At the 2011 CES show, Motorola rolled out an amazing new product, perhaps the most groundbreaking since the iPhone. It’s called the Motorola Atrix. And it represents the future of computing.
Basically, the cellphone is the computer, and by using simply docking units, you can switch to using it as a desktop computer, a laptop or even a home entertainment system.
Check out the Engadget article and especially watch the full video demonstration. It really is amazing.
A new Firefox browser plugin released in late October 2010 is having a chilling effect on public WIFI surfing on the Internet. The plugin allows anyone to simply use their web browser to discover and hijack access to many of the most popular websites while surfing on a public, open (unsecured) WIFI network. In simple terms, this means if you surf the web from a local coffee shop or public library using unsecured WIFI (no password needed), then other users at that location can very easily gain full access to your web accounts like Facebook, Twitter and even Amazon. While this type of hack was possible in the past, it required a fair amount of technical prowess and specialized tools. Now it is as easy as installing this freely available plugin — This really is a game changer for public WIFI web surfing!
Anyone using a computer (or ipod, cellphone, etc.) to access an open WIFI network. All types of computers, all types of operating systems, are vulnerable to this attack as it occurs at a network level. Again, an open network is one that is not locked (does not require a password). Most public WIFI, like the kind at coffee shops, public libraries and even hotels, are open and unsecured!
If you using computers at the public library that are not connected wirelessly (i.e. they use an ethernet cable), those are generally safe. Surfing from your cellphone should be fine, as long as you are using the cellular network and not connected to a WIFI network. If the WIFI network you connected to is locked (requires a password to make the network connection), then your surfing is safe.
More Info:
Video explaining more details on this plug-in and showing how simple it is to use.
One of the quick ways of detecting many types of spyware/virus infections is using a diagnostic tool called HijackThis. Here are the steps for collecting a HijackThis report and sending it in to us.
That’s all there is to it.
We’ll analyze the report and let you know if your system appears to be infected.
There are an increasing number of ways you can get malware (spyware, virus, etc) on your system. Here is a basic summary of the types:
Most good antivirus programs can prevent most of these attacks, as long as the software is kept up-to-date with the latest program updates. And most quality email providers automatically scan your email to check for most types of virus.
Think you might have been infected? Read our article on Spyware/Virus Detection, or simply Contact Us to arrange a full system scan.
One of the more insidious malware attacks in recent months as been an attack that disguises itself as an antivirus program. It appears on your system as ‘XP Antivirus’, which is not a real product. It then usually flashes up a fake virus detection notice such as this:
And then tries to get you to purchase the software or updates, thus providing your credit card details to some rogue organization. In addition, the virus usually embeds itself deeply into your system software, making it difficult to remove. It may also monitor keystrokes and steal other personal data.
If you start encountering antivirus warnings from a program you are not familar with, you should have your system checked immediately.
You can also do a cursory check of your system following the steps outlined in our Support article: Spyware/Virus Detection.
Web hosting is analogous to leasing a building for your business. A web hosting service is the place that houses your web site, all of the web pages and data, and serves it up to your visitors. The domain name is a basically your address and phone number rolled into one. You can switch to different web hosting companies while still retaining the same domain name, and most of the time, your web visitors will never notice who your web hosting service even is. However, a poor web hosting service is like a bad office building — if the roof leaks, or the web servers can’t handle the traffic loads, it reflects poorly on you.
When selecting a web hosting company, its important to know what some of your web site requirements will be. You’ll need a basic understanding of the architecture of your web site design along with a rough estimate on the storage space required.
You’ll usually be faced with an array of packages, generally based on the amount of traffic and data you’ll be hosting. Some of the key terms:
A good web hosting company will accommodate your growth, letting you start at one package and upgrade to a larger package as your web needs change. And there may be price breaks based on duration of service (discounts on one year versus month-to-month).
Costs
As of spring 2008, costs ranged from as cheap as $25 per year for a very tiny web site, to $60 per month for some of the higher end set ups. In general, a smaller company should expect to pay around $120 per year.
Kicking the tires on a web hosting company isn’t easy. We basically do a lot of research on new web hosting companies, looking at ratings and reading reviews from current and former customers. The key pieces for us:
Advanced Considerations
E-Commerce: If you’re planning on selling products via the Internet, then you’ll need to delve into the world of e-commerce. This includes topics like payment gateways, merchant accounts, SSL certificates and static IP addresses.
TechApt can assist you in the full process, helping you select the right plan for your needs and setting up or migrating your web site — Contact Us today.
Your domain name is identity on the Internet. It’s your street address and phone number rolled into one.
You’ll need to pick a clear and concise name that represents your organization. Try to keep it short, but avoid using mnemonics, punctuation or shorthand that will make it hard for visitors to remember your site name.
You’ll also need to decide on the type of domain extension: .com, .net. and .org are the most common, but newer extensions like .biz and .info and .us are becoming popular backups. In almost all cases, .com is still the preferred extension and by far the most common. Some organizations (generally a non-profit) will choose .org, and when the .com just isn’t available and you really want the name, .net has been a reasonable alternative.
