Archive for the ‘Computer Security’ Category
Chamber Means Business – Marshall News Messenger
Is your computer running slowly?
Have you downloaded a virus from the Internet and you don't know what to do?
Or better yet, how to get rid of it?
Are you having server and workstation problems at the office?
We have a solution!
Home Town Computers is a new business focusing on computers and related technology that opened in Marshall on Jan. 1, 2010.
Owners and business partners Jim Hooter and Charles Compton are natives of the Marshall area and are veterans in the computer industry.
In fact, they are both veterans of the military.
Jim served in the U.S. Navy and is currently a nursing student at Marshall's East Texas Baptist University.
Jim gained much of his computer experience in Kansas, where he worked on computers to pay for college.
Charles repaired and worked on a variety of computers during his tenure of service for the U.S. Army.
Combined, the business partners have 16 years of actual hands-on experience.
They have a wealth of knowledge on the principles and applications of networking, security and programs with Windows, Mac, Linux and Unix.
Their vision is to serve the Marshall community and the surrounding area within a 45 minute drive — to include Jefferson, Hallsville, Carthage and Waskom.
Their goal is to be a one-stop shop for all your computer needs and provide services for computers, repairs and networking.
Home Town Computers' main focus has been directed at securing business-to-business clients.
Jim and Charles are now offering services to the residential market and for personal computers.
Their philosophy is to provide friendly, fast and knowledgeable service.
Products that they offer include on-site service, web development, Internet hosting, virus and spyware removal, data protection and recovery, repairs and parts.
Home Town Computers also offers consulting services for networking, security and communication needs.
Home Town Computers, 307 E. Austin St., is located next to The Marshall News Messenger.
Hours of business are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Contact Jim and Charles at 903-923-0595 to schedule an appointment or to answer any questions you might have about your networking needs.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
All-in-One Computers’ new location has more services – ReporterHerald.com
All-in-One Computers’ new location has more services
All-in-One Computers has moved to a new location, 1327 W. Eisenhower Blvd., Unit 1.
The move gives the company more room to offer its services.
Owned by Jeff Bernhardt, the company repairs all brands of computers as well as providing virus removal, system setups and networking. It also offers on-site repairs at homes and businesses.
The shop had been located at 201 N. Lincoln Ave.
Hours are 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday.
Phone: 690-7975.
Engaging Loveland looks to fill open seat on board
Engaging Loveland Inc. is looking for a community member to serve on its board of directors.
The nonprofit organization, which aims to enhance and support the development of citywide events and celebrations, has a nine-member board consisting of members from several organizations.
The opening available is for an at-large berth on the group’s board of directors.
Those interested should contact Kim Vecchio at 980-4764 or via e-mail at kvec chio@engaginglovelandinc.org by March 22.
Pet and feed alpacas as part of free open barn day
A free open barn day is planned 1-4 p.m. today at Ridge Valley Alpaca Ranch, 6921 Ridge Valley Court, off Glade Road west of Loveland.
The event will include walking tours and an opportunity to feed and pet the alpacas. There will be a farm store, spinner demos and a bouncy tent for children.
Alpaca animal care donations are appreciated.
On the Web: www.alpacarancher.net.
In Brief
• Trees, Water & People, a Colorado-based environmental nonprofit, has won the Sasakawa Prize from the United Nations Environmental Programme for its work to distribute fuel-efficient cook stoves to communities in Central America. The $200,000 prize was shared with Nuru Design, a company bringing rechargeable lights to villages in Rwanda, Kenya and India.
• Heska Corp. of Loveland reported its fourth consecutive profitable quarter with its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2009. On the Web: www.heska.com.
• Rock Bottom Brewery, 6025 Sky Pond Drive, has created a specialty brew, Fire Chief Ale, and from March 11 to April 4 will be donating a portion of sales to local fire departments and related charities.
• Larimer County Human Resources has implemented a new system for tracking and filling job vacancies. Called NeoGov Insight Enterprise, it is a Web-based system designed for use by government.
• Turning Point Center for Youth & Family Development has openings on its board of directors. Those with skills including fundraising and development, legal expertise, business networking talents and other qualities are sought. On the Web: www.turningpnt.org.
• Physical Activity Innovations of Fort Collins won the 2009 Bluetooth Innovation World Cup award from the Bluetooth Special Interest Group for its research on the Fit Companion, a physical activity monitoring device.
• Birthright of Loveland recorded 1,125 client visits in 2009, representing a 13 percent increase over the previous year and the most ever to the crisis pregnancy center. The nonprofit provides free pregnancy testing, lay counseling, referrals for medical, housing, legal and adoption services along with maternity clothes, diapers, formula and other baby items for mothers in need. Phone: (800) 550-4900.
