http://www.pristinesys.com/techsupport/daylight_savings.htm

Windows XP Service Pack 2

If you've been waiting to upgrade your CDS32 system with Windows XP Service Pack 2 until more was known about the outcome, then your wait is over. We've had a number of station upgrade now with good results.

Service Pack 2 is an essential upgrade for security and stability reasons. We encourage you to install it on your Windows XP workstations soon.

You can download Service Pack 2 from Microsoft at this address:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

For instructions and more information about how this update applies to CDS32, review the August 12, 2004 issue of Pristine Systems Tech Update:

http://www.pristinesys.com/techsupport/techupdates/pristine_systems_tech_update.htm

CDS32 Version 2.1 Software Update

Many of you have now upgraded your systems to CDS32 version 2.1 and we are getting positive feedback about the many new features that are included. The last of the version 2.1 updates shipped this week to the remaining stations. You can review the new features in the August 12, 2004 issue of Pristine Systems Tech Update:

http://www.pristinesys.com/techsupport/techupdates/pristine_systems_tech_update_2.htm

All CDS32 customers who are current on their support fees should have received the update CD by mail. If your station did not receive the update and you believe you should have, please contact help@pristinesys.com or call us at the office (310) 831-2234.

Are You Adequately Protected?

It happens every couple of months. We receive a computer from a station with the complaint that it's acting strange. It seems the computer had caught a virus. The virus was removed by the local computer person, but the system still behaves strangely.

Quite often, removing a virus after an infection won't completely restore a system to it's pre-virus state. When this happen, your best option is to send the computer to one of our service locations. We make every effort to backup your scripts and audio files, then we completely wipe clean and restore the operating system and software to the hard drive. (We also do this to repair a system after someone has broken it by installing unauthorized software, etc...) This service usually restores proper system performance, but there is a fee. In a few cases scripts and audio files were not recoverable.

Just because your digital audio workstation is never used on the Internet does not mean that it is safe. If your workstation(s) is on a LAN network, it is subjected to anything any of the other computers do. More often than not, the virus enters the network on another computer and is replicated from there.

You best defense against unnecessary cost and down time from a virus infection is installing good antivirus software and keeping it up to date through the vendor's subscription service. Check all setting carefully to insure that the automatic updates are turned on and that you are receiving them. Also be certain that weekly scans are scheduled and are being performed. Pristine Systems recommends Norton Antivirus.

Aside from it's many security patches, here's another good reason to install Windows XP Service Pack 2. SP2 includes 'Windows Firewall' and a 'Popup Blocker'. Both can help keep your system more secure. We still recommend that you use a hardware firewall (usually built into a router) if your network has a full time Internet connection.

Remember, a virus can enter through any system on the network, therefore all workstations on the network need antivirus software. Additionally, you should run Windows update frequently on all the computers on your network to insure that all have the latest security patches installed. if any computer on the network does catch a virus, disconnect it from the network immediately and DO NOT reconnect it to the network until you are 100% satisfied the threat has been eliminated.

Another Security Threat. Spyware!

So your computer systems are all up to date with antivirus software, Windows Update patches, and the latest hardware router/firewall from Cisco. Are you safe now?

Not quite. There is a whole new class of threat that has come on the scene recently. Most of you have heard of Spyware by now, so we are not going to cover it here except to say that you do need to be aware of it and should begin to take measures to protect against it as well.

Pristine Systems recommends two different programs to fight Spyware.

Ad-Aware http://www.lavasoft.de/

and Spyware X-terminator http://www.stompsoft.com/spywarexterminator.html

Some security experts are even suggesting you use two different Spyware prevention programs because one alone does not catch all Spyware.

That's it for this issue. We hope you find this information helpful. If you've got a tip you think other CDS32 users would benefit from, please drop us an email at help@pristinesys.com and we'll pass it along.

* This newsletter is provided as an exclusive service of Pristine Systems to its customers. If you are a Pristine Systems customer and would like to receive Tech Updates by email, please contact us at help@pristinesys.com

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