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- Cleaning CD's and DVD's
More and more, people are using CD and DVD burners to backup critical
business information. Unfortunatley these shiny disks can be damaged
if not cared for properly. Cleaning in a circle (around the circumference
of a CD or DVD) can create a curved scratch which can cause skips or
misreads. Wiping across the CD (e.g. along the diameter or radius)
any accidental scratches are unlikely to cause mis-tracking.
Make sure you only use soft cleaning cloths and never rub any harder
than is absolutely necessary.
- Scumware and SpyWare and Keyloggers, Oh My!
These are names used for computer programs that can infest your
computer without your knowledge. They are essentially digital
"Peeping Toms" that may be out to steal your identity and violate
your privacy. At a minimum, they can slow your computer down to
a crawl, pop-up unwanted (and often embarassing) ads, and work all
sorts of mischief.
To find out for free if any scumware has been installed on your PC
without your permission click hee:
http://www.pestscan.com/promo34322
PestScan from PestPatrol is a quick and easy way to scan your PC for
spyware, keyloggers, and other destructive pests. You can scan for free
but you will have to pay if you want the software that safely removes
the pests.
You can also try SpyBot Search & Destroy:
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?page=spybotsd
- Beware of the Phish
"Phishing" is a term used to describe attacks that involve the mass
distribution of spoofed e-mail messages with return addresses, links,
and branding which appear to come from banks, insurance agencies,
retailers or credit card companies. These fraudulent messages are
designed to fool you into divulging personal info such as
account usernames and passwords, credit card numbers, etc.
Recent examples of phishing email that we have noticed appear to come
from PayPal and eBay.
A great source of information on this dangerous activity as well as
email and identity fraud can be found here:
http://www.antiphishing.org
Site resources include information on phishing, e-mail attacks,
and identity fraud, along with links to anti-fraud, online privacy,
and law enforcement resources.
- Xombe Trojan Disguised as Security Update from Microsoft
There is a Trojan Horse program that has been making the rounds for the past month or
so which is sent via e-mail with the spoofed (phony) e-mail address windowsupdate@microsoft.com,
but really contains a program that downloads another program designed to connect to a Russian Web site.
Don't be fooled by this hoax. Microsoft does not send updates via e-mail.
- Undeleting Files
We have all done it - inadvertantly hitting the Del key and
deleting a file we needed. Is it possible to retrieve files that
have been deleted?
The simplest form of undelete is the built-in Windows Recycle bin.
Normally, when you "delete" something in Windows, the operating
system simply moves the file to the "Recycle Bin," which is just a
special folder. As long as the file remains in the Recycle Bin, it
can be restored (copied back to its original location).
Things get more complex when you empty the Recycle Bin, or when
the Bin empties itself because it's full or because the files are old.
Then, the OS erases the file's name from the directory, and marks the
file's space as available for reuse. But note that at this point, all
that's gone is the file's name: The data is still there.
Eventually, when the OS needs the space used by the "deleted" file, the
file's data will get overwritten with new data from another file. Then,
it will be difficult to recover the old data, often requiring the use of
special and expensive lab equipment. (VERY expensive.)
But prior to that, before the old data is overwritten, it's actually not
that hard to get it back, although the process can take some time.
(Hint: Defragging your hard drive will make it easier to recover
deleted files.)
There are many undelete tools available:
http://www.google.com/search?q=undelete
http://www.google.com/search?q=file+recover
- Saving Individual Emails As Files
If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express and you just want to
save a few particular messages, and want to be able to open them
easily and quickly from your hard disk, just drag and drop the
message from your mail folder in Outlook to a folder on your disk
where you want to save it (or even to your desktop).
Another way is to open the message in Outlook or OE (not just view
it in the preview pane, but actually open it) and, in the File menu,
select Save as. This will allow you to save the message to a location
on your hard disk. With Outlook, you can save it as a text file (.txt),
in message format (.msg) or if the message is in HTML, you can save it
in that format (.htm). With Outlook Express, you can save in mail
format (.eml) or HTML. Be sure to save as HTML if you want to preserve
graphics and links in the message.
- Wireless Networking Jargon
If you haven't looked into wireless networking, you probably should.
We recently converted most of our office to wireless. This has given
us a tremendous amount of flexibility in how and where we work. It
also saved us money in wiring costs and allowed us to remove most of
the unsightly wires run around our office.
Wireless networking devices for consumers come in three basic "flavors":
802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g. What's the difference between them?
802.11b is still the standard, with the least costly equipment. It's also the
slowest, with a maximum speed of 11 or 22 Mbps.
802.11a is faster: 54Mbps. However, it costs more and range (distance
from WAP to wireless computer) is generally shorter.
802.11g seeks to combine the 54Mbps speed of a with the greater range
of b. The great thing about g is that it's backward-compatible
with b hardware.
For more detailed info on these three wireless standards,
see:
http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article/0,aid,113757,00.asp
- Scheduling Disk Defrags and Backups in XP
Here is a great article that explains how to schedule tasks like
disk defrags to occur in the middle of the night, unattended:
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15600170
The goal when choosing a password is to make it as difficult as possible for
someone to make an educated guess on what you have chosen. You should avoid
using predictable keywords and phrases like:
Hackers will sometimes will use trial-and-error,
sometimes using a computer program to generate every
combination and permutation of letters, numbers
and allowed characters. This would take a very long
time, unless your password is very simple. To reduce
the chances of this method working, you should avoid
using:
