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Computer Security Basics

Filed Under: General by andrew — Leave a comment
August 23, 2011

I thought I’d publish a brief post of some Computer Security Basics.  While I’m no security expert I can share some of what I think to keep things safe for myself:

  1. Keep your computer up to date.  If Windows wants to install and update – do it. If a software package – such as Abode Flash/PDF – wants to update do that let it.  Don’t put these off – get them done as what they are fixing is probably already be used by the bad guys.
  2. Know what security software you have – is it McAfffe, is it Microsoft Security Essentials?  Know what it is and be sure it’s also up to date.  Some of the most evil threats lately are programs that look exactly like an security (anti-virus, anti-spam, anti-spyware) program – and trick you into giving them money.  I had to basically restore a relative’s laptop back to how it came – as the malware that got on the machine prevent me from doing most anything and the relative didn’t know what was supposed to on the computer.
  3. If something just doesn’t look right it probably isn’t.  This applies to both e-mails, facebook messages, etc.  I’ve seen a lot of things on Facebook lately -where some malware posts on my or somebody’s wall – but it doesn’t seem right.  Ignore/Delete those.
  4. Be aware of your Facebook Security settings – as many of the defaults are set much more open than you would think.  In the upper left-hand corner click on Account – then Privacy and/or Account Settings.
  5. If you are doing something sensitive – like banking, e-mail, etc. – then be sure you’re on a security page – look for the lock!
  6. If you have a Wi-Fi network at home set a password and don’t use WEP.  If you don’t have a password set then you’re network is open to the world.  Also – if you’re in a public place with free Wi-Fi with no password then be very careful what you do as unless it’s on a secure page it’s open to anyone else on that network.
  7. Don’t use the same password on all the sites you visit.  If one of those sites is compromised then you are at risk that you’re compromised on all of your sites.  My best recommendation is to something like LastPass – something that helps you generate unique passwords and keep track of them.  I use it an love it!
  8. If you’re unsure of something then ask and/or research it.  I still find myself having to research items to determine if they are safe or not.
  9. If you have a laptop or smartphone set a password on it.  If you travel a lot with your laptop then you should consider encrypting the drive so if it’s lost or stolen your data isn’t also lost or stolen.
  10. If you see a link in an e-mail either copy the address out or hover over it to make sure it’s what you think – i.e. if it’s supposed to take you to abc.com make sure it shows abc.com, not qef.com.
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Goodbye Palm

Filed Under: General by andrew — Leave a comment
August 6, 2011

This is my farewell post to Palm – as I finally have entered the Android world with my purchase of an Evo 4G.  My latest palm phone was a Palm Pre – using Palm’s new WebOS.  Frankly the WebOS was a fascinating OS with some features that I still miss (the notifications and the card motif are wonderful).  The poor hardware and the lack of apps was what pushed me over the edge into the Android world – from a very long history with Palm based products.  I was on Sprint -with the original Palm Pre – that was very slow and the screen was behind the times.   I had the phone repaired once and on the day I bought my EVO the speaker broke again (tried to call someone and I couldn’t hear anything).  The final nail in the coffin was that the promised os upgrade (with flash support) wasn’t coming and Sprint wasn’t offering the new devices.

My history with Palm devices goes way back – well before they had anything to do with a phone – when they were just a PDA.  I remember watching the Palm devices with envy – desiring the concept of getting organized.  I believe my first Palm device was actually a Handspring Visor Deluxe (in my favorite color of blue).   Handspring was a competitor to the original Palm company – at the time owned by 3com (anyone remember U.S. Robotics - a modem company who bought the original Palm?).  The Handspring devices had an expansion slot at the top of their devices where you could add items like cameras, gps – even a phone.  I remember getting this device with joy – as it provided you the ability to have a digital calendar (the Handspring Calendar is still one of the best I’ve had – Google Calendar is still lacking things), notes, etc.  What was innovative in general about the Palm devices was the Graffiti entry system.  You used a stylus (as I write this it sounds so last century) to write characters in an area at the bottom of the screen.  I remember liking it as it would turn my scribbles into actual words (which the pen doesn’t do as well).  Therefore you could “write” out your calendar entries, enter to-dos, take notes, etc. without a keyboard.

