Looking Back 50+ Year

Every year between Christmas and New Years you hear and read of a lot of "looking back on the past year". They cover who died, who did great things and who did bad things. This year I want to do something a little different. I want to look back at the last 50 plus years and the people who had affect on my life.

• My parents - They were poor, but they did the best they could. My dad had a work ethic of work even when your body did not feel like it. Mom always wanted the best morally and spiritually for my brother and I.
• Steve Hasting - Now dead, he showed me responsibility in a time when we were hitchhiking across the United States.
• Wally and Beverly Walrath - I saw in them Christian love when they had no reason when a skinny four-eyed kid walked up the hill to their goat ranch.
• L. S. Boardman - He encourage me to use E. F. Cussins, because I would get more respect from using my initials over my first name.
• Michael Silbaugh - How not to sell or run and business
• Chris Luck - How a business should be run
• Carlos Gurtezzes - A friend and co-worker
• Norma - I can love, I can love unselfishly
  

These are the 10 people who have had the biggest affect on me. Most are dead, so are still living. Their memories will always live in my mind.


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A Real Christmas

It is the season to be blinded by flashing lights of red, green, and yellow. The television hounds me with commercials saying that loved ones will be happy if I buy them their product. Which is by the way the perfect Christmas gift. My inbox is filled with colorful ads from suppliers all saying that I should sell their gadgets as great gift items.

I don't have the money to buy everything they want me to buy! What every happen to the true meaning of Christmas? What ever happen to the importance of family, and friends?

This past year has been one of roller coaster rides. We are ending the year better off than what we started. We got rid of some material goods that were just cluttering up our house. We are spending more time face to face as a family.

Yes, this is a good Christmas! We are rich in what matters most of all. I would not trade it for winning a million dollars in the lottery.

James Kim

In the past few days and man died in the mountains of Oregon in an attempt to find help for his family. They were stranded in the cold and rain. Food and fuel for the family were gone. Two small children and wife were facing a horrible death from freezing temptertures or starvation depending on what condition would overtake their bodies first.

I am writing about James Kim. A young geek who had passion on reporting techinlogy. Unlike so many of us, James was able to balance his professional career with his home life.

I remember, internship at Techtv, reporter at PC Magazine and Cnet.com. Then finally senior editor. I remember James Kim talking about pictures from the birth of his first child, to playing Ipod music to his daughter before she went to sleep.

This is one man I will miss for his techinolgical expertise and his devotion to his family, even at the end of his life.

For more about James Kim you can go to Cnet.com.


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To Many Media Players

Windows Media Player, Real Media Player, Quick Time, Win Amp, and I Tunes are the top media players. There are formats that well only play on a specific player. My hard drive is taken up with media players with each fighting to take control of my music, and video files.

Last week, I wanted to watch a training video. I had to download another media player to watch the training session. Come on let us break down to one or two standards, but this is getting ridicules.

A search on Google comes up with over 12 different media players. Some media players are designed for a specific company to play their training videos. Others were created for file sharing of pirated music.

The bottom-line is my frustration is when I go to delete unused programs from my hard drive, I am stuck with a least three media players. Windows Media Player plays my Microsoft training. I-Tunes play and manage my weekly podcasts. Real Player watches network news online.

I have tried to work with only one or two media players. I got frustrated. I had to spend valuable time working around odd configuration. The odd media formats don’t like being played outside their home media player. It all comes down to limit my resources or put up with these entire media player.

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Spam Me, Spam You

Over the last few weeks, I have been seeing an unprecedented about of spam and phishing emails. Old phishing email frauds and a few news ones done by obvious amateurs. I am worried that someone is falling for those emails otherwise spammers would not be sending out their spam.

I start to wonder if I am getting better at finding them and tracing their origin or the phishing email spammers are becoming more careless.

This past week I was at a customers home, where he was showing me some of the email he was getting. They were obviously phishing/spam email. They were sent out to several email address of the same internet service provider.

