Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – April 17, 2011

Five tips for using Ccleaner to degunk your system – Ccleaner is one of the best all-around tools for keeping your computer optimized and free of the junk that accumulates from Internet surfing, obsolete apps, and other cyber debris.

20 Best Windows Desktop Mods – Just as swapping parts in your rig can make all the difference, so can custom building an interface in your very own OS. Mods like Rainmeter have spawned communities dedicated to trickin’ out their user interfaces–many with dramatic and beautiful new looks.

Ubuntu 11.04: Small issues, big win – Jack Wallen recants his original take on Ubuntu 11.04 and Ubuntu Unity. See what happened to make him so drastically change his mind about the upcoming release from Canonical.

Goodbye Download Squad – I sometimes cannot believe the decisions that major Internet companies make. The latest company to join the ranks is AOL with the decision to close down the Download Squad technology blog. Download Squad was one of the two blogs that I followed closely ever since I started running my own tech news site, the other was Lifehacker.

YouTube launches reform school for copyright violators: You’re welcome, Hollywood – I like to believe that people are mostly honest and that sometimes, they just need a bit of education. Apparently, Google feels the same way. Even though the courts ruled in Google’s favor in last year’s YouTube-Viacom dispute over copyright infringement, the company has taken steps to further curb copyright violations on the video site by requiring offenders to receive some education – and pass a test – if they’d like to return to the site.

It’s official: Asia’s just run out of IPv4 Addresses – Now, will you take switching over to IPv6 seriously?

Norton 2012 Public Betas Launched – Today Symantec throws open the public beta for the 2012 editions of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, which will continue for several months, with at least a couple of beta refreshes before the final release. If you want a sneak peek at what’s coming, loading up the beta is a great way to get it.

Company News:

Why is Chrome so important to Google? It’s a ‘locked-in user’ – Google execs say the lifetime value of a Chrome user is extremely valuable to the company. “Chrome is a guaranteed locked-in user for us in terms of having access to Google,” says CFO Patrick Pichette.

Cisco’s Spending Spree – Two years ago, Cisco acquired Pure Digital and its Flip camcorder. The Flip marked one of 18 acquisitions Cisco has made over the last few years. But as Cisco CEO John Chambers recently acknowledged, Cisco has lost its way. To get back on course, it will make cuts. First victim? The Flip. Wondering what’s next?

Apple to Dominate Tablet Market for Years – Apple’s iPad will continue to dominate the surging media tablet market for years, with Google playing catch-up, research firm Gartner said on Monday. Gartner said it expects 70 million media tablets to be sold this year and 108 million in 2012, compared with just 17.6 million in 2010.

Keep Your Defenses Up with GoldKey – The two-factor authentication provided by a GoldKey token and PIN keeps your encrypted resources secure. You can also lock and unlock your computer with it. For businesses, a Master token offers full management of individual tokens. It’s not for the tech-phobic, but using a GoldKey will definitely raise your security overall level.

Off Topic (Sort of):

The Confession (Short) Short Film – “The Confession” is an offbeat short comedy about a young man who goes to confession, only to receive some … not-so-spiritual advice. (submitted by Michael F.)

Geeks, functional deviant behavior, and evolution – TR member dcolbert looks at the stereotypes between deviant behavior and antisocial nerds. He thinks it’s possible that functional deviant behavior may even give some people an advantage by being more effective at their jobs. Do you agree?

Eco-friendly bulbs loaded with lead, arsenic – The LED bulbs sold as safe and eco-friendly can contain high levels of lead, arsenic and other hazardous substances, a new UC Irvine study shows — the same bulbs widely used in headlights, traffic lights, even holiday lights. The toxic material could increase the risk of cancer, kidney disease and other illnesses, although the risks are more long-term than immediate; a single exposure to a broken bulb is unlikely to cause illness. (submitted by Dar)

This Electric Car Gets 200 Miles on a Single Charge – A Japanese car company claims its new all-electric prototype can travel over 200 miles in urban areas on a single charge.

Today’s Quote:

“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.”

–   Galileo Galilei

Today’s Free Downloads:

Word Art Generator – Word Art Generator is a Freeware to help you design and create WordArt, it can show all font names, font and font preview of the file name, can set the visual display of the system in the style of all the fonts and more.

Crypt4Free 5.4.7 – Crypt4Free builds on our award winning Advanced Encryption Package Standard. It uses two encryption algorithms to protect your files: Blowfish & DESX. And “Quick Wipe” secure files erasure algorithm to wipe sensitive files.

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Control A Remote Computer (And More), With Free TeamViewer

If you’re a person who’s often asked by friends, to help them, their friends, their neighbors, ……..the list goes on, to reconstruct a computer that is not responding appropriately, has become loaded with malware, etc., then free TeamViewer is worth taking a look at.

TeamViewer connects to any PC, or server, within a few seconds; which allows you to control a remote PC as if you were sitting right in front of it. Best of all, a typical (non geek) computer user using TeamViewer, doesn’t need to know anything about ports or protocols, or any other complicated Firewall jargon.

