“The best way to infect thousands of computers is to set up a malicious website. Better still, hack a popular website and insert malicious code. That way, thousands of website visitors will be affected when they visit the website. Badware is the name given to the malware present on websites – in the site code or in the malicious advertisements or malvertisements being displayed on the website.” – TWC It basically ignores your choice as to how your compu...
“This was one of the largest and oldest criminal hacker operations…using over 800 shell companies to steal information from government servers, banks, and large corporations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland…for over a decade (since 2002).”- TimesofIsrael CyberIntel and a UK partner were asked to investigate a security breach which a German company could not identify, because the Trojan used had not been identified by any antivirus software. The Trojan was unique i...
Lifehacker puts out good stuff quite often. Folks buy and sell their devices often enough that it’s worth noting three excellent articles about this topic. If you have additional suggestions, please add them! The first is…well the titled source: http://lifehacker.com/the-apps-you-need-to-deauthenticate-before-selling-your-1629748753 The second is your phone: http://lifehacker.com/5808280/what-should-i-do-with-my-phone-before-i-sell-it The third and arguab...
I wrote about CryptoLocker and the fix for it ( here , here and here ), and CryptoDefender . Well, I’m here to really make your (Labor) day. After CryptoDefender came Cryptowall for Mac (so you Apple guys wouldn’t feel left out of the joy), and CryptoWall (the baddy on about 600K computers. Oh…and now “TorrentLocker”. TorrentLocker is a truly deadly piece of malware infecting folks using BitTorrent. While there are ways of getting rid of the others, this one combines Cr...
I’d hazard a guess and say most everyday memories aren’t really linked to strong emotions…it’s hard to get really excited about the location of a pen or some such. Other memories are not quite so benign. I’m referring to those with strong emotion linked to them. Those can be good or destructive. Well, at MIT, neuroscientists have found (in mice) the neuronal circuit that is critical to linking memory with emotion. Furthermore, the researchers found that they could reverse the em...
The LS-15 can overheat and cause fires. So HP has issued a voluntary worldwide recall on 6 million of these power cords used on HP and Compaq computers (you can see the number on the female end of the cord) from 9/2010 – 6/2012. Not all HP and Compaq notebook and mini notebook PCs were sold with the LS-15. “There were 29 reports of cords overheating, melting and charring causing 2 claims of minor burns and 13 claims of minor property damage.” – c|net HP’s anno...
We all know that Microsoft no longer supports the XP OS (except for the IRS). So, patches for vulnerabilities aren’t coming and those with the OS are under rather severe risk of spyware, malware and other OS exploits when running the OS. It’s also true that running virtualizing software is the best protection of a computer on the net, and off it (when checking out new software). FastStone has created VirtualXP (1.0): “to convert XP system to a Microsoft virtual disk, w...
This article isn’t in chronological sequence. I wrote it more like a proof in Geometry if you will, so that the skeleton is built on to bring you to the final step (which hasn’t happened just yet). A 12 year old had a malignant bone tumor in his neck removed…and replaced with a stronger piece of plastic in a 5 hour highly complex procedure in a Beijing hospital last week (he also had his Carotid arteries and trachea replaced). He was the first to have a 3D printed vertebra repla...
Pretty much the sum total of human knowledge is on the internet, but no one promised you’d be able to find what you really want. So, I look for folks who collect useful links…for photographers, this is useful: 23 free and great books about photography…and the follow up with 23 more…total? Forty six free ebooks. There’s got to be something you can profit from here: http://www.lightstalking.com/23-free-photography-e-books http://www.lightstalking.com/23-more-eboo...
To tell the truth, I shuddered when I read this article. Why? Because correlation doesn’t determine dependency nor causality. Correlation can suggest a possible causal relationship, but great care must be exercised in the sampling, and in clear definitions. For some reason, ACT became synonymous with intelligence to the people who published these findings. ACT scores indicate memory, and the ability to take tests…but not purely intelligence. While it’s true tha...
It isn’t exactly as fully optioned as the original MS Office, but for most folks is just as good… There are some solid reasons to use it: It’s free, like LibreOffice or Google Docs. You can access your documents from anywhere. They’re all on OneDrive. You can save them to your machine too. Collaborate and share documents in real-time…just invite them. It even beats Office 365 this way. Easy cross platform compatibility…with anything that runs a b...
They’ve done it again. This time from Community Health Systems, Inc. What was stolen? Personal data including Social Security numbers and other personal data like weight and height. The health records are supposed to be safe. This appears to be the work of the same group which has stolen info from several major industries. The FBI is said to be investigating. So how could this affect you? Well, the loss of the Social Security number isn’t good. However, from the Healthcare indus...
The defective patches was at first just KB2982791 part of the MS14-045 Security Bulletin ( HERE ). You can read the known issues there. Then it turned out there were 3 more defective patches: Including KB 2970228 -- a non-security update applied to Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 systems. The other two problem patches, KB 2975719 and KB 2975331 were both applied to Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. So far, MS is recommending uninstalling the problem patches. The “Here’s how...
Was tardy with Po’s birthday wishes…not with yours, Mr. JcRabbit. Jorge, after seeing your car, I understand why the women of Europe all clamor for you! Then there’s the plus of knowing how to code…until they discover it’s just crappy handwriting. Wishing you the best of health and happiness between now and next birthday…then repeat, yearly. So have a good one and enjoy your special day!
One of the most annoying things tied into computer usage is the USB plug and socket…and trying to figure out which way is up. Some plugs have the USB symbol which helps, but now there’s a faster and “indifferent” plug and cable. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has finalized the USB Type-C specs which will define the next generation of USB connectors which is tailored to fit mobile device product designs, yet robust enough for laptops and tablets. “Int...