That was my first “Palm” device – which I paid about $200 for back in 2001 (about 10 years ago which tells you how fast technology moves).   I actually tried to use it as a phone back then – using a phone module and a “Voicestream” wireless plan (the plan allowed only 60 minutes a month).  In July of 2002 I upgraded to a Visor Edge (for about $150).  This was a thin, metallic PDA with a later version of the operating system.  I managed to make it just over a year before upgrading which I now realize mirrors how often I upgrade technology (and empty my bank account).  This model also had an internal battery instead of using a bunch of AAA batteries.  Of course back then the black and white screen and no connectivity meant that the battery lasted for days – instead of hours.  I also remember that one of the best features of the Palm was the backup and restore feature – so transferring from the Visor Deluxe to the Visor Edge was easy.  The default desktop software would backup your data, apps, etc. every time you synced it.  So if you upgraded devices or lost your data it was very easy to get everything back.

At some point I abandoned using the Visor as a phone and my family started using a sprint phone (yes – one phone for both my wife and I).  I remember that thing being this big, black brick – that even worked on “analog” networks (which practically nobody remembers anymore).  I think after that thing got run over both my wife and I got Sprint phones of our own (we we’re big spenders then – 2 phones).   But then my pent-up need to upgrade took over and I bought a Treo 180g and switched to T-mobile.  This was my first “smartphone” (actually one of the first smartphones ever).  It was an interesting phone – in that it had this flip-up “cover” that contained the speaker.  It was like most “Palms” – in that it had the Grafitti area, the buttons and especially the software.  One of the early compelling features of the original Palm OS was the apps – long before Apple’s app store I was buying/downloading apps for my Palm devices.  As I upgraded I was able to keep these apps, my calendar entries, etc.  I made it a total of 8 months between buying the Visor Edge and the Treo 180g.

The problem with that phone was that it wasn’t well built – the flip-up concept had an issue where the wires running to the speaker (the one you hear people on) would wear out.  Therefore I think (from looking at my e-mail history) that I ended up buying a few of these phones.  I also remember the Grafitti area ended also wearing out – from so much use.  I think therefore I ended up buying another version that had the keyboard – which in a way was the end of an era – as the “Grafitti” concept was one of the key features of the Palm OS.  The good thing was that along this journey I was able to upgrade/replace devices while keeping my data (Calendar, notes, etc.) and my applications.

I liked my phones but the T-mobile service wasn’t the best and my wife really wanted to go back to Sprint.  So my next device was a Palm Centro – a Palm branded phone for the Sprint network.  So in 2007 I again switched to another Palm Phone – this time with a color screen!  At that time the Palm Centro was not my first choice – as it was a lower end phone – vs. the higher end Treo lines.  It was truly a Palm – so my apps and data were again transferred to the new device.  The Centro actually had a pretty good keyboard on it for it’s size – very usable (using your thumbs).  The screen, while color, wasn’t too spectacular -as it was basically the same lower resolution screen – but in color.  This was when the Palm OS was really starting to show it’s age – not as advanced as some of the alternative phones.  Despite the fact it had a web browser and e-mail it did have good battery life – something I’ve missed.  It also had a great signal – so it worked very well as a phone (something that doesn’t seem as important now).  Overall it wasn’t a bad phone – just a bit behind the times.

So now we get to my last Palm Device – the Palm Pre.   In some ways this wasn’t a Palm Phone – as it wasn’t based on the Palm OS – but on Web OS. Originally I thought I could run my old apps on the phone – but found out later it required an emulator for more money (so I never moved them over).  At this point I switched to Gmail for my e-mail, contact, calendar, etc. (see this post on that journey) – one of the best choices I ever made – and worked wonderfully on the Pre.  I remember how much time I spend deleting e-mails from the Centro – on top of deleting them from the e-mail account itself.  The Palm Pre also had a good web browser (based on Webkit) that was a world of difference from the rudimentary one on the Centro.