I was able to trace the source to a server in California. Being close to Halloween, I was tempted to send a denial of service attack on that server, for sending out such email. When I cooled down, I realized that would only aggravate them. The only way I could really, hurt them was notified that internet service provider. They cut off the spammer and started to tighten up their security.

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An Ounce of Protection

“An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure,” is one of those clichés that we have heard all our lives. When it comes to computer security, it is one thing many people do not think about or react in extreme paranoia.

A computer connected to the internet can be an open door to the whole wide world at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second). Cyber criminals look for careless people. All they have to do is get one of three things from you.

1. Financial information: Credit cards and bank accounts, with passwords or authorization codes

2. Social Security number: Social Security card number along with date of birth is all a cyber criminal needs to open a charge account in your name.

3. Driver's license/other government issued identification: A pictured identification is not that secure. Get a cashier in a hurry, will not notice that the picture is replaced. A fake check or credit card will drain you bank account.

This information is obtained by filling out a form on a fake website. Another good source to get personal information is by dumpster diving in the early morning hours for bills or bank statements that were not shredded. Businesses that are entrusted you privileged information have to practice a much lower level of safe computer habits

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Never Give Up and Never Give In

Computers have become a very valuable part of our society. Computers are just for playing games, or data processing. They are how we get the daily news. Students in colleges and universities are required to have a computer to complete class assignments.

The average person finds discounts by receiving bills and paying them electronically. I can say there is not an area that is affected by the use of computers. Many companies want employment applications filled out digitally.

An electronic presence has become a must. Businesses are expected to have websites, before they are considered a serious business. Individuals are expected to have at least one email address to show their computer savvy.

I spend quite a bit of time teaching people when never grew up or took time to learn basic computer skills. They come to a point in their life where they have to learn some computer skills just to function in our world as it is today.

Many of my older students get frustrated very easy. Just the learning a new skill that other see as basic a reading or writing increases the learning stress. They find themselves making mistakes. Some forget how to send an email to look in a certain format, can cause a paralyzing stress. I try to encourage them to keep at it. Expect to make mistakes.

Don’t give up or give in to the frustration. I remind them what it was like to learning to ride bicycle. You cannot give up. The benefits down the road will make a big difference in ones self esteem.

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Battle to Secure Your Computer

Microsoft’s new operating system Vista is due out in just a couple of months. Norton and McAfee are angry. If Microsoft has it’s way third party security software products will no longer be needed. Microsoft put together an operating system that is so secure that Anti-virus, anti-spyware has programs are no longer needed.

The computer code was written by humans, but humans are imperfect. How can they create something that is perfect? It may look perfectly secure for a time. But I know the skills of black hat hackers will find a whole that break into the locked heart of the operating system.

A perfect product may sound like a great marketing sales pitch. It will have non-thinking sheep buy the product, but the reality of the situation will raise it’s not so pretty head to the embarrassments of corporate executives.

I believe it will be mid summer of 2007 before we will see some end to the wars between the computer security vendors and Microsoft. Will the courts allow Microsoft provide the security for their own operating system? Will the courts grant these other vendors force Microsoft to open the door for companies like Symantec and McAfee provide third party support when it comes to securing your computer?

I will not put Vista on my production computers until this issue is settled. I hope the issues will be resolved by mid 2007. Then I will feel more comfortable upgrading to Vista.


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Fall of 2006 is Depressing

The green leaves are turning to their golden yellow.
Making their descent to the ground,
Frost has not showed its self at the days first light.
However, I expect it to any morning now.

The morning news is filled more than its usual stories.
Violent acts are making less sense.
Today, is Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement,
It is acting like the beginning of an apocalyptic era.

The richest man on earth and his geeks tell us
When January of 2007 arrives,
He is going to push on us new software for our computers
Even if it is doesn’t work and inferior.

