TECHNOLOGY & COMMUNICATION
ISSUE 7
SPECIALISTS (TCS)
October 2013
A Division Of Kennebec Telephone Company
Antivirus for Computers
TCS offers an online security protection for anyone who owns a computer. Vipre is a high performance pc
security. It can auto scan and remove
threats, along with high performance and powerful anti-malware
engine. Vipre is one of the better
spywares for a pc. It has many op-
tions and many advances (which are
proving more and more over time)
to the computer world. Call us today
for a quote for a personal computer
or business computer. Prices starting
at $5.50 for the first computer and
$4.50 for additional computers.
Tim Meiners
(TCS Tech)
Internet
With winter fast approaching, it becomes our busy time for internet use and computer related
trouble. There are a couple things we would like remind everyone in hopes that it will save them time
and money.
One of the big items we see is copyright infringements. This is when one of our customers illegally downloads copyrighted materials. For the most part these materials are movies, music, and software.
What happens is the company that has the rights to these materials files a complaint; they can trace it
back to a specific ip address and time. From there, they know the company that host those ip addresses
which in our case would be Kennebec Telephone. We get a notice that we have a customer stealing and
threaten a lawsuit against them unless they remove the material from their equipment. We then notify
the customer what happened then notify the complaining party that everything has been resolved. Usually that is the end of problems, however, in some cases when a customer gets several complaints they
can be taken to court and have charges filed against them. There are places where you can go legally
download these things; Itunes has a huge library for music, movies, and software.
Another thing that typically rises in the winter months are viruses and spyware on computers.
Obviously people spend more time on the internet during these months because of the temperatures.
There are a few ways to pick up a virus. Oddly enough one of the sure fire way to catch on is to download
music, movies, and software from the internet illegally. Itunes and other legitimate sites are pretty safe,
but if you go through a peer to peer network, (connect to another persons computer to download) they
will almost always give you something bad along with it. Email and annoying pop up ads are the other
most common ways. Most of us have done the “oh crap!!” when you realized I shouldn’t have opened
that or clicked yes to leave the page. Here is what you do when you get to a spot your not comfortable
with: SHUT YOUR COMPUTER OFF. If something pops up that you don’t know for sure what it is and has a
YES or NO box, just shut your computer off. Sometimes these install the virus or malware no matter what
you click, but if you shut your computer off it closes everything and your usually safe. There are other
ways to get out of that program but shutting down is something everyone can do. Don’t open suspicious
emails. If you get an email from someone with a @kennebectelephone.com address selling “cheap drugs
from Mexico” or “Sasha from Russia has advice for you” don’t open it; it’s a scam. Read the subject line
and use caution. If it’s important, and you don’t reply then they will call you on the telephone.
Remember, computers and the internet are great but you CAN’T believe everything on there.
Be cautious; when you have a virus infested computer it slows down. When it slows down you think the
internet is not working, and we want your internet to be fast and glitch free. Always restart if you get to
a bad spot, but if you pick something up give us a call, and we can fix you back up.
TCS
605-224-9998
Po Box 158
Kennebec SD 57544
Early Shopping
Make shopping easy this year, with a new
laptop, desktop, or even a tablet! Let us
help you find the right one for that special
person. Our knowledgeable TCS staff will
do all the work of ordering, customizing,
and even transferring your files over, when
it arrives. Let us take the headache while
you get to enjoy the smiles!
Security Systems
Many of our security system customers debate between having their
dialer call them on an answering service.
Generally a dialer can be programmed
to call 5 numbers until someone answers
and enters the code to quit dialing.
There are pros and cons to each way.
Pros of an “Answering service:”
guaranteed answered, will route depending on alarm, can give a list of 20
numbers.
Cons: Monthly Fees.
Pros of a “No answering service:”
no monthly fee, you accidently trip
alarm it, calls you.
Cons: not guaranteed, calls same
number pattern, 5 numbers is the limit.
It comes down to you and your
preferences. Often times small business
have alarms call them direct, especially
if the owner lives nearby. Bigger ones
with multiple employees or locating
tend to use an answering service. There
is no right or wrong way; just what
works best for you.