Saturday, December 11, 2004

Which Computer Vendor?

The reality is most computer companies are bad, mostly in the support in the support and warranty area. When it comes to home user support I give all the computers companies a failing grade. They have shipped all the support centers overseas where you get Fred the tech guy who can not speak English very well and is reading from a script, placing you on hold, having to try things that are completely unrelated to the issue. It is very frustrating to everyone.

On the business side with server support, those jobs are still in the US and I receive excellent support from most all the major vendors.

Here is my Picks on Vendors Home and Desktop support ratings.
  • Dell (but they have been on the decline for that last 6 months and their support is getting worse)
  • HP/Compaq (good support, can be difficult to get to, hold times are long) I am not a big fan of their priority none up gradable hardware, but it is quality.
  • Gateway (Support can be very frustrating and an unwilling to replace failed hardware without speaking to a supervisor)
  • Off brand or other vendors: I don’t not have any customers that have other one off brand systems. Dell has been the defacto standard and their warranty program and onsite support is better than the rest. If others wish to comment about their vendor I would love to hear about your experiences.
  • SONY: I have a Sony Viao. I love my Viao, but Sony is by far the worst company I have every dealt with on tech support. Not only would I give them a failing grade on support, but I would expel them from the tech support industry. They have the crappest warranty program which basically covers nothing. Their repair turn around time is about 6 weeks on the minimum 3 months has been the worst case. They over charge for part to the turn of about 50%. You never get to speak to the hard support people, only a customer rep who knows nothing, and they will not let you speak to a supervisor of any sort. Their customer support is in FL and the hardware repair center is in CA. I will never buy another Sony computer product ever, not will I ever recommend them to anyone for anything. If you have or buy a Sony computer product, expect to go to tech support Hell. It angers me as we are a Sony house with Video, camera, Tivo and other gadgets. Not any more as my Sony Video camera just died and it too has a support Hell of its own, so we are looking at a Canon Video camera. Ok I am done with my RANT. I feel better now!
  • Built it yourself: I only recommend building it yourself if you want the best of the best. My desktop is a custom built PC, but my wife’s PC, my primary Server, and my office PC’s are Dell builds. I bought 3 Dell Desktop 2.8 gig 256 meg for $350 ea w/o monitors. I could not build them for that price. You really can not save money building it yourself when you include your own labor.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Browser Security Issues

A new security alert has been posted at our security web site about a new browser security issue that attempts to obtain your banking information. It affects ALL Browsers and ALL Operating Systems.

To read more about it please go to the security.efsnm.com site:
http://security.efsnm.com/index.php

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Databases Defined

Q: What are all the databases associated with the contents of your wallet? (i.e. your credit cards, library card, driver's license, frequent flyer card, etc.) How secure is the information therein? How much of the information is the same but managed by different companies?

: What are all the databases associated with the contents of your wallet?

Well I must say this is a very vague question. It is impossible to know what “ALL” the databases are. The only thing one can do is conceptualize the question. To be specific there is no way to know what exactly the database(s) that are being used by a company. Any particular company could be using DB2, Oracle, SQL, Access, Text file, MySQL or a proprietary database.

A database is a software application that contains certain types of data. That data is contained inside tables. The review or output of that data is formed by queries. Because the output comes from a query it could come from multiple tables with the database called a schema. With XML it could come from multiple different companies at the same time. The output presentation of the data is a farce designed by the developer(s). Because the data could be coming from different sources at the same time from completely different databases systems and different companies the output of the data is a user concept of what they are looking at and not really an actual singular point in space and time.

Here are real examples of database applications: Oracle or SQL

The term database is often misused. For example my contact database should be said to be my contact data set. The database is an application. The information within the database organized into tables is called a “data set”.

To conceptualize the question in proper terms as data sets not database(s):
  • Credit Cards: these are commerce data sets.
  • Library cards: these are personal and inventory data sets.
  • Drivers Licenses: these are legal, personal and certification data sets.
  • Frequent Flyer Cards: these are personal and commerce data sets.

: How secure is the information therein?

This too is vague. We do not work for the companies; therefore we can only hope the data is secure as it supposed to be limited to the individual user that holds the correct user name and password. When using these systems across the internet an SSL certificate is used to encrypt the data via your browser at a minimum of 128bits. You can tell by looking in your status bar of your browser for the lock icon.


Here is a link on the basics of SSL. We use it everyday and most people don’t even know they are using it. Verisign


: How much of the information is the same but managed by different companies?

This is yet another vague question that can not be answered with accuracy. The truth of the matter is we really do not know, unless you are the system administrator or system designer. As the admin/developer I can make the appearance of data be whatever I want. The output presentation is smoke and mirrors to make huge dataset understandable to the user. The data sets listed, I would hope that none of these systems shared the same information connections. All these systems contain similar data sets such as contact, address and certain personal information.