This may not be a physically long cold winter,
Many people will pray that it was one.
The emotions and tensions of this fall and winter will be with us
Especially after the spring has melted this winters snow.

How Mobile Is To Mobile?

This year has seen hundreds of cases where personal information lost were on mobile devices. Laptops and PDAs rank the highest risk device that gets lost carrying sensitive data. Cell phones and USB sticks come in third and fourth. All of them are small, easy to carry, thus being mobile they are very hard to make secure.

Every week we hear of private data theft, this is not limited to the federal government. We hear of a business entrusted with names, addresses, and credit card numbers losing the information. What about the traveling salesman who carries customers’ personal information on their sales route? A celebrity cell phone address stolen without touching her cell phone. What about the family on vacation that takes the family laptop to watch DVDs while wait to getting to their vacation location.

Taking important information out of the office or house must have good habits attached with the practice. When I go outside of the office or my house, with sensitive information, two things happen. First, the sensitive information is encrypted. Second, I do not let it out of my sight. Third, the information needs to transport for a purpose. Afterwards that information is return to the secure location where I kept it.

Taking sensitive information out of its assigned secure area is like playing with fire. The risk of it getting stolen is very high. Knowing how easy it is to lose and/or get stolen data, the best thing is to develop a group of secure habits for transportation of that data.



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326 Days - Time to Get Tough On Computer Users!

I received a call from a customer, who it had been about a year since I had looked at his computer. When I arrive the customer greeted me with the usual warmth of a hand shake and smile.

After I was led me to their computer, I set down in front of the computer and proceeded to go through my usual checks. The symptoms kept pointing to spyware or a Trojan issue. I open the spyware program. Then I checked for the last up date. To my shock it was 326 days since it had ran a scan or updated.

It is people like this customer, who did not take the time to verify that his spyware program was update and performing the needed scans that can promote the spread of malicious software. When I say malicious software I am talking about any computer program that reduces the operation or takes the control of the computer from the owner.

Maybe, it is time we need to get tough on computer user. Make them take responsibility for their actions. We hold car owners and truck drivers for the fitness of their vehicles’. These malicious programs are costing us millions and billions of dollars in damage. It is past time to get tough. A computer user needs to be held responsible for the malicious programs control his or her computer will put in danger other computers, networks, and websites to attack.

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Laptop Battery Recall

We all have been hearing one laptop manufacture after the other has to recall their laptop batteries. I heard of Sony and Dell recall their laptop batteries. This has prompted me to do some serious research on what is really going on at this point in time. We have had laptops for some time and not this degree of trouble.

Searching the web the bad batteries were found in Apple, Dell, Panasonic, and Hewlett-Packard laptops. The batteries are traced back to Sony, Sanyo and Matsushita the three major Japanese producers of lithium-ion batteries. They were manufactured between March of 2004 and September of 2004.

I like at a common thread in the manufacture of these batteries. What I found was that the chemical composition of the lithium-ion batteries has been a concern for sometimes. The focus of this of this concern was in the aging.

I quote from Battery University in their report. “Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. A lithium-ion battery in use typically lasts between 2-3 years. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance caused by oxidation.”

The quote from Battery University was first created in February 2003, and last edited in August 2006. Notice before and the manufacture of these recalled batteries, and after the recall.
Is this the last of the battery recalls? Has the problem been solved? Is battery manufacture of lithium-ion batteries going to have to say not to use them after 2 years?

2006
E.F. Cussins
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Lots of Little Problems

After installing Internet Explorer 7, I could not view a any flash that is on a website. I have to fall back to Mozilla to watch the flash video on Nascar.com. Vista would not let me burn a CD. I had to use another computer. Word 2007 would not connect me with my blog. I had to switch back to my regular computer. You would think that Microsoft engineers would fix these important issues, before releasing them in beta.

Over the years I have learned that the bigger the project requires longer time needed to deal with start up problems. I got to admit with Internet Explorer 7, Vista, and Office 2007 being released within a six month period is quite a task. Each one is a major project.

