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
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License
.

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
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License
.

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
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License
.

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