Malicious programs—including viruses, Trojans, keyloggers, and more—can find their way onto your computer in ever more creative routes.  Who among us hasn’t accidentally clicked on one of those pop-up ads which claim in a panicked display “Your computer is infected!” and thus inadvertently invited garbage onto our computer?  There are browser exploits, security holes in outdated versions of Java, Flash and even Acrobat PDF!  Even if you keep your computer’s browser and plug-ins fully updated (which you should!), the next security hole is just around the corner.

Even as a relative “expert” when it comes to the internet, I find it virtually impossible to keep my computers immune to random attempts of digital infection.  Keeping your software updated with the latest patches is critical, but that’s simply not good enough by itself. 

I’m going to share with you three software titles which I’ve found to be very effective in keeping my friends and family’s computers operational and out of the repair shop.  These each happen to be free for personal use, but more importantly they are effective.

Read on for more...

The Incoming and Outgoing Mail System for all emails sent and received via webhosting accounts hosted with Hurtdidit, has been reinstalled and upgraded.  This process was done after normal business hours to minimize service disruption, and should help with some false-positive "dictionary spam attack" warnings some of our larger clients have been experiencing under the old system.

No changes are needed on clients' local computers, as this was a server-based update.

As always, if you have any questions please contact us.

MailScanner, the multifunction antispam and antivirus deployed on the Hurtdidit servers, has been upgraded today to version 4.78.17-1.
 
This update includes improvements in the "silent virus" scanning process.

No changes are needed client-side; all clients are updated automatically.

Some of our clients have brought to our attention, receipt of emails from a Chinese domain registrar which claims to be interested in protecting their domain name and trademark.  This is, of course, a scam. 

Read on for a sample...

[UPDATE 6-17-09 10:00AM MDT] -- A patch has been created to resolve this issue, and is being installed on client accounts.  Current versions are now: 

• Build And Go v8.2.1
• Build And Go Commerce v8.5.1
• HurtNews v7.1
  

-----original announcement follows-----

We have identified a performance issue effecting all versions of Build And Go, Build And Go Commerce, and HurtNews Newsletter Manager programs.  This issue manifests itself by causing a browser crash when a site content manager attempts to upload files or images within the editor of each of the above-listed programs.  It seems to effect only Internet Explorer (not Firefox), and we surmise the problem arose during a recent (within the past two weeks) Windows update.

The source of the problem has been identified by our software engineers and we are working on implementing a fix.  Watch this space for updates.

MailScanner, the multifunction antispam and antivirus deployed on the Hurtdidit servers, has been upgraded today to version 4.77.10.
 
This update includes improved protection against host spoofing and performance enhancements.

ClamAV has also been updated to the latest version, v0.95.2.

No changes are needed client-side; all clients are updated automatically.

Our help desk at HurtHelp.com is being changed over to a completely new platform this week.  The new system will integrate our technical support and invoicing into one gateway program.

We apologize for the inconvenience during this transition, and ask you to direct any support inquiries to our contact form, in the interim.

MailScanner, the multifunction antispam and antivirus deployed on the Hurtdidit servers, has been upgraded today to version 4.76.25-1.
 
This update includes a number of performance enhancements and revised antispam checks.

No changes are needed client-side; all clients are updated automatically.

ClamAV, one of the antivirus programs deployed on the Hurtdidit servers, has been upgraded to version 0.95.1 today.

No changes are needed client-side; all clients are updated automatically.

Hurtdidit provides antispam through a third-party application called MailScanner.  It does a decent job filtering between "possible spam", "definite spam" and presumedly clean emails (read more about MailScanner here).  However, as spammers evolve and adapt, more aggressive measures are sometimes necessary.

One such option is to add a secondary filter to your email account, by way of passing it through Gmail.

Read on for more...