I got to admit that with all the different eyes and testers will reduce the problems when it comes to release date. I may not upgrade for a year or two, but quality will be higher than when Windows 98 and XP were released.



2006
E.F. Cussins
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OMT (One Minute Tutorials)

TEN Solutions, from its beginning, has worked to help people work with their computer’s. TEN Solutions has now opened a library of One Minute Tutorial’s. These are online for easy access. Each tutorial is written for quick reference. They sit on a server waiting you to access them as a reminder on how to do certain procedure.

Many of us have seen some neat trick or way of doing something on the computer. When we got home, we forgot how it was done. OMT (One Minute Tutorials) is the answer for that situation. Now all you have to do is go online and login to OMT find the subject and see how it is done. You can even reduce your web browser window and following the instructions from the tutorial.

OMT is $30 for 12 month subscription for access to the entire library. That is just $2.50 per month. If you feel that you don’t need access to the full library, you can subscribe to individual courses on specific topic. The individual courses will vary from $7.00 to $15.00 depending on length and popularity.

You can see sample lessons by clicking here. Many of these lessons will no longer be free on September 1st. You can find a complete list of current tutorials at http://tensolutions.biz/courseslist.htm. Sign up and subscribe just click on the OMT Learning Hub .

Any questions or concerns you can email me at Everett@tensolutions.biz.


E.F. Cussins
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Evidence Not Bias

This past week I saw 5 computers with identical symptoms. The root varied slightly. Just when I had it figured out, another root cause came up. Four were due to a downloader Trojan, the fifth was mechanical. It took me some time to figure out that the fifth was a mechanical issue and not an infection.

I am amazed at how I can let my own bias take minimal fact to get a conclusion where if I look for all the facts, I would get lead in another direction. I need to be continually aware of my own partiality. Personal human bias shades the facts to a conclusion that I want.

I see this same thing happening with computer security protection software vendors. The vendors rely on their reputation and little or no supporting evidence from independent labs. They are rated by magazine and trade journal tests. The very same publications are where the computer security vendors buy ad space.

Many of the less popular computer security software vendors have an A+ rating by independent labs. They don’t get the same level of attention. You rarely hear about these vendors in the press because they play it low key. They do not have security breaches, because they are doing their job. When the trade magazines review the less popular software it is usually below the more popular vendor products.

Bias and money does make the decisions. When it comes to computer security decisions should be made on logic and evidence. In the words a CSI, Gil Grisham, “Follow the evidence.”


2006
E.F. Cussins
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Getting the Word Out

A few years back I had the idea for writing a small book. It was to fulfill the need of low-tech individual and new computer user. I repaired computers, after a while started to notice a pattern. The users and computers with minor problems and those that had noting but problems.
Everything really started to come to light when I worked on two certain computers. The one computer was a mother who had nothing but problems from viruses and other malicious spyware. The other one was from her daughter. The daughter’s computer had very little trouble.

I not only examined the computers of this mother and daughter. I took note of computer and habits of other computer users. To confirm my conclusions, I read white papers and listen to podcasts from computer security experts around the world. Safe Computer Habits became the result of all that research.

I wanted the book to be easy to read and user friendly. I engaged some low-tech and intermediate tech individuals to read it and give me feedback on the way the material was presented. Then I took it to some friends who work in IT. They gave it two thumbs up. Mike Maxwell of Tech Help Weekly, in Austin TX raved about Safe Computer Habits on his podcast.

Now, I am getting an independent publisher/agent to help further promote the book. The bottom-line, for me, is to get people practicing Safe Computer Habits. By doing this, everyone can be a little more secure from malicious attacks on their computer. That is why I wrote the book Safe Computer Habits. I am committed to promote Safe Computer Habits through writing, speaking, teaching, and encouragement.


