We have noticed a large number of calls yesterday and today in relation to users on Windows 7 where the computer sits stuck on a “Starting Windows” page. The common denominator between all of these incidents is that the computers had AVG Anti-Virus installed.

Whilst we wait on AVG getting back to us with news on this issue we have been resolving these incidents by booting the computers in to Safe Mode, un-installing AVG completely, then booting back into Windows in normal mode before reinstalling AVG.

This is not the first time Anti-Virus programs have caused catastrophic issues with Windows PCs. In April 2010 a McAfee pushed out an update that caused a false positive identification, and incorrect deletion, of the critical Windows system file svchost.exe.

Edinburgh based IT Support Technician Ryan Morrison said: “I’ve been dealing with a few cases this morning and yesterday afternoon where the computer just fails to boot. I haven’t had time to confirm this yet, but it looks to be caused by AVG preventing a Windows Update from applying and causing the boot loader to get stuck on Starting Windows.”

After the system has sat on the “Starting Windows” screen for a while the PC will then automatically go into the Windows Recovery mode.

In some instances, re-installing AVG after safely removing it causes the problem to reoccur. We await AVG’s response to our report and we will update this page as soon as we have more information.

Update as of 24/06: We received an update from our AVG Account Manager which says:

We have a problem the past week however we have been advised to ask all partners to uninstall Trusteer Rapport from the customers computer using safe mode as we think this may be causing the problem. If you are unable to uninstall Trusteer Rapport, you can temporarily uninstall AVG following the instructions in Uninstall AVG.

 

The Shell Shock security flaw could be bigger than Heartbleed.

A serious security flaw recently discovered in the Bash command-line shell application has been nicknamed “Shell Shock”.

Bash, an acronym for Bourne Again Shell, is a command-line shell application that allows users to issue commands to launch programs, features and make changes by typing text into a console. It’s typically used by programmers and server administrators when making changes to their servers. Bash usually isn’t open to the general public nor made available to access over the Internet by unauthorised users, but Shell Shock changes that.

This isn’t a new vulnerability (although it’s only just been discovered),  in fact it’s been around for 20-25 years. It allows the user to manipulate “environment variables” to influence how the software responds and ultimately exploit the machine it is running on.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology this bug is rated a 10/10 in terms of severity:

NU Bash through 4.3 processes trailing strings after function definitions in the values of environment variables, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted environment, as demonstrated by vectors involving the ForceCommand feature in OpenSSH sshd, the mod_cgi and mod_cgid modules in the Apache HTTP Server, scripts executed by unspecified DHCP clients, and other situations in which setting the environment occurs across a privilege boundary from Bash execution.

 

Authentication: Not required to exploit

 

Impact Type: Allows unauthorized disclosure of information; Allows unauthorized modification; Allows disruption of service

Ultimately, the message of this blog post is to get your systems updated and patched immediately. This is a critical flaw in the security of a lot of servers around the world and failing to act could leave you open to data breaches.

All Consider IT Clients can rest safe in the knowledge that, as ever, we have already taken actions to mitigate this huge risk.

At about 3:25pm yesterday (Monday 23rd September 2013), Google Apps suffered some service issues. Clients were noticing issues sending or receiving emails.

Google estimated that this issue affected less than 0.024% of the GMail user base.

Their team provided updates constantly every hour and at 7PM they confirmed the issue was much more widespread than first thought, affecting 50% of GMail users.

At 3AM this morning (24th September), Google confirmed that the issue was resolved and provided this statement:

As of 1600 Pacific Time, Gmail message delivery and attachment download is functioning normally for all users. We apologize for the duration of today’s event; we’re aware that prompt email delivery is an important part of the Gmail experience, and today’s experience fell far short of our standards. We have analyzed the data on user impact and are providing a preliminary assessment of what occurred:

Between 0554 and 1530 Pacific Time today, 29.1% of messages received by Gmail users were delayed. The average (median) delay was just 2.6 seconds, but some mail was more severely delayed. However, this issue did not affect users’ access to the Gmail page or other functionality.