Some of my friends, who are only moderately techno competent, have used this neat little tool to rescue their family’s and friend’s computers. Most have commented that it feels just as if they were working side by side with the remote user, on the same PC. I second that perception. Awesome!

Running this free screen sharing/remote control application, is simple – perhaps the easiest I’ve used. The user interface is plain, functional, and uncomplicated – as illustrated.

Click graphic to expand to original.

Since the application has considerable functionality, over and above remote tech support, including file-transfer and business collaboration, there are substantial options available. In the following screen capture, I’ve chosen to illustrate Remote control options.

Click graphic to expand to original.

To get up and running:

Have your friend/partner/associate etc, download, install and run TeamViewer – then email you the session ID and Password, once they have launched the application.

Here’s an example of TeamViewer at work.

The following screen captures illustrate that I’ve taken remote control of TeamViewer’s test computer, by entering the session ID and password provided by TeamViewer – acting as the friend/partner/associate.

Once in control, I opened the remote machine’s WordPad and did a little typing.

Click on graphic to expand

Once you’ve installed TeamViewer, you can do the same thing to give yourself a little practice.

Fast facts:

One solution for everything – While most competitors offer different packages for remote support, remote administration, training and sales (and also charge for them…) TeamViewer is the one-stop solution for everything you need: TeamViewer includes all modules in one simple and very affordable package.

File transfer – TeamViewer comes with integrated file transfer that allows you to copy files and folders to and from a remote partner – which also works behind firewalls

Highest security standard – TeamViewer is a very secure solution. All versions feature completely secure data channels with key exchange and AES (256 Bit) session encoding, the same security standard used by https/SSL.

Remote support without installation – With TeamViewer you can remotely control any PC anywhere on the Internet. No installation is required, just run the application on both sides and connect – even through tight firewalls.

Remote presentation of products, solutions and services – TeamViewer allows you to present your desktop to a partner. Share live demos, products, and presentations over the Internet within seconds.

Works behind firewalls – The major difficulties in using remote control software are firewalls and blocked ports, as well as NAT routing for local IP addresses. If you use TeamViewer you don’t have to worry about firewalls: TeamViewer will find a route.

Optimized performance – Whether you have a LAN or dial-up connection, TeamViewer optimizes display quality and speed depending on your network connection.

Encryption – TeamViewer includes full encryption, based on RSA private-public key exchange and AES (256 Bit) session encoding. This technology is based on the same standards as https/SSL and is considered completely safe by today’s standards.

Access Protection – In addition to the PartnerID TeamViewer generates a session password that changes with every software start to provide additional security against unauthorized access to a remote system.

System requirements: Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Win 7, Mac, Linux, Mobile systems.

Download at:  Team Viewer

Note: A portable version is also available.

Bottom line: If you have the skills, and you have the opportunity to provide tech support to your family or friends, then TeamViewer might just be the tool you’ve been looking for.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – April 16, 2011

Small But Powerful: 30 Useful Apps Under 2MB – We’ve put together a list of 30 apps that kick ass without taking up a lot of space. Every program in this list can be downloaded for free, and takes up less than 2 megabytes of space.

Can you spot a scam? – ZDNet Australia’s Darren Pauli presents some fabricated examples of phishing emails to illustrate what users need to watch out for in order to protect themselves.

Decipher Svchost processes in Windows with Svchost Viewer – In this edition of the Windows Desktop Report, Greg Shultz shows you how to use Svchost Viewer to track down detailed information about any Svchost.exe process running in Windows 7.

Video: Clean out old files with Windows 7’s Arrange By feature – Bill Detwiler shows you how to weed through your old files with Windows Explorer’s Arrange By feature.

Report Describes Far-Flung Chinese Cyber Espionage Against U.S. Government – The massive campaign of cyber intrusions of U.S. government Web sites by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) now has a name: “Byzantine Hades,” according to a report Thursday by Reuters.

Next Safari version will include do-not-track tool – Safari is the latest of the top four most popular browsers to receive a do-not-track privacy tool. So far, the feature is still being tested by developers, but if everything goes according to plan, it will be included in the next version of Mac OS X (Lion) due to be released in the summer.

10 Linux applications that should be easier to use – The Linux desktop continues to become increasingly user friendly. Yet as Jack Wallen explains, some applications are not nearly as easy to configure and use as they should be.

The Best Home Video-Editing Software – Make masterful home movies out of all your footage, new and old, with the right software. We’ve reviewed eight of the best packages on the market, from Adobe Premiere Elements 9 to iMovie ’11 and more, to help you find the tool that’s best for your needs.

Education, Goverment Sites Still Serving Scammers Months Later – Back in January, Threatpost covered a story originally reported by Julien Sobrier of Zsacaler. Sobrier discovered that the websites of a number of prominent American universities and government institutions had been hijacked and were redirecting fake online stores. As it turns out, some of the sites mentioned in the initial report continue to do so.

Company News:

GFI Software solutions now available through the Intel Hybrid Cloud –  GFI Software has collaborated with Intel to make GFI VIPRE Antivirus, GFI LANguard, GFI EventsManager and GFI EndPointSecurity available through the Intel Hybrid Cloud. SMBs are increasingly aware of the cost savings and efficiencies they can gain by adopting cloud-based IT solutions.

