Computer security experts and the National Security Agency have been hard at work, trying to figure out where in China recent attacks on Google originated. It turns out that Google did not suffer at the hands of the Chinese government, but, wait for it, school kids. Tracing the attacks further back, to an elite Chinese university and a vocational school, is a breakthrough in a difficult task. Evidence acquired by a United States military contractor that faced the same attacks as Google has even led investigators to suspect a link to a specific computer science class, taught by a Ukrainian professor at the vocational school. Did you get that? A computer science class is responsible for attacking one of the most sophisticated technology companies in the world. School kids! But, to be fair, these aren’t just any old school kids. No! These are bored school kids… …done by one or two geek students in the school who are just keen on experimenting with their hacking skills learned from the school, since the sources in the school and network are so limited. Seriously? When I was in a computer science class, I was taught how to get my computer to ask me if I was having a good day or not! These guys are hacking into Google for yucks! Of course, this could all be just a decoy. The hackers may have hijacked the schools’ IP addresses to throw the NSA off the scent. A Mr. Shao, former dean at one of the schools, insists “it’s impossible for our students to hack Google or other U.S. companies because they are just high school graduates and not at an advanced level.” So there you have it. Young kids just don’t have the skills for this sophisticated level of hacking. Which leads me to my final question: Would you like to play a game?
INSTALLING HUSBAND?
A woman writes to the IT Technical support Guy
Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as
Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5..0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.
Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and House cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system..
Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5..3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.
Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme. html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5.
However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.
Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)
In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.
In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Hot Looks 7.7.
Just came across this great program that allows you to automate email reminders. It requires no software install, and you don’t even need to sign up for anything. In fact… you can start using it right now with out even visiting their site. I used it the second I saw this video this morning. There are easily 100 different ways to use this program, and I think its going to help out quite a bit. Take a look at this intro video.
There you have it. Comment at the bottom and let me know what you think. Or leave a comment on ways you may use this wonderful new toy.
OK… I know this sounds super basic, but have you ever actually thought about what each button of a mouse does. Maybe you have, and maybe you haven’t. Most people, just know what to do on a mouse, but don’t know the “whys” behind what they are doing with the mouse. It’s kind of like words we use in the English language every day. We don’t actually ever realize the definition of many words. For example… have you ever thought about or tried to define what the word “and” means? That is why I am writing about the mouse today. I want to define the basics of what each mouse button does. So lets jump right in.
The Left Click – The left click is for selecting an item. If you single click on something with the left button of a mouse, you are selecting the item. If you double click on something with the left click button of a mouse, you are opening it. So accessing a file for example… When you double click on a file, the first click actually selects the file, and the second click tells the file to open. Makes sense?
The Right Click – The right click is for more options. On a computer, whenever you right click on something… really anything… it gives you more options. For example… if you want to copy something using your mouse, you first need to right click on the item you want to copy, then you use the Left Click button the SELECT the copy feature. Then you go to the area you want to copy the item, right click for the paste option, then select the paste feature. Simple!
So there you have it. Left Click = Select, and Right click = Options. I know it’s simple but have you ever actually thought about this?
- on external hard drive
- EZ Back it up
- and 10 minof time to set it up
What is it?
EZ Back it up is a program I’ve used for years for automatically backing up information. The way it works, is you tell it what files you need backed up, create a schedule of when it should run, and where you want to files to be backed up to. That’s it! There are a few things to pay attention to though. The first is that the way you add files to the backup is by dragging them into the top right window of the program. If you have vista, use the file finder with in the program. When you make the scheduler, make sure to enable it or it won’t run like you asked.
Finally… make sure your computer is on during the scheduled time. What EZ Back it up will do is first back up all your files. Then it will sync them from that point on. What that means is that it won’t keep backing up “EVERY FILE” EVERY TIME. After the first backup, EZ back it up will only back up files you have changed or added. This way your comptuer stays fast, efficient, and backed up. I hope this helps. Thank for taking the time to read. Let me know what you think.
Here is the money question I ask all of you. Do you have a backup. If you don’t WHY!!!!!! And if you do, what and how? If you’ve read any of my previous blogs on backups you will find a few key points on what a good backup consists of.
1. Automation – the backup not relying on you
2. Multiple backups
3. Keeping your information up to date and off site
Carbonite can do all of these. Not only is it safe, secure, and very reasonably priced. Its SOLID and reliable. I have set hundreds of my clients up on carbonite, and some have had to use it. Each client had their computer up and running with all their information that week! Which brings up the only con. Your tons of gigs of information, music, pictures, etc are being backed up over the internet. What that means is that when you need to get your information back, you need to download it all back to your computer. This takes time. It could take a few days. If you can be patient and let it do its thing, then its great! You should do it anyways, and have an onsite backup too with an external hard drive.
Below is a link that will give you a free 15 day trial of carbonite. Check it out. Its only $57 dollars a year. You can’t afford not to back up your information with this price.
Have you ever wanted to know the exact tempreture of your computer’s CPU? What about what kind of memory you have? The model number of your computer? There is this great FREE program out there called Everest. There is a paid version and a free version.
EVEREST Home Edition is a free system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking program for home PC users. It provides extremely accurate information about your system, and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.
Features include:
- Advanced hardware monitor with OSD panel and cooling fan monitoring
- Real-time alerting for hot-plug devices
- Bluetooth PAN support
- File Scanner filtering
- User benchmark results manager
- Sharpness test (Monitor Diagnostics)
In the business of computer consulting, you come across two types of clients. One is the type who doesn’t have any kind of backup at all, and ignores the problem hoping for the best. The second are the people who think they are backing up but really aren’t. I’m mainly speaking to the second group of people today.