• Alliance Construction Solutions of Loveland has been selected to build the $4 million Green Valley Ranch Library for the city and county of Denver. Groundbreaking is March 13.
• Open Range Communications of Greenwood Village is expanding its broadband Internet and digital phone service into Berthoud. On the Web: www.openrange.net.
People
• Ken Rotramel, operator of the Chick-fil-A, 1545 Rocky Mountain Ave., has earned the Symbol of Success award, Chick-fil-A’s highest honor given to an operator.
• Mike Veeder has joined Burns Marketing Communications in Johnstown as a senior account director. He previously operated his own agency. Phone: 203-9656.
• Doug Mast, broker associate with Re/Max Action Brokers, was recently awarded the Certified Distressed Property Expert designation. Phone: 612-9200
• Kathy Scribner and Shannan Zitney of Re/Max Action Brokers, have earned the Short Sales and Foreclosure Resource certification. Phone: Scribner: 669-4175; Zitney: 689-2721.
• April Smith has joined Brown and Brown in Fort Collins as an account executive specializing in employee benefits insurance. Phone: 482-7747.
Calendar
Today
• Neighbor to Neighbor will offer free eight-hour home buyer education class at Re/Max Alliance, 4703 A Boardwalk Drive, Fort Collins. Sign up online at www.n2n.org or by calling 663-4163.
Monday
• The Northern Colorado Legislative Alliance will meet 7:30-9 a.m. at McKee Conference and Wellness Center, 2000 N. Boise Ave.
Tuesday
• The Northern Colorado Human Resource Association will host a talk, “Managing Conflict In the Workplace” 11:15 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday at Best Western, 5542 E. Eisenhower Blvd. Cost: $18 for members, $28 nonmembers. Register at www.nchra.com.
• Fort Collins Neighborhood Services will be host to a free homeowners association educational session 6-8 p.m. in the Community Room, 215 N. Mason St. Topic is “Reserves: An Issue Associations Can’t Afford to Ignore.” RSVP to Ginny Sawyer, 224-6070 or gsawyer@fcgov.com.
• Emerge Colorado, a young professionals’ networking group, will meet 6:30 p.m. at Chimney Park Restaurant & Bar, 406 Main St., Windsor. Cost: $30; RSVP to Kirsten Savage, 219-5032.
Thursday
• A free class on sales and use taxes will be 2-4 p.m. at Taxpayer Service Division Service Center, 1121 W. Pros-pect Road, Building D, Fort Collins. To register, go to www.TaxSeminars.state.co.us.
• The Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce will have a business before breakfast at 7:30 a.m. at SAVA (Sexual Assault Victim Advocate) Center, 331 S. Meldrum St., Fort Collins. Cost is $9 for members through March 10, $12 at the door. Nonmembers: $24. Go to www.FortCollinsChamber.com.
• A free business development lunch, “The CEO as Salesperson,” will be 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Johnny Carino’s, 1455 Rocky Mountain Ave. Lunch will be off the menu. Phone: 685-4345.
• The Northern Colorado Branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers will be host to Scott Wilson, speaking on recovery and redevelopment of contaminated properties, during its monthly meeting at the McKee 4-H Building at The Ranch. The presentation is free, but dinner is $20. RSVP meyerd@ayresassociates.com or call 223-5556 by Tuesday.
Friday
• A Sandler Training session, “Break All the Rules and Close More Sales,” will be 8-11 a.m. at the Loveland Chamber of Commerce, 5400 Stone Creek Circle. Cost is $129 per person, $89 for chamber members. Discounts available for additional attendees. Phone: 667-6311.
Saturday
• The Larimer County Agricultural Advisory Board will host its first educational forum 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Larimer County Courthouse Offices Building, 200 W. Oak St., Fort Collins. Cost is $25 by March 7, $35 afterward. Phone: 498-6000.
• A free seminar on owning alpacas will be 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. at 106 S. Overland Trail, Fort Collins. Lunch will be offered at noon. RSVP to 402-3447.
Leads groups
• Tri-City Leads Group meets 9-10 a.m. the first and third Fridays of the month at Re/Max Action Brokers at Centerra, 1685 Rocky Mountain Ave. One person per business category accepted. For details, contact Jill Schuett at 215-5309 or Kay Thomson at 443-7111.
• NoCoNet, a Northern Colorado career networking group for unemployed and underemployed professionals, meets 8-10:30 a.m. Monday, at the Faith Evangelical Free Church, 3920 S. Shields, Fort Collins.
• Front Range Business Leaders, the local chapter of Business Network International, meets 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays at Schmidt’s Bakery, 808 14th St. SW, Loveland. Phone: 622-0705.