Dell Launches New SMB Server and NAS Options – As part of its ongoing focus on providing enterprise-class technologies to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB), Dell Thursday rolled out two servers as well as a pair of storage solutions meant to meet rigorous customer demands.

Microsoft Shows Off ‘Mango’ for Windows Phone – The software giant trots out its latest pitch to popularize Windows Phone, and also shows a developers kit for PC apps that use Microsoft’s dynamic games controller.

White iPhone 4 Coming Soon, Really – For those keeping track: it’s now been 10 months since the white iPhone 4 was originally supposed to hit the shelves.

Off Topic (Sort of):

Game of Thrones: New HBO series is a feast for geeks – When it comes to pop culture and entertainment, science fiction and fantasy have long been traditional favorites in geek circles. For a lot of geeks, that means this weekend is a big weekend because it is the debut of a modern fantasy favorite coming to life on screen. I’m talking about Game of Thrones, the first book in George R.R. Martin’s series, A Song of Ice and Fire, which debuts Sunday, April 17. (Starts Monday night 9 pm on Sky Atlantic in the UK)

6 Components Of A Winning Complaint Letter – Writing a letter of complaint is an art form and, as any dedicated complainer knows, there are several important elements that must be included to guarantee a result. What is it complainers want? Public Recognition Of Their Grievance. Why? Because it will allow them to take up residence on The Moral High Ground, the most sought after of post codes. (submitted by Dar)

Say goodbye to Homo sapiens … and it’s a good thing – 18 minutes of your time spent well ~ “Our kids are going to be … different”. (submitted by Michael F.)

The End of Content Ownership – Until recently, I derided “the cloud,” insisting that it’s simply an airy label for “the Internet.” When you store stuff or access anything from the cloud, you’re simply tapping into the Internet and touching a far-flung server. Nothing lives above you in the stratus or cirrus vapors over our heads. No, it’s just terrestrial miles and miles (hundreds or even thousands) away and speeding to you at the speed of an electron or, in the case of fiber, light.

Today’s Quote:

“There is an evil tendency underlying all our technology – the tendency to do what is reasonable even when it isn’t any good.”

–   Robert Pirsig

Today’s Free Downloads:

Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller – Download and run the Adobe Flash Player Uninstaller to remove all versions of Adobe Flash Player from all browsers on your machine.

MyUninstaller – MyUninstaller is an alternative utility to the standard Add/Remove applet of Windows operating system. It displays the list of all installed application, and allows you to uninstall an application, delete an uninstall entry, and save the list of all installed applications into a text file or HTML file.

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Is Online PC Care A Scam?

It finally happened! I finally got an unsolicited phone call from Online PC Care, a company which advertises – “instant support for all your computer related technical problems is just a click away” and “Online PC Care is the right place to resolve all your technical problems.”

I was well aware that many consider this type of online service (Online PC Care is just one of many companies saturating this market), to be an outright scam. Nevertheless, accepting the phone call and working through the sales presentation (which is effectively what it’s all about), was an opportunity to engage with a self described “technical expert”, that I couldn’t pass up.

Based on errors in Windows Event Viewer (which Charlie, calling from India, walked me through), the diagnosis indicated my PC was “pretty sick” – infested with malware, and pretty much ready for the scrap heap.

But luckily, there was a solution to this sad state of affairs – the purchase of a plan from Online PC Care – ranging in price from $120 (6 month Bronze Plan), to $200 for the (12 month Ultimate Plan). Or, a more specific Incident Based (Malware) Plan.

Click graphic to expand

Event Viewer system logs can look pretty scary to an average user despite the fact, that the event recorded is often insignificant. Here’s an example – the Event Viewer, in the following graphic, indicates that the Volume Shadow Copy Service on this machine failed to start on boot this morning.

This is not an unexpected event – given that I have disabled  this service. If the Event Viewer didn’t show this error, then, I’d have something to worry about.

Charlie, who was extremely polite throughout the phone call, focused on a more specific error reported by the Event Viewer – a display driver crash (numerous crashes, in fact). Charlie, then laid out a convincing scenario in which he led me, step by step, into agreeing that the crashes were directly related to multiple malware infections.

Malware infections that could easily be removed – if I agreed to allow remote access to my machine, provided credit card details, and purchased either a Duration Based Plan, or an “Incident Based Plan at a cost of $35.

It took all the patience I could muster, as I was led through the process, not to inform Charlie that the crashes were caused by a hardware acceleration bug in Firefox 4. My tongue is still sore from the number of times I bit down.

Eventually, rather than have to listen to the sales presentation again and again (a continuing focus of the phone call), I let Charlie know that he was full of s*it, and referred him to this Blog. Strangely, Charlie took the subterfuge very well, and disconnected only after apologizing profusely.

It’s a fair assumption that the number of average computer users being taken advantage of by unscrupulous online organizations like Online PC Care, has to be considerable. The sales presentation is slick, the “proof” of computer malfunction is convincing since the “malfunctions” are readily apparent in the Event Viewer. What could be more convincing than a series of neatly packaged Warnings, and Errors?