In many ways the Palm Pre was a wonderful device – one I had a lot of hope in.  I think one of the best features was the “card” interaction.  You could every easily and intuitively switch from one app to another by flipping through the apps like a deck of cards.  If you wanted to close an app you flipped it away – just like a deck of cards.  The notifications in WebOS were also great – showing up at the bottom of the screen in any app you are in (unlike Android which shows then on the home screen).  For text messages that could be great – as you could see the message without the need to switch out of the app.

Ultimately for me I decided to move to Android as I was disappointed by both the hardware and the lack of apps.  I remember seeing over and over information about an app – but for iPhone and Android only.  I do believe that implementing WebOS on an tablet could be wonderful – provided the hardware is sufficient.  The lack of apps will still be an issue – as developers will only develop for so many devices (with Android and iPhone being the most dominant – with Blackberry and the new mobile Windows next).

Good Palm History Sites:

 

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Invite Dilbert to chat

Filed Under: Ramblings by andrew — Leave a comment
June 29, 2011

Apparently Google has added some social features to Gmail now.  I found it amusing how I could invite Dilbert to chat….

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Easier Secure Passwords

Filed Under: General by andrew — Leave a comment
June 24, 2011

The other day I was listening to Security Now – a security podcast with Leo Laporte (my old buddy from Tech TV) and Steve Gibson. Steve Gibson presented a fascinating technique on creating a secure – yet memorable password.  Many of us have heard by now a lot of the techniques for creating secure passwords:

  • lower and UPPERCASE letters
  • At least one number
  • At least one special character
  • Not actual words

Basically random gibberish is what they tell us to use.  Oh, and we should never use the same password on more than one site/application and don’t write them down.  So basically we’ve been told to do something no one of us are really good at.  While Lastpass is an excellent solution – you still have to have a password to use that.  So the challenge is to create a password that is safe, yet memorable.

Steve presented a fascinating idea – documented here:  https://www.grc.com/haystack.htm.  One of the basic points is that length is almost as important as using all the other rules we’ve been taught.  Basically those bad people (you know the guy in Russia smoking a cigarette in a dark room) have to use a brute force method to guess passwords.  Most of them have this big gigantic dictionary of words – all the words you could think of using in a password.  Our goal as users is to create a password that doesn’t have those dictionary words in it. So the traditional approach is to basically create some random gibberish that would never be cracked.

There’s an alternative – length.  A hacker doesn’t know how long your password is – they have to guess – and they’re likely to start small instead of large.  So Steve determined that adding a number of say, dashes, to a password, increases the strength of the password – but is far easier to remember.  Let’s try some examples ourselves:

  • Here’s a LastPass random password: U6^gEeL4zO
  • Here’s an alternative: ———-H0t——  (10 dashes, Uppercase H, Zero, lowercase t, 6 dashes)

I don’t know about you – but the 2nd one, while not simple, is far easier to remember….

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Windows 7 – Months Later – still impressed

Filed Under: Windows 7 by andrew — Leave a comment
May 24, 2011

The other day I had a moment where I realized how much I enjoyed using Windows 7 .  I remember how I was deeply skeptical of Windows Vista – but heard good things about Windows 7.  With my aging computers it was time to make the plunge and go ahead with Windows 7.  At that time it was a question of could I feel OK with using it: – is it reliable? – is it not too much trouble to support? – will my software work?  From what I had learned I felt confident about being able to move forward.

What I’m realizing now is how much I enjoy using Windows 7.  It’s reliable, fast and efficient.  Given how many tabs I have typically open in Chrome at the same time (along with other program) I appreciate the memory stability of Windows 7 64 bit (on XP I’m often watching the memory usage).  Of course this is on a new laptop – so it moves along quite well – courtesy of an i3 processor.