2006
E.F. Cussins
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Black Hat 2006 is Over - What Have We Learned?

Black hat hackers, along with white hat, blue hat and gray hat hackers have left Las Vegas. What was seen in Vegas this year only confirms the changes that are taking place in the world of computer technology.

Microsoft, FBI and Cisco Systems were all there. Not as spying out for future arrests. They were visibly there asking for help and learning hacking techniques. Microsoft brought Vista (their new operating system) to be hacked, and it was. The FBI stood up, in front of a group of hackers and asked them for help against cyber-terrorist. Cisco Systems was asking for help. They are looking ways to improve the security level of their products.

At one time it was unheard of having people from both sides of the established computing world working together. Something like this can only be good for the end user. Think about it. More secure computer thanks to the individual hackers and Microsoft. But after seeing what has happen in Vegas it could happen. Realize this is from the desk of the eternal optimist.

If you don't believe me check out the following links.
The home website of Defcon
Information Week about hacking Vista
The list of speakers and topics from Defcon

The Borg Were Not Secure

In Star Trek the Borg flew through space in this big cube. Its defenses were adaptable to any form of attack. Their defensive force field would change frequency so an attacker could not get to them. However, members of the Enterprise could beam inside the cube. The Borg would act as if they were not there.

In the past week I learned something form a customer. He was recommended from a customer support personal an anti-spyware program. I never heard of it before. In fact I had trouble pronouncing it. It did the job. After some testing on my own, I found that it was a very good program.

When it comes to computer security and personal identity, it is dangerous to stick with brand of software. Hackers and spyware writers are always changing their techniques. This year we have successfully holes punched in a brand of anti-virus software.

As the type of attacks change so must we change my protection according to offset the attack. The Borg was constantly changing the frequency of their shields to prevent penetration their shields by the Enterprise.

The Borg had the external defenses down, but when an attack from within they could not recognize it. News reports have been filled with loss of personal data all most daily. Security breaches come from within the company or government agency. Internal security must be a duty of everyone within the organization. All it takes one person to raise the flag and say, “This does not look right!”

If the Borg did see the crew of the Enterprise when they beamed on the Borg cube, well the Borg would of have defeated the crew of the Enterprise. They kept running the same old software, and never thought there could be something better.

Multi-Tasking is a Mistake

At one time multi-tasking was the way to get ahead in life. Doing more in less time is a great business model for making more money. A very few companies have succeeded at accomplishing this. The average individual is headed for failure by to much multi-tasking. Multi-tasking learning has been proven lower retention and application.

Business can multi-task to gain and maintain the market share, but it take a high level of displine along with well define rolls. Nestle SA dominance in the food industry has succeeded. However, Microsoft maybe is trying to do too much in a very complex industry.

Think about it. Operating systems are very complex piece of software. Making it user friendly is a tall task. Making business software that is flexible enough to adapt to most every business need takes super human ability. Granted Microsoft has done this control the market.

Now security and training must meet the end users needs. In the past few years Microsoft has added training for their users. Security, the most difficult task in all of the computer industry can not be done by subjective executives.

Security, no matter what field you are trying to keep secure needs to be done from object firm. Why do you think a security audit is most effective from someone who has no stake in the business they are auditing? They will be less likely to over look little loop holes. An objective auditor will always point out things that a subjective auditor will overlook.


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Why Do We Work Against Computer Security?

We are still doing the same-old, same-old. On one level security has not changed much. The main issues continue raise their ugly head over and over again. Companies and individuals may be spending good money, but they still have not solved the problem. Many of them need to have a catastrophic data loss or leakage before securing their systems. Security procedures and habits are only followed when the fear of public embarrassment raises its head. We move ahead in the jungle of insecurity hoping not to be eaten alive.

Users keep doing stupid things, too. Laptops are lost so regularly that they should be replaced by a desktop. When was the last time you heard of a desktop being lost or stolen? We should keep our data on computers large enough to deter theft.