• The Good Morning Chapter of the Business Network International, meets 7-8:30 a.m. Thursdays at Schmidt’s Bakery, 808 14th St. SW, Loveland. Phone: 669-6327
• Dynamic Real Estate will host a free business networking group 8 a.m. the second and fourth Fridays of the month at Harmony Grill, 1544 Oakridge Drive, Fort Collins. Participants must purchase a meal. One person per business category accepted. Call Shawna for details. Phone: 226-4433.
• The Investment Club of the Rockies meets the fourth Thursday of each month 6:30-8:45 p.m. at the Best Western Crossroads Inn and Conference Center, I-25 and U.S. 34, Loveland. Cost is free to members and first-time guests, $15 for returning guests. For information visit www.icorockies.com or call 449-4304.
• The Northern Colorado Business Builders, Business Network International Referral Group, meets 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Thursdays at Holiday Inn Express, I-25 and Crossroads Boulevard. For more information, call Kellee Enlow at 674-3396 or Brenda Saint 988-8865.
• Inventorsroundtable.com meets the fourth Wednesday of every month at 419 E. Fourth St. Go to www.inventors roundtable.com.
• Sharon Seymour of Key Realty Group, LLC will conduct a Short Sale Property Tour event 10 a.m. every first and third Saturday of the month in the Loveland/Fort Collins area. To reserve a spot on the tour, call 310-3095.
Send your business news
The Reporter-Herald strives to include newsworthy business briefs for its readers each Saturday. The focus of business briefs is on Northern Colorado businesses, not business promotions. The Reporter-Herald does not run items that are conducted as sales or product promotions or business builders for specific businesses.
Some of the items we consider for briefs include:
• New businesses
• Business relocations
• Business closings
• New contracts
• Anniversaries (divisible by five)
Business news information sheets are available from the receptionist at the Reporter-Herald, 201 E. Fifth St. The information can also be faxed, mailed or e-mailed to the business news desk. Press releases are also are welcome. The Reporter-Herald reserves the right to edit information submitted for publication. As always, the Reporter-Herald reserves the right to make editorial judgments on items submitted for publication.
Information is due by noon Wednesday for publication in the following Saturday’s business section. Information can be faxed to 667-1111, or e-mailed to jstahla@reporter-herald.com. For more information, call Business Editor Jeff Stahla, 635-3691.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Worst of the Anti-Gay 1980s finally fading away: Dobson, Wildmon step down – Metro Weekly
''Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of American Family Association (AFA) for more than 30 years, has resigned as chairman of the board for the national ministry. The resignation comes following several months of hospitalization. A bite from a mosquito carrying the St. Louis encephalitis virus caused Wildmon's illness.''
Press release from the extremely anti-gay American Family Association on the final retirement of it's ailing founder, Donald E. Wildmon. (AFA)
''Dobson is leaving, he says, because organizations that are founded by charismatic leaders often make the mistake of keeping those leaders around for way too long. And so once that leader exits the scene - and Dobson himself now is approaching his mid-70s - the organization undergoes an identity crisis and, in some cases, is hard pressed to survive.... He's joining his son to host a new radio show that's going to be called James Dobson on the Family. You know, it's anticipated that this will be competitive with Focus on the Family's current radio programming.''
Dan Gilgoff of CNN discussing the founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, who will be stepping down from his post at that anti-gay broadcast organization. Unfortunately, he is not going away entirely, as Gilgoff notes. (NPR)
The weakening of Dobson and the removal of Wildmon comes as welcome news for most middle-aged and older gay right supporters who had to deal for years with their fountain of gay-hating broadcasts and media blasts. They were part of a larger coordinated effort by so-called "Christian conservatives" whose careers climaxed in the Regan-Bush era, as they smothered the United States with their politics of "family values." Their demise follows the deaths of preacher Jerry Falwell and Senator Jesse Helms, all of which continues the closing of a chapter of terribly vicious political attacks against LGBT Americans. But several of Dobson and Wildmon's other aging comrades still continue to pump out their gay bashing vitriol. Pat Robertson, for instance, continues broadcasting anti-gay "personal stories," such as a recently aired 700 Club video whichhe featured an ex-gay male who claimed to have left the "down-low" lifestyle. Here's a brief roundup of the worst offenders from the 1980s (via Wikipedia):
- William Dannemeyer, 81 - board of director for William Donohue's Catholic League.
- James Dobson, 74 - retiring from Focus on the Family, moving to new radio show.
- Jerry Falwell , Deceased 2007.
- Jesse Helms , Deceased 2008.
- Pat Robertson, 80 - Still actively broadcasting on 700 Club.
- Lou Sheldon, 76 - Still listed as active with the Tradition Values Coalition.
- Phyllis Schafly, 86 - Still listed as active with the Eagle Forum.