The parts I enjoy recently are:

  1. I like how the folders are organized now – with the “users” concept instead of just the old “My Documents” concept (in fact the physical folder location of C:\users\myname makes sense now).   I also love how it puts a breadcrumb trail along the top of a folder window.   I find this highly useful when navigating around – as I can click on what level back I want to go to (I’m a geek so I have to have hierarchies of folders!). [See first screenshot above]
  2. I like the visual effects for Windows 7 – not just because they are cool – but because they are useful.  I have an example to the right: if you hover over an item in the taskbar (which is very different than the old XP one) it shows you a preview.  In some cases this simply lets you know if the item is open – if not nothing shows up. But in the case of folders (see example to the right) it’s shows you both folders – with readable labels  - so you can click on the one you want.
  3. Frankly I really like the taskbar overall – as I have dropped in the items I use constantly into that task bar (the downside is that I sometimes accidentally open something).
  4. The other thing I find useful is how – for certain “pinned” items in the taskbar there are shortcuts to recently opened items.  I’ve noticed recently how useful this is – as it saves me from having to open Excel, then navigate to where I saved it (miss this on XP machines now).

So I find it interesting – how much I’m enjoying Windows 7 – not just technically but as a user.  My original focus was on if it would work – more on the negative than on the positive.  Today I can recommend not just from a technical focus – but as an enjoyable operating system to use.

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Site Redesign Part 4 – images and text

Filed Under: Web Development by andrew — Leave a comment
May 10, 2011

When presenting information to a user on a web page one or many photos makes a dramatic difference (in fact I always like to include one on a blog post – like this one).  The challenge I had in this iteration of my website was how to best present a series of photos related to some text on my “History with Trains” page.  I could have just embedded the images right into the text – but I wanted something that looked better.

Years ago when I building web pages there wouldn’t be many choices for this – today we have the opposite problem  - there are so many options.  On other web pages I have used a “lightbox” style approach – where the image expands in a smooth fashion from the thumbnail to the full-size image (for an example click on one of the room pictures toward the bottom of this page).  I could have done that – but I wanted to group the pictures together with a nice visual effect.

As part of learning Dreamweaver CS5 I’ve been playing around with the “Widget Browser”.  I found a “lightbox” widget and played around with this.  It gave me the interesting format – the filmstrip like effect on the right-side of the screen I’ve shown here.  It has nice effects like hovering, lightbox style expansion, and it even rotates through the pictures at their full size (I probably should have re-sized these pictures to fit the screen better – usually an 800 max width works best).  There are other “widgets” related to images – take a look one on this page – that again creates a visually pleasing effect.

The reality is you can find so many different options – such as on Dynamic Drive.  The best thing would be to search around and find one that works best for you – both in appearance and how easy it is to create/maintain.  For lots of images photo gallery software would be better – such as Gallery 3 – like I have implemented here.   This pretty much completes my short series of blog posts on building this new site.  Here are the previous posts:

 

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Craigslist fun

Filed Under: Ramblings by andrew — Leave a comment
April 5, 2011

Interesting experience selling some furniture on craigslist – got introduced to a new form of spam (the electronic kind – not the strange food-like substance in cans).  We’ve all had so much fun with all the spam in our e-mail box – those wonderfully useful messages about a Prince from Nigeria.  Now there’s a new and exciting form of spam – craigslist spam.  When I posted my add there were clear warnings about dealing local only – avoid scams – so that’s what I intended.  Then I got some inquiries – which I responded to quickly.  What was strange was that they were all from out of town people – which raised warning bells in my head.

After doing some research on the Internet I confirmed that these were probably bogus.  They involve someone wanting to buy the item for more than requested and have some kind of third party – like a shipping company involved.  They also just say “item” often – instead of the specific thing you are selling.  See below for a few examples – as I found them starting to become very similar.

The moral of the story is again keep your eyes open – be careful and check things out.  Fortunately I did get an inquiry from a real person who purchased my item – cash after they personally looked at the item.  So it can work – you just have to be careful.

Spam E-mails

Hello
Is it still available for sale and in good condition…………Am
interested and i want you to get back to me as soon as possible.

Thanks

Kelly….

Yes – it’s in good condition and still available…

Thanks for the prompt response and I will love to make an instant
purchase, so please do  withdraw the advert from Craig list, I don’t
mind adding an extra $50 for you to take the advert down from Craig
list so that I can be rest assured that am in hand of the item. I will
also like you to know that I will be paying via check, and it will be
over night payment due to the distance. You don’t need to bother your
self with the shipment OK; I will take care of that. So I will need
you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the
mailing of the check.