Backing up your important information is one thing, but you need to ask your self these two questions…
1. Are you backing up every day? and is it automated?
Its important to take your self out of the picture when it comes to backing up your information. It needs to be a frequent backup that is automated. So in other words… if your backup is relying on you… you’re going to forget sometimes, and before you know it… you may go 7 months with out backing up your information. Make sure its automated.
2. Have you tested your backup?
There are many times where the backup isn’t even backing things up correctly if your backup isn’t setup correctly. It is always a wise idea to test the backup. What I mean by that is try restoring your information to another computer to make sure it works, or just restore it to the same computer and test it. Make sure you can open your quick books and have all the correct information for example. Otherwise… there may come a day where you need your backup, and you don’t have the information though you had saved.
So that’s it on backing up for today. Thank you for taking the time to read my posts. Please leave a comment if you have anything you would like to add.
We all use computers, and most of us have become accustom to a slow computer. One question we neglect to ask is, what is that slow computer costing us? You have all heard the saying that time is money, and in today’s age, that phrase is more true then ever. Below is a short and rough study of what a slow computer costs the average professional with their time valued at $50.00 per hour.
What I did in this study, was time various normal actions on a computer three times, and average my results. Then I did this simple equation:
$50 divided by 60 min x amount of time taken by action x # of actions done each year
This equation tells me exactly how much money slow computers are stealing from us per year. I did this time test on a clients computer before and after I did maintenance on it. The computer is 4 years old, has 1 gig of memory, and a 2.5 gig processor. In other words… its just your average computer with nothing too fancy.
Here were my results:
Time taken before computer maintenance
Actions on your computer
opened per year
time taken for action
Money wasted
Turning on the computer
200
3 min
$500.00
Opening outlook
300
1 min
$250.00
Opening the internet
1000
30 sec
$416.67
Closing the internet
1000
15 sec
$208.33
Opening my documents
1500
30 sec
$312.50
Opening a word document
2000
30 sec
$833.33
Opening a .pdf file
500
45 sec
$312.50
Total Cost
$2,833.33
Time taken after computer maintenance
Actions on your computer
Opened per year
Average time taken
Money wasted
Turning on the computer
200
1.5 min
$250.00
Opening outlook
300
3 sec
$12.50
Opening the internet
1000
10 sec
$83.33
Closing the internet
1000
1 sec
$8.33
Opening my documents
1500
1 sec
$12.50
Opening a word document
2000
3 sec
$16.67
Opening a .pdf file
500
3 sec
$20.83
Total cost
$404.17
You can see that having a quick maintained computer saves a significant amount of money. We recommend having your computer cleaned and maintained every 4 months. As long as your not visiting porn sites, or downloading from peer 2 peer networks like limewire, you should have a fast, happy, and healthy computer that isn’t robbing you blind. If you are local to the Inland Empire, give us a call to see how we can further help you with your computers, and save you time and money.
There are many unsafe websites that advertise beautiful photography and wallpapers for your computer yet are packed with spyware and viruses. I came across this website yesterday that is super safe/clean, and presents the most beautiful photography and art for free! Here’s a great place to spruce up your desktop.
Computer security experts and the National Security Agency have been hard at work, trying to figure out where in China recent attacks on Google originated. It turns out that Google did not suffer at the hands of the Chinese government, but, wait for it, school kids. Tracing the attacks further back, to an elite Chinese university and a vocational school, is a breakthrough in a difficult task. Evidence acquired by a United States military contractor that faced the same attacks as Google has even led investigators to suspect a link to a specific computer science class, taught by a Ukrainian professor at the vocational school. Did you get that? A computer science class is responsible for attacking one of the most sophisticated technology companies in the world. School kids! But, to be fair, these aren’t just any old school kids. No! These are bored school kids… …done by one or two geek students in the school who are just keen on experimenting with their hacking skills learned from the school, since the sources in the school and network are so limited. Seriously? When I was in a computer science class, I was taught how to get my computer to ask me if I was having a good day or not! These guys are hacking into Google for yucks! Of course, this could all be just a decoy. The hackers may have hijacked the schools’ IP addresses to throw the NSA off the scent. A Mr. Shao, former dean at one of the schools, insists “it’s impossible for our students to hack Google or other U.S. companies because they are just high school graduates and not at an advanced level.” So there you have it. Young kids just don’t have the skills for this sophisticated level of hacking. Which leads me to my final question: Would you like to play a game? 
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OK… I know this sounds super basic, but have you ever actually thought about what each button of a mouse does. Maybe you have, and maybe you haven’t. Most people, just know what to do on a mouse, but don’t know the “whys” behind what they are doing with the mouse. It’s kind of like words we use in the English language every day. We don’t actually ever realize the definition of many words. For example… have you ever thought about or tried to define what the word “and” means? That is why I am writing about the mouse today. I want to define the basics of what each mouse button does. So lets jump right in.
Ok, here is what you need:
EVEREST Home Edition is a free system information, system diagnostics and benchmarking program for home PC users. It provides extremely accurate information about your system, and diagnostics capabilities, including online features, memory benchmarks, hardware monitoring, and low-level hardware information.
In the business of computer consulting, you come across two types of clients. One is the type who doesn’t have any kind of backup at all, and ignores the problem hoping for the best. The second are the people who think they are backing up but really aren’t. I’m mainly speaking to the second group of people today.
We all use computers, and most of us have become accustom to a slow computer. One question we neglect to ask is, what is that slow computer costing us? You have all heard the saying that time is money, and in today’s age, that phrase is more true then ever. Below is a short and rough study of what a slow computer costs the average professional with their time valued at $50.00 per hour.