To add credibility, many of these online technical problem solvers will misrepresent themselves as either being associated with Microsoft or, working directly for Microsoft.

In this particular case, Online PC Care did not misrepresent their position and readily supplied the name, web site address, and the location from which the phone call originated.

That’s little consolation though, since the overall presentation was structured in such a way, as to attempt to fraudulently convince me I had serious computer problems, including a non-existing malware infection.

It’s discouraging to think that legitimate online computer technicians, who provide a much needed and valuable service, could be easily tainted by the number of scam artists who are now active in this field.

As always, I ask that you as an experienced computer user, be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates, particularly those who are new computer users, and let them know that this type of scam has reached epidemic proportions.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – April 15, 2011

Office workers clueless about IT in general – Many office workers are not as tech or security aware as they could be, according to a new survey. When asked what cloud computing meant, a quarter thought it was a data centre in the sky. A fifth thought it was something that Microsoft advertises, 10% global warming caused by overheating computers and 10% guessed it was a trendy club in SoHo.

Dangerous IRS Scams to Dodge This Tax Season – With only days left for most Americans to file their taxes, security companies and the Internal Revenue Service are all warning users to beware of malware and online threats that masquerade as helpful tax tips. We put together a list of tips on how to avoid getting stung by fake tax spam.

Spiceworks IT Desktop – If you’re in a business with a small network–and little or no IT staff–network inventory and management tool Spiceworks IT Desktop may be exactly what you need. It’s free and browser-based, and not only provides detailed information about all of your network devices, but also serves as an IT management tool, letting you create and track Help Desk tickets to fix any problems that people have on the network. It has a surprisingly full feature set for a free piece of software.

Adobe to fix Flash Player hole this week – Adobe will release a fix for a new critical bug in Flash Player on Friday for Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Solaris, while Google Chrome users will be protected by Thursday through the browser’s auto-update feature, Adobe said today.

Why Do Application Installs Make You Reboot and Close Other Apps? – It’s happened to everybody at some point—you go to install a new application, and Windows tells you to reboot first. Or reboot after. Or it asks you to close out of every other application first. Why does it do that? In today’s geek lesson we’ll explain exactly why Windows can be so irritating with all this rebooting, and hopefully give you a better perspective into why things work this way. (submitted by Dar)

Why won’t Internet Explorer 10 run on Windows Vista? – Why does the platform preview of Internet Explorer 10 refuse to install on Windows Vista? Maybe it’s because Vista’s short, unhappy life will end in less than one year. I help decode the cryptic support lifecycle.

Epsilon breach leads to more than just phishing – Phishing is not the only type of attack that can be mounted against them. Websense researchers have recently spotted a web page spoofing the Epsilon official website, i.e. the page with the press release regarding the breach. In order to check if his information was stolen, the user is urged to download and install a Trojan dropper disguised as an “Epsilon Secure Connect Tool.”

Company News:

IT Management: Microsoft Windows InTune Keeps PCs Updated, Secure – Microsoft Windows InTune subscription service for managing PC systems keeps end user systems (not servers) updated and secure without the need for the on premise infrastructure usually associated with this type of task. Administrators use a web console accessed from the Internet to keep tabs on client desktop and laptop installed software, updates and endpoint security. Here I show you what the daily operations look like while running this first generation offering from Microsoft.

Nimbula Launches Cloud Operating System – Nimbula has released Nimbula Director, which is claims brings an “Amazon EC2-like experience” to the enterprise cloud.

RIM’s BlackBerry Tablet Tested and Rated – When RIM pushes out the updates to make the BlackBerry PlayBook a better tablet for e-mail, video chat, and productivity, we’ll revisit its rating. For now, though, it’s outmatched by competitors with more versatile and complete feature sets.

Asure ID 7 released – HID Global released Asure ID 7, the latest update to its card personalization suite of software. Asure ID 7 includes new features and enhancements to the user interface, while still utilizing a Microsoft Ribbon look and feel that is built on the Microsoft .NET technology platform for stability and interoperability.

Off Topic (Sort of):

Netflix Kinect: Control Movies With Your Hands – If you’ve always wanted to watch movies by waving your hands around like a madman, today is your lucky day.

Report: Chinese Far Outstrip U.S. Cyber-Spy Fight for Military, Business Secrets – While most of the IT world was fretting over the break-in at Epsilon that probably netted some organized crime group a few million pre-confirmed email addresses, U.S. IT espionage specialists were finishing up a report showing the Epsilon hack is small potatoes compared to China.

Collected: In medicine, iPad today means a Mac tomorrow – Doctors in Mumbai this week used an iPod in knee surgery, yet more evidence of the growing popularity of Apple [AAPL] solutions across the medical field. The iPad is leading Apple’s resurgence in this new market, even as the latest IDC/Gartner figures confirm we’re at the beginning the Post PC age. (submitted by Michael F.)

Privacy ‘bill of rights’ exempts government agencies – So-called privacy bill of rights doesn’t regulate federal government’s data collection, require warrants for surveillance, or ensure data breach notification.

