PC Info Tech Blog

An easy solution to password organization

2011-08-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

I remember starting out with a Word Doc that contained all my passwords. Then I switched to a text file because it was faster. When Roboform came out, I spent several years with it. Roboform was great, except that it was tied to one computer and was a pain to update to a new version.

While watching a version of Leo Laporte's Tech show, I heard them talking about Last Pass, which is a free / paid service for storing / organizing your passwords. Last Pass stores your passwords via an add-on to your internet browser. Yes, they are a cloud service that stores your information on their servers. Am I worried about that? Nope. I'll touch on that below.

With Last Pass, you should start using long secure passwords again. Don't worry about remembering what the password is, thats what Last Pass is for. When you visit a website that you've previously saved a password for, Last Pass will fill it in for you. Or if necessary, will offer to save the password for you, for later use.

Last Pass imported my Roboform passwords easily. Now, the only password that I have to remember is the one to log into Last Pass.

The paid version of Last Pass allows you to access your passwords from mobile devices too.

So, if you're worried about security, (like me); I've decided that I'll place my confidence with Last Pass.

The chances of a security breach are far more likekly on my personal computer than with a security heavy Internet-based service.

The convenience and stronger password usage, makes me productive and more secure.

Dan Briddle
dan@pcinformation.com
PC Information Tech Services
www.pcinformation.com

Preparing For IPv6 - Thoughts

2011-03-05T19:06:00.001-07:00

Have you seen the publicity: "We're Running Out Of Internet Addresses" ?

Most national news outlets have ran the story since the start of the year.

I wanted share a bit of information on this topic:

The Internet's addressing scheme (called IP addresses) is currently on Version 4, however since the explosion of network connected devices, the supply of available address is running short.

Several years ago, a replacement addressing method was built and is now ready for implementation. You'll see this new plan referred to as Version 6 ( IPv6 ).

In comparison, here's the number of possible addresses for each method:

IPv4 Possible Addresses:
4,294,967,296
IPv6 Possible Addresses:
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456
(in case your wondering, thats over 340 undecillion)

Once IPv6 is implemented, it will be a very long time before we use them all.

So, why am I telling you this?

Well, this is kind of like the Y2K scare, it has the possibility of a major impact on your business. There's not much you need to do now, except be aware that IPv6 is going to happen in the next year or two... maybe three.

Depending on your computers, routers, (and possibly some software) you may need upgrading.

Most computers starting with Windows XP and later can run IPv6 addresses. So thats not much of a worry.

Many of today's router/firewall devices that you have in your office will need to be replaced. (Some will have the ability to be software upgraded).
And it probably goes the same for your home router/firewall.

Now lets talk about software. Some Internet-enabled software packages may not run on IPv6. These would mainly include something that you have had especially designed for your business. Most commercially-made software will be ok.

However, if you have software that has been built especially for you, you might want to start investigating how it will run on IPv6 ( for example, if you have remote offices and your software connects between the offices).

Sometime in the next year or so, you'll need to have a conversation with your vendors / suppliers / affiliates that are essential to your business to ask what they are doing to prepare for IPv6.

Conclusion

Be weary of offers to sell you new equipment or services to prepare you for IPv6. There's plenty of time yet and frankly, some of the router companies don't have a handle on exactly what they are going to do.

Remember what is important now:
(1) Backups of your data - preferably off-site;
(2) Keep your computer updated, including those notifications about Adobe Reader, Java and Flash;
(3) AntiVirus software on every PC - always keep it up to date [for paid AV software, I recommend eSet. For free, I use Microsoft Security Essentials];
(4) Treat your business email as it is your reputation. Never forward jokes, use rough language or open attachments that you don't expect. Use an address from a free email service as an alternate. ( What you send out in emails can stick with you forever. )
(5) If you have any occurrence where lots of unwanted or unexpected pop-ups happen on your computer, or if someone sends you an email asking you to stop spamming them.... You Are Probably Infected. And everything you do on your computer could be in jeopardy.

