Martine Assaf

My Quincy Adams BNI Chapter is lucky to have a very smart Computer Guy -> Dave Elmasian with FAST TEKS serving the South Shore of Boston.

Today he spoke about the Conficker virus, he emailed the following Q&A on the Conficker virus.

Thanks Dave!! for keeping an eye out and always helping out with a Computer crisis!

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If you don't know what the heck I am talking about - here is a link to general information on this virus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

Q: What will happen on April 1, 2009?
A: Based on our collective technical analysis, we've determined that systems infected with the latest version of Conficker will begin to use a new algorithm to determine what domains to contact. We have
not identified any other actions scheduled to take place on April 1, 2009.

Q: Will an updated version of Conficker go out to already-infected systems on April 1?
A: It is possible that systems with the latest version of Conficker will be updated with a newer version of Conficker on April 1 by contacting domains on the new domain list. However, these systems could
be updated on any date before or after April 1 as well using the "peer- to-peer" updating channel in the latest version of Conficker.

Q: Should the general public be alarmed? Why or why not?
A: No, the general public should not be alarmed. Most home users have been protected by Microsoft Security Update MS08-067 being applied automatically.

Q: Are there any other changes in the latest version of Conficker?
A: The latest version of Conficker also introduces a new "peer-to-peer" (P2P) updating capability. This capability could enable a system infected by the latest version of Conficker to receive a new version or
new instructions by contacting another system infected by Conficker rather than by contacting a domain determined by the domain generation algorithm.

Q: We hear talk of an impending second phase of attacks from Conficker. What do you anticipate happening next?
A: There may be a second phase of the threat at some point in time. However, we believe that with a situation like this-which has similarly taken place many times in the past-and given the tremendous
amount of attention that this worm has received, as well as industry and law enforcement monitoring, these efforts will be a deterrent to a large second wave of attacks. At the end of the day, we can't
speculate on the intentions of criminals, but what we can do is work to limit the impact of any second phase.

Q: Why does Conficker continue to spread even though Microsoft issued the update in October?
A: There is always some percentage of customers who don't apply an update at any given time, due to a variety of reasons. While most home users have been protected by the patch being applied automatically, once the worm gets a foothold inside an enterprise, it's difficult to remove and this is where people are having problems.

Q: Why is Conficker using domain names? Is this a new trend?
A: It is trying to download malware from these domains and it also uploads infection counts to these domains, but this is not a new trend.

Q: What is the Conficker Working Group doing about this new algorithm?
A: The Conficker Working Group has been working continuously to block access to domains that systems infected by Conficker attempt to contact. We are continuing this work and have expanded this effort to include those domains that will be contacted by the latest version of Conficker starting on April 1, 2009.

Q: What should people who are worried about April 1 and Conficker do?
A: We recommend that home users who have not yet enabled automatic updates do so and ensure their security software is up to date with the latest signatures.

If you don't know what the heck I am talking about - here is a link to general information on this virus - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker

Quincy Massachusetts Condo Market Report - October 2008

The average selling price for condominiums sold in the month of October 2008 was $ 250,618 which is a substantial decrease from $ 333,268 for the same time period in 2007.

The number of homes sold slightly increased from 25 to 27 with the average days on market decreased from 163 to 134. At this moment there are 205 condominium listings in Quincy, compared to 274 condominium last year.

This information was obtained from mlspin.

For more information on the Quincy market: www.quincymarealestate.com or massaf@relocationma.com

Martine Assaf - RE/MAX Innovations 617-262-9747

Certified Negotiation Specialist, New Home Specialist

I had a new listing on broker tour last week. Most of the responses were that it was priced right, I even heard that I should have priced it higher (WHAT???). So my surprise was huge when I had showings and a buyer's agent came back with an offer so much lower (offendingly low if you get my drift), saying that the house needs so much work. When I pointed out that a new roof, windows, heat and AC were recently installed (as I had told him during the showing as well). "Well, my buyers are looking at the wall colors and the unfinished attic,". What? Have you been to Home depot or Lowes lately, paint is not that expensive. As for the attic, look at the comps, they don't even have attics that can be finished and they are in similar price ranges. I have to point out, that he normally works a different area, so was not familiar with the beach community where the listing is located.

Can we please be more honest with each other with feed back. If you think something is overpriced, show me the comps (might I have missed them?) so I can tell my seller. Yes, this is the market that buyers "want to give it a try" with an offer, at least have some reasoning. I would have rather have him say, this is out of their price range and willing to give it a shot, than this nonsense. Waste of time.

The news keeps on telling us how bad the economy is, the stock market is in pieces BUT the mall parking lot is so busy that you need to circle around for a parking spot!

Today it was a busy day at open houses in Quincy, Ma. My listing's open house had over 9 parties stop by. I visited some open houses myself and had to wait because there were too many people inside. Since I have faith that my listing is selling soon and my buyers are buying before the end of the year, I decided to do some early Christmas shopping (Sears had a pre-black friday sale - online alert!!). The amount of items people were buying, you would think they were handing it out for free. So, no the financial crisis is just a way to sell papers, its not really happening, we are fine!

This weekend, November 16, the following open house will be held in Quincy

This information is courtesy of MLSpin and other real estate websites.

If you require more information on Real Estate in Quincy, please visit:

wwww.quincymarealestate.com