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2007 July

FBI Spyware - Should We Worry?

By now most of us have read the news reports referencing how the FBI was able to track down a person who was sending bomb threats to a school. I think we all agree because of the unfortunate incidents that have occurred at our schools, no threat, no matter how minor can be ignored. I [...]

New Software Toy Stops Drive By Malware Attacks - Beta

Over at Haute Secure they claim that their new software product, currently in Beta testing stages, can stop malware dead in their tracks. So who are these guys and why did they develop their software:
We’re a team of security, internet and web experts with a near-obsessive desire to make the web safer for everybody. We [...]

DRM Cracked Again - Now We All Will Be Punished

The AP is reporting that a group of hackers, calling its software program FairUse4M, has once again circumvented the copy protections for audio files.
According to the article, this is the third time a crack has been found. Microsoft indicates that it will be fixing the exploit. This is all happening because the RIAA [Recording [...]

Cheap Computers - Are They Any Good?

I remember as a kid my Dad’s philosophy was always that you never bought the cheapest model nor the most expensive model of anything. You always bought the middle of the line product, because it usually had all of the features you would need, plus would give you the most bang for your buck. Especially [...]

Comodo Firewall Revisited

At this month’s newsletter over at Scot Finnie’s site, he addressed concerns about the Comodo firewall that were expressed by some of his readers. Scot was also kind enough to provide a link to an article I did in December of last year after trying Comodo. In that article I was disappointed with the performance [...]

Zonbu Computer - Is One Right For You?

Several months ago I wrote an article about the Zonbu computer that was coming to town, but at the time there was limited information on exactly what the Zonbu was going to be and what it could do. But since than, there have been many reviews about the tiny computer system running Linux and I [...]

Linux Took The Bait - In Fighting Begins

I don’t know about you, but the one place not to air your dirty laundry is on the Internet. Unless you just don’t care what anyone thinks. So it was surprising to hear that Linus Torvalds has called those at the Free Software Foundation ‘hypocrites’ for the part they played in introducing the [...]

Is Google Collecting Too Much Data About Us?

During the past several months, privacy groups have been attacking Google saying that the search engine giant is collecting to much data about us and our behaviors on the internet. The privacy groups allege that because Google offers so many different services, i.e., email, calendar, desktop search, talk, reader, and other software applications that the [...]

BlueHippo Allegations Continue From BBB

I was reading an article from the Kansas City Star in which the BBB [Better Business Bureau] is alleging that BlueHippo has been receiving many complaints about its business practices:
“high pressure sales practice, non-delivery of promised merchandise, and unwillingness to provide a refund or exchange,”
I recalled seeing the BlueHippo advertisements on TV and had thought [...]

One Laptop Per Child Foundation And Intel Join Forces

I read with interest in the San Jose Mercury News that Intel and the OLPC [One Laptop Per Child] hopefully are putting their differences aside and may join forces. This would definitely help in both parties being able to obtain their goals of bringing inexpensive laptop systems to kids in underdeveloped countries.
But as usual there [...]

Security Updates As Of July 15, 2007

Make sure your system is up to date and that you have the latest protections in place.

AVG anti-virus: 07/15/07
Norton anti-virus: 07/11/07
McAfee anti-virus: 07/11/07
Lavasoft Ad-Aware: 07/12/07
Spybot Search and Destroy: 07/11/07
Microsoft Windows Defender: 07/11/07
Nod32: 07/13/07

Updates as of July 15, 2007 6:00am CDT.
Tags: avg, norton, mcafee, lavasoft, spybot, defender, nod32

Great Site: 101 Ubuntu Tips, Tricks, and Tutorials

For you Ubuntu fans, this is one site you won’t want to miss. This collection of 101 Tips, Tricks and Tutorials is a great way to find information for this popular distribution. On the site it states:
In this article we’ve compiled 101 list of Ubuntu tutorials. If you’re thinking of switching to Ubuntu from Windows, [...]

Real Estate Agents, Get A Web Site!

During the past year I have been dealing with RE agents in selling and buying our own home, helping the daughter do the same, having, been looking for rental property and as of lte, helping my in-laws to sell their home and relocate to where we live. So there have been a number of real [...]

Shocking iPod Experience

Over at the New England Journal of Medicine there is a story of a 37-year-old man who, while jogging, was listening to his iPod. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. But he was jogging during a thunderstorm. A bolt of lightning struck a tree near the jogger and witnesses state the man was thrown [...]

Is Linux Really That Tough To Install On A Laptop?

I was reading an article by Alexander Wolfe titled ” Ubuntu Linux’s Achilles Heel: It’s Tough To Install On Laptops”. After reading through the problems he had trying to get Ubuntu installed on a 3year old HP laptop, I was some what skeptical since my personal experience with Ubuntu and other newer distributions has been [...]

Google’s Free Wireless Broadband Access Rumors Continue

This rumor I love. Plus it seems to continue unabated with more twists and turns than a slinky. The hope is that the FCC is going to provide a portion of the wireless broadband spectrum that will be coming up for auction in January, 2008 for free access providers. In the back ground sits Google. [...]

Dell’s New Vostro Computers - Good Job Dell!

In June Dell discounted their Dimension series of computer systems. Now they have introduced a whole new series of notebooks and desktop systems named Vostro. Designed with the business user in mind, the Vostro series would also make for a great consumer system as well. In fact you may recall that one of the Dell [...]

Google + Postini = Trouble For Microsoft

Over the years the folks at Microsoft have been in the drivers seat when it comes to office software products. Their suite of products such as Word, Excel and Power Point have become the mainstay for business and home users alike. Plus Microsoft has done a great job at marketing even providing discounted office products [...]

Who Makes The Better CPU - Intel or AMD?

This yesterday in one of the forums a poster asked the age old question, what CPU should he buy, Intel or AMD? The poster was considering buying a new HP lappy and wasn’t sure which of the CPU’s he should get. Naturally this subject always open up another round of debates as to which CPU [...]

Will Adding More RAM Make Your Computer Run Faster?

This morning I received an advertisement from one of the vendors I use proclaiming “Make Your PC Faster”, with a blurb for 512 MB of RAM for only $22.95. [Ultra 512MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory here.] Which made me stop and think for a moment. Does adding more RAM make a computer run faster? I [...]

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