Rachel Singer Gordon Blogs!
Just noticed this post from Tame The Web about Rachel Singer Gordon
starting a blog. I'll bet she updates it more regularly than I do this
one!
But seriously, I usually like her columns so I'll be very interested
in her blog. Being on the upper-ish end of GenX, I definitely know
where she's coming from about being "in-between" in the library world.
Her LJ column she mentions in her intro post definitely stuck a chord.
otra vez
Once again.. I am going to try to start blogging..
If you look at the history of my past posts, you'll see that my life
as a blogger has been in fits and starts..
It's a bit weird feeling to be writing to an unknown audience, and
putting yourself out there -- this odd struggle to somehow remain
fMRI rap
Take an fMRI of someone improvisationally rapping. The brain is
simultaneously creating rhyme and reason (meaning).
Computer Specialist Reported as Best Paying Job with Associate Degree
According to CNN, Computer Specialist positions rank as the #1 best
paying job for individuals with an Associate Degree. Jobs in this
category include Computer Support Specialist, Help Desk Specialists,
Network Specialists, Network Administrators, and Network Security
Specialists.
Harper College offers a variety of certificate and degree programs to
help prepare students for these jobs. Get started on a new career in
only two semesters by earning a Computer Support Specialist
For those who are having Adobe CS3 issues!
Adobe Creative Suite CS3
I've heard a lot of issues with the latest suite of applications from
Adobe, whether it's the full master collection, design collection or
web collection - I've only heard of one installation of Adobe CS3 that
installed successfully on the first go (for the record, he was a
Windows XP user). Others have had to install multiple times, changing
Windows settings, safe mode and more. All from Windows XP and Vista
users.
A twitter friend of mine Nick Hodge from Microsoft Australia linked me
to his article with his experience of installing Adobe CS3 on his
machine. At the end of it he comes to a successful result, you may or
may not have the same issues as Nick experienced but he points out
many ways to try and install Adobe CS3 for you to try.
Phishing Angst in light of VA Tech tragedy
Phishing Angst in light of VA Tech tragedy
Unfortunate but true, there are those individuals that would attempt
to profit in a devious and mal-intentioned manner from any tragedy.
These threats come in many forms, ranging from phishing scams, spam,
websites, fax, telephone and beyond. There will likely be a number
mal-intended attempts made to collect money, personal information and
the like by many individuals posing as organizations designed to
provide a form of aid or funding for the VA Tech tragedy.
The best defense against this type of threat is to simply research the
organization that you intend on giving money, support or information
to prior to engaging them. If you receive an unsolicited email or
something that looks suspicious there are a number of sites that
maintain a fairly updated list that can all easily be found through
your favorite search engine.
All of this said, if you feel compelled to donate your time, expertise
or money in aid of those affected by the VA Tech tragedy then please
do so. There are currently a number of well known organizations
working to help those affected such as the American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org/article/0,1072,0_312_6578,00.html and VA Tech
is also directly accepting donations on their website at
http://www.vt.edu/tragedy/memorial_fund.php.
Below is a list of domains that were registered immediately following
the Virginia Tech tragedy. It should be noted that at the time of this
article none of these domains have been reported as being used in a
malicious manner, but please keep an eye out and protect yourself
against the many risks associated with identity theft, fraud and
beyond.
vatechshooting.com
vatechshooting.net
vatechshooting.org
vatechshooting.info
vatechshooting.us
vatechshooting.biz
vtshooting.com
vtshooting.info
vatechmassacre.com
vatechmassacre.net
vatechmassacre.info
vatechmassacre.biz
vtmassacre.com
vtmassacre.net
vtmassacre.org
vtmassacre.info
virginiatechrampage.com
vatechrampage.com
vtrampage.com
virginiatechmurders.com
virginiatechmurders.net
virginiatechmurders.org
virginiatechmurders.info
virginiatechmurders.us
vatechmurders.com
vtmurders.com
hokieshootings.com
hokiemassacre.com
Best Regards,
JJC
Posted by JJC at 16:30 0 comments Links to this post
Sunday, April 1, 2007
A few tips for the home user.