I hope you find this information helpful.

Social Networking Project

2010-01-27T17:08:00.001-07:00

For the last three months, my time has been consumed with little Internet-based projects and one big one.

The big project has been a totally new venue for me and I've been happy to learn some new web technology.

We're still several weeks away from it going LIVE on the Internet, but I can tell you that it involves the latest social networking trends combined with the antiques and collectibles industry.

The online 'community' idea isn't really that new, but it has become a hot button in the last year, especially with Twitter and Facebook.

Late last year, I attended the PUBCON conference in Las Vegas and was amazed by how big social networking has grown.

You read about how Facebook & Twitter are today's hot sites, and that next year something else will take their place, which may be true. However, the idea of social interaction online is something that has been growing for many years and now is talked about everywhere.

For me, I think that becoming aware of technological advances, especially in the online video / communication areas is good for me as a tech consultant, but with the project that I'm building it is essential.

I will be glad to take the wraps off this project and see the result. Stay tuned.

Dan
pcinformation.com

2010 & The Social Web

2009-12-31T09:58:00.002-07:00

The approach of 2010 has brought a unprecedented number of "what will happen in 2010" prediction writings. Why is it we're seeing this deluge of information? It's because we're now in the full swing of information sharing. And this is really just the beginning.

Blogging has become so popular that the number of people creating articles has exploded. And, thanks to Twitter, the sharing of this information has become easier.

In the last few months, I've taken an interest in the topic of social networking on the web. I've read papers and blogs, watched videos and listened to podcasts. I've attended a conference; talked with others in the industry and have concluded that social media is (1) a very broad topic and maybe too undefined and (2) is something that many businesses are unclear on how it will benefit them.

What happened to the "show me the ROI" requirement? Seems this whole idea of social networking lacks the clear picture that businesses are used to seeing.

Of the early adopters to social networking, it's easy to see huge successes. I wonder if they had to move forward without that clear ROI and now are they able to look back and make sense of it?

The use of social media is changing so fast, I think it's hard to truly evaluate which new marketing idea to make use of. Take for instance GOWALLA, a new social networking travel game that rewards you for visiting extraordinary and everyday places. You collect points and virtual souvenirs. The next step to this game - - marketing/advertising for the locations - - coupons. Your smart phone will be your new coupon folder. Walk up to the counter; show them the coupon on your phone.

So, the whole idea of "social" is being transformed from having coffee after church, to adjusting your life to involve Internet-based communities of people.

One article I read (and I'm sorry I forgot to retain the information to give proper credit), said this: "Social media in 2010 will cease being the shiny new object and instead, become part of the everyday lexicon of business." And if it's a part of business, it will mean consumers will be involved too.

My work for the last six weeks has centered around building a new social networking community. It's currently in closed beta, so I'll hold off letting you know the details, but I have discovered enough information to believe that social networking is here to stay and we're only seeing the beginning.

2010 … Here We Come....

Attended PUBCON Conference

2009-11-12T18:22:00.001-07:00

For the last three days, I’ve been attending the PUBCON conference in Las Vegas. It’s been a great conference with much information on social media, social networking and emerging technologies.

The first eye-opener for me was Twitter. I have a much better knowledge and understanding of it, and the importance of it’s usage in today’s business world. Previously, I believed that it was primarily something that techies did, but this shows me that Twitter is actively being used for many, many areas of peoples lives that are certainly not tech related.

It was quite apparent that Twitter users were in abundance at this conference. The PUBCON welcome poster included how to keep updated on Twitter while you’re in the meetings.

Using the Twitter search feature at search.twitter.com, I searched the term “pubcon” and found recent posts by other twitter users in attendance. But what surprised me is a few seconds latter, the page updated and said that there were four new posts and to click ‘refresh’ to see them. (There were about 1,000 people attending this event.) I waited another 30 seconds and noticed there were 24 new posts to see.