- Donald Wildmon, 72 - Retiring from American Family Association.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Worst of the Anti-Gay 1980s finally fading away: Dobson, Wildmon step down – Metro Weekly
''Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of American Family Association (AFA) for more than 30 years, has resigned as chairman of the board for the national ministry. The resignation comes following several months of hospitalization. A bite from a mosquito carrying the St. Louis encephalitis virus caused Wildmon's illness.''
Press release from the extremely anti-gay American Family Association on the final retirement of it's ailing founder, Donald E. Wildmon. (AFA)
''Dobson is leaving, he says, because organizations that are founded by charismatic leaders often make the mistake of keeping those leaders around for way too long. And so once that leader exits the scene - and Dobson himself now is approaching his mid-70s - the organization undergoes an identity crisis and, in some cases, is hard pressed to survive.... He's joining his son to host a new radio show that's going to be called James Dobson on the Family. You know, it's anticipated that this will be competitive with Focus on the Family's current radio programming.''
Dan Gilgoff of CNN discussing the founder of Focus on the Family, James Dobson, who will be stepping down from his post at that anti-gay broadcast organization. Unfortunately, he is not going away entirely, as Gilgoff notes. (NPR)
The weakening of Dobson and the removal of Wildmon comes as welcome news for most middle-aged and older gay right supporters who had to deal for years with their fountain of gay-hating broadcasts and media blasts. They were part of a larger coordinated effort by so-called "Christian conservatives" whose careers climaxed in the Regan-Bush era, as they smothered the United States with their politics of "family values." Their demise follows the deaths of preacher Jerry Falwell and Senator Jesse Helms, all of which continues the closing of a chapter of terribly vicious political attacks against LGBT Americans. But several of Dobson and Wildmon's other aging comrades still continue to pump out their gay bashing vitriol. Pat Robertson, for instance, continues broadcasting anti-gay "personal stories," such as a recently aired 700 Club video whichhe featured an ex-gay male who claimed to have left the "down-low" lifestyle. Here's a brief roundup of the worst offenders from the 1980s (via Wikipedia):
- William Dannemeyer, 81 - board of director for William Donohue's Catholic League.
- James Dobson, 74 - retiring from Focus on the Family, moving to new radio show.
- Jerry Falwell , Deceased 2007.
- Jesse Helms , Deceased 2008.
- Pat Robertson, 80 - Still actively broadcasting on 700 Club.
- Lou Sheldon, 76 - Still listed as active with the Tradition Values Coalition.
- Phyllis Schafly, 86 - Still listed as active with the Eagle Forum.
- Donald Wildmon, 72 - Retiring from American Family Association.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Analyst’s View: You Deserve Better Support – PC Magazine (blog)
Last year Neil Rubenking reported on a significant problem with Symantec's tech support for their Norton products. Many of their support technicians strongly steered all customers toward purchasing Symantec's extra-cost virus removal service rather than offering to help them in any other cost-free way. Symantec's response last year was that that particular support office had gone rouge and they were taking steps to rectify the problem.
This year while testing Norton AntiVirus 2010, Rubenking ran across the same problem: After working through the help system's various options, he hooked up with chat-based support and got the runaround from two different techs. Find out exactly what happened and read the official policy statements from Symantec and also from McAfee regarding just what you can expect from their tech support at PCMag.com.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Analyst’s View: You Deserve Better Support – PC Magazine (blog)
Last year Neil Rubenking reported on a significant problem with Symantec's tech support for their Norton products. Many of their support technicians strongly steered all customers toward purchasing Symantec's extra-cost virus removal service rather than offering to help them in any other cost-free way. Symantec's response last year was that that particular support office had gone rouge and they were taking steps to rectify the problem.
This year while testing Norton AntiVirus 2010, Rubenking ran across the same problem: After working through the help system's various options, he hooked up with chat-based support and got the runaround from two different techs. Find out exactly what happened and read the official policy statements from Symantec and also from McAfee regarding just what you can expect from their tech support at PCMag.com.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Analyst’s View: You Deserve Better Support – PC Magazine
Last year I reported on a significant problem with Symantec's tech support for their Norton products. A number of their support technicians strongly steered all customers toward Symantec's extra-cost virus removal service rather than offering to help them in any other available ways. Symantec responded that one particular support office had gone "rogue" and that their actions were counter to company policy.