The world has become somewhat accustomed to basic physical and
personal security over the years; but what of the cyber security
realm, from the perspective of the basic home user? In today's age of
online banking, billions of electronic transactions, online shopping,
electronic records management and so much more affected by or even
wholly controlled by technology it is absolutely imperative that even
the home computer user have a basic understanding of cyber security. I
have detailed a few basic steps that should be taken to mitigate many
common threats.
Virus - Install and maintain current anti-virus software and
signatures. It's not enough to simply buy an anti-virus application
and leave it on your computer. Every day a large number of new
computer viruses or virus variants come out, as a direct result of
this all of the major anti-virus software companies release updates
regularly (sometimes every few hours) that need to be placed on your
computer for you to truly be protected. Many anti-virus applications
can be configured to automatically download and install such updates.
For the cost-conscious user I recommend AVAST http://www.avast.com,
it's free for home users and consistently rates high in independent
tests!
Patch - Ever get that annoying popup from your task bar? Well, it's
not just an annoying message, these things are really important.
Though software and operating system manufacturers try to design and
build their products using security standards and to the highest of
standards they do miss things. These things that they miss result in
potential backdoor access to your computer, holes that give the
would-be hacker or application access to any and all data that may be
on your computer. RedSphere maintains an updated list of patches and
vulnerabilities under the News -> Cyber Security section.
Lock - When you are not using your computer, logout of it or lock it.
If you live in a home with multiple family members you should create
new and unique accounts for each user of the computer. This will
accomplish a few things; first it will create accountability for other
users / children, without a unique account you can't determine who was
visiting certain websites or downloading certain applications. Be sure
that everyone is educated and informed that they need to either lock
the computer or logout of it when they are finished with their
session. If they do not do this, another user could do whatever they
wanted without being held accountable.
Disconnect - The vast usage and adoption of high-speed technologies
such as DSL and cable modems has made the ever-connected PC a more
common thing than not. The more time any computer or system is
connected to the internet the more likely it is to be infected by a
virus, attacked by a worm or hacked by a hacker. This can easily be
mitigated by disconnecting the computer from the internet, this may
mean that you edit your dial-up connections, turn off your computer or
modem, or even disconnect cables.
Backup - Even taking all of the steps mentioned above and beyond,
there will always be the possibility of data becoming corrupt or
otherwise destroyed. Most of us have already experienced at least one
or more times data-loss. Whether a program erroring out while we are
working on an unsaved document, a hard-disk failing, a virus or worm
or even a natural disaster we can protect ourselves cost-effectively
and easily. A large number of home computers now have CD or even DVD
recorders build into them and include software to create backups. CD
and DVD media are but one of many options in the wide world of backup,
others include USB Thumb Drives, External Hard-Disks, Network Attached
Storage and many many other options.
Be Mindful - Simply put, use your noggin! What do I mean when I say
this, doesn't everyone use their noggin? Of course they do, but there
are so many more implications relative to Cyber Security. Don't open
emails from unknown sources, don't give anyone your social security
number or any other Personally Identifiable Information online, don't
send emails containing confidential information, don't install
peer-to-peer software or any of the aforementioned. This topic is a
pretty big one and I'll address in much more depth at a future date!
In closing, there are a great many things that you can do to better
protect your data and security and the above list should give you a
Free Antivirus Software for your home computer
No excuse for not having Antivirus as you can use a completely free
version of AVG.
AVG Free Edition is available free-of-charge to home users! AVG Free
Edition is for private, non-commercial, single home computer use only.
Use of AVG Free Edition within any organization or for commercial
purposes is strictly prohibited.
AVG Free Edition has the following limitations:
* AVG Free Edition cannot be installed on server operating systems
(such as Windows Server 2003), nor can it be used for the scanning
of network drives.
* Scheduling options in the AVG Free Edition are very limited (only
one scheduled update per day, one scheduled scan per day etc.).
* AVG Free Edition receives updates via a lower priority service.
Priority updating via ultra reliable Akamai servers is only
available for purchased products.
* AVG Free Edition does not offer advanced testing options, such as
automatic healing, password-protected archives reporting,
adjustment of scan process priority and many others.
* AVG Free Edition has no technical support!
