Who needs to pay for recovery disks if you got a MAC?

August 31, 2007 By - 2 Comments

question apple

It seems the PC world has another scam up there sleeves. To save them money they have the consumer make recovery disks. This just means the Manufacture is trying everything these days not to do their job. I always hated the concept of having a recovery partition and having to make your own disks, why can’t the machine work right out of the box? What this means is you have a choice of making the disks (an hour of your time before using the computer) or actually paying the computer company that you just bought the computer from for a CD. This of course doesn’t happen on a the Apple’s MAC computers. I also find that Dell doesn’t seem to charge anymore for the media, but I could be wrong. Are the computer companies trying to make things more difficult then they have to be? They seem to be able to package the AOL disks pretty well. This article in PC World really pissed me off — http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136496/article.html — Where it seems the large retails stores are profiting from the apparent Recovery Disk issues by forcing customers to buy the retails stores recovery disks, claiming it is the only way to recover your computer if something goes wrong.

Now I have dealt with both Apple and many PC vendors. Dell has been the only company that I haven’t seen the recovery disk issue come up with, but you have to check a box to get the disks. Why don’t do they give you the disks like Apple has for years? Why is Apple the only one that has stayed constant and gives a proper and simple restoration procces if things go wrong. For example I had two computers that the hard drives failed. An iMac and a Dell. The iMac took less then two hours to format, install the OS from recovery 1 disk and be back online with updates and all. The Dell took half the day and I had to put different disks in, plus find updates online. If I wasn’t as technical as I am, I would of given up and paid someone to figure it out.

It seems to me that the Microsoft Windows world maybe the basis of the Chaos for the recovery disk and getting back up and running quickly without spending a huge amount of money. Issues happen with computers, whether its a PC or a Mac, however what counts is how long it takes to recover and of course how much extra in time and money it takes to have those recovery disks available when that time comes. Always backup your data and if your on a Mac keep those original recovery disks in a safe place.

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: , , , ,

Unfriendly airwaves? There’s a class for that!

August 9, 2007 By - 8 Comments

Tesla TowerIt seems that Newscientist.com has discovered that wireless computing isn’t very safe. Wow. I’ve been telling everyone to secure your wireless router for years. Now the time has come that its not enough. This is a great read about what hackers can do even if you have your wireless router secured.

The truth is don’t get all panicky just yet. There is hope for the rest of you and a ton of resources out there. I personal like what cnet.com has setup with the classroom series. Go over to there Wireless Security online class and learn how you can help protect your data. Now I might go on and on and on about how dangerous the wireless world is, however i’m sitting here in bed with a pillow between me and the 1,000 degree laptop I’m blogging with. Keep those wires cut, but protect yourself with some knowledge at these classes: http://wireless-security.classes.cnet.com/

Filed Under: Security Tagged With: , , ,

Google Sued because parents don’t know web filtering

March 12, 2007 By - 1 Comment

Most people don’t bother learning how to secure their Internet or even search for a place that will help them (like netsmartz.org). We all want to protect our kids and ourselves from the bad parts of the Internet. However, most people will just sue a company. And if you work for the government and need a way to get more votes, then maybe stating “Google Inc. generates “billions of dollars from the pornography trade and illicit profiteers.”" makes a lot of sense. ( News article from Newsday ) People have to take a little responsibility for themselves and their children. The Internet Law is open and it is the user’s responsibility to filter and make sure they are protected.

  • Now an easy way to filter adult content in Google is to create a Google user account and keep logged into Google personalized: http://www.google.com/ig.
  • Then inside click on preferences: http://www.google.com/preferences?hl=en
  • There is a “SafeSearch Filtering” feature. Turn this on and save the preferences.
  • Besides Google all top search engines have a safe search Feature, but since Google was singled out…

Now there are many ways to filter a computer and doing this just for Google isn’t the best way since there are other search engines out there. Yahoo, MSN are others who have the same issue. Parents and anyone who has kids around have to learn to set up their computer to have better filters since children can also get into other online places like MySpace or blogs. Software filtering is an important step for parents. With a simple google search with the keywords: parent information on web filtering a parent can find many ways to restrict their computer.