Today’s Quote:

“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read – President Can’t Swim.”

–    Lyndon B. Johnson

Today’s Free Downloads:

JetAudio 8.0.14 – JetAudio is integrated multimedia software made of a single compact rack. Not only does it play various music and video files, it also has features such as CD burning, recording, and conversion to other file formats.

Defraggler Portable – Quickly and simply defrag the files you want to, without having to process the whole drive. Simply run it, select the file and defragment in seconds. No more struggling with the Windows defragmentation tool!

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WordPress.com Hacked (Again)

Anytime a users email account, or web site gets hacked, it’s seemingly always the user’s fault – never the service provider’s fault. Or so we’re led to believe – full transparency is rarely a strong point of Internet service providers.

So, I’ll climb on the Kudos bandwagon, (with some reservations), and congratulate WordPress for coming clean on yesterday’s low-level server hack.

From WordPress –

Tough note to communicate today: Automattic had a low-level (root) break-in to several of our servers, and potentially anything on those servers could have been revealed.

Our investigation into this matter is ongoing and will take time to complete. As I said above, we’ve taken comprehensive steps to prevent an incident like this from occurring again.

It’s not my intent to castigate WordPress, but they don’t get away entirely free. Looking back to June of last year, following a hack in one of my Gmail accounts, I made the following points.

………………. I am certain of this – ANY website, or service, can be hacked.

What I find very annoying is, Gmail, WordPress, and others, simply refuse to acknowledge, that vulnerabilities exist in their systems – especially WordPress.

Listen up WordPress – if the Pentagon can be hacked, and it has been, frequently, then WordPress is definitely NOT invulnerable to hacking – despite your assurances to the contrary.

If you run a WordPress.com site, here’s Matt Mullenweg’s advice:

Based on what we’ve found, we don’t have any specific suggestions for our users beyond reiterating these security fundamentals:

• Use a strong password, meaning something random with numbers and punctuation.
• Use different passwords for different sites.
• If you have used the same password on different sites, switch it to something more secure.

I’ll throw in my own unvarnished advice: If you use the Internet, expect to be attacked – on all fronts.

In the past, when I’ve taken issue with WordPress (always based on their self declared invincibility to hacking), I’ve dealt with several reader comments which attempted to make the point that perhaps I was an ungrateful cur – after all, WordPress provides a free service. The reality is somewhat different.

My association with WordPress is the very definition of a symbiotic relationship – they provide the service free – I provide good content – they advertise based on my content – they make $$$$$$ – lots of $$$$$$.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – April 14, 2011

IE9 FAQ: how to install, uninstall, and tweak the final release – Microsoft released the final version of Internet Explorer 9 four weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been responding to a steady stream of questions from readers.

Quick Tip: Shrink the size used by Windows 7 System Restore – Jack Wallen shows you how to shrink the maximum size allowed for system restore, so you can get back space on a hard drive, when space is at a premium.

What Is the .NET Framework, and Why Do I Need It? – In a perfect world, you wouldn’t need .NET Framework. The makers of all your crucial applications would have the time and resources to fully patch together their applications into self-contained packages, because developing for Windows would be an intuitive, mostly high-level process that independent developers could nail down in fairly quick order. So nobody besides developers would need a package like .NET, which provides applications with an orderly way to access databases, web services, and other communication tools.

WordPress.com servers breached, source code presumed copied – Automattic – the web development corporation behind WordPress.com – has suffered a root break-in and a compromise of several of their servers.

Flock Folds – I’ve never been a fan of Flock, the ‘social’ web browser. Personally, I’ve long argued that Flock is little more than an overlay. At first Flock was an overlay of social add-ons to Firefox, then it moved to Chrome. Now it’s moving to the graveyard of bad ideas.

Breaking Dawn Attack: What You Need to Know to Avoid Getting Bit – A new attack is spreading its way across Facebook, targeting fans of the epic vampire series Twilight. The clickjacking scam demonstrates just how easy it is to spread malware socially–especially if the bait is a phenomenon like Twilight that has such a devoted fanbase.

Firewall Security Issue Raised in Report Angers Vendors – A test by NSS Labs that found firewalls from five vendors are subject in one way or another to remote exploit by hackers has ignited furious response from vendors Fortinet and SonicWall.

U.S. authorities hijack botnet by substituting C&C servers – The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI have been granted by the federal court the permission to substitute the C&C servers of the massive Coreflood botnet with servers of their own that will be sending out “kill” commands to the infected computers every time they reboot.

“Request rejected” spam campaign leads to fake AV – A spam email campaign carrying a malicious attachment designed to download and run a fake AV solution on the recipient’s computer is currently hitting inboxes around the world.

Company News:

 

Voxbone, Jajah Create Service That Localizes International Calling – Voxbone has collaborated with Jajah to develop a value-added telecommunications service that makes international calling simple and affordable. The International Favorites service, which Jajah provides for mobile customers of O2 in the United Kingdom, offers a subscriber a virtual overseas number so friends and family abroad can call at local rates. As part of the new service, Voxbone supplies an international “Call Me” number that directly reaches a customer’s mobile phone.

