Computer Technical Support

February 18

Don't make an appearance on PleaseRobMe.com!








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February 15

Increase battery runtime on your laptop

When you shut down your Windows XP laptop, you're presented with a choice: Standby, Turn Off, or Restart. Standby is convenient because it quickly shuts down your computer and resumes again when you next switch it on. Standby stores everything that you're working on in memory, shuts down the hard drive and peripherals, but keeps memory and its refresh circuitry alive while the computer is in Standby. If you have plenty of battery reserve, that's fine.









However, if you have a netbook with a small battery and need to extend its runtime, you can choose Hibernate instead of Standby. When the familiar Standby, Turn Off, or Restart choice appears, press and hold down the Shift key: now you'll be able to choose Hibernate.

Hibernate is similar to Standby, but instead of writing your data and executing programs to memory, it writes them to your hard drive, and then shuts down the computer, without keeping anything alive in memory -- which reduces battery drain. When you next start your laptop, it will load your data from the hard drive, which will take a few seconds longer than restarting after Standby.

On netbooks with small batteries, Hibernate will help you maximize battery runtime.











If, when you press the Shift key, you don't see the Hibernate choice, go to Control Panel. Click on Power Options. Within Power Options, click on the Hibernate tab. Check the Enable hibernation box and press the OK button at the bottom of the Power Options properties sheet.




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February 14

Microsoft ramps up anti-piracy on Windows 7



This Tuesday, February 16, Microsoft will roll out an update to Windows 7 that will "phone home" periodically to report the validity of each Windows 7 installation. Microsoft discussed this update last week. The update is numbered KB971033. This is part of Microsoft's "Genuine Advantage" program, which has attempted to stop piracy of its popular Windows operating system. (I've read that Microsoft Windows' largest competitor is pirated copies of Microsoft Windows.)

Microsoft calls this newest anti-piracy measure Windows Activation Technologies (WAT). If WAT determines that your Windows 7 installation is pirated, it will report this to Microsoft and, while not reducing functionality, will annoy you in several ways.

Here's an informed discussion of this update: http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000681.html

I'll bet that WAT will "catch" the poor shlub who purchases a locally-assembled PC from "a friend" who installs pirated copies of Microsoft Windows on his PCs. A large number of innocent customers fall victims to these unscrupulous PC assemblers simply because they don't know that every Windows PC should have a Certificate Of Authenticity (COA) affixed to it.



Visit my website: http://russbellew.com




12:14 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

February 13

The Internet and national security


NPR's Fresh Air radio show aired another interview regarding Internet security. This past Wednesday, Fresh Air's Terry Gross interviewed senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies Mr. James Lewis. Mr. Lewis claims that the Internet will be (nay, is) the next battleground and that the U.S. is not prepared for a large-scale attack via the Internet.

Mr. Lewis states that our most critical and vulnerable system is our electric power system. (In addition to supplying power, long-distance transmission lines carry system protection and control signals. These signals are part of SCADA -- Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. SCADA systems date back to the 1970s, before outside attacks were a factor, so if SCADA systems are now connected to the Internet, we may assume that they may be vulnerable.)


Mr. Lewis thinks that Hezbollah is likely to be a source of attacks: they have the motivation and the skills.

He concludes -- as does everyone -- that what's missing is secure authentication of identity.



Visit my website: http://russbellew.com



7:02 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

February 07

Carbonite has a new competitor: Acronis


Carbonite is the leader in the online backup market. For $55 per year, Carbonite backs up an unlimited amount of data from one computer (either Windows or Mac). I like it: the service is reliable, unobtrusive, and the user interface is intuitive. It has a few competitors, but it leads the market. Acronis, who's the leader in computer backup software for backing up to local media (tape, external hard drives, etc.), has begun offering Acronis Online Backup for $50 per year. It's limited to 250 gigabytes of backed-up data, which may be distributed amongst up to 5 computers (Windows only - no Macs). This will be attractive to households and small businesses with several computers.