I get tired of seeing surveys and reports of computer users who do not use or change their passwords on a regular basis. I will not mention the weak passwords that are easy to guess. Passwords contain wife's name, cat's name or favorite aunt are just to easy.

This is not just an issue with Windows users. Linux and Apple have fallen prey to security threats. In their smug little room they have challenged the hackers of the world to come after them. In 2006, finding a hole in Windows has got to be no big challenge for the hacker world. The serious black hat hackers have set their eye on Apple and Linux.

Law enforcement has taken an increasingly harder view of cyber crimes. Jail time has become the norm for cyber crimials. Congress has jumped on the bandwagon with passing tougher laws. Then why do we still see little change in the number of attacks each week?

Copyright © 2006 by E.F. Cussins

Nigerian Connection

There are people on the internet that is out to take your money from your pocket and put into theirs. A lot of it is not by fair or honest means. When the same people and scams keep rising up their ugly head and people are still falling for these scams. I listed two of the common ones below.

The first one I every heard of was about five years ago. A business person in the United States was has cashier check from a Nigerian businessman. As a token of good faith the business person in the United States was to keep half of the value of the cashier check and send other half back to Nigeria. The unsuspecting individual that kept half for helping out a businessman in Nigeria got a call from his bank saying the cashier check is a fake. This person was left minus a large some of money.

The new one I saw, more recently, was done through Craigslist.org. An email would be sent to the seller from someone supposedly that was at the other end of the United States. For their trouble of packaging and shipping the item being sold would be paid an extra $50.00, for their trouble. An email would come that was from Money Gram or USPS saying, “When we receive shipping confirmation, they will a money order for the full amount. They would also send a FedEx shipping label. Of course the money order would never arrive.

A bright red flag needs to be raised about what is going on. People who surf the World Wide Web must be made aware the dangers from different types of phishing emails. Violence has occurred among family members because of falling for these scams. We need to put them to a stop by not falling for them.

Web Economics

Free programs that we all download from Major Geeks, Softpedia, to Cnet.com are great. Free web forums like Lockergrome, Leoville to PC Magazine help us find answers to our computer problems. However, who is paying the bills for electricity to power the servers that provide these services? What about technical people who do the programming and monitoring? How do they put the food on the tables for their families? Where does all the money come from that pay for these very useful services?

I dislike banner ads and pop ups as much as the next person. Nevertheless, this is the how the free web services are supported. The free services from particular websites I use make it my obligation to click on their ads and buy what I need through them.

The websites I visit on a regularly basis have companies that advertise on that site. I figure they must be a web stores that can be trusted. If it is not the case then that website webmaster must be informed that an advertiser of their’s is has less than honest business dealing.

Installing Windows Vista Beta 2

All too often I hear or read about different testers having good or bad experience with the software they are testing. I thought for my install of Windows Vista Beta 2 I would document the events of the install as they occurred

I started with a basic machine. 1.8 GHz P4 processor, 512 MB or RAM, 80 Gig hard drive. This is not the fastest machine around, yet it is not the slowest. I want to see how Vista with work on a low end computer.

Below is my log of the install.

7:04 Put the DVD in DVD drive. Left clicked on My Computer, and then double clicked on the DVD drive.
7:16 Entered the activation code. A pop up window came up and told me that I needed to uninstall AVG antivirus program.
7:20 Uninstall AVG from the Add/Remove Programs and restarted the computer.
7:23 Windows is now checking hardware compatibility.
7:24 A window popped up telling me that Standard Game port, Netgrear FA311 will not work in Vista. I clicked okay. Files started to be copied from the DVD to the hard drive.
8:09 Windows finished copying files from the DVD and started gathering the needed files.
8:27 The expanding of gathered files start.
8:29 Windows reboots and expanding gathered files continue.
9:02 Installing features and upgrades starts.
9:05 Windows reboots the computer
9:16 Configuration has started
10:13 Success the logon screen appears.
10:20 Finished some personal setting. Then shut off the computer to replace network card, with a 3Com.

