June 12th, 2007
Try organizing your tasks in a three dimensional space. Topicscape’s Information Organizer can do this. If you have never used a mindmapping technique, take a look at how it is better than two dimensional organization.
There are plenty of ways to use the software. Here is one example of how an IT person organized available software.
computer information organizer software
Business or personal use - either will benefit. There are plenty of articles, tips, and techniques and an up to the minute blog available to help with your particular use.
Here is a lengthy review on the product:
3d mindmapping software review
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June 4th, 2007
And why would I dislike iTunes? One word: privacy. When a song is purchased and downloaded from Apple your email and customer information is embedded in the file. The worst part is the data is -not- encrypted; it is exposed as plain text. What if your iPod is lost or stolen? You are out of luck. For me, I will skip iTunes and stay with my MP3 player.
Doug
Posted in Privacy, Privacy Breaches, iTunes | No Comments »
May 14th, 2007
I have a spare computer I rarely use, but use, that would not take Zone Alarm’s personal firewall. Halfway through installation an error message complaining about SSLEAY32.DLL would appear, claiming I did not have admin rights to install it. I have admin rights.
First I tried logging in as administrator and installing it - no luck. Same error message.
I went through cleaning out every last trace of ZoneAlarm and reinstalling - no luck.
Finally I booted up in Safe mode and installed while in safe mode. This time it it worked.
Doug
Posted in Firewall | No Comments »
May 9th, 2007
Higher education should be a priority in anyone’s life as it eases the way to better jobs and self satisfaction. A convenient way to obtain a masters degree or an undergraduate degree is to take online courses aka e-learning (which I have done for many years). It is just the thing for a busy life because you fit school around your schedule, not the other way around. Having a master’s degree not only raises self esteem but gives employers an excellent reason to hire you. An mba or undergraduate degree from an accredited school will open many new doors…it did for me. This blog post was based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.
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May 8th, 2007
I got a message
Remote host said: 553 sorry, relaying denied from your location [123.147.64.166] (#5.7.1)
[RCPT_TO]
Since I was not getting email from yahoo groups my first inclination was that yahoo groups was the problem. It turns out that my host was bouncing email. My guess is that it thinks yahoo groups is a spammer so its remediation was to reject emails.
I use Thunderbird (Outlook clone) to manage my email. Putting the yahoo group’s names in the white list did not solve the problem. I added each group to allowed list on my email account -on the host server-. So far (over a week) this has solved the problem.
Doug
Posted in Spam | No Comments »
April 29th, 2007
Just when we thought spam was under control…
Image spam is an email that looks like 100% text but in reality includes a little image. The image is varied in color and size slightly before it is sent so many similar emails can be sent. Having the image embedded, making it slightly different, makes it difficult for most spam filters to detect. Image spam is involved in about 25% of all email spam (2006 IronPort) and growing.
An image spam email is about 10 times the size of a text email - causing storage problems for ISPs, users, and hosts.
One of the big targets of image spam mail is stock “pump and dump” schemes. A penny stock is bought by scammers, millions of image spam emails are sent out touting the stock, and when the stock increases significantly in price due to people falling for the scheme, the scammers sell out. The reason this works well is no one has to click on an email link - just buy the stock.
Image spam emails are usually easy to spot visually: valid text usually surrounds the image (which in many cases touts a stock). The text is unrelated to the image but is pertinent because it confuses spam filters into letting the email seem valid.
Another byproduct of image spam is the email may contain a small invisible tracking image (usually 1px square) which triggers a server fetch when the email is open. This alerts the spammer that the email address is valid: expect more spam to follow.
Image spam filtering software is offered by the big names in antispam but it is expensive - usually meant for an email server rather than a home computer. One way to combat the problem is not allow images in emails. I use Mozilla Thunderbird (a lot like Outlook but is open source) to read my emails. Its default action is to block images in emails but provide a button to load images if the user deems the email valid. Some hosts provide filtering of spam, including image email filtering, but you must check your email on the host periodically because the emails sent to the junk folder are on the host, not locally.
Doug
Posted in Image spam | No Comments »
April 24th, 2007
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April 11th, 2007
I, too, received an email claiming I may get several thousand dollars from Microsoft for participating in an email test. From a friend, no less! Microsoft is not going to give someone several thousand dollars for forwarding a few emails. Besides, the email had several poorly constructed sentences and many misspellings. Other friends have received emails claiming they won the Microsoft lottery.
Fortunately Microsoft has a few ways of recognizing email scams. If you are using Outlook a digital signature may be attached to a genuine Microsoft email. Read about the digital signature from Microsoft.
To summarize:
- Microsoft does not send software updates as attachments.
- Legitimate updates have a valid Microsoft Web address
- Legitimate updates are also on the Microsoft web site
- Be wary of clicking on links from an email
- The best way to mitigate problems is to visit the Microsoft web site home and from there find what you need
Doug
Posted in Email, Scams | No Comments »
March 28th, 2007
My credit card company is offering a new and free security feature: virtual account numbers.
The idea behind virtual account numbers is they are used only at one online store. Thus if the number is stolen it is useless anywhere else. Some virtual account number issuers have a time limit can be set so the virtual account number expires (of course not past the card’s expiration date). Also another nice feature is a dollar limit can be set.
The process is pretty painless:
1. Logon to your virtual number account
2. Generate the disguised number
3. Use it at the specified merchant
Another way of generating an account number is using a tool which can be downloaded. The tool would have to communicate with the bank over Internet to send its generated number…hopefully this transaction is highly encrypted.
Transactions appear on your regular credit card statement.
Overall, the process is pretty easy and offers another way to mitigate stolen credit card numbers.
Doug
Posted in Credit Cards, Online security | No Comments »
March 15th, 2007
How many times have you been to a business that “needs” to copy your driver’s license, credit card, or other sensitive information? Car rental places, banks, and medical facilities are notorious for this practice. Another popular use is to make copies of tax returns.
Most photocopiers in the past few years have disk drives in them that help in producing copies. Problem is most of them have no security feature in them (digital overwrite or encryption) so a nefarious person could easily grab the information off the drive. The most vulnerable copiers are ones that are sold to another party. Copiers in small businesses can be easily stolen.
Most small businesses, libraries, tax preparers, and copy shops are not aware of the potential problem or if they were they may not know if their particular copier is a threat.
Next time you make a copy of sensitive information make sure the copier has data security features installed. It can save a large headache.
Doug
Posted in Credit Cards, Drivers License, Identity Theft, Photocopiers | No Comments »