Acronis' local backup and disk imaging software regularly wins awards. They are integrating it with their well-respected local-backup product, True Image. This is an industry first. (I have conservative customers who use both an external hard drive and Carbonite for backup. This gives them the fast speeds of local backup plus the security of having encrypted copies of their data reside off-site.) It'll be interesting to see how well Acronis integrates local and online backup -- this could be a real winner.


If Acronis Online Backup is as good as their local backup product, it will give Carbonite serious competition -- especially at the introductory discount price of $30 per year (available until 15 February 2010. Subsequent years will not be discounted.). Have a look -- both companies encrypt your data before it's sent over the Internet and both companies offer free trials:



Regardless of vendor, online backup offers low entry cost and complete protection within a few days of sign-up: there's no hardware to buy and setup is very easy.

Articles on my website:



Disclosure: I am an affiliate of both Acronis and Carbonite.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com





10:36 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

January 26

Listen & learn about today's cyber-criminals

Today's bad guys on the web jeopardize on-line shopping, bank accounts . . . even national security.



Has your computer ever been infected by a virus and slowed to a crawl? Maybe it had become a member of a botnet and was busily sending spam or participating in a denial of service attack on a website, under the control of someone on the other side of the globe.


Today I listened to a fascinating discussion of Internet-based crimes and criminals. NPR's Fresh Air interviewed two young Internet security professionals: Joseph Menn, author of a new book titled Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who are Bringing Down the Internet., and Barrett Lyon, who does battle with the Internet's bad guys, mano a mano.

These two guys claim

• many botnet bosses are teenagers
• many reside in Russia and former Soviet states
• websites are routinely hacked by nation-states such as Russia and China to suppress dissent and steal state secrets
• the Internet may not survive this onslaught of crime
  

To listen:: http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=122958695&m=122984893

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January 24

Here's a new and improved email scam

Think twice before sending money to a stranded friend. You might be the target of an email scam.


I found the message below in my mailbox. I hadn't heard from this person in over a year and barely knew him. I phoned him to advise him that his gmail mailbox had been compromised. One tip-off that this plea is bogus: the username@ymail.com is not the same as username@yahoo.com.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com





8:17 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

January 12

Google May Soon Exit China



Citing recent tightening of government restrictions, Google announced that it's asking China one last time to ease China's censorship. If China says no, Google will withdraw from China.

Google was criticized in 2006 when it bent to China's censorship demands. Within China, Google lags behind China's most popular search engine, http://www.baidu.com/. 300 million Internet users is a huge market for Google to walk away from.

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/world/asia/13beijing.html?pagewanted=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

This reminds me of the time in the 1970s when OPEC member Nigeria, with a population of maybe 80 million, told all foreign firms that they must "indigenize" -- that is, sell the majority of their shares to Nigerians and employ Nigerians in key positions. IBM, which was by far the leading computer systems vendor in Nigeria and worldwide, responded to the demand by closing its Nigerian office: IBM just turned out the lights and walked away. It's good to be king.

Visit my website: http://russbellew.com

8:30 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

Which Anti-virus program is the best?


If you're shopping for an anti-virus program, I recommend that you first look at the test results on two AV test sites:


Note that each anti-virus program has shortcomings: each returns false positives and false negatives. I like AVG version 8.5, eset's NOD32, and Microsoft's new Security Essentials . . . but there are plenty of other good anti-virus programs, as well. As with backup systems, any anti-virus program is better than nothing.

Regardless of which anti-virus program you choose, it's essential that you keep its virus definitions and license up-to-date.

"Oh -- By The Way":



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6:07 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

December 27

Round 1 of eBay v Craigslist has ended

Round 1 awaits the judge's decision. Round 2 of the eBay v Craigslist courtroom fight will start in 2010.


After more than a week of courtroom scrapping, the judge who's presiding over the Delaware lawsuit between eBay and Craigslist has urged the parties to settle out of court. He promised only that he would require time to reach a decision and that neither party would regard it as a clear victory. Chancellor William Chandler II warned: "I have an uncanny ability to make everyone unhappy."

