Internet | The Apheus Blog

8Dec

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Outages Caused Problems in 2020

The internet is a magical place. In fact, it's so magical that I don't think that any of us really understand how it works. Apparently, I'm not alone. Even the big guys have experienced outages throughout the year. Let's look back at some of the biggest outages of 2020. Microsoft Microsoft Azure had a failure on March 3, 2020, that lasted more than six hours. It impacted Microsoft's East US region and was caused by a "malfunction in building automation control caused temperatures in multiple rooms of a data center in the East US region to spike impacting Storage, Compute, Networking and other dependent services." This was followed up by another outage impacting European customers between March 24th and 26th. This "outage" was caused when Microsoft's system were overwhelmed by...

How COVID-19 Has Changed the World of Technology

27Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk, Technology

How COVID-19 Has Changed the World of Technology

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. It's been less than a year since COVID-19 hit the United States and it has left lasting effects on almost everyone. Those of us who work in the information technology fields know how difficult it has been to adjust, innovate, and deploy. In fact, our industry has changed so quickly it has been difficult to come up with solutions that meet the needs of our customers. The biggest change has been how most customers now realize how important technology is to their daily operations. Remote Work Many of our customers, particularly local municipalities, have never given remote ...

Microsoft 365 Service Problems on October 7, 2020

7Oct

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet, Tech News

Microsoft 365 Service Problems on October 7, 2020

If you're experiencing problems this afternoon, you're not alone. According to Microsoft, users are unable to access Microsoft 365 services. These services include Microsoft Teams, Exchange Online, Outlook.com, and SharePoint Online, and OneDrive for Business. Microsoft says that it is currently investigating the cause of the issue. According to DownDetector, they are showing more than 21,000 reports of problems with Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365). Of the top 12 reported items on their homepage, 7 of the services shown are Microsoft products and services. These include: Office 365, Outlook.com, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Exchange, Minecraft, and OneDrive. All of the services have shown sharp increases in problems being reported. Microsoft 365 just ex...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 8, 2020

8Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk, Websites

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 8, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Adobe Flash Player is Going Away Finally. After many years of disgust on both sides of the spectrum (IT and web design), Flash is finally going away. Flash was great for doing certain things, but it really caused more problems than it was worth. Flash is destined to cease existence in December 2020, but Microsoft (for some reason) if offering extended support for some enterprise users. For some reason, movie studios really latched onto the software to build websites for their upcoming releases. I'm grateful that it's going away. Although I will soon expect a sl...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

1Sep

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Windows is Killing SSDs So as you know, you probably shouldn't defrag an SSD. Defragging has been around a long time and is a process used to improve the performance of an old spinner-type drive. Modern SSDs really don't need to be defragged. In fact, you could potentially damage an SSD by performing the defrag operation. A report came out this week that says that the latest version of Windows 10 is actually defragging your SSDs every time the system boots up. Well, that's really not how it supposed to work. In fact, Microsoft is apparently working on a fix for...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

25Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 25, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Zoom Service Disruption Many Zoom users experienced major disruptions on Monday, August 24, 2020, after the service went down. Given that many people are still working from home or remotely, a disruption of this type surely made plenty of people upset. According to an email sent to customers, Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering said, "We always take very seriously our responsibility to keep you connected, and we know that you are relying on us during this particularly challenging time. We deeply regret this incident and sincerely ap...

CISA Issues Warning About Malware Phishing Attack

17Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet

CISA Issues Warning About Malware Phishing Attack

On Friday, August 14, 2020, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a part of the Department of Homeland Security, issued a warning about a new phishing attack. Attackers are sending emails containing a Microsoft Word document with a malicious Visual Basic Application (VBA) macro code to deploy KONNI malware. KONNI is a remote administration tool (RAT) used by malicious cyber actors to steal files, capture keystrokes, take screenshots, and execute arbitrary code on infected hosts. Phishing attacks are typically designed to collect user data (such as usernames and passwords) and transmit that information back to the attacker. However, in this situation, the attacker is also sending malware to your inbox. CISA is recommending that all users maintain "situ...

Is the U.S. Government Spying on Your Phone’s Location? It Might Be…

16Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Internet

Is the U.S. Government Spying on Your Phone’s Location? It Might Be…

In the shadow of President Trump's ban of TikTok, a Wall Street Journal report has revealed that a U.S. government contractor named Anomaly Six has been tracking users via more than 500 unnamed apps using their SDK (software developer kit). SDKs are used by many apps to quickly add features. In this case, the SDK is used to track customers. Even though they hold a number of U.S. government contracts, Anomaly Six denies sharing any data with big brother. In light of the TikTok fiasco, do you think you can really trust a U.S. company over a Chinese company? I would hope so but given Anomaly's deep ties to the U.S. government, can you really trust them? I mean they say they aren't sharing their data. However, it's the same argument our administration is using to ban TikTok. Ther...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 11, 2020

11Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 11, 2020

You can listen to Tech Talk on WTCA AM 1050 and FM 106.1 in Plymouth, Indiana, every Tuesday morning at 8:30 am. Join Bob and Rusty and they discuss the latest technology news and whatever else comes to mind. Toshiba Leaves Laptop Business Toshiba had been in the laptop business for over 30 years, but they sold the majority of their business to Sharp in 2018. In an announcement on August 4th, Toshiba said that the remaining shares of their personal computer business have been transferred to Sharp and the deal brings an end to their PC business. The renamed division is called Dynabook. Questions Surround Trump's TikTok Ban Trump gave Chinese company ByteDance 45 days to sell off their TikTok app and U.S. business or face an internet blockade from the federal government. Cit...

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 4, 2020

4Aug

By Bob BarcusNo Comments

Computers, Internet, Tech News, Tech Talk

Tech Headlines for Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Tech Talk show notes for Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Listen live Tuesday mornings on WTCA FM 106.1 and AM 1050 in Plymouth, Indiana. This is a new technology news feature we hope to continue on every Tech Talk show starting on August 4, 2020. It will be a quick overview of the latest technology headlines in the week leading up to the show. Trump Warns that He will Ban TikTok President Trump said last Friday night that he will ban the popular app TikTok because it poses a national security risk. The app is owned by a Chinese software company. Some claim that the app is piping personal information directly to the leaders of the Communist Party in Beijing. Microsoft Tries to Buy TikTok Microsoft is apparently reopening negotiations with the Chinese owners of TikTok...