair, CPU repair, fan repair, and corrupt operating system repairs.

South City Computer also offers laptop repair services.

Bring your desktop computer to South City Computer for desktop repair services.

What is ransomware? Ransomware is a type of malware that can infect your computer, restricting your access to your data and/or threatening its destruction unless you pay a ransom. There are many different types of ransomware that manifest themselves in sometimes very convincing ways. They often appear to be official messages from well known organizations, such as Microsoft or the FBI. They are, however, elaborate scams con artists use to gain access to personal information such as account numbers, social security numbers, etc. Ransomeware is not so very new, but it is on the rise. Ransomware can impact home computers as well as businesses and other institutions. Even cell phones can be infected.

One common way to end up with ransomware is by opening emails from unknown sources. This can be difficult to avoid. Sometimes the emails will claim to be from official organizations, or even appear to be from a friend or loved one who’s computer has been infected. Simply entering websites that have been compromised can infect your computer as well. Once the device is infected, users are often prompted to pay a ransom, often with a pre-paid card or virtual currency such as bitcoin.

Here are some good ways to protect your computer from
ransomware:

– Have updated antivirus software on your computer.

– Use strong passwords (the strongest passwords don’t resemble words, contain capital and lower case letters, numbers and other characters). And use different passwords for different things.

– Enable automated patches for your web browser and operating system

– Use a pop-up blocker

– Only download software from sites you know and trust, as malware can also come in downloadable games, file-sharing programs, and customized toolbars.

– Don’t open attachments in unsolicited e-mails. Even if they appear to come from people in your contact list, and never click on a URL contained in an unsolicited e-mail.

– Make sure you back up your data

– Use these precautions any time you are on the internet, whether you are on a computer or your phone.

The internet is a big place — and offers what is likely the widest variety of material that could ever be thought of. Certainly some of this information is good and useful, ranging from scholarly articles and thesis papers to tutorials to help the Average Joe with everyday problems. The amount of good material on the Internet is a compelling reason to grant your children access to it, not to mention the fact that it has become essential in doing research for both school and personal projects.

Naturally, though, there are some things online that ought to be avoided. This article will focus on those things that don’t pose a risk to the average adult, but can be a danger when it comes to teenage boys.

1. Downloading “free” programs that leave your computer in a nasty state

While many adults only use a computer for getting work done, checking email, and other simple tasks, this generation tends to be much more attached to computers and other devices. Of course, this means that these persons would want to extend their computers’ capabilities, and this often means downloading more programs. While there are many awesome programs out there that will help your teenager become more adept at using the computer to do constructive things, there are also programs that claim to do such things but are really just a way for a virus to get in. Common offenders include programs that claim to:

• Download videos from YouTube or other websites
• Allow free access to movies or music that one would typically pay for
• Automatically fix problems on the computer
• Install Adobe Flash, Java, Silverlight, or other runtimes.

What can you do?

• Monitor your computer for the installation of new programs:
  If you see any new programs on your computer that you don’t remember installing, consult an expert to see if the program is legitimate or not. Take note that Windows will often inform you of a new program being installed by highlighting the “All Programs” item on the start menu in yellow or red.
• Direct your son to sourceforge.com, a reputable website that offers a plethora of free programs from various developers.
• Install runtimes from legitimate sources beforehand, so that your son won’t download a fake version when he runs into a problem. Here are the legitimate websites for obtaining some of the most common runtimes.
  Adobe Flash Player: get2.adobe.com/flashplayer
  Java: www.java.com
  Silverlight: www.microsoft.com/silverlight

Using BitTorrent to illegally get copyrighted material

Piracy is one of the biggest problems today. It’s not limited to use by just teenagers, but it’s an important thing to remember that it may be happening on your computer, even if it’s not you doing it. Most pirated content is distributed by using the BitTorrent protocol, which allows you to download the file from a variety of other people that have it. Most Torrent clients also make your computer one of the “seeds,” meaning that you will be one of the sources that other people download content from, therefore meaning your computer is not just illegally downloading copyrighted material, but also distributing it. While BitTorrent is one of the more obscure protocols out there, it does absolutely nothing to hide your identity — that’s simply not what it is meant to do. As you can see by the screenshot above, your IP address, a unique identifier for your internet connection, is shared with everyone else connected, meaning it’s easy for law enforcement to look in and see who’s downloading any given file.

What you can do

BitTorrent requires a client program to be installed on the computer. If you notice something that appears to be a torrent client, consult with your son and take the computer to an expert to have it removed. BitTorrent clients often have the word “torrent” in the name. Common ones include BitTorrent, uTorrent, Deluge, and BitLord.

3. Accessing Pornography

You’re entitled to your own opinion on the moral implications of porn, but we’re here to tell you that there is more to it than that. Porn typically comes riddled with viruses and other malware that can negatively effect your computer. The worst cases occur when pornography is downloaded from the internet, which is typically done using the BitTorrent protocol as described in the last section. Since it’s actually loaded into your computer, there are many exploits that it will try to take advantage of. Weaker attacks will be stopped by Antivirus software, but often, antivirus software will not catch the malicious software until too late. Incognito mode, or similar browser functions will not protect your computer. The other issue that tends to occur is the accessing of child pornography. While it’s natural for a 14-year old to want to view pornography with 14-year olds in it, this is still illegal, and the owner of the internet connection, typically the parents, will be the ones held responsible.

What you can do

First of all, avoid pornography that requires a download. This is not foolproof, but it gives you a better chance of avoiding unwanted malware. If your computer is regularly used to access pornography, it’s recommended that you take it in for regular check-ups. This will ensure that no malware that is installed can develop into a headache in the future.