Case: eBay Domestic Holdings Inc v Newmark, et al, Delaware Chancery Court, No. 3705-CC  (Why Delaware? Craigslist is incorporated there.) My comment on week 1 of trial.

This lawsuit even has political implications: Meg Whitman, who was eBay CEO during the Craigslist stock acquisition, is campaigning as a Republican for the office of Governor of California. Craig Newmark (founder of Craigslist) is a major contributor to Democrat candidates and their causes. Craigslist testimony painted Whitman as a less than honest businesswoman, which may cost her votes in the gubernatorial election.

This public airing of dirty laundry could have been avoided if Craigslist had placed controls on the trading of its shares, as defined in Five Lessons from the eBay-Craigslist Fight: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2009/sb20091222_305115.htm

Craigslist has filed a separate lawsuit against eBay in California. It's expected to go to trial in early 2010.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com






1:09 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

December 16

Destroy disks' data before disposal

Whoops! Please ignore the sensitive anti-missile missile data that we forgot to wipe from our discarded PC's hard drive.





This May 2009 article describes a serious case of careless discarding of computer hardware: Anti-missile defence details found on secondhand computer. Here's another article: US missile defence details bought on eBay. This breech illustrates how important it is that you wipe hard drives clean of data, if not physically destroy them, before discarding them.

I like to use a 3/8 inch diameter drill to drill a few holes through disks before discarding them. Here's a simple discussion of alternatives: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/how_to/4212242.html

It's important that you safeguard your data while it resides on your hardware . . . and it's just as important that you destroy that data when you discard the hardware.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com


7:42 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

December 13

Synchronize files with "the cloud"

"Cloud computing" can store and help you synchronize files on multiple laptop and desktop computers.


The trendy term "the cloud" simply refers to the Internet. (Schematic diagrams display the Internet as a cloud.) There are a number of companies that offer file synchronization services. Most offer a basic service for free and charge money for enhanced services.


One of the leading players in this market is Dropbox. Maximum PC recently suggested 15 clever ways that Dropbox can be used to provide other services. Strong competitors include SugarSync and MemoPal. 

A nice thing about all these services is that you can use them to synchronize files between geographically diverse sites. You and a colleague who's located thousands of miles away can work together on a sales proposal in almost real-time: pretty nice for zero cost.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com


11:10 PM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

December 12

Round 1 of The Main Event (eBay v Craigslist) has begun

The opening bell rings and the contenders come out swinging! eBay's former CEO Meg Whitman and Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster testify in round 1 of their courtroom fight.

Other headliners who testified last week: eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, and Skype CEO Josh Silverman.

eBay has made no secret of their desire to acquire Craigslist and they came close to doing so when eBay bought 28% of Craigslist shares in 2004. But the relationship between the two companies ran off the rails and now they're suing each other. The trial opened in the state of Delaware this past week, and the CEOs of both have already testified. This courtroom drama will be worth watching.

I view this as a conflict of cultures: eBay is driven by profit; Craigslist is driven by, well, it seems to be driven by service. It's clear that Craigslist's founder, Craig Newmark, could cash in his shares at any time and walk away a zillionaire, but he seems to be driven to provide a spam-free forum where sellers and buyers can safely meet and buy and sell.

This summary of yesterday's courtroom testimonies will bring you up to speed: http://www.law.com/jsp/tal/digestTAL.jsp?id=1202436288314 and you can follow the links from there.



Visit my website: http://russbellew.com


4:09 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 28

WiFi available gratis to US holiday air travellers




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November 22

eBay spins off Skype

eBay, as expected, sells Skype to a group that includes Netscape founder Marc Andreessen and Skype's founders.

eBay paid 2.6 billion dollars for Skype in 2005 and sold it on Friday for a bit more.

