Best Security Practices While On the Internet

It's no surprise that there's a rampant outbreak of viruses on a regular basis, at least it's not a surprise to me anyway.  The way people behave is just mind boggling sometimes and I guess this is going to be a bit of a rant and a bit of some helpful hints, as I don't want to appear like a miserable old grouch or something else for that matter.  So, what am I talking about?  Basic secure web browsing, that's it, in a nutshell.  I'm going to go over some common mistakes that people make that often lead to trouble, hopefully you don't find any of these things ringing your bell.

Use only secure site URLs when performing an online transaction that includes sensitive data.  

Site addresses that start with https use an encrypted packet to transmit data, so what that means to you the end user is that when you send your credit card information to the site (or anything else that is important to you and that you want to keep hidden) the information that is sent between your computer and the web server is in an encrypted format and without the encryption key (stored on the web server that is hosting the site) the information cannot be seen by anyone that is snooping around the internet looking for information to intercept and steal.

Clear your browser's cache regularly

After you have used your internet browser over a couple of days or weeks, you will have amassed quite a bit of temporary internet files that are of no use to you anymore but might provide some insight for a hacker into how a website operates, so its a good idea to get rid of all of them.  This will also speed up the performance of your computer as well, so it serves 2 positive purposes.  Most browsers can start the cache clearing process with a keyboard shortcut, but if you aren't sure what those are,  you can usually find it in the settings area of your browser and more specifically in the privacy settings.

Beware of your pop ups.  Take a very close look at the pop ups that you are seeing

Pop ups can tell you a lot about things that are going on within your computer.  A lot of sites will use pop ups as an in your face kind of advertising, but usually you're only going to get one every so often if your machine is running fairly normally.  If you are getting several per site that you visit, chances are that something is going on somewhere in your operating system.  If this is happening make sure that your antivirus is up to date and that you are running regular scans

Antivirus programs - make sure they auto update and make sure they auto scan every day, as well as monitor programs running in real time

Most current Antivirus programs will do this by accepting the defaults at the time of installation, however, it will serve you well, to ensure through the settings of these applications, that they are setup the right way and doing all of these things.  Many viruses will lay dormant until a specific time, so if your system is not monitored in real time, there's a chance that you will not catch something in time before it does damage to the Operating System.  Also, do not run multiple Antivirus programs thinking that you are securing your system even further.  When this happens, all you have, is 2 applications fighting to be king of the mountain trying to control the security of the computer.  It just doesn't work very well, so don't bother, pick one that is highly rated and go with it.

Use common sense

I can't stress this one enough, but for some people its as if this is a foreign language.  If something looks too good to be true, chances are, IT IS and even though your parents have probably already said that to you more than a few times, it's still true.  Consider the source of any offer that you see on the internet.  The internet offers anonymity to anyone that is technologically capable of putting up a website, if they aren't forthcoming with all of their policies and information, chances are they're hiding something.  Often times just thinking something through a second or third time will save you and your IT guy a lot of trouble.

I hope this was helpful and I hope you aren't doing any of these problematic practices and that you and your IT guy can talk about sports and what happened over the weekend instead of trying to piece together a totally destroyed computer.

 

 

 

Explain this whole Cloud thing to me.

What is the cloud?  Where is it?  Why do we need it?  All of these questions I'm asked several times during the week.  I figured that the best way to answer all these questions was to answer them once, in a blog, and then send the link to the blog article whenever I'm asked about it.  Not a bad idea, but it also started me thinking, since I already know about the cloud and I know how I use it, where's it going?  What's the next step for us as users and for those are not users yet?  So, I'll try and answer all of these questions in a single blog post (or at least give you my opinions, please don't take anything for fact unless I cite the work).  So, without further ado, let's jump in to the cloud.

What is the cloud?  Basically the cloud refers to hardware that is connected to the internet, not to your local devices or local network.  It's a total maze of servers, routers, switches and services that all provide you with a slightly different version of what you may have already experienced.  If you have worked in an office with a server and a basic network, this is pretty similar except for the fact that the server that is holding data for your company doesn't reside down the hall, it resides outside your area somewhere in a giant data center more than likely.  The other thing about Cloud services is that the data centers that are holding your data also hold the data of numerous other customers which, just by its very nature gives the datacenter incentive to make sure that the data residing on its hardware is safe and secure.  This basically becomes a numbers game and when comparing uptime vs. downtime of a datacenter you need to consider all aspects of those numbers.