This week, in the course of evaluating Norton AntiVirus 2010, I ran into exactly the same problem. The product installed without difficulty on eleven of my twelve malware-infested test systems. It even performed some clever self-diagnostics to get past problems that have stymied other security products, like a malware threat that installed itself as a proxy controlling all Internet access. But on one test system, Norton AntiVirus stubbornly refused to installeven in Safe Mode. After working through the help system's various options, I hooked up with chat-based support and got the runaround from two different techs. Following up, I obtained official policy statements from Symantec and also from McAfee regarding just what you can expect from their tech support.Tech Support Round One
The very first thing the support technician did, without exploring any alternatives or asking me for details, was push me toward the extra-cost virus removal service. This excerpt from the chat transcript speaks for itself:
Agent: From looking at your issue, it appears that your computer may be infected by a virus. To help you with removing this virus off your computer what I can do for you is to transfer you across to our fee-based virus removal specialist team. Would this be ok with you?
Me: Fee-based? Don't be silly. All I want to do is install NAV2010. Surely you have some tools or something to get it past the install problem?
Agent: All antivirus softwares are reactive and sensitive software. They will not get installed in a computer which is already infected with any virus, worm or spy ware. In these situations even if the product gets installed it will not get installed properly in your computer and starts to give you error messages. So, after removing the infections only you can install the software successfully
Me: OK, so your statement is that NAV2010 is incapable of cleaning up the problems on my system, and that my only hope is to pay much more than the product would cost in order to get it installed. Correct?
Agent: It is not like that. Once you have a virus on your computer, it may attack Norton and prevent it from working properly; in these cases, the virus must be removed manually. Norton offers free, do-it-yourself support options as well as a paid service where we take care of removing threats for you.
Me: OK, what are my do-it-yourself options?
Agent: They will let you know all the details. May I transfer you?
Me: Transfer me to paid support? *NO*!
Agent: The charges and other information will be informed to you in advance. They will let you know the free do it yourself steps also.
At this point I agreed to talk with the specialist. Notice that I asked the tech specifically about any tools that might help with the problem, giving him a clear opportunity to recommend the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool. He never did, and he repeatedly stated that if Norton won't install due to malware, the threat must be removed manually.
Tech Support Round Two
Knowing that I could at least talk to the virus removal specialist without incurring a $99 charge, I went ahead. Unfortunately the second-tier expert wasn't any more helpful. Here are the relevant portions of that conversation:
Agent: As I understand from your issue description, your computer is infected with a malware which is blocking the installation of the Norton product and you need help in removing the infection. Is that correct?
Me: Really, I just need help getting NAV installed. I'm sure it will take care of the malware if it can get past the initial obstacle. Maybe you have some kind of pre-install tool to help with this problem? I know some other companies do.
Agent: Neil, may I know the name of the infection?
Me: The error messages that come up do not mention any name
Agent: Neil, the technician from the technical support team has transferred you to the virus removal department because the technician detected the presence of infection on your computer that is preventing you from installing the Antivirus program, so in such a case we need to remove the infections manually before we can install any antivirus programs.
Me: Yes, he said that.
Agent: Neil, there are multiple options for virus/malware removal available. The primary options are: 1. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) procedures available on the Norton Support website. 2. Fee-based Premium Services whereby Norton technicians remove infections. The DIY options on the Norton Support website provide step-by-step removal for most infections . Highly technical users often find these instructions sufficient . For users who do not find the standard Norton Support options sufficient, Norton has expert technicians on staff who can remove infections for you at a fee .
Me: Absolute NO to fee-based services. I did not find the DIY services on the web site. Where do I find that?
Agent: Norton provides free online support that has 'step by step instructions' to remove the threats from your computer. The free online support is available to you at http://www.norton.com/virushelp. Type in the relevant threat name in the search box to view the relevant instructions
Me: And how do I determine the name? [[The tech simply ignored this question.]]
Agent: Neil, if you wish to proceed with our premium paid support, our expert technicians will do a detail diagnosis of your computer and remove any infection present on it.
Me: IN SHORT: NAV2010 is not capable of installing and cleaning up this computer unless I pay a very large amount of money. Please confirm this is correct
Me: Again, my conclusion is that NAV2010 itself is incapable of cleaning up this system because it will not install. Please confirm that this is correct
Me: NAV2010 alone will not clean up my computer. Yes or no?...
Agent: If a virus is already present on your computer prior to installation, Norton products may not be able address the issue.
Here again I asked about some kind of tool that might clear the system enough to install Norton, but the tech blew off that question. After my repeated queries he eventually stated that Norton won't necessarily clean up a system that already has malware. next: The Official Word from Symantec >
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Analyst’s View: You Deserve Better Support – PC Magazine
Last year I reported on a significant problem with Symantec's tech support for their Norton products. A number of their support technicians strongly steered all customers toward Symantec's extra-cost virus removal service rather than offering to help them in any other available ways. Symantec responded that one particular support office had gone "rogue" and that their actions were counter to company policy.