Why did eBay sell? I think that in 2005, eBay planned to use Skype to allow sellers and buyers to communicate by voice. Apparently, Skype's founders retained rights to Skype's underlying file-sharing software, named FastTrack P2P. I suspect that eBay's lack of ownership of all of Skype's source code prevented eBay from securely integrating Skype with eBay's transaction data, so they sold it.

Skype's founders, Janus Friis from Denmark and Niklas Zennstrom from Sweden, originally used FastTrack P2P to create the infamous Kazaa peer to peer file sharing system. They sold Kazaa to Sharman Networks. Next, they used the FastTrack techology to create Skype, which they sold to eBay. They then founded Joost, which shares video using -- you guessed it: FastTrack P2P.

I'd like to meet the lawyers who convinced eBay to buy Skype in 2005 without ownership of its underlying technology.


Visit my website: http://russbellew.com







12:30 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 20

Apple 1 PC board on eBay starts at $50,000

Hurry and place your bid on an Apple 1 printed circuit board with accessories. (Bidding starts at US$50,000.)


The Apple 1 was the brainchild of Steve Wozniak. He originally proposed the idea of a single-board computer to his boss at Hewlett-Packard, but H-P foresaw no market for small computers. It used the MOS Technologies 6502 CPU, which was essentially a cheap version of the Motorola 6800 CPU. (Chuck Peddle had been the designer behind both the Motorola 6800 and the MOS-T 6502. He later went on to design the KIM-1 and Commodore PET computers.)

The computer's 6502 CPU ran at 1 MegaHertz and contained 4 KiloBytes of random access memory.

Steve Jobs' summer job one year was picking apples, and both Steves liked apples.

The Apple 1 debuted in 1976 and retailed for $666. It was assembled in Steve Jobs' parents' garage. The buyer was expected to add his own power supply, case, keyboard, video monitor, and tape drive. Woz thought that he and his partner Steve Jobs might sell a hundred Apple 1s and make a few dollars. Steve Jobs had more ambitious plans.

Woz used lessons learned with the Apple 1 to design the Apple II, which incorporated a keyboard and interfaces inside an attractive custom molded plastic case. It was a huge seller, and the two Steves and Apple Computer Company were off to the races.

So, place your bid now: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320451173813


View my website: http://russbellew.com





12:23 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 19

Beware a phishing attempt disguised as Adobe update

A new bogus email is circulating, masquerading as an invitation from Adobe to download a new version of Adobe Reader.


The malicious email message reads:




Warning: Do not click! Just delete the message from your inbox and / or report it as spam to your email provider. The bogus website is NOT an Adobe-owned website, but rather one that attempts to damage your PC and / or drain your bank account.

My thanks to the PC Radio Show (http://www.pcradioshow.org/) for this heads-up.



Have a look at the Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) website: (http://www.antiphishing.org/)  Phishing is a growth industry! Their site contains valuable advice on how to avoid being scammed.



Visit my website: http://russbellew.com




12:01 AM GMT  |  Read comments(0)

November 15

Norton 360 has (at least one) fatal flaw

Norton 360 breaks Windows' critically important System Restore facility.


Symantec's Norton 360 (the embodiment of the word "bloatware") has a fatal flaw: it prevents Windows XP from performing a system restore. Symantec admits it: http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/norton2008.nsf/0/fa8500b78e0a207b6525738e006ca954?OpenDocument  Symantec's workaround is unacceptable, because one of Windows XP's better safety features is that it creates system restore points -- typically, one per day -- in the background, without user input. Symantec's workaround won't allow any of these system restore points to work.

More detail: http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=11383

What does this mean to you? If your Windows installation is damaged and you try to use the "Restart / F8  / Restore last known good configuration" procedure, it will NOT work, ever. Nor will you be able to restore from any system restore points. Norton 360 prevents you from having any Windows registry backups on your disk. It's hard to believe that this seriously flawed product was released to production.

(Detail: Norton 360's Tamper Protection damages the System file component of the backed-up registry when Windows' Create System Restore point is executed.)


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November 05

Photoshop alternatives

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November 03

Easily Install All of Your Favorite Apps


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