The support for Windows XP with Service Pack 3 ends 8th April 2014. If you’re running Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (SP3) after support ends, to ensure that you will receive all important security updates for Windows, you need to upgrade to a later version, such as Windows 7 or 8.

Edinburgh IT Support company Consider IT reports a few of its clients were left without Internet this morning when BT suffered a major business broadband problem.

BT Business’ Twitter feed said the problem was fixed at 11.30 GMT, and advised users to restart their routers to get connected.

One user of TheRegister.co.uk posts:

Had this this morning.

At first, it was the ADSL Authentication failing on two ADSL2+ lines we have. That went away quite quickly, though, and has been replaced by a completely useless authenticated session that won’t shift traffic at all (literally, even a ping only hears silence). Both lines seem to be the same.

I switched us onto our emergency 3G stick which handles the traffic well for about a day before we hit limits, but the two business ADSL lines are still out of commission.

Shall I demonstrate how reliable BT are as a business provider?

My employers asked me to build a device that can automatically cut the power to the two routers we have, wait 30 seconds and restore power to them (and then restart networking scripts, etc.) at the order of a special text message (coincidentally to the same stick we use for emergency 3G access). It happens that often that our one-and-only VPN user actually “hard-reboots” the routers via text on a regular basis when his VPN software can’t connect.

Our two lines aren’t even stable enough to just run off one most of the time, I had to implement a very fancy failover / connection balancing system using a Linux router to get some sort of stability. Even then, about once a week the local exchange (50 yards away) decides to kill one or more of our sessions and we have to reconnect (via hard power off described above) for no visible reason.

Click here to see the post

The BT Broadband status page reads:

We have recently had a problem affecting Business IP addresses and it may be necessary to reboot your router.

Please power down your router & PC for a minimum of 30 seconds before reconnecting.

Once your router and PC have restarted, attempt to reconnect. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience.

Consider IT are pleased to announce that we have now become authorised resellers of the Google Apps suite of communication and collaboration tools for businesses.  Google Apps brings simple, powerful communication and collaboration tools to organizations of any size – all hosted by Google to streamline setup, minimize maintenance, and reduce IT costs.

With Gmail (including Google email security, powered by Postini), Google Calendar, and integrated IM, users can stay connected and work together with ease. And, using Google Docs and Google Sites, which include word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and website creation tools, they can share files and collaborate in real-time, keeping versions organized and available wherever and whenever users work.

“The Google Apps Reseller program will help us provide Google Apps to users of businesses in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas.” Said Stuart Gilbertson, Managing Director, Consider IT. “Google Apps for Business offers a broad set of powerful APIs that enable us to deploy redundant, scalable, reliable and secure services that replace the ancient solutions most businesses still struggle to use today.”

“Once we’ve set it all up, everything really does just work. It might take a bit of getting used to, but with our training and support, our clients will be increasing their productivity and working with their new systems with ease.

Silly things like the collaboration between multiple people at the same time on their documents makes life so much easier and people so much more productive. Google Apps just saves businesses money and time whilst being secure and safe, it’s as simple as that.”

The Google Apps Reseller program includes resellers, consultants and independent software vendors that sell, service and customize Google Apps for Business for their customers. Consider IT received training, support and deployment services from Google, as well as access to APIs for integrating Google Apps into their customers’ business operations. Consider IT is now able to retain an even closer relationship with their customers in order to provide additional service and support. The businesses receiving Google Apps will benefit from the additional attention to their specific needs.

Ten reasons to use Google Apps

1. You need a productivity solution that doesn’t require the ongoing maintenance of desktop software.
2. You want a solution that meets your needs today and automatically gets better over time.
3. You need a productivity solution that you can rely on.
4. You need technology that was built with security in mind.
5. Your employees need to collaborate seamlessly across organisational, geographical and linguistic barriers.
6. You want your employees to move faster without being slowed down by inflexible technology.
7. Your employees need to use a wide range of mobile phones and tablets including Android, Blackberry, iPhone and Windows Mobile.
8. My employees need to do more from mobile devices than just send emails.
9. You a cost-effective solution that is reliable and predictable.
10. I want to save money whilst increasing my reliability.