I do not think it’s Google’s or any other search engines responsibility for filtering the Internet for pornography. Instead, the US government could have backed the push for a .xxx domain which would have made it easier for filtering and enforcing control over such content. Instead it is the parent’s responsibility to configure their computer. However, what I have found that all parents should look at is the websites: netsmartz.org, www.nap.edu/netsafekids/ and getnetwise.org. These are a must for all parents to look at. But, if a parent wants to go further, they can use monitoring software like Web Watcher or filter program like NetNanny.

The parent resources below go into more detail about what parents or people who have kids on their computer should do. We aren’t going to leave a four-year-old alone in a house without someone looking after them. Why then would we let children use a computer without proper safe-guards in place ?

Parent Resources:

Software Solutions:

Filed Under: Google Tagged With: , , , ,

The Bad words of Computer Security Part 3 – Software Updates

March 8, 2007 By - Leave a Comment
There is a lot of words for Software updates including, Vulnerabilities, patches, versions and bugs. Software and your Operating system need to have the latest version, otherwise you risk your computer to cyber attacks. For example if your using an outdated version of Firefox (a web browser) and enter a site that attacks a certain bug which has been known and fixed in newer versions then even if you have an Anti-virus program you can get attacked. The simple rules:
  • Make sure your Operating system is always up to date. Schedule your machine to automatically update your software. Next make sure that all your applications are up to date. This use to be a very hard one but has gotten much easier. Before you would have to compare each verison of your software or goto each software and see if they have an upgrade button and click it once in a while. Today a lot of software like Firefox and Thunderbird will automatically install new updates and inform you when these have been done. Also There is a software inspector that inspects your computer for all out dated (vulnerable) software. This is the secunia inspector. Click the button below to inspect your computer and make sure all your software is up to date. This should be run every month.
  • Run the Secunia Software inspector to make sure your computer is safe.
If you follow the first part of the serious about passwords, the second part about Viruses and this part about updating your software there will be a 99% chance of your computer getting taken over, infected and your identity stolen over the Internet. These are simple rules and are equivalent to changing the oil in your car.
Filed Under: Advice, Internet Tools, Security, Technically Foreign Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Bad words of Computer Security Part 2 – Viruses

March 6, 2007 By - Leave a Comment

In the first Part of the “Bad” words of Computer Security I talked about Passwords. Now that you have a safe and secure password what about Viruses??? Since a computer was built by a human you will notice we take a lot of the same words when we talk about ourselves. If you get a virus, that’s not a good thing. The same goes for your computer. Now we protect ourselves from viruses, we don’t eat from the garbage, wear the right clothing when its cold and in general stay away from the things that will harm us. That is the same with computer viruses, be careful what you feed your computer. In the good old days that meant putting a disk in a drive, today that means going to a website, downloading a program or opening an email. Security experts use to say don’t open anything from strangers, but even that has changed.

Rules for protecting your computer from getting a virus:

  • Install an anti-virus program. Then make sure you have the up to date virus definitions each month. PLEASE READ, yes that four letter word, READ, the information on the anti-virus companies website. Most anti-virus software comes with a subscription, when that subscription runs out then you are no longer protected from the latest viruses since you will not be able to install the latest definitions. I list Anti-virus programs at the end of the article.
  • UPDATE, I know i mentioned it above but make sure that you are getting the updated definitions each day or at least each week. (Companies don’t always reales them each day.)
  • Make sure you have a firewall on. Most Operating Systems (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) have built-in firewalls.
  • Run an anti-virus scan at-least monthly with of course the newest definitions. You can schedule the scan. I run mine weekly.
  • That Is it…. now for those resources

Resources:

Filed Under: Advice, Internet Tools, Security, Technology Tagged With: , , ,

The bad words of Computer Security Part 1- Passwords

November 21, 2006 By - 2 Comments

So there is this thing out there that computers are the Root of all evil. Now that is actually a very geeky joke that no one should ever get, but there are some out there I can hear laughing as you pet your Playstation 3. So what is Computer Security? What does it have to do with the average user? A LOT!!!!

Today everything is on our computer. Well almost everything, we still can’t get pizza from the computer. We could order it online but what’s the fun of that. Since we work, bank, communicate and play on our computer there is a lot of information and information is as valuables as gold. This first section is concentrating on PASSWORDS. You know that little word you need to gain entrance into a private little space usually in Cyberia. Now this little guy can be used against you, can be your worst nightmare.

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Filed Under: Advice, Security, Technology Tagged With: , ,
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