This week, in the course of evaluating Norton AntiVirus 2010, I ran into exactly the same problem. The product installed without difficulty on eleven of my twelve malware-infested test systems. It even performed some clever self-diagnostics to get past problems that have stymied other security products, like a malware threat that installed itself as a proxy controlling all Internet access. But on one test system, Norton AntiVirus stubbornly refused to installeven in Safe Mode. After working through the help system's various options, I hooked up with chat-based support and got the runaround from two different techs. Following up, I obtained official policy statements from Symantec and also from McAfee regarding just what you can expect from their tech support.Tech Support Round One
The very first thing the support technician did, without exploring any alternatives or asking me for details, was push me toward the extra-cost virus removal service. This excerpt from the chat transcript speaks for itself:
Agent: From looking at your issue, it appears that your computer may be infected by a virus. To help you with removing this virus off your computer what I can do for you is to transfer you across to our fee-based virus removal specialist team. Would this be ok with you?
Me: Fee-based? Don't be silly. All I want to do is install NAV2010. Surely you have some tools or something to get it past the install problem?
Agent: All antivirus softwares are reactive and sensitive software. They will not get installed in a computer which is already infected with any virus, worm or spy ware. In these situations even if the product gets installed it will not get installed properly in your computer and starts to give you error messages. So, after removing the infections only you can install the software successfully
Me: OK, so your statement is that NAV2010 is incapable of cleaning up the problems on my system, and that my only hope is to pay much more than the product would cost in order to get it installed. Correct?
Agent: It is not like that. Once you have a virus on your computer, it may attack Norton and prevent it from working properly; in these cases, the virus must be removed manually. Norton offers free, do-it-yourself support options as well as a paid service where we take care of removing threats for you.
Me: OK, what are my do-it-yourself options?
Agent: They will let you know all the details. May I transfer you?
Me: Transfer me to paid support? *NO*!
Agent: The charges and other information will be informed to you in advance. They will let you know the free do it yourself steps also.
At this point I agreed to talk with the specialist. Notice that I asked the tech specifically about any tools that might help with the problem, giving him a clear opportunity to recommend the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool. He never did, and he repeatedly stated that if Norton won't install due to malware, the threat must be removed manually.
Tech Support Round Two
Knowing that I could at least talk to the virus removal specialist without incurring a $99 charge, I went ahead. Unfortunately the second-tier expert wasn't any more helpful. Here are the relevant portions of that conversation:
Agent: As I understand from your issue description, your computer is infected with a malware which is blocking the installation of the Norton product and you need help in removing the infection. Is that correct?
Me: Really, I just need help getting NAV installed. I'm sure it will take care of the malware if it can get past the initial obstacle. Maybe you have some kind of pre-install tool to help with this problem? I know some other companies do.
Agent: Neil, may I know the name of the infection?
Me: The error messages that come up do not mention any name
Agent: Neil, the technician from the technical support team has transferred you to the virus removal department because the technician detected the presence of infection on your computer that is preventing you from installing the Antivirus program, so in such a case we need to remove the infections manually before we can install any antivirus programs.
Me: Yes, he said that.
Agent: Neil, there are multiple options for virus/malware removal available. The primary options are: 1. Do-It-Yourself (DIY) procedures available on the Norton Support website. 2. Fee-based Premium Services whereby Norton technicians remove infections. The DIY options on the Norton Support website provide step-by-step removal for most infections . Highly technical users often find these instructions sufficient . For users who do not find the standard Norton Support options sufficient, Norton has expert technicians on staff who can remove infections for you at a fee .
Me: Absolute NO to fee-based services. I did not find the DIY services on the web site. Where do I find that?
Agent: Norton provides free online support that has 'step by step instructions' to remove the threats from your computer. The free online support is available to you at http://www.norton.com/virushelp. Type in the relevant threat name in the search box to view the relevant instructions
Me: And how do I determine the name? [[The tech simply ignored this question.]]
Agent: Neil, if you wish to proceed with our premium paid support, our expert technicians will do a detail diagnosis of your computer and remove any infection present on it.
Me: IN SHORT: NAV2010 is not capable of installing and cleaning up this computer unless I pay a very large amount of money. Please confirm this is correct
Me: Again, my conclusion is that NAV2010 itself is incapable of cleaning up this system because it will not install. Please confirm that this is correct
Me: NAV2010 alone will not clean up my computer. Yes or no?...
Agent: If a virus is already present on your computer prior to installation, Norton products may not be able address the issue.
Here again I asked about some kind of tool that might clear the system enough to install Norton, but the tech blew off that question. After my repeated queries he eventually stated that Norton won't necessarily clean up a system that already has malware. next: The Official Word from Symantec >
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Mexican Drug Policy Reform Movement Takes Shape – The NarcoSphere
Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.