After a three hour search of the internet I could not find Vista drivers for either one of the Ethernet cards. The only drivers I could really find were for video. Microsoft provides a kit for building my own driver.

In my opinion Vista is not ready for prime time. It needs a lot more driver support. I will spend the couple more days looking for Ethernet card drivers. If I don’t find what I need, I will uninstall and wait for better driver support.

Stop Spamming Me

• There are many good anti-spam software tools out there. Outlook and Mozilla have built in them a spam folder and block list. Still the best protection is to practice a few basic Safe Computer Habits that won’t get you on a spammers list from the beginning.
  
  I tested my theory with two free email addresses. The first email address I would use when asked for an email address from some website. The second email address was used just to send receive email to some friends who I know to practice Safe Computer Habits. Within a month the first email address was receiving over a 100 pieces of spam a day. The second may receive on piece of spam a week.
  
  All I did was practice the following four habits.
• Don't buy from spammers. The bottom line of Spammers is money. If you buy something from them makes them think you will buy more stuff from them.
• Don't unsubscribe from a spammer's list. Unsubscribing from a spammer's list will only get you more spam. You got to remember that Spammers don’t have any moral. All they want to do is get you to buy what they are selling.
• Don't use your primary email address to sign up for anything. I have a free email address that I use when I sign up for newsletter, or anything else that might put me on a Spammers list.
• Treat unknown e-mail as spam. If I don't know you, then you got to give me a good reason to read your e-mail. I get more email than the average person, so there has to be a good reason for me not to delete it when it comes to my inbox.

The GUI Evolution

Ever since the first computer landed on the desktop there has been an ongoing evolution of functionality and easy of use for the end user. The in the last few years security has not only become a concern, but a demand.

The biggest leap for ease of use has been the development of the Graphic User Interface (GUI). The GUI gave us the point and click. This convenience put a drain on our processors and RAM. Just having a GUI finding the right program that will do what the command line function would do became an ongoing task. As people used their computer’s more their monitor screen had to be easy to understand along with eye pleasing colors.

The command line requires typing exact commands with all the spacing. There is a great deal of human memory to remember the different commands and their switches for additional functions. Today, only hardcore programmers use command line. Oh did I mention that using command line does not require as much processor and RAM.

Computer hardware manufactures have had to keep up with the demands of the individuals who sit behind the computer. File sizes have gotten larger. Programs have required faster computers with larger memory just to type a letter.

Microsoft with Vista and Office 2007 are struggling to make to a GUI easy operating system, but other product with easy to use, and secure. Apple and the open source community have to deal with this tall order for a technology. We must remember that computers, as we know them, are less than half-century-old. Yes, we have made leap and bounds in the last 50 years. However, let us have patience with the programmers. They have an immense task to accomplish.

Data Theft More Common Than You Think

Late May 2006 saw perhaps the largest theft of Veterans’ Social Security numbers to date. This is where personal information stolen or laptops containing the data were stolen. When I first read about a burglar who simply took a laptop, which contained veterans’ personal information. The best-case scenario, the data has already been erased and the hardware pawned at a small shop.

It was not until I started doing some research that security breaches and theft of personal data was so common. Over 79 separate report data breaches took place this year so far. I discovered these security breaches were a result of someone on the inside that opened the door for the information to be lost or stolen.

In computer security circles, there is a principle of least privilege. It says that only data is available to those who absolutely need, have access to it. I need to ask two questions. Did that data need to be on that laptop? Did that individual have to take that data home to do his or her job? In my mind the is a resounding NO! to both questions.

We have seen US Government regulations concerning the security of our personal information forcing business to tighten their security policies. People are flawed. No matter what the law and company policy says, people will still do what they can do without being caught.

