Archive for February, 2006
The biggest cause of Internet security problems- stupidity
PC Magazine has a feature article by Cade Metz called “The Sorry State of Security” with the theme that stupidity is the real security problem. First, they cite the user
No matter how many times we suffer the consequences of online attacksâ€â€system slowdowns, instability, loss of connectivity, even costly identity theftâ€â€we always get burned again. [...]
Strange hard drive sounds
I used to experience hard drive failure rather frquently. And I am talking about brand-name computers like Dell, IBM, and Toshiba. I haven’t had a hard drive go bad for a few years now so maybe they have become more reliable. Nonetheless, hard drives can go bad and when they do, it can mean the [...]
Paying more to get a safer Internet
Larry Seltzer writes frequently about Internet security and in an eWeek article he proposes better controls over how email is sent from computers. He notes that this will cost but says
We might go on forever keeping spam and malware at these levels, but I think we can do a lot better, and all efforts to [...]
Using the keyboard to open menu items
Windows has a feature that allows use of the keyboard to open menu items. This is often more convenient than having to switch your hand to the mouse. Each menu item can have an underlined letter in its name. Examples are the File and Edit menus. When the underlined letter is pressed together with the [...]
Biased studies
Don’t believe any of the studies of the relative merits of Microsoft vs. non-Microsoft products until you study the metrics carefully. It’s strange how often many so-called studies are (deliberately?) biased in favor of Microsoft. For example, consider a recent study of the relative security of Linux by a “government security group”. On the surface, [...]
Windows OneCare Live
Microsoft has announced a subscription service for computer security and backup that is called Windows OneCare Live. The pricing policy is described
Microsoft® Windows OneCare Live will be available in June from retailers and via the Web for an annual subscription of $49.95 MSRP for up to three personal computers. To thank its valuable [...]
Bill Gates the seer
Bill Gates is making predictions again. This time he is predicting the end of passwords. But then a couple of years ago he predicted the end of spam. We know how that turned out. Maybe he’s right but I think he ought to pay attention to the observation of Yogi Berra or Mark Twain or [...]
New Microsoft anti-spyware
Microsoft has had a free anti-spyware program in beta form for some time now. The program has now been revised and renamed “Defender”. Scot Finnie has a review. It’s still in a beta stage but Finnie says that it is a significant upgrade. Note: It requires Windows XP SP2.
Internet Freedom Task Force
After the trouble that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Yahoo are having with the Chinese government’s efforts to control and censor the Internet, the State Department has formed a task force to look into the problem. Internet Week has a report on this. Since individual companies are not in a good position to deal [...]
Safety while banking online
I do a lot of my banking on the Internet, including paying bills, and I find it really convenient. Of course, banks are a natural target for Internet criminals so the question of security is very important. PC World has a short article on the subject.
Consumer Action page
There is a federal government site ConsumerAction that has information on many topics. It is full of useful links and lists information on 20 different consumer topics. In addition, it has information on how to contact many different companies and agencies. It’s an excellent resource. I don’t know how much the General Services Administration spent [...]