International Conference in Mexico City Provides Hope, Inspiration to a Budding Domestic Movement
This past February 22 and 23, drug policy experts and organizers from around the world gathered in Mexico City for “Winds of Change: Drug Policy Around the World,” a conference organized by the Collective for a Comprehensive Drug Policy (CUPIHD).
The conference was the first event CUPIHD has organized as a collective. Jorge Hernández Tinajero, CUPIHD’s president, told Narco News, “All of [CUPIHD’s members] have been working on this issue for at least ten years from our respective areas of expertise.” However, it was only recently that they joined forces under the banner of CUPIHD, which they founded last year “in order to transform the drug policy in Mexico to one with a harm reduction and human rights perspective.” According to fellow CUPIHD member and former federal Congresswoman Elsa Conde, the Winds of Change conference “is just the beginning.”
At the conference, drug policy experts from Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Holland, the United States, and the United Kingdom shared their experiences in their own countries. While recognizing that the situations in their respective countries were very distinct from that of Mexico, they hoped that Mexicans could learn from their experiences, strategies, tactics, and experiments in drug policy reform.
Pien Metaal from Holland, for example, spoke about the backslide towards criminalization that her country is currently experiencing after years of increasing decriminalization. Her organization,Transnational Institute, analyzes and compares drug policy around the world. Metaal provided a broad overview of how various European and Latin American countries have experimented in decriminalization. She focused on the various ways governments have reclassified drug distribution, possession, and use as they move towards decriminalization, giving conference participants a variety of options to consider and advocate for as they fight for reform in their own countries. She noted that in order to move towards more just sentencing policies, many countries have begun to draw legal distinctions between different drugs, between users and dealers, between dealers and major distributors, between mules* and large-scale traffickers, and between small and large producers.
The Transnational Institute has also compiled information from studies in countries that have decriminalized drug use to some extent in order to draw conclusions about the impact of drug decriminalization on drug use and drug-related crime. Metaal argues, based on an analysis of available data from various countries, that “law enforcement measures are not effective in reducing the expansion of drug markets. Rather, it is the poorest and most marginalized people and families who pay the price of these policies. There is sufficient evidence that alternative policies do not increase [drug] consumption, but they do increase access to [prevention and rehabilitation] services and medical attention.”
Ethan Nadelmann from the US-based Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) spoke during two plenary sessions. Nadelmann explained how and why his organization has focused most of its efforts on legalizing medical marijuana in the United States. While the DPA seeks to “end the war on drugs” in general, it has chosen medical marijuana as a wedge issue, one that seeks to remove or reduce stigmatization associated with drugs and open the door to a broader debate on the war on drugs. “We hoped and we believed that by working on the use of medical marijuana, it would begin to transform the public dialogue around marijuana,” Nadelmann said. “It would change the conversation, and we hoped it would reduce the resistance to speaking about marijuana legalization more broadly. I think we’ve been successful in that regard.”
Nadelmann told the mostly Mexican audience that he was by no means arguing that Mexican drug reformers should also take up the cause of medical marijuana. Rather, he said, “If you look at the way drug policy reform evolves and educationally leaps forward in different parts of the world, it can be for very different reasons… Each place is different. I think in Mexico you are still looking and struggling for what will be the angle, the specific thing that enables Mexico to leap forward on this debate. In the United States it was medical marijuana.”
Nadelmann argues in choosing a key issue to focus on in order to advance the movement, drug reformers must ask, “Where can we get traction? Where can we dig in? Where can we make a stand in order to begin to fight back?” As Nadelmann points out, a good issue to begin with in policy reform is the issue most people can agree upon—an issue where most people believe the drug war has gone too far.
Nadelmann, while reminding conference attendees that he is not an expert on Mexico and is not in a position to tell Mexicans how to go about building a drug reform movement, “guessed” at what might be key issues in Mexico that the movement could seize upon. “My advice, take it for what its worth, is to focus on moving opinion in Mexico on the marijuana issue. It is almost impossible to speak realistically in political terms about the legalization of cocaine or heroine or methamphetamine, but with marijuana yes, it is possible, and it can happen,” Nadelmann argued. “In Mexico right now only 30% of Mexicans support the legalization of marijuana. Mexico needs a rapid jump in support for the legalization of marijuana. And it needs to be linked in the public mind that legalizing marijuana is the best way to deprive the drug gangsters of billions of dollars.” Nadelmann noted that the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the US drug tsar claim that at least half of Mexican drug gangs’ earnings come from marijuana.
Nadelmann also shared several examples of how his organization seized on specific opportunities to launch campaigns that changed people’s opinions on drug policy. In Tulia, Texas, for example, forty black people were arrested in a drug raid, with the only evidence against them being the testimony of a single white police officer. All of the prisoners were later released. Drug policy reform organizations seized on the case to foment a criticism of drug policy, which disproportionately affects black and brown communities in the US, within the traditionally socially conservative black community.