Flink: The safest way to share your personal life – real privacy for real relationships – Flink12 allows you to create individual groups of twelve people or Flinks for your friends, family, or coworkers. These Flinks allow you to communicate in a discreet way, sharing professional information with coworkers and personal information with friends and family. These groups of twelve are ideal for sharing different information for different types of relationships. Sign up for your free Flink12 account now!

The OPSWAT Certification Program Attracts Symantec, Norman, Kaspersky and Others – OPSWAT announced today that the OPSWAT Certification Program has been launched to replace the former OESIS OK program. With over 300 certified products from prominent security application vendors, OPSWAT Certification is the industry standard interoperability program, and best of all – it’s free.

Self-wiping hard drives from Toshiba – Toshiba announces a family of self-encrypting hard disk drives (HDDs) engineered to automatically invalidate protected data when connected to an unknown host.

Off Topic (Sort of):

 

They Don’t Want You…They Want Your Data – People may be at the center of the consumer social networking and enterprise social software phenomenon, but the current competitive environment is really about the behavioral data you bring with you.

Your boss could be a sociopath. No, really – An author says that as many as 4% of the population are conscienceless sociopaths and many of them are managers.

Federal ban on marijuana results in inefficient industry, report says – Marijuana is considered the nation’s largest cash crop, with an estimated production value of $40 billion annually. At that scale, energy savings are significant: California’s indoor cultivation alone results in a carbon emissions equivalent of putting an additional 1 million cars on the road for a year. It’s an interesting catch-22: if an industry is out of sight, can it really be regulated?

Five Big Problems With the New Privacy Bill of Rights – The new Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights aims to protect your privacy from evil data brokers. Unfortunately, it contains more wrongs than rights.

Today’s Quote:

 

“The chief lesson I have learned in a long life is that the only way to make a man trustworthy is to trust him; and the surest way to make him untrustworthy is to distrust him and show your distrust.”

–   Henry L. Stimson

Today’s Free Downloads:

 

Boxee – Just think…the video content of the Web on your big TV. I’ve seen only one system that’s free (as in both speech and beer) and doesn’t seem to restrict where you get content: Boxee. Boxee will play the music and movies you have on your own hard drive. But it will also play content from services like Netflix, YouTube, Shoutcast, Last.fm, Flickr, Picasa, CNN and lots more. It’ll pull in video podcasts and if you want a podcast Boxee doesn’t offer, you simply add the URL of the feed.

Flagfox – Flagfox is an extension that displays a flag icon indicating the current webserver’s physical location. Knowing where you’re connected to adds an extra layer of awareness to your browsing and can be useful to indicate the native languages and legal jurisdictions that may apply. Additional information can be obtained via a multitude of external lookups and users can add their own custom actions. All actions can be added to the flag icon’s context menu and set to icon click or keyboard shortcuts for quick access. (suggested by Michael F.)

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Government of Nigeria “tortures” 419 Scammers – If Only!

I’m not advocating the torture of cyber criminals and spam scam artists, although ….

This morning, when I received an email (ostensibly), from The Federal Government of Nigeria (The Advance Fee Fraud section), in which it was made clear that – “some scam Syndicates were apprehended in Lagos, Nigeria few days ago and after several interrogations and tortures, (my) details were among those mentioned by some of the scam Syndicates as one of the victims of their operations” , it momentarily entered my mind that torture might be an appropriate penalty. Especially for those involved in this latest “wolf in sheep’s clothing” scam.

I’ve covered the wolf in sheep’s clothing scam here a number of times, including

1051 Site Dr. Brea, CA – Not An Address You Want To Go To!

A Helpful Spam Scammer – A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

This particular spam scam is highly instructive, and it illustrates the lengths to which these crooks will go to entrap the unwary and gullible. Unfortunately, the description “unwary and gullible”, is easily applied to substantial numbers of Internet users.

As an experienced and cautious Internet user, it’s safe to say that you will not be deceived by this type of clumsy attempt to defraud but, you might be surprised how often reasonably intelligent people are. So, be kind to your friends, relatives, and associates, particularly those who are new Internet users, and let them know that there is an epidemic of this types of scam on the Internet. In doing so, you help raise the level of protection for all of us.

For reference, I’ve included the full text of this “torturous” email, which contains the usual spelling, grammar, punctuation, and layout errors.

