Make your passwords unbreakable but memorable

This is an excellent article by Kim Komando. I encourage all of you to read it and implement some of her suggestions. Having strong passwords is very important these days. See yesterday's post!

Make your passwords unbreakable but memorable

What To Do When Your Email Gets Hacked

I sure have seen a lot of this lately. That is, I have received many e-mails from people I know that contain just a one-liner url (web site address link). This article comes to us from the techlicious.com web site and it contains some very good advice. Even if you have not been hacked, I recommend that we all at least check out this article. The best and easiest thing you can do is change your password, and while you are at it, make the new one stronger.

What To Do When Your Email Gets Hacked

Veterans Day

A HUGE thank you to all of our veterans, on this their special day.

You Can’t Tell a Vet Just By Looking

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carrier didn’t run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth whose behavior is outweighed in the cosmic scales by four hours of unparalleled bravery near the 38^th Parallel in Korea.

She is the nurse who fought against futility in Da Nang and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years.

He is the POW who left one person and came back another.

He is the drill instructor who has never been in combat, but has saved countless lives by turning no-accounts into Marines.

He is the parade-riding legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the white-haired guy bagging groceries at the supermarket, aggravatingly slow, who helped liberate a Nazi death camp.

A vet is an ordinary and extraordinary human being — someone who offered his life’s vital years in the service of his country.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.  We will never be able to repay the debt of gratitude we owe.

- Author Unknown -

YouTube’s Rules for Video

From the New York Times:

"Q&A: YouTube’s Rules for Video

 

By J.D. BIERSDORFER

 

Q.

Is it possible to download videos from YouTube?

 

A.

Several browser plug-ins and utility programs around the Web do let you grab copies of your favorite clips and stash them away on your hard drive. But even though the site hosts many clips showing how to download YouTube videos, the official YouTube FAQ states that doing so is against the site’s terms of service agreement and is a violation of the video-owner’s copyright.

Some video pages found on YouTube may have an official button to download a copy of the clip from the site. In that case, YouTube does allow you to take a copy for yourself."

A Guide for PC Buyers Not Looking for a Tablet

I am personally holding out for at least another year and will await the arrival of Windows 8 and more touch screen capability and affordability, but if you are in the market for a laptop, here is some good advice from Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal.

A Guide for PC Buyers Not Looking for a Tablet

Five Great Internet Banks

Well, I have to say this is very interesting. Have you checked the interest rate your bank is giving you on a savings account? Paltry in my case. These appear worthwhile checking out. (Puns were not intended!).

This comes from pcmag.com:

Five Great Internet Banks

15000

Sometime over this past weekend, the hit counter at the bottom of this blog's home page went over 15000! Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you will see it.

This came after 668 posts over 3 years, 8 months, and 25 days! This was my first blog post: http://pcdocsblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/hello-world.html

So I thank you, whoever you are, for stopping by and checking out my tiny space on the web.

If you have any suggestions for improvements, please tell me what they are. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

If you have comments on any blog post as we move forward, note that comments are allowed on the blog. Just click on the word COMMENT at the end of each and every post.

If you have found value in this blog, please let me know. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

When I started out I was writing about things I knew about, like how to clean up a hard drive or how to tune your system, or how to secure your system against the many predators out there, but I soon found out that I couldn't keep that up. I just don't know that much! So I began turning into a "clipping service", checking out various technical web sites and reporting back on things I considered might be relevant to at least some of you. It is tough, without feedback, to know if this is valuable to any of you, but I guess the fact that there have been over 15000 hits to the site speaks to that in some small way.

One other thing: I would welcome guest blog posts. If you have something you think would be of value to the (mostly Windows) readers of the blog, let me know and we can work to get your information posted. I will credit you with the post. Write me at pcdoc@brpcdoc.com.

Thank you for your continued following and loyalty to this blog.

How to Become a Great eBay Seller

I am not a great eBay seller, but I'd like to be, so I found this list of tips very interesting.

The intro to the article talks about wanting to raise some money as the holidays approach. Good idea that drew me in further. See what you think.

"With the holidays around the corner, I've started eyeballing the piles of unused stuff I have squirreled away in closets around the house as a source of cash. I know I can get good price on eBay if I price it right and create an enticing listing."

10 Tips for Being a Great eBay Seller

Uptick in tainted ads hurts consumers, advertisers

Yet another warning: BE CAREFUL! They still are out to get you! This article appears on usatoday.com today.

"The online-advertising industry is scrambling to quell a long-standing problem that has taken a turn for the worse: the spread of malicious ads on the Internet's top commercial websites.

Several new twists have made so-called malvertisements a fast-rising threat to consumers — and a big headache for publishers, advertisers and ad networks, say technologists and security researchers.

The spread of infected online ads has spiked tenfold over the past year, according to research disclosed by security intelligence firm RiskIQ at a recent Online Trust Alliance conference in Washington, D.C.

RiskIQ documented a peak of 14,694 occurences of malvertisements in May of this year, up from 1,533 in May 2010. Each corrupted ad could have infected the PCs of thousands or millions of website visitors, based on how long the ad ran, says Elias Manousos, CEO of RiskIQ."

Read the entire article here

Should I click that update button?

This comes from the Call That Girl blog, and contains some very good and valuable tips. I recommend reading the article, which is not too long.

"First you may ask, what are “update buttons” They usually sit in the lower right corner of your screen right next to your clock. Sometimes they just sit there and don’t do anything. Sometimes they blink constantly warning you to do an update. And you may wonder…which ones are good to do?  In today’s blog I will alert you to some udpates you should be doing and some you should not be doing. Most of our clients do not click any update buttons or alerts to update and that usually need to be done and some can safe you from getting a virus!

Update buttons for the most part, should be done and the software you have installed have asked for your permission to do the update. Many times, the update button is just there and doesn’t ask, so you have to do the all manually. It’s probably a good idea that once a month, you roll your mouse over those icons and see what your computer would like to do."

Specific Product Recommendations - read here

How to Remove a Rootkit from a Windows System

This highly technical article from technibble.com is not for the faint of heart. If you consider yourself technically competent, you should read this over and, if and when necessary, use it. However, a word of caution: if you are not technically competent, make a mental note that you saw this post and inform your local PC Doc if/when you have issues with your Windows machine.

How to Remove a Rootkit from a Windows System

Windows XP was great, but is ten years too long?

As far as I know, we still have until 2014, when Microsoft will drop support of XP. This article comes to us from itworld.com.

"October 26, 2011, 11:46 AM —

flickr/Will Clayton

At one time, 80 percent of all desktop computers ran Windows XP. The breakout OS appeared on October 25, 2001, making it 10 years old. But is 10 years too long for any OS?

Of course, Service Pack 2 in 2004 revamped plenty of XP modules, particularly security. Should Microsoft have tweaked the interface and called SP2 a new OS? They didn't, and no other major OS came out of Microsoft until Windows Vista appeared in 2006. Vista had the smell of New Coke and the Ford Edsel, so XP kept on going until Windows 7 (and beyond). Windows 7 likely will stay below 50 percent market share when Windows 8 appears in a year or two.

Since technology is all about change, bolting new tech onto old OS frameworks can be painful. Those fancy new SATA disks? Gluing those onto an XP box strains patience. 3D graphics? Large amounts of RAM? XP lets us down. But that doesn't mean we don't still love it in many ways and for many applications. And Microsoft will support it for three more years because of enterprise demand."

I highly recommend this article. I believe most home routers have been installed "just to get the darn thing working" without much thought to the items reviewed in this article. Check it out and maybe try one or two or more. This is from pcworld.com.

Router Tips to Make Your Wireless Faster

Verizon Tracks the Websites You Visit and Sells Your Data

I take this article from techlicious.com at face value and have not checked out Verizon's Privacy Policy on my own. If there's any good news here it's at the end of the article where it says "Fortunately, you can opt-out of this data collection by visiting www.vzw.com/myprivacy or calling 1-866-211-0874".

 "I've gotten used to the the boots I've looked on Zappos following me around as I browse the web, but Verizon Wireless has taken this tracking to a new level with its updated privacy policy.

Under the new policy, Verizon will be tracking the websites you visit, the apps you use and the location of your phone, and then using this information to provide targeted mobile advertising. Verizon will also be sharing this information with third parties, though they claim it will be on an aggregated basis that won't reveal personally identifiable information.

According to Verizon, the specific information collected includes:

• Addresses of websites you visit (which may include search terms you used)
• Location of your device
• App and device feature usage
• Information about your use of Verizon products and services (such as data and calling features, device type, and amount
  of use)
• Demographic and interest categories provided to us by other companies, such as gender, age range, sports fan, frequent diner, or pet owner ("Demographics")

Fortunately, you can opt-out of this data collection by visiting www.vzw.com/myprivacy or calling 1-866-211-0874. If you have a Family SharePlan or multi-line account, you must indicate your choice for each line."

MVPS HOSTS File for October available now

This is a reminder to those of you who use the MVPS HOSTS file as a part of your baseline security package. This should include anyone who has a Windows machine.

The monthly installation process includes:

1) Running a full Spybot scan. Remember to first Update, then Immunize, and lastly run the Search & Destroy. I recommend deleting everything/anything that Spybot identifies as being potentially dangerous.

