McKenzie Towne PC Repair

01/01/2026

Look for 2026 being the year of the passkey instead of your passwords. Many large online companies are asking or even demanding you use a passkey moving forward instead of you old password or you will not be able to use their system or your account:

Using passkeys instead of passwords offers simpler, faster, and significantly more secure logins by replacing memorable text with cryptographic keys tied to your device (phone, computer) and unlocked by biometrics (fingerprint, face scan) or a PIN, protecting against phishing and breaches because they're unique per site and can't be shared or reused. To use them, enable the feature in your account settings (like Google, Microsoft) to create a passkey, which then syncs via your password manager (Google Password Manager, 1Password) across devices for passwordless sign-in.

01/01/2026

The 3-2-1 backup rule is a robust data protection strategy: keep 3 total copies of your data (original + 2 backups), store them on 2 different media types (e.g., HDD, Cloud), and keep 1 copy off-site (e.g., in the cloud or another physical location) to protect against loss from hardware failure, theft, or disasters. It ensures data resilience by avoiding a single point of failure, with modern variations like the 3-2-1-1-0 rule adding immutable or air-gapped copies for better ransomware protection.

02/25/2024

Absolutely fantastic video for anyone that travels or uses public WIFI, the risks associated with using and what to do:

You may have noticed that our YouTube channel got hacked 2 weeks ago. YouTube was actually one of four hacking incidents and none of them resulted from a fis...

12/27/2022

The benefits and risks of using a password manager to protect your online identity.

Great article that I have been preaching to family, friends and colleagues for some time. If you are looking to make some changes over the holiday if you have time or at least want to ensure your cyber security is at a better level, this is the article for you:

Consumers with password managers are less likely to experience identity theft, but choosing an online identity protection service requires some thought.

03/07/2022

What To Do When Identity Theft Occurs

Great advice from an AMA email I just received:

If it happens, here are a few tips:
1. Call your financial institutions – Contact all of the banks you deal with and make them aware immediately

2. Flag it – Change your passwords and report the fraud to Equifax and TransUnion

3. Report it – Report the incident to the police and/or the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre

That is why AMA Insurance provides identity theft coverage as part of every home insurance policy. Check your own insurance to see what they cover.

01/22/2022

16 Ways to speed up Windows 10

I get asked many times from family, friends, colleagues, clients and potential clients, why is my computer running so slow? Usually there are handful of reasons that could be either hardware or software related. Running a hard drive software program that gives you the physical health of your hard drive is a great place to start and rule out any potential physical hard drive damage.

Your computer could be getting so old that the amount of RAM you have in your current system was great for back in the day but now not only the demands of the operating system have increased but every other program you are running in the front and background are grinding your computer to a halt.

But more often than not, people's issue with having a slow computer can come down to software. You have too many 3rd party background programs running that you're not aware of or you have multiple Windows 10 programs running in the background that are taking up to many resources. By a process of going through a checklist, you can either turn these programs off or severely limit their resource hogging abilities.

One must always remember that it could be malware that is causing the issue. Malware can be generalized into many categories like viruses, etc. But at the end of the day these programs are not only causing your computer to slow down but could potentially giving the bad guys your personal information.

Running with multiple Chrome tabs open can also be an issue or running multiple programs at once can also be the culprit. Your connection to the internet could be an issue based on many different things that we can focus on at another time. The idea here is there is a difference between your internet connection speed and your PC being laggy are two different issues and have to be dealt with differently.

So finally we come to the answer of this whole article, what can I do to fix my computer from being so slow? Here is an excellent article by Computer World that helps to dive into some of the most common issues you can diagnose and fix yourself without having a PHD in computer science:

https://www.computerworld.com/article/3029168/16-ways-to-speed-up-windows-10.html

For anything else that doesn't make sense, give me a shout and we can try and figure it out together. Good luck!

08/06/2021

HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF AGAINST THE POWERFUL NEW NSO SPYWARE ATTACKS DISCOVERED AROUND THE WORLD

Great article for all those with questions about cyber security:

https://theintercept.com/2021/07/27/pegasus-nso-spyware-security/

From the Intercept Security Team, great job, very inciteful.