EFCC FRAUD UNIT

Attention,
The Federal Government of Nigeria through provisions in Section 419 of the
Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish
offenders.The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance
fee fraud(commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretence through
different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, credit card scam,
inheritance scam, job scam, loan scam, lottery scam, “wash wash” scam (money
washing scam), marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious
scam. It also investigates cyber crime cases.
This is to officially announce to you that some scam Syndicates were
apprehended in Lagos, Nigeria few days ago and after several interrogations
and tortures your details were among those mentioned by some of the scam
Syndicates as one of the victims of their operations.
After proper investigations and research at Western Union Money Transfer and
Money Gram office to know if you have truly sent money to the scam
Syndicates through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, your name was
found in Western Union Money Transfer database amongst those that have sent
money through Western Union Money Transfer to Nigeria and this proves that
you have truly been swindled by those unscrupulous persons by sending money
to them in the course of getting one fund or the other that is not real,
right now we are working hand in hand with Western Union and Interpol to
track every fraudsters down, do not respond to their e-mails, letters and
phone calls any longer they are scammers and you should be very careful to
avoid being a victim to fraudsters any longer because they have nothing to
offer you but to rip-off what you have worked hard to earn.
In this regard a meeting was held between the Board of Directors of The
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our
investigations it was agreed that the sum of Two hundred thousand US Dollars
(US$200,000) should be transferred to you out of the funds that Federal
Government of Nigeria has set aside as a compensation to everyone who have
by one way or the other sent money to fraudsters in Nigeria.
We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location
EMS Post office Lagos, Nigeria. We have submitted your details to them so
that your fund can be transferred to you.
Contact the Western Union agent office through the email address stated
below inform them about this notification letter and the transfer of your
fund;
Email:wu_payingdept@qatar.io
Yours sincerely,
Sarah White (Miss)
Assistant Investigation Officer.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
15A Awolowo Road, Ikoyi, Lagos.
Nigeria
http://www.efccnigeria.org
******************************************************************

Please note that some fraudsters are claiming to be Directors or staff of
The Ecomomic and Financial Crimes Commission have recently been sending
phony e-mails/letters and also calling unsuspecting persons, with intent to
defraud them. It is important to note that these fraudsters are criminals
engaged in Advanced Fee Fraud known in Nigeria as 419. Every day, people
throughout the world are falling victim to scams of one kind or another. But
remember – if it sounds too good to be true, it is probably a scam. In the
circumstance, we unreservedly advice you to dissociate yourselve from all
correspondence and transactions entered into based on evidently fraudulent
and fictitious claims.
********************************************************************

“This e-Mail may contain proprietary and confidential information and is sent for the
intended recipient(s) only. If, by an addressing or transmission error, this mail has been
misdirected to you, you are requested to delete this mail immediately. You are also
hereby notified that any use, any form of reproduction, dissemination, copying,
disclosure, modification, distribution and/or publication of this e-mail message, contents
or its attachment(s), other than by its intended recipient(s), is strictly prohibited. Any
opinions expressed in this email are those of the individual and not necessarily of the
organization. Before opening attachment(s), please scan for viruses.”
All business handled under Standard Trading Conditions. Copy available on request.
********************************************************************

Just to be clear, as a strong supporter of Amnesty International, any references I made to torture were for effect, only.

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Pointing Magnifier and Angle Mouse – Mouse Apps For Older Computer Users

An exploding aging population is a reality previous generations had little or no experience with – but not so now.

Those of us who “fit” into the aging population paradigm, are increasingly aware that motor skills may not be quite as sharp as they once were. For some, this can be quite noticeable when manipulating a computer pointing device – accuracy may be an issue.

Regular reader Michael F., has passed on his recommendations for two free Mouse applications – one of which (Angle Mouse) has been expressly designed to assist with movement accuracy. The other (Pointing Magnifier), is an assistive application which can be used selectively, to enlarge screen content.

Pointing Magnifier – from the site:

The Pointing Magnifier is a two-stage pointing technique. During the first stage the user controls an area cursor of arbitrary size depending on the pointing accuracy of the user. To interact with a target, the user places the area cursor over that target and activates it by clicking any mouse button. This causes everything under the circular cursor to be magnified, and the cursor is pinned in place.

While magnified, the user controls a standard mouse pointer inside the magnified area. Upon performing an action (e.g., clicking, dragging) in magnified space, the pointer’s location is transposed so that the interaction occurs at the correct position in unmagnified space. After the user performs an action, the Pointing Magnifier returns to its original size and the user resumes control of the area cursor.

Setup is uncomplicated, but I suggest that you consider the available options carefully. You may need to experiment to find your optimal settings.

An awareness of the keyboard shortcuts is important, otherwise you run the risk of a frustrating experience.

Two times magnification illustrated – I found the default (4 x magnification),  too large for my needs.

If you, or someone you know, find reading enlarged screen content more comfortable, then this application is worth considering.

Download at: University of Washington

Angle Mouse – from the site:

The Angle Mouse is a pointing facilitation technique that runs quietly in the background and improves the efficiency and ease of mouse pointing, especially for people with motor impairments.

The Angle Mouse is a target-agnostic pointing facilitation technique that works by continually adjusting the control-display (C-D) gain based on how coherent (straight) or divergent (angular) the mouse movement is.

When the mouse moves straight, the gain is kept high, but when the mouse corrects abruptly, often near targets, the gain is dropped, making targets bigger in motor-space.

The application is highly configurable, as the following screen capture illustrates.

Download at: University of Washington

As always Michael, I very much appreciate your contribution.

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Tech Thoughts Daily Net News – April 13, 2011

Six Windows 7 Nightmares (and How to Fix Them) – Here are ways out of six common Windows 7 disasters. I’ll tell you how to fix a PC that won’t boot, retrieve files from an inaccessible hard drive, stop frequent Blue Screens of Death, restore a forgotten administrator password, remove malware, and find a missing file.