Understanding Memory

Here is a link to understanding memory.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/ram.htm

Killing Evil on the Desktop

I have given up on the desktop software that detect evil email, as it was often incorrect, would get corrupted and fail to reinstall even after a registry scrub. For an evil counter measures I have fallen back to the gateway of the internet where it enters a business, usually a single point for a small business. I have installed with most of my customers gateway security software that checks email from evil and spam.

I have tested about 12 different gateway security software programs. Most of them sux and are worthless. I have settled on GFI’s Mail Security and Essential software. It is not perfect but it is the best that I have tested. My customers love it and speak highly of it. The mail security will detect virus some Phishing. I had some customers that were getting 150 virus emails a day. At the desktop they use Symantec Corporate Edition Anti-virus. However the users get frustrated with the anti-virus popping up every few minutes killing evil email. So we kill evil at the gate and the users do not have to deal with see it.

Here is the Security Software:
http://www.gfi.com/mailsecurity/

Here is the SPAM software:
http://www.gfi.com/mes/

It works like this:

Internet
:
Firewall
:
Gateway Server
:
Mail Security Check
:
Mail Spam Check
:
Mail Server
:
Users Outlook

I do not have any desktop security or anti-spam software that I can honestly recommend. I will revisit the desktop for home users at a many the end of 1st Qrt in 2005 after the vendors have released their 2nd Gen apps.

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Phishing for You

For those who do not know what Phishing is you can checkout this security site as their is an article about it with real world examples.

http://security.efsnm.com/index.php/weblog/phishing_scams/

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

SATA, Firewire and Disk Space

Video editing eats away a ton of disk space. The SATA option will address both your storage and backup issues. I have found that trying to do video editing from a desktop to a server is too slow across a network.

I have had to use Firewire to Firewire network which is built into XP. To move video files from server to PC. I have found that doing all editing on separate hard drives on a local fast PC is best for both rendering and managing video.

I would invest your money into a couple of high end desktops (over a high end server) and a ton of SATA hot swap removable hard drives. That way you can easily store your raw footage, edited footage, rendered DVDs and ISO’s that you may have on really fast high capacity drives.

Two 80Gig hard drive should cover all your music needs to include any mixes that you may be doing. One hard drive can be your master drive and the other drive can be a backup of your cloned music files.

SATA, ISO and Graphics Cards

When buying a new computer you might consider two SATA Drives, one for the OS and the other for your apps and data. Also putting the Windows Swap file on the other hard drive for a bit of an additional performance boost.

I have dual DVD CDRW drives, but I never use them as I had envisioned. Instead I burn my CD’s to a single ISO file to an external Firewire drive. When I need to copy a CD or make several copies the burn times with the ISO are really fast burning from an ISO. I create ISO files for backup only so I do not have to carry so many CD’s.

For gaming you need to look at the video card review from TechTV. The newer games with all the intense eye candy (shadows, reflections, frame rates) are too much for the built in card on the motherboard. I would look at Robert Heron’s Video roundup. I trust him for video card reviews.


I am not a PC gamer (surprisingly). G4TechTv is devoted to gaming and have the better reviews on these matters. Tech support is my game. It is embarrassing when my thirteen old son whip my butt on the Game Cube.

Monday, December 06, 2004

Hardware Concepts

Accuracy of data input is important. What method of data input would be best for each of the following situations and explain why: (Printed questionnaires, Telephone survey, Bank checks, Retail tags, Long documents).

The some reading text would have you believe that a keyboard is the important input device for the listed items. A keyboard is best for long documents as input. For printed questionnaires a scanner as input to scan a specific type of printed survey such as the SAT tests. Voice recognition would be ok for a telephone survey, but still prove to be very inaccurate as input. Telephone surveys are best using the telephones keypad. A specialize bar code scanner for Bank Checks is best as input. A regular bar code scanner found in most shopping centers provides the greatest degree of accuracy as input.

Convenience and quality of output are important. Explain what method of output would be best for each of the following situations and explain why: (Hand held computer, Color photograph, Resume, Memorandum, Statistical report, Company annual report).

This question does not state the purpose of the output. The purpose of the output is changing each day as technology advances. Old ways are morphed into new methods and better management of the data that is outputted. The reading text would lead you to believe that a printer or monitor is best for these items as output.

For a handheld computer the most common method output is a small LCD screen either monochrome or color as output.

A photograph is dependant upon the output intent. Is the photograph for a web site, a database, a printed magazine or for a holographic image? If it is for a picture frame, then a high resolution printer is best to print a photograph that is an electronic high resolution as output.