What we have seen with the veterans’ data is a prime example of what should not happen. Personal integrity any business or government agency employee must be top priority before entrusting them with our personal information. The only way I know to do this is to get from out behind the computer and have a face-to-face contact with people on the other end of my information.

Software Perfection - NOT!!!

Friday, May 26, 2006: Associated Press reported Symantec Corp.'s, or more commonly known as Norton Antivirus a leading antivirus software manufacture. Symantec protects some of the world's largest corporations and U.S. government agencies. Their antivirus software contains a flaw that lets hackers seize control of computers to steal sensitive data, delete files or implant malicious programs.

If we cannot trust the big boys with our computer security software protection, whom can we trust? Why is it that we expect perfection in our computer software when we as intellectual beings are not perfect? Since we have coined such phrases as brain fart that describe our lack of mental awareness in complex situations, why should we expect perfection in our computer programs. The more I dive into the process of software development. There is a whole lot to remember. So out of a million lines of code forgetting to put in a validation or leaving space for a SQL injection can happen. Microsoft is known for security holes in programs. We have seen this in the last few release of Microsoft's IE7 beta and Vista. The code changes made things worse. The more they try to combine security along with nice features and user friendliness creates many problems.

Nevertheless, stop and think about all the hackers and crackers that scan the billions, trillions lines of Microsoft code to find something wrong. As no surprise, they do find something wrong. Then Microsoft finds people pointing their fingers saying, "They should have a better and more secure product. Let me see you do it better!

There is not such thing, as perfect software program there all will have security problems. The question is whether or not that the risk will be something that will be of high risk. Enough time combing over lines of code, comparing code to what it actually does will find imperfections.

Attracting Flies

Foods with sugar in them are a good ways to attract flies. My wife being from Louisiana has the habit of putting sugar or anything that might attract flies or pest in the refrigerator. I thought it was strange. Then she explained that to me she was taught to keep pest from getting in the sugar by putting sweet food in the refrigerator.
It is the same way spam email is attached to our email inbox. Your money is their sugar. Your email address is their way of getting to you. Spammers do not care about you. All they want is your email address and have you send as much money as possible on products from their spam.
There are two ways to get on a spammers list. First, buy anything from span email. This marks your email address as alive and gets you more spam. The second way is if you open an email, even through Outlook preview pane, sends a web bug report back to the spammer that you email address is good.
Several opt-out lists are to get you off the spammers email lists. Many of these lists actually confirm to spammer that you have are a good email address. Thus getting you more spam email.
Remember, there is no free lunch when it comes to the internet. E-cards, jokes, cartoons and games all are means for spammers to get your email address. Advertising spammer like noting better for you to give out email addresses from you address book.
In the same way, there are similar habits to keep away spammers.

• Send links when sharing pictures or jokes.
• Don’t buy anything through spam
• Don’t open your email in a preview pane of you email client
• Don’t give you your email address on websites that you are not sure about there reputation.

Social Responsibility

I want to talk to you about our social responsibility to our family, friends, and the world around us. As adults and members of this planet, earth social responsibility is nothing new. We drive a car, at work, or sitting behind a computer terminal, we have certain responsibilities. When drive a car down the city street, we are obligated to drive in a way that does not damage people or property. At the workplace, we have the obligation to work safe and respect to our co-workers. While sitting behind the computer, we have the obligation not to aid the spread the malicious software.

The lack of good safe computer habits has aided the spread of computer viruses, Trojans, and spyware. A Zombie is a non-resistant tool hacker's use to your computer as a relay to them schemes. That is why I wrote Safe Computer Habits.Safe driving habits, workplace habits, and habits behind sitting a computer at home or at work can affect so many people around you and around the world.

A little habit like not opening email attachments will greatly reduce the spread of computer viruses. A little habit of checking that you have a secure connection before entering a credit card number on a trusted website. A little habit like a good strong password can deter attacks aimed at getting your personal information. These three little habits can make a big difference.