Technology Review: Corporations, agencies infiltrated by 'botnet'

This article on Technology Review paints a scary picture of the consequences of using computers in an insecure fashion. Almost all these malware infections could easily be avoided if Microsoft were to educate Windows users on proper security procedures, write code with security as the #1 concern and encourage security practices. For instance, Windows XP Home edition, is impossible to make secure as the Administrator account has no password, is hidden from the user and is not accessible to local users but is accessible from the internet. Microsoft also allows users accounts to be created without a password. On Windows XP, the default for new user accounts is being a member of the administrator group. Windows Vista and 7 has implemented a security feature that has been a part of Linux for many years - only one user created user account may be a member of the administrator group.

My experiences in getting openSUSE 11.2 (x_64) working on my Dell Inspiron 1501 (part 1)

My 64 bit Dell Inspiron 1501 has served me well for the past few years with very few minor issues once I got all the required drivers and necessary software installed. From the get go, I dumped Windows Vista and installed openSUSE Linux x_64. I started off with openSUSE 10.2 then migrated to oS 10.3. Like I said, it served me well.

7 Points Of Contact In The World Of Online Marketing ~ Web Developers

This article 7 Points Of Contact In The World Of Online Marketing is an interesting read. All businesses and self-employed persons that want to succeed needs to know and understand how online marketing works.

Financial Consumer Agency of Canada www.moneytools.ca

FCAC - Money Tools You may find this web site helpful if you are looking for a credit card, mortgage, best bank account to suit your needs or just want to manage your money better. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) is an agency of the Government of Canada.

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China says it shut down online academy for hackers

China says it shut down online academy for hackers - latimes.com

China says it shut down online academy for hackers

Report Details Hacks Targeting Google, Others

This article on Wired.com sheds more light on the Google hack attack. It also reveals that thousands of corporations and government agencies has been successfully breached. I, too, have been targeted since Christmas for some reason. In my case the hackers have been forging my Gmail address to spam me with phishing attacks (I guess this is called spear phishing). In all incidents the web addresses that supposedly selling Viagra at deep discounts without a prescription (in Canada it is sold by prescription only) is registered with a registrar in China called China Springboard. Another similarity in all the attacks on me is the fact the messages and web sites uses remote graphics hosted on Flickr.com that creates the impression the web site is a "Canadian Pharmacy" site.

Just an observation - seniors are more comfortable with Linux

Recently, an elderly friend called to say she forgot her password and wondered if I could help. It turns our her computer it over 12 years old - it has an Intel Celeron 400 MHz chip with 384 MB of RAM and running Windows 2000. I tried searching for instructions for resetting Administrator password as that was also set. All the search results involved buying software or using the original installation CD. To me, spending money for software that I will use only once on an old computer did not make sense and the original W2K installation CD is not available.

TR Editors' blog: Get Paid to Install Malware

In the Emerging Technologies Wednesday Update (02/03/2010) newsletter there is this article Get Paid to Install Malware that highlights the new techniques used bot.net administrators to gain control of more machines. These techniques explains why it is so difficult to identify the malware infections as well as the infections keep increasing.

Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures

In this article Microsoft looking into Windows 7 battery life failures we see Microsoft is still having issues with their latest operating system running on laptops/netbooks. Back in 2007 one of my friends bought a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista Home Premium. A few months I bought a Dell laptop with Windows Vista Home Basic. Because I could not get my new Dell laptop to communicate with my other computers on my home network, I reformatted the hard drive aand installed openSUSE Linux 10.3. It took me about a day to configure everything to work - networking with my other computers, printer on the Win XP/Linux box, 3D graphics card, sound and the power management system to provide the longest possible battery life - 4 hours. It would take about another month to get the wireless card working.