June 2012
1 post
5 tags
Passwords leaked - LinkedIn, eHarmony, Last.fm
Recently many password databases have been compromised and released publicly. LinkedIn, Last.fm, and eHarmony. If you are a user of any of these services your password may have been one of those leaked.
How do I tell if my account was compromised?
Lastpass, a service I recommend for password and account security, has put together a page for each of the breaches wherein you can submit your...
November 2011
3 posts
How to properly clean your monitor or HD TV
LCD screens are the standard now for both computer monitors and TVs. They look great, come in large sizes, are expensive, and fragile. The days of grabbing a bottle of windex and cleaning your 100 pound screen with anything you had handy are gone. If you try this with todays screens you will be left with a yellowed, foggy, and probably scratched monitor.
How do I safely clean my LCD?
The...
1 tag
Password Best Practices (part 2)
Problems to be solved regarding passwords
Passwords provide authentication, an answer to the question “Who are you?” We’ve covered selecting a password that is hard to crack, but there is a different problem to be solved today; passwords being used across multiple websites.
A single security breach often gives an attacker all of your passwords
When a site you have an...
Care and Maintenance of Batteries
Our modern lifestyle depends on batteries. They are in our phones, laptops, tablets, music players, and more technology coming in the future. Right now, the most common kind of battery is Lithium-ion, which often costs 10-50% of the price of the device it powers.
I’ve killed my fair share of Lithium-ion batteries over the years, done some research, tested anecdotally, and come up with...
October 2011
3 posts
1 tag
Sane Password Policies for Businesses
Most companies have password policies. It is a requirement in today’s world. They want to keep their systems and data safe and secure, and authentication through passwords brings accountability to their systems.
In reality, password policies in most businesses encourage behavior, such as sharing passwords or using unsafe passwords, that undermine what the policies were created to...
1 tag
Password best practices (part 1)
Why is this important?
With more and more of our personal information going into the “cloud” and one of the most common crimes being identity theft, account security is of the utmost importance. I’ll cover many different aspects of maintaining a secure presence online, but today am focusing on passwords.
Why is password security hard?
The human brain is not well equipped to...
1 tag
Podcasts for beginners
I would like to apologize for not posting much lately. I’ve been very busy with a redesign and branding of Red Nova Technologies.
Being so busy, one thing has been a lifesaver (or at least a sanity saver).
Many people keep music playing throughout their houses, cars, and offices to entertain them when they are doing something monotonous. What do you do when you think everything on the...
September 2011
4 posts
1 tag
Hacker Rattles Internet Security Circles -... →
These kinds of articles come out all the time and most of us ignore them. Often it’s because there isn’t much we can do in order to protect ourselves from things like this, or we don’t really know how.
Today, I’ll break down what the average computer user really needs to know about this hack, what it can do, and what they need to do about it.
For those who don’t...
1 tag
Change Your DNS Settings on iPhone, iPod Touch,... →
It is a good idea to use OpenDNS on your mobile device as it should filter out known malware domains. Remember your phone or tablet is a computer also and as such vulnerable to attack just as your PC is. This link describes how to do it on an iPad or iPhone.
2 tags
Adding Find my iPhone to your iPhone
iPhone users should certainly take advantage of the free Find my iPhone feature that apple provides for the latest generation devices (iPhone 4, any iPad, and the latest gen iPod Touch). Following is the lesson I put together for a client to help their end users set this up on their iPhones. I have the iPad version and one on how to use the service. If anyone needs those lessons, please,...
2 tags
August 2011
1 post
1 tag
Backup, Backup, Backup
If you’ve ever lost one priceless picture of your kids, had to recreate your entire family tree from scratch, or had to rewrite a term paper just before it’s due, then you already know the importance of what I’m talking about; backups. There are two kinds of people, those who’ve lost important data before, and those who will.
The most difficult part of this job is having...
July 2011
1 post
4 tags
Lion upgrade woes
I just did the lion upgrade on my iMac, making sure to do a good backup before taking the plunge as I figured I’d have to downgrade right away since I did absolutely no preparation work.
Overall the upgrade went well. I had to update LogMeIn Hamachi as it caused a kernel panic upon the first reboot. Seems fine after the update. The only real problem involved Address Book. First some background...