If you think that pornography has been downloaded using your machine, it is best to bring it to an expert for a checkup. This can be somewhat embarrassing, but the malware typically does not show where it came from. Our job is to simply remove the malware, not play detective and try to figure out what you were doing when it got onto your computer.
South City Computer also offers discrete data destruction, providing complete, irrevocable removal of any unwanted files from your computer.

OSSEC is a five letter acronym for security. It stands for Open Source Security. OSSEC is free, host-based intrusion detection system (HIDS) that can help to protect your computers and servers from a variety of attacks. OSSEC analyzes your computers logs for attack signatures, performs integrity checking on your files, monitors the Windows registry, assists in rootkit detection, time-based alerting, and active response. It provides intrusion detection for most operating systems, including Linux, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Solaris and Windows. OSSEC’s centralized, cross-platform architecture allowing multiple systems and operating systems to be easily monitored and managed. It was written by Daniel B. Cid and made public in 2004.

We are currently experimenting with deploying OSSEC on some systems to determine if it is possible to adopt it for our customers’ systems. Since it is a distributed platform the more people who employ it the smarter it gets at preventing attacks on the network.

Sources:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2873219/windows-10s-new-features-cortana-on-the-pc-continuum-and-more.html

http://www.pcgamer.com/microsoft-windows-10-will-not-be-sold-as-a-subscription/

http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/01/21/the-next-generation-of-windows-windows-10/

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2825116/free-at-last-after-windows-10-consumers-wont-pay-for-updates-or-upgrades.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-to-show-off-latest-windows-launching-this-year-1421695264

http://www.itpro.co.uk/operating-systems/23119/windows-10-release-date-specs-and-pricing-announced

Myth: Computers slow down because they “wear out” over time
Fact: A properly maintained computer can last longer than you think

One the biggest myths out there is that PCs slow over time because they age. This myth may be why so many of us discard our computers after just a couple years. The Western Sustainability and Pollution Prevention Network reports that, on average, people discard their PCs after only 30 months of use.

Computers don’t last forever, but they can last a lot longer than we may realize. And while it’s true that PCs tend to slow down after a year or so, this isn’t because of the age of their components; rather, the causes of the slowdowns are errors, clutter and other corruption that can be easily fixed with the right tools.

With proper maintenance, a PC can last up to eight years or more; some users have reported well-functioning PCs for twelve years or more. A few tips on extending the life of your PC: Keep it free of dust, keep it out of direct sunlight and away from moisture, and regularly run tune-ups to keep its software and operating system in top shape.

Myth: Having multiple antivirus programs is better than having one
Fact: Multiple security programs can conflict and result in less protection

When it comes to internet security, you may think that having more than one program would lead to more protection, but it doesn’t: installing multiple security programs can actually reduce your security, and can also lead to an unstable PC.

The problem is that with different configurations, security programs can conflict and work not with each other but against each other. The result is system errors and even less protection than if you had one program. Picture two different traffic lights at one intersection, with one displaying GO and the other displaying STOP—there’s eventually going to be a crash.

 

Myth: When a file is deleted, it’s gone for good
Fact: Deleted files can be recovered because they aren’t actually erased

Many people believe that when they delete a file it’s permanently erased, but actually the contents of the file remain. This is because of how a computer saves and deletes files.

When you save a file, your computer stores a reference to it in a file allocation table, but the data that makes up the file is saved on the hard drive. When a file is deleted, its reference is removed from the table, but the contents of the file are still on the drive. And emptying the Recycle Bin or formatting the drive doesn’t make a difference: until another file’s contents are saved over it, the information you “deleted” is still there.

In picking parts for a computer, balance is usually a good rule-of-thumb. This also applies here, just in a different way. Balance between your CPU (central processing unit) and your GPU (graphics processing unit) can be the difference between a poor-performing system in which one component outweighs the other, or an efficient, fine-tuned machine. But when it comes to storage, it’s a matter of what you want, and what you pay.

There are two main types of storage: hard drives and SSDs (solid-state-drives). Hard drives are the most common, and thus cheaper. They are (somewhat ignorantly) judged as having poor performance, and not the best for gaming or intense work loads. This is due to their having a rotating component that transfers information much slower than an electrical current (as is the case with SSD’s). From personal experience, a hard drive wouldn’t be my first choice, but I also don’t find them lacking in any way. What if you use your computer for web-browsing, writing documents, or any other general programs? Unless you want the absolute fastest performance, or are running extremely high-performance programs such as a cinema-grade video editor, you should be just fine with a hard drive.

SSDs have no moving parts, and use only electric currents to store and transfer data. They are also harder to manufacture, costing much more than hard drives. The biggest difference you will be able to notice is shutting down, booting up, and opening programs, with the difference sometimes being as much as ten seconds.

Another big selling-point is reliability. Hard drives are much less resistant to impacts, but the rotating parts may wear out after a few years. SSDs can be severely damaged from impacts, resulting in a loss of all data, but they also last longer.

And now the big question: how much will it cost you? A 1 terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) hard drive will cost around $50, and an SSD of the same size will cost $400-600. But what if you don’t need 1TB? I’ve had a 1TB drive on my laptop, and after 3 years, I had only filled a quarter of it. While the amount of storage is like bulk pricing (the more you get, the less unit price you pay), you can also get a 256gb-500gb SSD for $100-300. For most users, the price outweighs a slight performance increase, and others may group a small-sized SSD with a larger hard drive for maximum performance for games and big workloads, while still having a cost-effective place for long term storage. It’s really up to you.