My prior post was to alert you folks with cell phones and other mobile devices about a particular piece of software present on your devices. This is a bit of software installed on millions of phones and other devices that has access to a huge amount of user data. As developers hinted for months and which Mr. Eckhart eventually proved on camera, the software is aware of SMS content, secure web traffic, contacts, key presses, and more. All this, we have been asked to believe, ...
More than that, https strings (the only ‘real’ net security) are tracked as well. “Trevor Eckhart says he's uncovered a piece of spyware that monitors the phone's location even when location services are disabled, and which logs every keystroke. It ignores the 'Force stop' button and is nearly impossible to remove, he says.” – Emma Woollacott, TGDaily ( http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/59944-secret-key-logging-software-found-on-millions-of-phones ) Trevor Eckh...
According to researchers at Columbia University claim they've discovered a new class of computer security flaws that could impact millions of businesses, consumers, and even government agencies. You’ve got to know by now that printers have a hard disk and programming, as well as a record of everything you’ve used them for. Anything with programming is subject to “modification”. So, according to the Columbia researchers, printers can be remotely controlled by ...
I should start by saying that these measures being enacted in Britain are (at least in part) the result of the rioting seen there as a result of a police shooting. The ensuing rioting was propagated and orchestrated (according to the British authorities) via RIM’s Blackberry whose encryption gives virtual immunity to messages sent and received. The rioting was also propagated through the social networking sites, apparently. While the UK government maintains its stance that ...
Reinstalling Windows can be a real pain even if you have backups (but not if you have Acronis and a cloned image). Most people don't consider backing up their wireless network settings before they reinstall. I’d bet you’re among them. If you only have one or two networks you connect to, you probably don’t need this utility, but I like it and therefore saved it. That's where the (free) Wi-Fi Network Backup and Restore Manager comes in. This app saves all...
It never ceases to amaze me just how our rights are violated to make someone a profit every day. The newest twist (according to Sean Gallagher ) is by tracing your cellphone signal strength as you enter and walk around in a mall. This new method pioneered by Path Intelligence ( http://www.pathintelligence.com/ ) essentially turns your cellphone into a tracking cookie. What begs the question is however the simple fact that this cellphone data can be cross-indexed w...
True to form, the malware propagating thieves have struck again, and if you get an email from “official@itunes.apple.com ” (although that may vary), delete it without opening it. If you open it, you will be infected with a virus. Emails have the headline "iTunes Gift Certificate" and contains a text only message claiming that users can get $50 if they use an attached code when making an iTunes purchase. There are no links nor images. There is a file ...
When you consider how much damage can be done to you life by preventable account breaches.... The list of the twenty five worst passwords for 2011 was just published. SplashData, a password management app maker, compiled a list of the 25 worst passwords of 2011, based on millions of stolen passwords that were dumped online (after significant security breaches)( http://mashable.com/2011/11/17/worst-internet-passwords/ ). I know the folks here have better sense than to use the ones...
I was rather happy to read on this potentially tremendous source of savings for folks. Computers aren’t cheap… desktop, laptop, tablet… whatever. FXI (a Norwegian development company) has developed a USB 2 (USB 3 promised in the future) stick with Android 2.2 on it, but states Linux and Windows 8 should present no problems to it either, as well as faster processors for the unit in the future. It’s totally portable and should be able to turn any device into ...
Have you ever gotten one of these messages while trying to un-install a program (or clean out stubborn malware)? Cannot delete folder: It is being used by another person or program Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use Cannot delete file: Access is denied The file is in use by another program or user There has been a sharing violation ...
First, for folks concerned about the future of ‘Flash’, don’t be. While giving up development of ‘Flash’ for mobile devices, it will continue for lap- and desk tops. So, where’s Adobe going? Like Microsoft and Apple, to "The Cloud". Not entirely though. At least, not yet. First, thanks to Island Dog whose article here: http://www.theappnews.com/2011/11/16/adobe-changes-upgrade-pricing-for-creative-suite-6/ started me researching this ...
Last weekend we changed our clocks and the batteries in our smoke detectors (if you didn’t, do it now!) which made me think of other things that a person should have around… like a first aid kit, and an emergency duffel which you can grab and run (food, water, first aid, change of clothes, etc.). So then my eyes lighted on me computer…. and decided to get you moving to prepare for the worst. AVG has a really good set of tools available for that “Doomsday” s...
A recent post by RedneckDude ( https://forums.wincustomize.com/413409 ), to encourage and help artists from Community mindedness, gave me the idea for this post: Thanks, Jim. I remember when toolbars first came out. I naively thought, “What a helpful thing!”. They can be helpful, but they have a less altruistic side. I install and uninstall many apps in the course of my job here on WinCustomize. One of the things that I have to deal with regularly are browser toolbars and junk software...
Big news, and a big relief to Apple mobile device owners. Adobe has announced it will cease development of “Flash Player” for mobile devices. Adobe shares fell 11% with this news as it means devs will no longer be developing apps for Flash, and will focus on tools for HTML5 development. This will cause a 7% layoff at Adobe and decreased profits over the next year. The fight over HTML5 vs. Flash started when the late Steve Jobs refused to use Flash in Apple devices ...
Mozilla released Ff 8 today, seven weeks after their last version. So what’s new? Ff 8 features for the new browser releases (Win, Mac, Linux and mobile for Android) include Twitter search integration, on-demand tab group loading, and more WebGL graphics hardware acceleration support. Mozilla has added "support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS), which lets developers load WebGL textures from other domains in a secure way." according to them but Micr...