Nadelmann believes that Mexico is also living an educational moment, one that can be seized upon to open up a debate on drug policy. “Currently, there are places in Mexico that look like Chicago during the era of Prohibition and Al Capone. If there has ever been a moment to question the costs and benefits of prohibitionist policies, the moment is now.”
Several conference attendees wondered out loud if the key to moving the Mexican public on drug policy reform lies in Ciudad Juarez, the new “murder capital of the world.” A journalist pointed out that President Felipe Calderon’s recent visit to Juarez was a complete disaster. On February 11,police violently attacked a protest outside the convention center where Calderon was to speak on security. Many of the protesters were students from the Juarez high school that suffered a massacrein which gunmen murdered at least 15 people—mostly students—at a party. Inside the convention center, the mother of a murdered student railed against a speechless Calderon for three minutes. Given the recent unrest against government policy in Juarez, the journalist told conference attendees, “I think there is something going on in Juarez and El Paso. Even if it’s just ‘We don’t want aggressive law enforcement, we don’t want the military in our community,’ even if that’s the only result, it softens people up” and opens up the possibility of a debate on broader drug policy reform.
In addition to choosing a key issue to push in order to advance drug reform, Nadelmann offers a second piece of advice to Mexican drug policy reformers: “Insist on the legitimacy of open dialogue. The worst prohibition is a prohibition on thinking. When the government engages not just in censorship, but in self-censorship, and when it discourages and denies the possibility of open and honest dialogue, it undermines the ability to come to a better policy, and it reveals their own fears and securities about the value and legitimacy of the policies they are enforcing.”
While Mexicans may still be grappling with how to take their first steps towards building an effective movement to end the drug war, CUPIHD’s conference made a giant leap forward in promoting an open and honest debate on the issue. While the drug war is omnipresent and discussed nearly constantly in the media, in Congress, in schools, and on the streets, false information abounds. This prevents an honest and informed debate on how to go about fixing what everyone acknowledges is a serious problem.
Two Mexican experts in particular debunked common misconceptions about the drug war in order to promote a more honest debate based on accurate information. Professor Alejandro Madrazo, a member of CUPIHD, discussed Mexico’s recent legal reform that the media billed as “drug legalization.” He pointed out that while the government did legalize the possession of very small quantities of drugs, the majority of users generally carry more than the legally permitted amount. Thanks to the new law, this consumer “is being pursued with more force and more tools,” and the law makes the prosecution of consumers much easier. Furthermore, Madrazo argued, the law seeks to forcefully incorporate states into the federal government’s war on drugs, and it redistributes power and responsibilities in that war. The end result, he argues, is far from legalization.
Luis Astorga from the National Autonomous University of Mexico’s Institute for Social Investigations debunked many of the government’s so-called statistics that relate to the war on drugs. “Nearly every day the media gives credibility to declarations from public officials, but they never demand that they show a study and a methodology for how they arrived at those numbers.”
Astorga taught conference attendees how to evaluate the numbers they hear in the media, particularly those that come from the government, to determine if they are credible or questionable. In doing so, Astorga systematically debunked or called into question statements Mexican and US government officials have made in the media regarding the amount of Mexican land that is used for cultivating drugs, the number of people who work in drug trafficking, the amount of money drug trafficking brings into the Mexican economy, and the number of drug consumers and addicts.
Moving Forward
Ex-Congresswoman Conde closed the conference with the following words:
“There is no doubt that we recognize the failure of the so-called war on drugs. We require new winds of change to advance alternative policies for the world’s drug problem. We have seen that prohibitionist policies have not been effective in most countries. This paradigm has resulted in grave human rights violations and violations of individual rights. It has also entailed discrimination and social exclusion. The escalating violence increases with every passing day, increasing the territory within which organized crime operates with impunity. We insist that prohibitionist policy means that states have given up their control over the drug market. We insist that prohibition, in market terms, is much more costly and useless than regulation.”
“Now,” Conde asked, “after two days of work and reflection, where do we go from here?
“Gabriel Tokatlian, an Argentinian investigator, invites us to use common sense in drug policy. He tells us that the best policy is one that privileges justice, equality, health, human rights, education, and employment. This is precisely the vision that is absent in current drug policy, at least in our country.”
Notes:
* A mule or mula is an individual, generally poor, who transports relatively small amounts (less than a few kilos) of drugs, generally in or on their body, at the behest of a large-scale drug trafficker.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
Influential federal panel recommends annual flu shots for virtually all Americans – Gaea Times (blog)
Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.