Why do we need it?  There are several answers to this question so I'll just give you a few, and then you can decide whether or not it might be something for you to look into.  The first and primary answer is data redundancy, having multiple copies of your most important files is an absolute necessity when it comes to electronic security of your data.  I have several cloud accounts, including iCloud, SkyDrive and Dropbox.  There are a multitude of others but I save some of my most important files on each one of them, thus giving me more of a secure feeling when I'm concerned about losing important pictures, like those of my year and a half old grand daughter.  The second answer of course is portability, now, instead of carrying a flash drive around (which I still often times do, nothing wrong with it) I have access to these files as long as I have an internet connection so this gives me plenty of options when it comes to making sure I have access to my most important files.

Where is it? In essence, the cloud is everywhere and you can even have a "cloud" in your home.  Western digital is coming out with a portable hard drive that actually works the same as a cloud and if you are tech savvy enough to open ports in your home router/firewall you can even access your data from another location just like the big outfits.  Also BitTorrent labs is offering a software version of then cloud in a client that links 2 computer and synchronizes the files in each computer.  So, as the advances increase so do the features.

So, the final question to answer is "Do you need it?" Obviously only you can answer that question but I do find it to be very useful and I use many cloud services in order to keep my most important files safe and secure and able to be accessed from most locations should I need them.  This works great with things like Antivirus tools, networking utilities or any other technical files that I would need to use to get my job done.

I hope you found this post useful and please feel free to comment below if you have any questions or further recommendations as far as cloud products go.

Thanks

Why XP is not acceptable anymore

I've heard an increasing number of people say to me: "XP works great and I love it, why would I want to change that?"  I try and use the utmost tact when I explain to them the reason(s) for not using Windows XP anymore.  Apart from the antiquated looks, which I realize to some may not be a big deal, there are a number of additional reasons not to run this dinosaur of an Operating System.  I'll of course save the biggest reason for last.

• Microsoft is dropping support for this product, It's actually ending April 8th 2014.  All good things must come to an end, if Microsoft feels that this Operating System is dead, you should too.  They're not going to continue to waste time, money and labor resources to continue to fix this product which is for all intents and purposes, dead, so therefore the problems that you are having with it now, you'll ALWAYS have.
• It's slow and utilizes hardware in a TERRIBLY inefficient manner.  If you were to line up 2 machines side by side with the exact same hardware and just load XP on one and Windows 7 on the other, which do you think will be faster?  I think you already know the answer to this, so I won't bore you with the results.
• Did I mention its antiquated looks and graphics?!?  Good grief, it's an ugly operating system and looks like its 10 years old .... oh wait, that's right it IS 10 years old.
• Drivers are not being written for it anymore.  Let's say you're "thrifty" and not only don't you want to spend some more money on a newer version of Windows, you also don't want to spend any money on a new computer but you want to upgrade your printer to something a bit newer.  Most printer manufacturers aren't including and aren't writing XP drivers anymore.  Can you maybe find some open source or hacked together drivers that will work?  Possibly, but that's a whole lot of effort just to save a tiny bit of cash.
• Did I mention its antiquated looks and graphics?!? Oh yea, sorry I did but c'mon man!  Jeez.  
• Ok here's the big one.  It is HORRIBLY UNSECURE.  There I said it.  You don't like paying a computer tech like me 300 to 500 dollars because you got caught with a virus that infected your machine SO badly that you had no choice but to Nuke and Pave it or the labor costs would have afforded you enough money to buy 3 new machines.  Root kits security holes are abundant with XP and are NOT GOING TO BEING FIXED anymore.  So guess what?  That means you're going to be left hanging, twisting in the wind, when that new virus comes out and grabs you first because there's enough security holes in your nice old XP operating system to drive a tractor trailer through.
• Did I mention its antiquated looks and graphics?!?  Oh yea I did.  Seriously, it's time to step up.

A bit of this was tongue and cheek but that 2nd to last bullet point is right on the money, Microsoft is not going to be patching this OS anymore which means that the security holes that are already there are going to remain there no matter how long you continue to operate this way.  Windows 7 is a fantastic Operating System and while I won't let you know what I really think of Windows 8 I'll say that either one of those 2 Operating Systems will allow your computer to run much more stable and far more secure than Windows XP. 

Can you hear that?  It's Taps playing in the background in honor of Windows XP's passing.  RIP XP!!

A rant on the Crypto-Locker virus fan boys

I have to admit that I have read an awful lot of technology, so called, "beat writers", talk about how clever, ingenious, or smart the virus coders are that wrote this little piece of garbage.  I can't even begin to describe to you, the reader, how much this absolutely infuriates me.  I've literally had to pick up pieces of my office because I've thrown some inanimate objects about quite recently. 