In the past a standard laser printer would have been best for output of a resume. Today with online databases systems prefer a particular input format of the data from the resume so it maybe disseminated to a large number of potential employers. Tomorrow resumes will be in an XML format to allow seamless integrations with any online job hunting service. For today and tomorrow a monitor either a CRT or LCD is best for a resume as output.

Today many companies have abandoned the old paper memorandums for well formatted emails. Some companies require electronic signatures and encryptions for memorandums. An LCD or CRT is best to view today’s memorandums as output.

Statistical report output is dependant upon who the audience is. A scientist, stock broker or accountant would prefer an LCD or CRT as output. Where as a CEO, board member or the general population that might not have access to a computer would prefer printed stats on paper as output.

Today most company’s annual reports are available online on their websites. However there are a great many that still spend $1,000’s of dollars on glossy paper annual reports for the board members and investors. For the website and LCD or CRT is best for output. For printed reports a commercial based printer is best for output.

Explain the difference between primary storage and secondary storage.

Some text states: “Primary storage is temporary storage, and anything stored in it is lost when someone turns off the power to the computer. Secondary storage, however, is permanent storage; anything stored in secondary storage remains there until the computer changes it, even if someone turns off the power.”

To better understand RAM (Random Access Memory) it is the fastest place to store and retrieve data. On page 13 of the Course Notes it implies that RAM is the primary storage area for the computer. It is the preferred and most common method. It is not the primary area for storage as there are many devices that have RAM such as video cards, network cards, fax cards, the CPU has memory called cache, hard drives have cache and hard drive controllers like a RAID 5 card have cache. These devices also contain firmware that are flash updatable. Your hard drive is the preferred area for permanent storage of data, but not exclusive. RAM is only useful while the computer is turn on. Once the computer is turn off all data being kept in RAM is lost. During the boot process data is read from the hard drive and loaded into RAM most commonly called "memory". The data is kept there for fast access and processing. When things in "memory" get really corrupted, rebooting is the only way to clean out the RAM of the bad data. A cold reboot is preferred. A cold reboot is powering off the computer, wait one minute and power it back on. A warm reboot is just a simply restart. That is fine for the OS but some hardware issues require and cold boot. While the author of reading text calls “memory” primary storage, this is incorrect.

Different types of storage devices are optimal for different situations. Explain what situations are appropriate for the following devices and explain why: (Hard disk, Floppy disk, RAM, CD ROM, Tape).

Floppies, CD-ROMs and Tapes are old school portable media that are quickly being replaced by portable hard dives, and Jump Drives. Most computers today do not have floppy drives or CD-ROMs any more when you go to make a purchase. They are replaced by DVD-/+RW ROMs and Firewire and USB 2.0 devices.

The hard drive is the primary area that the operation system is installed. Most data used by the user is stored on the hard drive. It is the fastest permanent storage media with the highest capacity.

RAM (Random Access Memory) is where information is temporary stored for fast access. It is faster than a hard drive, but it is costly and has less capacity for storage. It has no ability to permanently store data without the aid of battery backup or a secondary power source to keep data alive while the computer is turned off or suspended.

Tape is still commonly used for backup systems, but is quickly falling out of favor for that usage as portable hard dives decline in cost and increase in speed and capacity. Tape Drives have not been able to keep up with removable hard drives in these areas.

Explain the role of each of the following in determining the speed of a computer: (RAM, Clock speed, Data on hard disk, Data on CD ROM, Data on floppy disk).

In today’s computers there are many things that can affect performance or the speed of the computer. These are called bottlenecks.

RAM can be a bottleneck if the bus speeds are faster that the speed of the memory. In the old day’s memory used to be measured in nanoseconds such as 80, 70, and 60ns memory. Today they are measured in clock speeds of PC100, PC133, etc. There are also many difference types of RAM that the reading text has not bothered to talk about that are contained on other devices like the video card and the CPU called cache.

Clock speed is typically referred to as the speed of the CPU. Today other devices have clock speeds such as the video card. The clock speed of the CPU used to be an indicator of how fast the CPU was as compared to other CPU’s. That is no longer the case. The type of CPU is more important to know now rather than the clock speed. For example a Pentium M 1Gig processor is faster than a Pentium 4 1.8Gig processor. So clock speed doesn’t count any more. You have to use a comparison or benchmark chart to figure out which processor is faster.

The “Data” on a floppy or CD-ROM has no bearing on the speed of the computer. The speed of the floppy drive or the speed of the CD-ROM has an affect on the speed of loading/reading data from the media. A floppy drive is by far the slowest device of reading and writing data.