People were posting to Twitter before, during and after the seminars. Some would post what they liked about the seminar, or if the room was too cold or maybe if there were not any seats left. Other posts were about upcoming events and some would offer more insights on what the speaker was talking about.

I couldn’t watch the Twitters for long because they would come very fast and it was distracting me from listing to the speaker myself.

So, back to the conference. One speaker today made this quote: “Remember, social media is all about communication and engagement”. Its not about your product that you’re trying to sell. Another speaker said “If you’re doing any type of online marketing, you need to be engaging social media”. And use social media to let people know who you are and to get noticed.

I found it interesting when one speaker gave an example about how useful social media is when a business needs to combat negative publicity. Might need to give this some more thought.

Also, made some other observations on the use of technology in use by attendees, but I’ll save that for another blog.

Business use of GMAIL

2009-11-08T13:36:00.001-07:00

I was reading an article this morning on how the City of Los Angeles, CA is switching to the web based email service from Google. The deal is for $7.2 Million bucks and would move their 30,000 users into Google's cloud-based computing.

I have used this service as my primary business email for a couple months now and am very impressed with its spam-filtering abilities along with the ease of use.

A basic version of their service is free and the pro is only $50 per year per user.

Besides the email features, it also includes Google Talk, shared docs, shared calendar, shared video and a host of other Google offerings.

Setup isn't very difficult. But it does require a DNS setting change. Administration is via an easy-to-use control panel.

Watch, in the future for more early adopters to make the switch from standard email solutions or even Microsoft Exchange over to Google Apps.

Dan

SPAM Takes A Leap Up

2009-10-31T00:01:00.040-07:00

This is the last day of October and it will end up as one of the busiest months for SPAM filtering.

The total for the month will exceed 650,000 messages processed. A whopping 92.3% of those messages have been identified as SPAM. This makes October the heaviest message month in the last 12 months. (Last November, the server was handling only about 384,000 total emails. And last month was 499k).

It was just yesterday that Facebook was awarded $711 million bucks from spammer Sanford Wallace. They might be waiting awhile to collect on that.

Since email remains the most used business communication tool for today (and tomorrow), we'll continue to make email useful by providing businesses with a quality spam filtering service.

Windows 7 Install

2009-08-28T15:29:00.000-07:00

August 28th - Being a Microsoft Partner, I have received a full release of Windows 7. I've downloaded it and burned the ISO to a DVD. I am installing it on my Dell XPS 710 monster PC. This PC has an Intel CPU - Core 2 - Quad with 4GB of Ram. 32 bit OS (not 64).
I installed the OS on an older 500 GB SATA drive. Installation went smooth. Total time to install was under an hour. The system booted up and was able to identify my video and network card, along with other devices except audio. I was able to quickly locate and install the audio drivers from Dell's site.
I liked the interface of Windows 7. Seems more exciting than Vista.
Now I have a huge job ahead of me to reload applications. I'm a power user, so I have lots of utilities and programs to get installed. I use a separate hard drive to store files, including documents, emails and everything else needed.
I'll let you know how this proceeds.
UPDATE:
Well, I am several weeks past the install and all is going well. It appears 7 is a stable operating system.
I initially was a little confused on the best way to handle desktop icons/shortcuts, but have all that resolved now that I found a program called FENCES.
Some minor video card driver issues, however it only produces an unknown couple of flashes during bootup.
My experience in the last several weeks using Windows 7 has been very good. I don't see any reason to save the Vista operating system that I have on the other hard drive. This one is a keeper.

Open DNS

2009-08-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

This is a free service that allows you to block various websites in many different categories.
You use OpenDNS by changing your DNS assignments on your PC (or in your firewall) so that anyone on your network uses Open DNS to resolve domain names.
This is a very useful tool for killing a good share of porn sites. Parents still need to monitor their children's web usage, but this give them a helping hand.
Additionally, the web control panel for OpenDNS will display all websites that have been blocked.