How is it clever to try and bilk what now amounts to as much as 2000 dollars out of someone who you TRICKED into clicking on one of your malicious links?  I find it repugnant, disgraceful and disgusting, very FAR from clever.  How would you feel if this happened to your parents or grandparents?  Would you really still think its clever?  Would you say "Oh grandma, don't you just love how clever these guys were that encrypted all of your family photos and are holding them ransom?"  I think not, I know I wouldn't.

These criminals deserve to be thrown in the general population of a maximum security federal prison for no less than 25 years for what they are doing.  This is extortion/blackmail and instead of waxing poetic about how smart they are, we ought to be calling for their heads.  I for one, have absolutely had it with all of this ridiculous banter over how incredibly smart these guys are,  I think that if they catch these losers they really should lock them up and throw away the key. 

I'm of the mindset that if you steal 2000 dollars from anyone or effectively delete someone's personal property (electronic documents, images, etc.), you should be removed from our society for a very long time. 

I have the ability to write code, I take that pretty seriously, especially since I earn money from that ability, and you know what?  I would never dream of using that skill, that I have worked hard to achieve, for an evil purpose.  Maybe that's from the way I was raised, maybe its my conscience or maybe it's just that I have found a place in my life where I don't feel the need to destroy someone else's property.  I simply can't fathom the idea of someone devoting their lives to stealing from people as a way to earn a living, it's simply beyond my comprehension.  Then, to hear people give them compliments about the method that they created to steal from people, well, it makes me want to start throwing things all over again.

How is our society supposed to regain its once great reputation if we glorify THIEVES? 

JQuery mobile

Ok, so I've had the opportunity to learn a little bit of the JQuery for mobile devices and I've gotta say, I like the way the mobile packages are going, the syntax is simple and intuitive, the code needs not to be extensive to get a nice clean looking output. 

I started to work with this on a mobile form I'm doing for a client and after working with the code for only a short time, I was able to make some cool little modifications that I think were pretty unique and interesting such as using a slider for the credit card expiration month and year.  Yes, I know I'm not the first one to ever think of it, but still pretty cool after such a short time of tinkering.  I'm going to be digging into it much more over the next couple of weeks. 

Something else that struck me about this framework is that it gives you several default themes but they are easily customized so that you can completely rework the themes into something all your own.  Very cool overall.

Working from home

Ok, so the new project, my good friend Casey and I are working on is going to be a fun one I think.  It's about finding the best opportunities to work from home.  So, whether you're a mother, a student or a young professional wanting to pay down your student loans early, our goal is to give you the tools to find legitimate work from home opportunities. 

There are 547,000,000 search results for "work from home" on Google, so apparently there's a lot of people looking for opportunities to work from home (ya think?).  SO what makes me think I can break through those kind of numbers?  Not sure really and maybe I can't but it sure beats not trying doesn't it?  I've never shied away from a challenge in my personal or professional life, so I'm not about to now. 

So, what about the site?  Well, we've started a twitter account called @Bestpcjobsand we have created a Facebook page called Best Computer Jobs and a new site begun at http://www.bestcomputerjobsfromhome.com and have started to organize the structure and layout of the website.  We're still in the very early stages but very soon we should be rolling along nicely.

If you have any suggestions for work from home sites that you've had personal experiences with and were mostly good, give us a call and we'll take a look and do a review of it, even if it was a negative experience we need those as well.  That's the best way to get us rolling is to have first hand accounts of legitimate opportunities that are out there so that we can weed through all the garbage and at the end of the day, that's the whole purpose of this little venture.

Thanks for visiting,

Dave

What would my wife do?

What would my wife do?

Ok, so this is a great new project brought to me by a networking client of mine and his wife.  They are entrepreneurs in the Charleston area and have a local outdoor shop in the Charleston market.  The idea for the site, stemmed from the seemingly universal idea that men wanting to purchase items from their outlet undoubtedly would wait on their wives/girlfriends to help them with their decision.  So the idea was born, what would my wife do?  The site will have a small e-commerce store with some really neat branded merchandise for sale and delivery along with a fun blog written by owners Terry and Patricia.  Part of the proceeds will be donated to some of the local charities that they both support, so you can feel good about your purchases.  I have the framework up already but it's still early so check it out and keep checking back for updates.  So far it's been a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to the final product.

Thanks,

Dave