1. Your full name
2.Your mailing address be it residential or postal address
3.Your phone number.

**Once again, I will like you to know that you will not be responsible
for shipping

I will have my mover come over as soon as you have cashed the check**

 

Hi,
I will like to know if this item is still available,please reply me ASAP.
Thanks.

Thanks for getting back with me, I wont be able to come check out the item, because of the nature of my job, please I will like to make an instant purchase so I would appreciate it if you can withdraw the ad from Craigslist. I don’t mind adding an extra $20 for you to take the ad down from criagslist, I want to be rest assured the item will be retained. I will also like you to know that I will be paying via certified cashier check. It will be overnight payment due to the distance. I’ll take care of that. I will need you to provide me with the following information to facilitate the mailing of the check:-

1.Your full name.
2.Your mailing address [residential, no po box].
3.Your phone number.

I’m presently in Florida and currently on a business trip. I just want to purchase the item for my mother,i want it for her as a surprise birthday present as this day is around the corner. I would also like to pay asap and my sister’s mover will come pick it up but i hope that it is still in a very good condition? Have a splendid day

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Backup Success Story – found my music!

Filed Under: General by andrew — Leave a comment
March 24, 2011

For some time I’ve noticed that some of my MP3 files were missing – and I suspected iTunes was the culprit.  Therefore a few month ago I switched iTunes to an alternate role – using it only for my iPod. I therefore split off my “music” library from the one iTunes uses – so it can’t mess with it.

The problem was that I was missing some music – whole albums were missing.  So I was left with figuring out now how to get those back – as some of them weren’t from CDs – but were downloaded.  I looked at my online backup – but didn’t find them.  That was probably because they were deleted well before I noticed they were gone – so the online backups don’t go that far back.

So I was on to Plan B – my DVD backups.  I grabbed some from my safe deposit box (off-site) and brought them home.  After putting it off for a few weeks I copied them over and explored the backups.  The first set I tried wouldn’t copy off (probably a disk was bad).  But the 2nd set – ironically having a label of “before iTunes” worked.  I found quite a bit of my music that I hadn’t seen in a while and restored it to my disk.

So if you tell me I’m paranoid about backup you might be right.  But I’m also right – in that it worked for me – being able to get my music back!  This also demonstrates different types of backups – for the most part you want a current backup – mirror what it looks like right now.  But the other type of backup is point-in-time – which captures history. With that you can go find a file deleted a long time ago, an old version of a file, etc.  These are more expensive to do – as it takes me quite a lot of time and a full safe deposit box – but now I’m more convinced…

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Book Review: Viral Loop by Adam L. Penenberg

Filed Under: Book Reviews by andrew — Leave a comment
March 13, 2011

I read the book “Viral Loop” by Adam L. Penenberg a few weeks ago.  This is a book about a business model where the business grows almost by itself – without the typical investment needed.  As usual I don’t like to re-has the book but talk about what I’ve learned.  I’m not going to really talk about the viral concept – but the some thoughts on how this isn’t so new.

I think most business owners have known for a long time that the best marketing they have is their own customers.  Many business are grown on word of mouth – customer A likes business A – so they tell customer B about it – and they contact business A.  A customer knows the most about the business – and they have creditability as they are already doing business with them.  The more excited they are the more likely they are to tell somebody else about the business.

The other thought is that a good business meets the needs of it’s customers.  It grows well when it works – mainly for the customer – but also for the business itself.  I think Facebook is successful not just because it is well run – but because it meets a basic human need in a very effective way. If you can provide something for me that I need and want – I’m also going to tell others about it.   If I pay attention to my customers I’m more successful than when I don’t.

So when I think about the concept of “viral” growth –  a social networking driven business – these trends hold true.  They grow because I tell someone else about.  They grow because when I hear about it from a friend or colleague I become a customer because it meets a need.  What technology has done is facilitate the exchange of information – it’s far easier than it used to be.  You can tell a lot more people in a lot more ways than ever before (the smart companies make this easy).  The technology can also make the user experience far better – so it just makes sense to us to use it and recommend it.