Once you’ve determined a name, you’ll need to check if it is available. Most domain registry services provide the tools to check on availability (and frequently offer suggestions on alternatives). And you can use a whois lookup service like InterNic. If the whois service doesn’t find any matches for your domain name, then you should be able to register it.
After you’ve found an available name, you can finally register it. This involves registering your organization as the owner and paying a fee. You’ll need to register with an ICANN approved domain registrar. Comparing the registrars can be quite confusing, as they all set their own prices and frequently offer many additional services. Be wary of low cost initial registrations as they may charge substantially higher prices on renewal and dig into the company reputation if you are unfamiliar with them.
Costs
A one year subscription for a .com domain runs $15-$30 annually. Most other extensions may run a little cheaper.
Expiration and Renewal
Make clear notes on the company you’ve registered your domain name with, and when the domain registration will expire. There are some companies that will attempt to scam you into a bogus renewal.
Once settled into a domain name, you might consider renewing the domain name for a multi-year contract to avoid the hassles of renewal and possible rising costs.
If your domain name does expire, you may need to fight to get it back again, so pay close attention to the renewal dates. Once your domain name has expired, it becomes up for grabs, and in most cases, will be captured by some firm purely for the purpose of reselling it or holding it ransom if you ever want it back (sometimes referred to as ‘cybersquatting’). Basically never allow your domain registration to expire unless you are absolutely sure you’ll never use it again.
The simple act of registering the domain doesn’t mean it will go anywhere. It’s like a phone number that has been disconnected: You can type it in, but it won’t connect you. Now if you’re just holding the domain for some future use, then that’s fine — you are basically parking it.
When your ready to have the domain setup to show a web site or provide email addresses, you’ll need to point that domain at a set of nameservers. A nameserver maps a domain name to a specific IP address where the hosting computer resides. Your web/email hosting service will provide you with a set of nameservers. Usually you can login into your domain registrar and update the nameserver entries yourself. Once you’ve mapped your domain name to a web host, it will take up to 2-3 days for all computers to recognize the new mapping (although the vast majority will recognize the mapping within a few hours).
While some web hosting services offer easy or cheap domain registrations, we generally recommend that you register your own domains. This ensures you have full ownership over the domain and control over the renewal process.
Some of the firms we can recommend…
Dotster – We’ve been using Dotster for over five years now. They are a decent middle-of-the-road registrar. They tend to send out a lot of reminders about renewals, usually months in advance.
At TechApt, we can handle the complete process of registering and updating your domain — just Contact Us.
Your computer is acting “strange”, seems to be running really slow, or you’re getting popups and/or messages about viruses? Then it’s time to scan the system for possible malware (spyware/viruses, etc).
Professional software packages like Nortons or McAfee should usually do the trick in detecting infections, but you need to make sure the virus definitions are up-to-date. Even so, it is possible for even the best software to miss some infections, especially if it is a new variant.
Online Scanners
The simplest way to quickly check for an infection is to use run a virus scan. There are a couple of online scanners for checking your system. These operate through your web browser:
Kaspersky Virus Scan – Kaspersky seems to do the best job at detecting most infections. Requires Java, which most browsers already have installed.
Panda ActiveScan – Requires a special plug-in download the first time you use it.
Generally, you want the program to scan your entire disk. Most infections will be located either in your Windows directory, reside in the cache for your web browser, or as an email attachment. The full scan will take a while to complete — anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours.
These online scanners will only detect infections, they will NOT fix the problems. Make sure you save any report or write down the details from the report if any infections are found.
Collecting a Hijackthis Report
A faster method for checking for an active infection (something currently running on your system) is to use a tool called HijackThis. While the tool can be used to fix some infectionss, you generally only want to use it to collect a report.
As of this writing, HijackThis was being offered by TrendMicro (TrendSecure). Link to download page. In general, you can just download the executable and run that without having to actually install it.
Run the program and select the option to ‘Do a system scan and save a log file’. It scans all your active programs and system configuration, then provides you with a text report (usually in Notepad). Save that report.
You can take things one step further and analyze your log online. Here is one site that will analyze the results. It usually flags obvious malware, but can also mark a lot of programs as unknown or even false positives.
No Tools Checkup
If you don’t have the time to run an online scan or the HijackThis software, you can still do an examination. This may require more effort on your part, but sometimes its the fastest way to make a quick check.
Bring up the Task Manager and look at the process list. The easiest way to start up the Task Manager is to hold down the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys. Once the Windows Task Manager dialog appears, click on the ‘Processes’ tab and make sure the ‘Show processes from all users’ is checked. This tool shows you all the currently running processes on your system. Almost all of them have to do with the operating system and utilities running on your system. You’ll need to examine each process by name. Usually you can ignore these as part of the operating system:
Look up any unknown entries using Google or try this web site: ProcessLibrary.com
While this quick check may turn up some suspicious entries, do not use it as a way to claim your system is clean. Some malware can actually hide under one of the legitmate process names (like lsass.exe). A full system scan is still the best diagnostic. And many types of malware actually generated randomly named files, making it impossible to search by name.
We provided comprehensive malware scanning and removal — Contact Us when you need help with diagnosis or removal.