Also, the picture is from a computer place I have bought from before back East. Here is the link if you wish to download this great tool:

https://ouritnews.com/campaign?dac=d52dcf9d085fc31f5e2d97dc00160a55137ad57d&contentId=23950&key=RVlmMlFPcEpSU3A4UXF6RUFnZmQ3QT09&utm_source=RB-Computing-Inc-&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=d52dcf9d085fc31f5e2d97dc00160a55137ad57d&utm_content=A-Desktop-reference--Cyber-safe-to-dos--and-when-to-do-them--23950&utm_term=15

A cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds. Stay vigilant and you can prevent a breach, even if you can’t stop the attempts. But who has time to stand guard 24/7, much less remember all the necessary cybersecurity checks? With this cyber hygiene cheat sheet for your desktop you don’t have to do either.

Thanks to the fine folks at Shop RBC.

02/22/2020

Individual and Small Business IT Security On The Cheap

It never seems to end the onslaught of bad news in regards to individuals, governments and businesses getting hacked on a daily basis. If it's not Ransomware or some virus that is taking down a multi national firm or Joe six pack at home, it's some new-fangled security risk or threat that inevitably touches someone we know.

When you are an individual or small business you don't have the same resources of a government agency or larger business with a dedicated team of IT professionals that can help to mitigate most if not all of these cyber threats that are facing us today. So, what can the little guy do to help protect themselves on the cheap?

The first question you need to ask yourself is, what are the potential dangers I need to protect myself from? Without going into too much detail, here are a list of the top 5 cyber issues facing folks these days in no particular order:

Virus, Malware, Ransomware, Phishing and Trojans
Hacking
Not keeping your operating system and malware software up to date
Firewalls not being properly locked down
Bad or no Password protection
The top items listed generally fall into a similar category. You open a link in an email that you shouldn't have, you clicked on something on a website you shouldn't have, etc. Hacking might be a little remote of a chance unless you really have something that someone wants and has the skills and abilities to actually pull off the crime. Not keeping your OS or malware software up to date is an obvious one as that is the front line entrance and defense for your hardware. Firewalls, either software in your OS or hardware related to your router as an example if not properly secured can also be an access point for cyber criminals. Finally, password protection! Something as simple as having a strong password can help to dissuade people from stealing your identity.

So now that we have a list of what are the potential threats out there, how can we take the precautions necessary to stay secure on a limited or no budget at all? Here they are based on the aforementioned threats:

How to defeat virus's, malware, ransomware, etc. Good habits! Do not click on links you don't know who or where they come from. If you are in doubt about said link from family, friend or colleague, send them a new email to confirm or pick up the phone. Don't go to websites that are suspect or might not have the "HTTPS" protocol. (Not that every HTTPS website is 100% guaranteed safe but safer than just HTTP) Following these good habits will invariably save your bacon 99% of the time.
Hacking! As mentioned earlier, if a PRO really wants your data, they will probably find a way to get it. If you lock your car for example, you can generally avoid crimes of opportunity as the bad guys are looking for the easy in and out. By using a VPN or virtual private network when at a coffee shop or any open hot spot, you can significantly reduce the chances of being hacked. There are many FREE VPNs on the market and I suggest you read as many reviews as you can to find out which one works for you.
Keeping you OS or operating system as well as your malware or anti virus software up to date. Because a large portion of the planet uses the Microsoft OS and it's Office products, cyber criminals are looking at finding vulnerabilities to get around these products and infect your system with various key logging and other malware. By updating these pieces of software on a regular basis can help to offset any potential cyber nightmares! There are a ton of FREE anti virus and malware software programs out there. Like finding the right VPN, do your research online and find the best product for you.
Firewalls or routers not being locked down. If you have an internet connection at home, you most certainly have a router or a modem that you purchased or your ISP supplied you with. Leaving your router WIFI open and not secure is an open invitation to the criminal element to come into your home and wreak havoc. Most of the time your OS firewall should be already locked down, but always good to check from time to time especially after an OS update.
Finally, password protection! As simple as it sounds having a strong password with more than 8 characters, using a combination of upper and lower case, numbers and symbols will help to make things much more difficult for the bad guys. "But I have a thousand passwords to remember, how can I possibly remember them all?" Once again, by using a FREE password manager can really help. Once again, do your research and find the one that works best for you.
This is just a starting point to be safer and to help mitigate the risk and damage from cyber crime. If you follow my advice on just using sound judgement in your every day use of opening emails and going to websites and forming good cyber habits, you will decrease the likelihood of getting a virus or it's other counterparts. Here are a couple final parting pieces of software and advice that will make your life easier:

Cloud storage and an external hard drive. Back up, back up, back up is my mantra. There is noting worse than making it through unscathed from being infected or attacked to have you hard drive die on you! Though an external hard drive does cost money you can get FREE cloud storage to help back up your information in case of a nasty computer failure. Check out the many available online.
Watch what APPS or software you download. Not everything free comes consequence free!
Be careful with your identity, especially on social media. Make sure you lock down your settings on those sites and keep your personal information to a minimum. You don't want the bad guys to know you're on vacation and no one is home!
2 step factor authentication. This is an easy one for anyone that has a cell phone and a computer. God forbid you get hacked or someone gets their hands on your passwords, having 2 step factor authentication can be a real life saver.
I hope this helps out anyone that was curious or struggling to find a solution to what they can possibly do on the cheap to help protect themselves from cyber troubles. In full disclosure, I am not an IT professional but someone who has seen his fair share of friends, family and colleagues who have come to me with any and all of these issues at some point or another. I have done much research on these topics over the years and have been successful so far in eluding any harm coming to my systems (Knock on wood), save for bricking the odd device with a bad firmware update from the manufacturer. So fingers crossed it continues that way. Best of luck.

Photo by Petter Lagson on Unsplash

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Chris Holm
Southern Alberta Representative at GCR Agencies
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02/17/2018

I recently did a review on an air quality sensing device for my home. Here it is.

11/02/2017

The last free Windows 10 upgrade path for consumers will shut down by December 31

here's still one way consumers can upgrade to Windows 10 for free—and Microsoft will shut it down on December 31, even though a majority of the world's PC users still use older versions of Windows.

Microsoft gave Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users an entire year after the launch of Windows 10 (until July 31, 2016) to upgrade to Windows 10 for free. But there was one exception: those who used assistive technology, such as screen readers, got an indefinite extension.

According to a Microsoft support page, the deadline for those users to upgrade to Windows 10 for free expires by the end of the year, as noted by Slashgear. After that, consumers will have to pay the full price for a Windows license, which costs about $75 from Amazon for a "system builder" license for Windows 10 Home, and more for retail Home or Professional versions.
You might think that users who don't use assistive technologies would be excluded from this loophole. But Microsoft is making its upgrade path extremely generous: "We are not restricting the upgrade offer to specific assistive technologies," the company says. "If you use assistive technology on Windows, you are eligible for the upgrade offer." All you need to do is visit the assistive support page in question, assert that you use assistive technologies, and then download the upgrade tool to Windows 10.

Granted, the assistive loophole represents a morally gray area, especially for those who normally wouldn't need to use assistive technology. But you might argue that if you've ever tried out the Windows Narrator tool, you've used an assistive technology. And with the improved assistive technologies that are already built into the Windows 10 OS, those who truly need assistance will benefit from the free upgrade.

Why this matters: Cynics will see Microsoft's "wink, wink" approach to the assistive loophole as one that benefits the company: Windows 10 users only represent about 30 percent of all PCs, according to NetMarketShare, compared to a Windows 7 share of about 49 percent. Of course, Microsoft's using the stick, too: AMD's latest Ryzen chips won't deliver official drivers for Windows 7, part of Microsoft's plan to restrict modern hardware to Windows 10. Unless Microsoft extends the program in some other form, a great freebie is going away.

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