So the learning points are the same as before – your customers are you best marketing source.  Treat them well, meet their needs and listen to them.  Build your business intelligently – watching for what works and what doesn’t.  Somehow that doesn’t sound too radical..

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Site Redesign Part 3 – Gallery 3 Customization Part 2

Filed Under: Web Development by andrew — Leave a comment
March 3, 2011

In my last post I discussed how I updated a Gallery 3 theme to have my custom background.  In this post I will discuss how I added a custom header and footer to my theme (to match the rest of my site).

Adding a customer header

Part of the uniqueness of most sites is the header- the logo, phrases, and often navigation.  So again the trick was to find where to put my custom header. I started with the “page.html.php” file:

<body <?= $theme->body_attributes() ?>>

<?= $theme->page_top() ?>

<div id="doc4" class="yui-t5 g-view">

<?= $theme->site_status() ?>

<div id="g-header" class="ui-helper-clearfix">

<div id="g-banner">

<? if ($header_text = module::get_var("gallery", "header_text")): ?>

<?= $header_text ?>

<? else: ?>

<a id="g-logo" class="g-left" href="<?= item::root()->url() ?>" title="<?= t("go back to the Gallery home")->for_html_attr() ?>">

<img width="107" height="48" alt="<?= t("Gallery logo: Your photos on your web site")->for_html_attr() ?>" src="<?= url::file("lib/images/logo.png") ?>" />

In looking at this file I know the custom header must be within the <div id=”doc4″> I identified before.  I decided I didn’t want to replace the existing header of the site – but put mine on top of the existing one (minus the logo).  The biggest challenge was again the image – how to find the right syntax for the image.  So I looked at how they originally set up the logo:

<img width="107" height="48" alt="<?= t("Gallery logo: Your photos on your web site")->for_html_attr() ?>" src="<?= url::file("lib/images/logo.png") ?>" />

The key to the image was how it was formatted – with a “file” reference instead of url.  The logo is not actually in the theme folder – but in a different folder off the root of the gallery 3 installation.  This is actually what gallery 3 produces from the above:

<img width="107" height="48" alt="Gallery logo: Your photos on your web site" src="/photos3/lib/images/logo.png" />

Therefore, given that my image is in the “/images” folder I formatted my image as follows:

<img width="81" height="100" align="left" alt="<?= t("Andrew Loves Trains")->for_html_attr() ?>" src="<?= url::file("../images/logo.jpg") ?>" />

The next part was simple – in that I copied the source code of my header from my normal template into the theme – inside the “<div id=”g-header” class=”ui-helper-clearfix”>” .  In order to format it the same I had to add my css in the “source.css” file – I basically added my own section:

/** Andrew's Unique Styles */
#andrew_header {
width: 100%;
height: 105px;
padding-top: 5px;
}

The correct coding for any links in the header is like follows: “<a href=”/index.html”>Home</a>”.  The remaining task was to add my custom footer.  Here is what the bottom of the “page-html.php” looks like:

<? if (module::get_var("gallery", "show_credits")): ?>
<ul id="g-credits" class="g-inline">
<?= $theme->credits() ?>
</ul>
<? endif ?>
</div>
</div>
<?= $theme->page_bottom() ?>
</body>
</html>

After some experimentation I determined that the best place to add the footer was after the “<?= $theme->page_bottom() ?>”.   Again the key is update the “screen.css” with any custom css – in  my case a custom image background. Here is what the updated footer looks like:

</div>
<div id="footer">
<div id="footer_text">
<p><a href="/index.html">Home</a> | <a href="/trains_history.html">My History with Trains</a> | <a href="/photos3">Photos</a> | <a href="/my_creations.html">My Creations</a>| <a href="/my_videos.html">My Videos</a> | <a href="/contact_me.html">Contact Me</a></p>
<p>Copyright @2010 - courtesy of <a href="http://www.andrewhelpme.com" target="_blank">Andrew, Help Me!</a> </p>
</div>
</div></div>
<?= $theme->page_bottom() ?>
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