Computer Tips -Tech Info

Tag: computer

  • So many things so little time…..

    The last month has been quite busy as is evidenced by so few postings here…. Of course, the majority of what I do is on-site computer service and sometimes that explodes to fill most every moment of most every day leaving little time for “un-necessary” things like this… nothing big seems to be popping today, so I may get to write a few things.
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  • Power breakthrough for mobile devices?

    I’ve seen a reference to UltraCell which has announced a new product which is essentially a small portable fuel cell capable of providing 25 Watts of power using hot-swappable methanol canisters. It looks as though they’ve got a military joint project for the development of portable power systems. From reading the product brochures for the ultracell25 and ultracellxx90 (which provides 45 watts of output) it looks fairly promising.

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  • Like flypaper for malware..

    The diary over at the SANS Institute mentioned an interesting program today. Nepenthes is a program that can simulate a vulnerability so that it can collect samples of malware trying to exploit that vulnerability.

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  • Google Desktop 2

    Slow morning computer news-wise. The only thing that’s really caught my eye is the release by Google of Google Desktop v. 2 In addition to it’s desktop search capabilities it adds rss in a sidebar (news, gmail info, etc.) as well as several other features (Improved outlook filtering). It is version 2 BETA so, you might expect a few bugs. There are also plugins available for the new release.

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  • More zotob affects. Disneyland hit…

    According to alvarezperea.com, it appears that the writer was told by an employee of the havoc the worm wrecked on the theme park. It seems that most everything is computer controlled from ticket sales, food sales etc. Sounds like it wasn’t a fun day at the Magic Kingdom.

  • Worm bits US Customs?

    There is a report that a virus shut down the computer systems at US Customs. This made for long slow manual check for travelers entering the U.S. Thursday night is when this took place at a number of airports across the country. They say all has been restored to full capacity.

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  • Esbot.a

    Symantec’s site is also reporting another virus (technically a worm) targetting the MS05-039 vulnerability. This one is called w32.esbot.a and is also rated at level 3 on their 5 level threat assessment scale.

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  • My * messed up my computer

    Since the massive id theft ring was uncovered, I’ve been reading the Sunbeltblog frequently. Today, they have an interesting post about the various explanations for spyware on peoples computers. They tag it the “other person syndrome”. I’ve heard this before too. “Well, the neighbors kids were over and ever since then we’ve had all sorts of problems.”, “My son was up from college and since then I just haven’t been able to…”, etc. etc. etc.

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  • Computer security software nets $2.6 Billion over last two years.

    SecurityFix is talking about the computer security industry. Further, computer users spend $9 billion a year on computers repairs from spyware and antivirus. This reminds me of a recent story of a man that threw out a perfectly good machine because it was infested with spyware. For starters, I do computer repair. I charge $40/ hour and even at that rate I’ve had people balk at 3-4 hours of heavy cleaning versus the Dell ads. How many people take this route instead of repairs? It’s hard to say overall. In his blog, Brian Krebs lays part of the blame at Microsoft’s door and I think rightly so.

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  • Computers without hard drives….

    Flexbeta has a story basically about knoppix and how a computer even without a hard drive can still be useful. Knoppix, of course, is a linux live cd that boots into a full desktop operating system. It has many uses, but flexbeta focuses in on some of the basics: web browsing, checking web based email, streaming audio, playing games, editing office documents and downloading files (to a memory stick or some other usb media.)

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