2) Download the October MVPS HOSTS file here: http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htm. Once at the site, click on hosts.zip about a third of the way down the page. Download it to your system, unzip it, and doubleclick on MVPS.BAT. That will install the new HOSTS file and provide you with much needed protection. Think of the HOSTS file as a list of web sites known to cause trouble. All of these will be blocked on your system.

Collection of 11 hot PCs

When I saw the e-mail from Microsoft come in, I thought maybe this will be interesting. What, I thought, does Microsoft think makes a hot PC? Since they don't make any of the hardware involved, I figured it had to be PCs that would make Windows 7 run well, and so I guess that is exactly what it is. If you are interested in acquiring a new PC, this might be a good place to start looking. These are all moderately priced, certainly a lot less that that MacBook Pro I spoke of in yesterday's post.
 

Meet your new PC

I am still old-fashioned, or maybe just old, and I still use a dumb cell phone. A cell phone to me is a necessity these days, and I am amazed whenever I think back to pre-cell phone days and how we ever got along without them!

The most troubling thing to me about Apple products is their price. Nothing from Apple is affordable, it seems to me. I am typing this on my MacBook Pro 17" laptop. It is a beautiful, powerful machine, but it cost me $2700. That is outrageous for a laptop, but I thought it would help me to learn about Macs and therefore position me in a place where I could help others with Macs who could use a little assistance. I find my Mac to be so foreign to me, compared to any Windows machine, but I am learning. There are very few similarities between Windows and OS/X. My Mac seems to have been built for left-handed people, and I am not left-handed. However, my Mac is right now my go-to laptop and I really am impressed with it. It is very fast, stable, and very easy to use (although the left-handedness of it still drives me nuts!). The 8 hour battery life is nothing short of amazing to me, a guy who was used to having 2 and maybe 3 hour battery life on my Windows machines.

So along comes another new iPhone. Ho-hum. It's apparently not even different enough from the iPhone 4 to warrant having its own unique name. People were expecting the iPhone 5 but instead got the iPhone 4S. I shall not be writing any product reviews of it very soon. Once one bites the bullet and comes up with the money for the phone, he or she is faced with the minimum charge of $70 a month to use the darn thing. As with the iPad, I would love to have one, but I'd rather not have to spend the money to get there, not in this economy. This review comes from pcworld.com.

iPhone 4S Review: It's a Sure Thing

Computer Virus Hits U.S. Drone Fleet

Just in case you think you have really good protection from viruses on your computer, check this out. This comes from wired.com.

"A computer virus has infected the cockpits of America’s Predator and Reaper drones, logging pilots’ every keystroke as they remotely fly missions over Afghanistan and other warzones.

The virus, first detected nearly two weeks ago by the military’s Host-Based Security System, has not prevented pilots at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada from flying their missions overseas. Nor have there been any confirmed incidents of classified information being lost or sent to an outside source. But the virus has resisted multiple efforts to remove it from Creech’s computers, network security specialists say. And the infection underscores the ongoing security risks in what has become the U.S. military’s most important weapons system."

More here.....

Facebook Privacy: 11 Settings to Revisit Now

I don't know about you, but I can use all the help I can get in this regard. This comes from pcworld.com.

"With Facebook's constant stream of changes, keeping up with your privacy settings can be daunting. Here's a rundown of the newest features, what the changes mean to your privacy and how to update your settings."

Watch slideshow here

Really? I find this hard to believe, but I guess I'd like to see Windows on a tablet. After all, most of us have spent our computing lives on Windows machines and have come to really know it well, even if most of us don't show a lot of respect for it!

Forget the iPad, What People Really Want is a Windows Tablet

(From maximumpc.com by Paul Lilly)

"Take a look around and it's easy to come to the conclusion that Apple's iPad is what the masses want. After all, nobody's standing in line overnight to purchase a PlayBook. Next on the list is Android, though only if the price is right (and Amazon's Kindle Fire is priced right). Where does Windows fit in with all this? Maybe much higher than you think.

AllThingsD dug up some interesting stats and surveys that paint a picture of Windows lust on the tablet form factor. Boston Consulting Group (BCG), for example, recently conducted a survey and found that 42 percent of Americans want a Windows tablet, compared to 27 percent for iOS, 20 percent for Android, 9 percent for BlackBerry, and 3 percent for webOS.

"The interest rises to 53 percent of the market when non-users of tablets are factored into the equation," BCG said.

BCG isn't the only one reporting a preference for Windows. Forrester Research conducted a survey earlier in the year and found that 46 percent want Windows on their tablet, compared to 16 percent who want iOS and 9 percent pining away for Android.

If these numbers are accurate, it means there's a huge opportunity for Microsoft to swoop in and dominate a landscape that currently belongs to Apple.
What's your OS of choice on the tablet form factor?"