Miken Technologies Blogs

The “FBI Virus” – or FBI MoneyPak Ransomware Virus – is a virus that sends your computer into lock down mode as soon as you boot it up. A message that reads “STOP! YOUR COMPUTER HAS BEEN LOCKED BY THE FBI” is usually splashed across the screen and can be very convincing and even terrifying to users unaware of this virus.

This virus will then tell you that your computer has been “seized” and “frozen,” claiming that illegal activity has been detected on your computer. In most cases, the virus will demand a payment anywhere from $100 – $700 to unlock the PC.

But don’t be fooled! This is a scam and we CAN remove this virus from your computer.

Computer users who have experienced this virus will first see a full-screen warning claiming to come from the FBI, sometimes even with the official FBI seal. The warning will then demand a ransom payment through MoneyPak to get your computer up and running again – which in fact will NOT work. Unfortunately, we’ve seen too many people fall for this scam.

Another Screenshot of the virus

There are many websites out there that will provide instructions on how to remove this virus, but we highly recommend that you bring your PC to the professionals to avoid any further damage.

If you’ve been hit by this virus or think you may have a computer virus in general, please do not hesitate to contact Miken today!

Because the subject of saving money on outsourced IT is a popular and important one, we should start out by noting that there are a lot of ways you could decrease your monthly IT bill. For instance, you could simply choose less expensive hardware and software than you currently use. Additionally, you might decide to find a cheaper outsourced IT company, or even assign the maintenance of your business’ technology to an in-house member of your administrative team, rather than a technology professional.

With a little thought, you could probably even come up with another dozen ways to save money, at least for a few months, on your outsourced IT bill. The problem in each of these cases, though, you’re almost always going to inevitable end up costing yourself more money in the future… and more often than not, that’s going to be the near future.

Here are just a few of the ways scaling back your IT is likely to result in bigger expenses down the road: Read More

As a rule, things that seem too good to be true often are. We suspect that’s the reason a lot of companies have held off on making the switch to cloud computing systems, even though they are incredibly excited about the prospect of saving 50% or more on their technology expenses. Just about every business owner or manager would love to cut their bills in half and get a faster, more reliable network in the process… but many feel that there must be a “catch” somewhere in the process.

With that in mind, it’s worth asking: Is cloud computing too good to be true?

We can understand why people think that way, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s such a great idea, and such a high-ROI investment for almost any organization. To illustrate why, we’ll break down the three biggest arguments against cloud computing, and show you why they don’t really hold up against closer scrutiny: Read More