Microsoft launches first preview build of IE 10 – Just like it did a year ago, Microsoft is using its Mix designer/developer show in Las Vegas this week to launch the first preview build of the next version of Internet Explorer (IE), IE 10. On April 12, Microsoft made available a developer preview of IE 10. It is available on the IE Test Drive site. Microsoft officials said to expect the company to offer new builds every 12 weeks. (With IE 9, it was every eight weeks.)

Seven Free Security Tools for Linux – One of the big advantages of using Linux is that its security tends to be so much better than that of the competing alternatives. That’s due in large part to the way Linux assigns permissions, but it’s also certainly true that the open source operating system is targeted by malware writers far less frequently than Windows is, in particular, simply because it’s less widely used and so much more diverse. The fact remains, however, that no operating system is perfectly secure.

Turbo-charged Opera 11 debuts – The latest stable version of Opera 11 debuted with a Turbo that’s four times faster, an expanded Speed Dial and some plug-in tweaks.

Dropbox: Insecure by Design? – Security researcher Derek Newton has discovered that authentication relies on a single, unchanging hash code that identifies the computer–that is, a steam of hexadecimal characters. Anybody who uncovers this hash, which is stored as plain text on the user’s hard disk, can sync a user’s Dropbox files on any computer, without a username or password prompt appearing. The user will be unaware of this third-party access, unless they check online to see what computers are accessing their account.

Independent Lab Tests Find Firewalls Fall Down on the Job – What the company found would likely startle any existing or potential customers: three of the six firewalls failed to stay operational when subjected to stability tests, five out of six didn’t handle what is known as the “Sneak ACK attack,” that would enable attackers to side-step the firewall itself. Finally, according to NSS Labs, the performance claims presented in the vendor datasheets “are generally grossly overstated.”

10 Must-Have Utilities for Small Networks – If you have a small network at your business or home, you need help, and lots of it. We’ve got that help for you. These ten downloads–some free – will make it much easier to manage your small network.

Personal info of 3.5 million Texans was accessible to public – The records of about three and a half million Texans were erroneously placed on the server with personally identifying information, and the Texas Comptroller’s office is sending letters beginning Wednesday, April 13, to notify them that their personal information was inadvertently disclosed on an agency server that was accessible to the public.

The Best Software for Learning a Language – Languages can be barriers to doing business in the global economy. Fortunately, though, there are plenty of language-learning apps that can bring down those walls. In this roundup, we locate the very best options, suitable for different needs and learning styles.

Company News:

 

HD video security on the iPad – To help you keep tabs on your home or office anytime, anywhere, Logitech introduced the Logitech Alert app for iPad which makes it easy to access your Logitech Alert digital video security system.

McAfee enhances its Network Security Platform – Together, McAfee and Reflex Systems will offer integrated virtual and physical security and management that enables customers to holistically monitor and understand security issues, easily apply best practices, and provide comprehensive reporting for compliance purposes across the current and next-generation data center infrastructure.

BlackBerry Launches Conferencing App For Enterprise Users – BlackBerry maker Research In Motion took a break from chasing consumer Apple iPhone and iPad sales to do what it does best: Ease the ills of enterprise workers. In its BlackBerry Beta Zone April 8, RIM introduced BlackBerry Mobile Conferencing, a free application that simplifies setting up, accepting and participating in conference calls.

ESET NOD32 Antivirus for Linux 4 released – includes ESET Remote Administrator, which provides IT administrators with a management console to control an entire network from a single screen — supporting tens or thousands of heterogeneous computers.

Off Topic (Sort of):

 

Mind-Boggling Photo Manipulations by Erik Johansson – While most people try to hide when they use Photoshop to brush up their pictures, here’s a young digital artist who quite obviously distorts images but does it so cleverly that we almost start believing in the amazing illusions he creates. Meet Erik Johansson, 24-year old computer engineering student from Sweden who’s believably warping reality. (suggested by an email from my buddy Mike Cranley)

US Police Increasingly Peeping at E-mail, Instant Messages – Law enforcement organizations are making tens of thousands of requests for private electronic information from companies such as Sprint, Facebook and AOL.

Man Claiming Facebook Ownership Unveils Alleged Zuckerberg Emails – A man claiming 84 percent ownership of Facebook has filed an amended complaint that contains what he says are emails from Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, admitting to the ownership deal.

Fear of death leads to rejection of evolution: study – Thoughts of death, more than age or religion, turn people away from evolution and toward the theory of intelligent design, a Canadian study reveals. Five separate tests examined the reactions from people with a wide range of backgrounds. The single most persuasive reason to grasp onto intelligent design was contemplating mortality.

Today’s Quote:

 

“The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.”

–    Albert Einstein

Today’s Free Downloads:

 

VLC – For several years, the free, third-party media player of choice for many video connoisseurs was the open-source VLC media player. That is still true, but this new version adds a pile of useful features.

Internet Explorer 10.0 Platform Preview – IE10 Platform Preview 1, available for download today is the first step in delivering the next wave of progress in native HTML5 support. Web sites and HTML5 run best when they run natively, on a browser optimized for the operating system on your device.

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